A Complete Guide to PPC Keyword Research

Did you know that 52% of clicks on Google search results go to the top three pay-per-click (PPC) ads? This means that in order for your business to drive traffic through Google, you can’t just rely on organic rankings – you need a solid PPC campaign backed by PPC keyword research. The first step to creating a PPC ad is figuring out which keywords to target.

But as simple as it sounds, it’s not always the easiest task. What keywords will work best and how do you find them? Below, we’ll cover 7 tips for optimizing your PPC keyword research strategy.

7 Best Ways to Find Better Keywords for PPC

Knowing you need PPC keywords is easy enough.

What’s not so easy is knowing which ones you need. Here are eight high-quality tips to help you find the best PPC keywords for keyword advertising.

1. Aim for long-tail keywords

It’s important to pay attention to the length of the keywords you use. While there can be certain advantages to using shorter keywords, it’s often a good idea to focus primarily on long-tail keywords — that is, those that are several words long. Long-tail keywords come with two major advantages.

The first is that they’re more specific to user search intent. That means they drive more relevant traffic since they’re more specific. The second benefit is that long-tail keywords tend to have less competition.

Since they’re more specific, a narrower range of companies bid on them, which leads to fewer companies bidding overall. That, in turn, allows for less competition and lower bids. For example, a million different search intents and companies could be associated with the keyword “digital marketing.” But “digital marketing course in Varanasi” will attract only a very specific group of users and companies, giving you a more focused audience and fewer competitors.

2. Optimizing for Voice Search

More and more, voice search is becoming a popular feature for people to use on mobile devices. If people don’t feel like typing their requests, they’ll just say it out loud and let the phone process what they’re saying. As this practice becomes more common, it begins to affect the types of queries that people search for.

Where someone used to be able to search for “digital marketing course” without typing more than necessary, now they can say in complete sentences, “Which is the Best Digital Marketing Training Institute in Varanasi“. To reach these users, you may want to consider targeting full keywords that are relevant to your business ad.

3. Use Your Competitors’ Keywords

Copying your competitors’ every move is never a good strategy. However, there are situations where you can benefit from borrowing them… and keywords are one of those situations. Whatever keywords your competitors are currently ranking for, you’ll likely want to rank for as well – and specifically, you’ll want to get ahead of them.

To find the keywords your competitors are ranking for, you can use tools like SpyFu. Once you have a list of keywords from your competitors, focus on creating content that surpasses what they have so you can rank higher than them.

4. Target branded keywords

Branded keywords refer to two different things: your own branded keywords and your competitors’ branded keywords.

If you sell protein shakes, for example, and you know your customers might be familiar with a big name like Orgain, you can actually target “Orgain shakes” as a keyword. That way, if your customers are looking for them, there’s a good chance they’ll also find you in a high ad position. This can help you stay competitive and even land you a few customers along the way.

5. Include Variants and Synonyms

Once you have a solid foundation, it’s time to start building your keyword list. One of the best ways to build your keyword list is to use variations and synonyms of keywords you’re already targeting. For example, let’s say you’re targeting “photographic services.” This keyword will not reach everyone who is looking for photography services.

Some people will use variations of this keyword, such as “portrait services” or “professional photographer.” In addition to coming up with some of these synonyms yourself, you can find related keywords by using a tool or simply by using the related keywords that Google shows at the bottom of every search.

6. Consider Negative Keywords

As important as it is to figure out which PPC keywords you want to target, it’s also important to know which keywords you don’t want to target. In Google Ads, you can create lists of negative keywords that do not match the content of your ad. For example, if you’re trying to advertise your Digital Marketing Agency, you can target many keywords that include the word “digital marketing,” but you wouldn’t want to target a keyword like “free” because you are not going to provide any free digital marketing services.

“Free” could be one of your negative keywords.

7. Be Aware That Not All Strategies Are Worth Copying

Be aware that not all strategies are worth copying. “Monkey see, monkey do” is not always the right option. Competitor research can be a goldmine of knowledge, but if you see a competitor spending a lot on certain keywords that likely won’t do you much but will cost you a lot, think twice before adding them to your list.

Conclusion

PPC keyword research may be the most important part of your search advertising strategy, so take the time to do it right. Although the research process involves several steps, you can create multiple ad groups at once and benefit from the data in the long run.

If you’re looking to get help or outsource your PPC keyword research or campaign management, we can help! Contact us and find out what we can do for you.