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Once the above questions have been answered, the next stage is to build an effective and targeted keyword list. This list should be as comprehensive as possible and include all relevant keywords and all variations of keywords. A search keyword may consist of just one or several actual words. The larger the keyword list, the more targeted traffic an advertiser will be able to achieve.
Building the keyword list should be based on the following 4-stage approach:
Branded search terms. Find as many keywords as possible that include the advertiser’s brand name. These will drive the most targeted visitors possible. The cost per click rate will be low on these words as few if any other advertisers can bid on them. It is generally not permitted to bid on competitor’s brand names (and if you do, ensure that you do not include that brand name in your advert copy or on your website). Affiliates can bid on other peoples’ brand names. An advertiser can take steps to prevent affiliates from bidding on the brand name by amending their affiliate contract to state that this is not permitted.
Generic search terms. These are both the most important and the highest risk keywords. The generic terms will drive the largest volume of traffic but they will also have the highest CPC and be the most competitive. It is important to bid on these terms, but it is essential that they are tracked and that an advertiser only bids at the level which allows them to hit their conversion and return on investment (ROI) targets. Examples of generic search terms include ‘car insurance’ and ‘flights.
Niche search terms. PPC is most effective when you have a large list of keywords. Often these will be niche terms that do not receive a lot of traffic individually, but they are extremely targeted and typically have a low CPC as there will be few bidders. These factors lead to high conversion rates and high ROI on these words. Examples of niche search terms include ‘BMW 330Ci insurance’ and ‘cheap flight from London Heathrow to Milan Malpensa’.
Seasonal and promotional search terms. PPC is very flexible and easy to control so it is perfectly suited to the use of seasonal promotional search terms for a specified length of time. This can be particularly useful for product launches, event based promotions (e.g. a major horse race) and seasonal promotions (e.g. Christmas).
The PPC networks also offer different types of ‘matching options’. Broadly speaking these allow an advertiser to bid on a specific search term and automatically appear on other search keywords / phrases that include that particular search term. If using these matching options, an advertiser might also want to specify a ‘negative match’ (which will prevent their advert from being displayed on results for searches that contain specified words). To specify a negative match, add a ‘-‘ to the start of the keyword. So, for a campaign advertising televisions, an advertiser may wish to add ‘-repair’ to the keyword list if the advertiser does not offer television repairs.
If an advertiser is using a PPC agency, then this agency should be able to assist them in creating an effective keyword list. Once compiled, an agency should also be able to obtain activity and cost proposals from the PPC networks for the particular keywords.
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© 2006 Turma Ltd |
