The basis of a good PPC campaign is choosing the right list of keywords. It’s vital to be sure that you’ve searched and researched high quality keywords and phrases to get the best results. Make a long list, and check out all the avenues open to you. Start with a very popular keyword - for instance, “credit”. Lots of people search for this word every day. However, it’s hard to rank well for this term, since it’s also used by plenty of other advertisers. How can you improve your chances? Broaden your scope to include related terms.
Think about how searchers might be interpreting the keyword in question. Someone looking for the word “credit” may be trying to find out how to get a credit report, how to improve their credit, what lenders will offer loans to someone with poor credit, or how to consolidate credit card bills. Once you’ve got a list of concepts that the word might be related to, it’s time to condense them down.
Some longer concepts become a group of terms that are searched for anything closely related to the original keyword “credit” becomes “bad credit loan” or “consolidate credit” there are many options. These words are just slight variations as you like.
Stay with what works, it’s always best to keep things simple. But at the same time, experiment if you are not getting good numbers for your campaign. If you are stuck, try adding specific organization names, there are many companies out there associated with “credit”.
Add an extension, such as .org, .net, or .com to the end of the search term, or consider the extension of a country you’re targeting. It doesn’t even matter if that domain doesn’t exist. Some people still type this kind of search term in. You’ll expose them to your ads, increasing your chances of a well targeted click.
Remember to avoid very general keywords. There’s too much competition for these. Instead, expand on related terms, and rephrase existing keyword phrases. It’s easy to turn “free credit report” around to get “credit report free”. While the concept is the same, this phrase will reach a different set of viewers. Just ask yourself what your target audience is going to search for, and use the answers to that question to choose your keyword groups. Remember that search terms can be in an unusual order.
It’s not all there is to a good PPC campaign, but a good keyword list is the foundation of one that works. Explore all your options and pick the right words, then track their progress to be sure your campaign is a successful one.
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