How to conduct keyword research for PPC

Ever launched a PPC campaign, poured money into it, and felt like you were just throwing darts in the dark? 🎯 We can guarantee that this happens to more than you think. Many businesses struggle to get a return on their PPC investments, and this is more than likely because of poor keyword targeting.  

It’s safe to say that keywords are the bedrock of success in digital marketing because they bridge the gap between what potential customers are searching for and what your business has to offer. But, there is definitely a key distinction between keyword research for SEO purposes and keyword research for PPC.

Here’s the key difference 

SEO keyword research aims for long-term organic visibility and traffic, whereas pay-per-click keyword research demands immediate relevance with strong commercial intent. So, the sole aim for ppc keywords is to convert. 💸 However, even if you get clicks, they need to be qualified clicks from consumers who are ready to buy or take a specific action before it can be considered successful. 

Here, we’ll discuss the essential ppc keyword research tools and strategies that will help you maximise your ad spend, driving real results for your business! 🔥

PPC keyword analysis

Having the right mix of strategy is the best way to build a successful PPC campaign, and to do this, your PPC keywords need to: 

✅Target the right audience and ensure people who are specifically looking for what you offer see it.

✅Improve ad relevancy, leading to higher quality scores in Google Ads – this means lower CPCs and better ad positions. 

✅Boost conversion rates, connecting searchers with solutions that lead to more sales, leads and sign-ups. 

✅Optimise ad spend, which reduces any wasted spend on clicks that aren’t relevant. 

PPC keyword research vs. SEO keyword research

So, as we mentioned before, there is a key difference between SEO keyword research and PPC keyword research and analysis. 

SEO keyword research needs to support your website in building authority and often targets broader terms, aiming for a wider net of relevant searches. The main goal for SEO research is to drive as much traffic as possible to the site. 🚗

PPC keyword research, on the other hand, is about immediate conversion intent. The closer a user is to making a purchase decision, the better, which means prioritising commercial terms, extremely specific queries and keywords that directly align with a product or service. The end-goal needs to be within reach here! 

User intent

Before even considering using a PPC keyword research tool, you need to ensure that you put yourself in the customer’s shoes. What are they typing into Google? The commercial intent is the crux of it all as it shows a user’s readiness to buy, subscribe or use your service. 

Here are some examples of PPC keywords with commercial intent: 

• “buy product name“
• “service type near me”
• “product price”
• “best product for sale”
• “brand name reviews” (often leads to purchase decisions)
• “hire professional type“
• “city service“

These PPC keywords stand in stark contrast with the more informational intent keywords used in SEO, like “how to do something” or “what is a product name”. This type of user intent can very quickly drain your PPC budget, as the keywords rarely lead to any direct conversions. You want to add PPC keywords that are immediately impactful! 📈

PPC keyword research tools ⚒️

As magical as the rewards can be, you don’t need a magic wand to find keywords that make a difference to your bank account. 🪄In fact, Google offers most of these tools for you! 

1.  Google keyword planner

The only prerequisite here is to have a Google Ads account, as this will give you access to Keyword Planner. This PPC keyword research tool is invaluable in being able to discover new keywords, getting search volume estimates and competition levels or bid ranges. 

You can then begin entering seed keywords, filter them by location and explore the keyword ideas this generates. You’ll want to pay close attention to the ‘top of page bid (low range)’ and ‘top of page bid (high range)’ because this will help you estimate any potential costs involved. 🤑

2.  Competitor analysis tools (e.g., SEMrush, Ahrefs)

Although these tools are not free, they do help you in being able to spy on your competitors 😎, which is key in outbidding your competitors when needed. You’ll be able to see what keywords your competitors are bidding on, their estimated ad spend and their ad copy, and whilst we do not condone copy & paste in this scenario, you’ll be able to uncover some golden nuggets. 🌟

This way, you’ll be able to refine your PPC keyword strategy and enjoy the fruits of your labour! 

3.  Google Search Console (for existing campaigns)

If you already have a website with organic traffic, Google Search Console can show you the actual search queries people used to find your site. This is invaluable for identifying “real-world” user intent and potential long-tail keywords you’re already ranking for organically.

4.  Your own website’s internal search

You can even utilise the search bar on your website to analyse the terms that users are searching for. This information will tell you exactly what the audience is looking for from your business. 

A winning PPC keyword research strategy 🏆

So, you know what PPC keyword research tools to use, but what’s next? How do you implement your PPC keyword research strategy so that your business gains actionable leads? 

Let’s look at this step-by-step, shall we? 

Brainstorming and ideation

This is where you can get your creative juices flowing. Start with broader terms that are related to your product or service using seed keywords, and you’ll then be able to build on from this. 🌱For example, if you sell running shoes, start with seed keywords like: 

• “Running shoes”
• “Trainers” 

2.  Embrace long-tail keywords

Long-tail keywords are more specific phrases that can be targeted with your PPC keyword strategy. These are golden for PPC as they have lower competition, higher intent and often convert at a much better rate due to the user knowing exactly what they want. Long-tail keywords also tend to be cheaper per click. 

3.  Competitor keyword spying 

In digital marketing and PPC, spying is ethical 👀and, in fact, is crucial to keep up with your competitors. Using PPC keyword research tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs will help you identify the PPC keywords your competitors are bidding on. Take your time to understand why they’re bidding on these terms and if they align with what your business is offering. 

4.  Audience-centric research

What problems can you solve with your PPC keyword research? Think of the issues your products and services can solve by browsing social media groups, customer review sites and forums. Make sure that you use the same language to help engage your audience more. 🤓

Keyword match types for precision targeting

Google Ads uses “match types” to control how broadly or narrowly your ads are displayed based on a user’s search query. So, as you can imagine, it is extremely important to choose the right match type so that you can control your ad spend and reach the perfect audience! 

Broad match 

A broad match type uses keywords that are entered as plain text in Google Ads and can also show for misspellings, synonyms, related searches or any other relevant variations. Broad match type keywords will have a wider reach and are good for discovery. 

With broad match keywords, however, you run the risk of getting irrelevant clicks as your ad may show for something that has no relevance to your product. This can lead to a waste of ad spend. In this case, make sure that you add all of the irrelevant keywords to your negative keyword list on Google Ads. 

To use broad match keywords as successfully as possible, it’s extremely important to have high-quality conversion tracking in place. Google will optimise campaigns based on high-quality conversion tracking, meaning that over time, your broad match campaigns are more likely to succeed. 

Phrase match

Phrase match keywords offer a good balance between broad match terms and exact matches. They will contain the exact keyword phrase and need to appear in the search query in the same order as what you have defined them. You can then have additional words either before or after the phrase. Phrase match keywords will attract more relevant clicks compared to broad match keywords, which will allow you to control your ad spend. 

Note from our head of Paid Media: Phrase match keywords have decreased in quality, often underperforming compared to both exact match and broad match keywords. We therefore recommend exercising caution when looking at using this match type!

Exact match

Exact match keywords are the most precise type of keywords you can get when conducting your PPC keyword research. This type gives you the highest control over when your ads will appear, only showing your ad when the exact, or a contextually similar phrase is searched. 

Exact match keywords can also include: 

• Plurals or singulars
• Misspellings
• Abbreviations and acronyms
• Accents
• Reordered words that don’t change the meaning
• Words added or removed that don’t change the meaning

The best thing about exact match keywords is that they are highly targeted, and the conversion rates are usually extremely high. 

Negative keywords ❌

This is probably the most overlooked aspect of PPC keyword research, but it is extremely useful for conversion. As mentioned above, negative keywords are terms that you don’t want included in your ads because they prevent your ads from appearing in irrelevant searches. This will automatically help you save money and improve your Quality Score. 

Identifying negative keywords

• Brainstorming 🧠: Think of terms that are unrelated to your business
• Search term reports is 📊: Regularly review your Google Ads ‘search terms report, as this shows the actual queries people searched that trigger your ads. 
• Competitor names if your business is not selling the same products 📣

Structuring your campaigns for success

The last step in conducting effective PPC keyword research is to ensure that you organise your keywords in the right way. Here’s how  ⬇️

• • Ad Groups based on tightly themed keywords: You need to make sure that you’re grouping your keywords into specific ad groups rather than mixing them up.
  • Keyword relevancy to ad copy and landing pages: Ensure that each ad group has ad copy that directly reflects the keywords within it. Also, the landing page that users access through your ad needs to be highly relevant to those keywords, too. 

Effective PPC keyword research is an ongoing task that needs to be fluid and slightly reactive so that it keeps up with the digital landscape and what users are searching for. As search changes, so should your PPC keyword analysis. 

Using the right PPC keyword research tools for your analysis is key to being able to hit your target every time. 🎯 Allow Assisted to help you reach your audience by conducting keyword research on your behalf, building targeted and high-converting campaigns. With the perfect mix of keyword match terms. Contact us on 01788 288020 for more information!