We are kick-starting a series of blog post to bring you from 0 to 100% Google Ads expert. Complete this series, and you can attempt to get certified by Google for their Ads Product. You can find the previous post of this series: Campaign Hierarchy. Today, we will look at Keyword research and planning.

The beauty of SEM is the ability to target users based on what they are searching for. It can help your users to discover you when they are searching for solutions, or can even be a last mile journey to convert on your site. However, it also meant that there is a huge con. If you are not bidding the right keywords, you won't reach your users. There is also a chance that the keyword is too popular that you can't even get an impression or cost too much to get an impression. E.g. Targeting "food", this will be so expensive...

Importance of Keyword Research

Multiple advantages of doing keyword research:

• Understand Your Audience: Gain valuable insights into your users' needs, interests, and search behavior. Knowing what your users' are searching is helping you to get into their mind and knowing them.
• Target the Right Keywords: We want your users to find you from relevant search queries, increasing the likelihood of clicks and conversions.
• Optimize Your Ad Spend: Avoid wasting money on irrelevant or low-performing keywords. Also, to prevent you from bidding way too popular keywords. They can be too costly to make a good investment.
• Find the long tail: Finding the right keywords that are relevant and yet not too expensive. We call this the long tail keywords, they are super relevant to your users yet less bidding on them.

Keyword Research Tools and Techniques

Tools for keyword research:

• Google Keyword Planner: A free tool provided by Google in adwords that allows you to discover new keyword ideas, estimate search volume, and forecast competition.
• Third-Party Keyword Research Tools: Several paid tools offer advanced features like competitor analysis, keyword difficulty scores, and trend data. Some popular tools are Moz, semrush .
• Brainstorming: Start by listing all the relevant terms and phrases you can think of.
• Customer Surveys: Ask your customers or friends on how they will search for your products.
• Competitor Analysis: Search in the keywords you identify and see if your competitors are coming up.
• Google Trend: Trend analysis by Google on what people are searching for.

Match Types (Broad, Phrase, Exact, Negative)

Google Ads offers four different match types that control how closely a search query must match your keyword for your ad to be triggered:

• Broad Match: Your ad may show on searches that include misspellings, synonyms, related searches, and other relevant variations. It will also include keywords that fit your searches by AI.
• Phrase Match: Your ad may show on searches that include the exact phrase, in the same order, with additional words before or after.
• Exact Match: Your ad will only show on searches that are an exact match to your keyword, or close variations of that exact term.
• Negative Match: Your ad won't show on searches that include the negative keyword.

Keyword Research Process

You should approach this systematically, here is an example process:

Brainstorm Seed Keywords:

• Begin by creating a list of broad topics related to your business or product.
• Think about the main products, services, or information you offer.
• Consider your target audience and the language they might use to search for your offerings.
• These seed keywords will serve as a starting point for further research.
• Don't overthink at this stage, just throw whatever you can think of into a board.

Expand Keyword List:

• Utilize keyword research tools from the above to generate a more extensive list of keywords related to your seed keywords.
• Explore variations, long-tail keywords, and questions that people might search for.
• Look for the long tail keywords with a decent search volume and relatively low competition. Use the tools to find the volume.

Analyze Competitors:

• Identify your main competitors in the search results.
• Analyze the keywords they are ranking for and the content they are creating.
• Look for opportunities to target keywords that your competitors might be missing or not focusing on.
• Search in the keywords you identify and see what came up.

Consider Search Intent:

• Find intent, not product.
• Tailor your content to match the user's search intent. For example, if someone searches for "how to bake a cake," they're looking for informational content, not a product page.

Assess Keyword Difficulty:

• Estimate how difficult it would be to rank for specific keywords based on factors like competition. If you search for a keyword, and you get like different 3-4 SEM links every time you refresh, chances are, this is gonna be an uphill battle.
• Prioritize keywords that are relevant, have decent search volume, and are achievable for your website to rank for. Again, use the tools above to find out.

Finalize Keyword List:

• Refine your keyword list based on your analysis, focusing on the most relevant and valuable keywords for your business goals. Esp on the longtail keywords.

Monitor and Refine:

• Keyword research is an ongoing process.
• Regularly monitor your keyword rankings and analyze website traffic to identify new opportunities and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Conclusion

Remember: Think of keyword research as a treasure hunt that never really ends. It's about staying curious and keeping an eye on your map – the keywords people are using to find what you offer.

Check in regularly to see how your chosen keywords are performing. Are they leading people to your site? Are they the right people, looking for what you have? If not, it's time to switch things up.

Remember, people's interests and the way they search evolve over time. So your keyword strategy should too. Stay adaptable!

In the upcoming posts, we'll dive deeper into ad copywriting.