Most advertisers’ first stage in planning a PPC campaign is to immediately go to
any one of the numerous
keyword suggestion and
search volume tools to determine which words are generating the most
traffic. The traditional thought is the higher the search volume for a word the
more value that word has, and therefore the higher the bid.
The simple fact is that there is a major difference between keywords that work
and keywords with high search volume. The secret to success lies in knowing
your target customer and being able to speak their language. It does not
matter if a seemingly relevant keyword has tremendous search volume, if it is
not representative of the language the target market is speaking.
If search volume plays too high of a role in the decision process of which
keywords to bid on, assuming you can afford the keyword and the quality score is
favorable, one of two things will happen:
- The ad could have high impressions and low click through rates and
result in the eventual dropping of the ad by the search engine
- The ad could have moderately successful click through rates and either a
high bounce rate or low conversion rate.
- In the latter case, the return on investment for the advertiser is
extremely poor and the ad becomes a losing proposition
Getting into the mind of the searcher is a critical first step in planning
a PPC campaign
Knowing how the user is searching, what they are searching for, and where they
are searching are key factors to the success of a PPC campaign. It comes back to
the basic principles of marketing: getting the right message to the right person
at the right time.
The Internet is about the language of the user and not the language of the
organization/advertiser. What marketers must remember when launching online
campaigns is that the terminology used in the office everyday is not always the
same terminology the searcher will use. In order to be where the user is,
marketing campaigns must speak to them in the same language.
Choosing keywords is part of the messaging process – it forms the basis for the
content on the site and for the ads pushing users through to the site. What
words the user will use to search for your product and service may not be the
words that have the highest search volume – instead, they should be the words
with the highest qualified search volume; and there is yet to be a piece of
keyword generating software with the marketing ability to determine the
difference between the two. When selecting keywords, search volume is an
important factor to base decisions upon, but even more important is selecting
keywords based on the language the users actually looking for your
product/service are using.
Determining and selecting keywords must be aimed at persons searching at various
stages of the purchasing cycle. As the person progresses through the purchasing
cycle they will become more educated about the solutions available to them and
as a result will begin to search using different terminology. It is important to
target your keyword selection for not only the person at the beginning of the
sales cycle but those entering the sales cycle at various stages of the process.
As the progress through to the purchase stage is completed, the keywords used by
the user would become more specific and more technical in nature. Instead of
searching for general solutions to pains, the user will begin searching for
product attributes and features or brand names. For example a person searching
for car insurance, may type into the search “car insurance” at the beginning of
their research phase, but towards the purchase decision the user may search for
“limited liability coverage” or “Personal Injury Protection.” If the site is
only optimized for persons at the beginning of the process, then those past the
research phase, attempting to search for alternative products and solutions,
will simply not find your site within the SERPs.
Choosing keywords must be based on knowing the target market and being able to
speak to them in their language. Search volume is a secondary tool, only used
once the language of the user is known to determine which of the user’s words
are the most highly searched for. |
enquiro research
Kyle
Grant