Generating Traffic: Selecting Keywords
- Top 5 guidelines for creating keywords
- Advanced techniques for generating keywords
- Organizing keywords into campaigns and ad groups
Top 5 guidelines for creating keywords
- In order to generate traffic for your web site that does not have to convert to a sale or lead, you should choose as many relevant keywords and variations as possible.
- Consider non-commercial keywords, as long as your site’s content is relevant (“car test”, “crash test”, “diamond quality”).
- Generate keywords with multiple words (“research car safety data”).
- Periodically add new keywords and remove the non-performers to keep your account administration at a manageable level.
- Use the Find Keywords panel in the Choose Keywords page.
Advanced techniques for generating keywords
Select niche keywords:Strike a balance between popular (frequently searched) keywords and niche keywords. Niche keywords with little or no competition typically generate a small amount of traffic, but the traffic can be targeted and may come at a very low price.
Analyze your site:One of the best places to look for ideas is your own web site.
- Look through the main pages of your site and identify the words that are most relevant and interesting to your audience.
- Review your articles and headlines for keyword ideas.
- Check your web server logs to identify the search terms leading visitors to your site.
- Consider what you want your customers to do. Do you want them to read an article, take a quiz, or are they likely to click on ads? Generate keywords that lead customers to the desired action.
Organizing keywords into ad groups and campaigns
To keep your account organized, you can pool your keywords into ad groups and your ad groups into campaigns. An ad group contains a set of keywords that apply to a single ad (title, description and URL).
Example: How to organize keywords into ad groups and campaigns
| Keywords | Ad Group | Campaign |
|---|---|---|
| Athletes Running Javelin | Sports | News |
| Stock market Wall Street Fortune 500 International business |
Economy | |
| Internet New Economy e-business |
Online Marketing | Newsletter |
| Sales Return on investment Sales force Telesales |
Sales |
Example: How to associate keywords with ads (title, description and URL)
| Keywords | Ad |
|---|---|
| Athletes Running Javelin |
Sports News and Info Online Get the latest on your favorite athletes, events, sports and more. www.url.com |
| Stock market Wall Street Fortune 500 International Business |
Monitor the Pulse of the Economy Deep insights and top stories from the stock market and around the globe. www.url.com |
Ad groups can help improve efficiency by enabling you to manage one ad for multiple keywords. You can even start testing multiple ads within an ad group to determine which message attracts the most leads and/or converts at the highest rate. Learn more about ad testing.
Determining how many campaigns and ad groups you need depends on the size and complexity of your business. Consider the following divisions when organizing your account:
- Content class (paid vs. free).
- Editorial content vs. product information vs. sales collateral
- Product class or family (e.g. books, hardcover, paperback, thriller, sci-fi)
- Owned vs. third-party content.
- Content vs. sign-ups (for newsletters, mailing lists, etc.)