A lot has changed over the years with Google Ads, specifically best practices for keyword building. Without going into all the important components of Google ads, keyword research is very important and here are some tips for narrowing down a list of keywords.
The keywords that you choose determines what your business is known for. You want to be shown in search results only for the keywords that will lead customers to your website that will result in a conversion, such as make a purchase or fill a form. When you perform keyword research, you are really finding is a list of words that are highly relevant to your business so you will show up in search results when people are searching for products and services that you offer.
- The best place to start is your website! Your website and landing page (where you plan on linking your ads) should contain all the keywords that you need. Scan the website and make a list of the keywords that you think your customers may search for.
- Pretend that you are your own customer. What keywords or phrases would you type in the search bar to bring yourself to your own website? Or what would you ask your voice-led devices, such as Google Home? On the keyboard, you may type “best jewellery store” but if you’re on your phone, you may say, “Where’s the best jewellery store near me?” You will end up with a combination of phrases and keywords in your list.
- I like to include variations in my keyword list. For example, I would include both ways of spelling “jewellery” and “jewelry.” Try combining keywords together too. For example, “women’s diamond rings,” “rings for women,” “diamond rings for women.”
- Not only do I like to add variety to my keyword list, but I also like to be specific. Even though a long-tail keyword such as “14KT White Gold Citrine Diamond Ring in Canada” may not receive 100,000 searches a month, but you will know that when a customer searches exactly “14KT White Gold Citrine Diamond Ring in Canada,” the customer is more than likely to convert on your website.
- Use keyword research tools! Now that you have a long list of keywords, phrases, and search terms, the keyword research tools can help you determine which ones to keep or axe off your list. They provide great insights into how popular the keywords are, competition rank, etc. My favourite tool is Google’s Keyword Planner and SEMrush. You can also find which keywords you rank for in Google Analytics or Google Search Console.
Over time, you will see which keywords are performing and which ones are underperforming. You can pause the underperformers and bid more on other keywords. You may also see that you are showing up for words not relevant to your business. In this case, you want to add those words to your negative keywords list to ensure you are not wasting your money on clicks that are not related to your business.
So do your research and keep your eye on its performance. Nothing is ever set in stone in the digital world so you can always make changes when needed!