AdWords campaigns are a viable and, potentially, affordable way to bring a fresh influx of customers to your website. However, if you don’t use the right keywords, you run the risk of increasing the number of visitors without seeing any changes in your sales.
Keywords help you tell Google who should see your ad to ensure you maximise every dollar invested in the campaign. When choosing keywords, there are several important rules to follow.
#1: Think Like Your Customers
If you were searching for black yoga pants, what’s the search term you would use in Google? Would it be ‘black yoga pants’ or just ‘pants’?
When people want to buy, they are looking for specific products. So, to make sure your site pops up first when possible customers search for what they need, you should use specific keywords. True, highly specific keywords won’t bring as much traffic as general ones, but each click has a higher chance to turn into a sale. As a result, your campaign may get amazing results in terms of ROI, which is all you should care about.
#2: Negative Keywords
These are the keywords you use to make sure the wrong people don’t see your ads. For instance, if you sell TV sets but not PC monitors, you can add ‘PC monitors’ as a negative keyword. This way, people looking for a monitor won’t see or click on your ad, unnecessarily wasting your money.
#3: Different Variations
One way to make sure you reach as many customers as possible is to use different terms for what you’re selling. This includes synonyms, colloquial terms, common misspellings, singular and plural versions, and anything that usually shows up in searches.
The secret is to use these versions for specific searches; don’t include general terms if you don’t want irrelevant clicks on your ad!
#4: Use the Keyword Planner
Google provides site owners with an easy-to-use tool that offers ideas for keywords and gives an estimate of the number of searches per month the keyword receives. As a result, you can estimate your ROI when planning and setting up a new Google AdWords campaign.
The Keyword Planner tool also helps refine your initial keyword ideas to get a list that is more specific. For instance, if your initial keyword list included ‘snow boots’, the tool may show you that ‘cold weather boots’ is another keyword you should consider adding to your campaign.
#5: Be Consistent
As a rule of thumb, the keywords and phrases used in an AdWords campaign should be closely linked to the text you display in the PPC ad. Furthermore, the keywords should match the ones used on the landing page and website in general. This helps Google understand your ads are consistent.
Overall, it’s important to make sure your ads are being clicked on by relevant viewers, i.e. those who are interested in making a purchase. A lot of that comes down to the keywords you choose, making keyword selection crucial to the success of your Google AdWords campaign.
