6 Easy & Powerful Tips to Optimise Your PPC Keywords for Best Results

The success of your PPC campaigns significantly hinges on the quality of your keywords. Although Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a powerful digital marketing instrument that enables you to connect with your desired audience online effectively, only a good keyword strategy can ensure that this approach guarantees your ads resonate with the correct audience, leading to an improved click-through rate (CTR), and a reduction in your cost per click (CPC). Read How to Use Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising to Drive Sales for more on PPC advertising.

Keywords are what you’re bidding on, and they ultimately determine who sees your ads. Your choice determines when and where your ads are displayed and who sees them. If the wrong ones are chosen, your ads won’t reach the right audience, wasting resources. Conversely, if you have the right keyword strategy, your ads are displayed to individuals interested in your offerings, increasing the likelihood of clicks and conversions.

1. Your Business, Audience & Keyword Strategy

Let’s say you run an online store specialising in handmade, artisanal soap bars, and you want to use PPC advertising to attract more customers to your website.

The first step in creating an effective keyword strategy is thoroughly understanding your business, unique product offerings, and target audience. What sets your soap bars apart? Whom are they for? What problems do they solve? What terms does your audience use when talking about these soap bars? The answers to these questions can guide your initial research.

2. Initial Keyword Research & Tools

Next, you will need to brainstorm a list of potential keywords for your business and offerings. Consider the words and phrases potential customers might use to find products like yours. In this case, obvious starting points might be “handmade soap,” “artisanal soap,” “organic soap,” etc. 

When you enter your initial keywords, the tool might suggest related keywords such as “vegan soap,” “natural soap,” “handmade soap gift set,” “scented handmade soap,” and so on. They can provide ideas based on your initial input and show you how often those terms are searched and how competitive they are.

• Google Keyword Planner: This is a free tool that’s part of Google Ads. It provides data about search volume, competition, and estimated bid costs.
• SEMrush: This comprehensive SEO tool includes a keyword research feature. It provides data on volume, difficulty, CPC, and more. It also shows the top-ranking pages for each keyword.
• Ahrefs: Known for its backlink analysis, Ahrefs also includes a powerful keyword research tool. It provides extensive data on difficulty, search volume, and click metrics.
• Moz Keyword Explorer: This tool offers suggestions, SERP analysis, and access to Moz’s keyword difficulty score. It also estimates the potential organic CTR for keywords.
• Ubersuggest: This free tool by Neil Patel provides a broad range of keyword suggestions, as well as data on search volume, difficulty, and competitive analysis.

For a detailed look at the top keyword research tools and their unique strengths, read the Top 10 Keyword Research Tools for E-commerce Businesses.

3. Using Keyword Research Tools

Once you’ve chosen a research tool, brainstorm a list of keywords relevant to your business. The tool gathers information about these keywords, including monthly search volumes, competitiveness, and bid costs. This data lets you narrow your list and select those most likely to drive success.

When you enter your initial keywords, the tool might suggest related keywords such as “vegan soap,” “natural soap,” “handmade soap gift set,” “scented handmade soap,” and so on. They can provide ideas based on your initial input and show you how often those terms are searched and how competitive they are.

Keyword research tools will also provide metrics like search volume (how often a keyword is searched for) and competition (how many other advertisers are bidding on that keyword). In general, you want to balance high search volume and low competition. However, high-competition keywords can still be valuable if they’re highly relevant to your business and have a good chance of leading to conversions.

After doing this research, you might end up with a list that includes a mixture of general, specific, long-tail, and local keywords, which can help attract relevant traffic to your website.

4. Choosing Keywords For PPC

Keywords are the words or phrases that internet users type into search engines. When you create the keyword strategy for your PPC campaigns, you identify the specific words or phrases you want your ads to show up for when potential customers conduct those searches.

When selecting creating a keyword plan for your PPC campaigns, consider the following factors in your selection process:

• Relevance: Your chosen keywords should align with your business and the products or services you offer, and they should be words or phrases that your target audience would use when looking for your offerings. The more relevant your keywords, the more likely you will attract qualified leads. Irrelevant keywords can lead to unnecessary clicks that cost money but don’t result in conversions. If you have a physical location or serve specific areas, include location-based keywords like “handmade soap in Auckland” or “artisanal soap in Auckland.”
• Search Volume: Aim for keywords with a high search volume, implying that these terms are frequently searched. However, extremely high search volumes can lead to higher competition and cost.
• Competition: Competitor analysis is another valuable strategy in the selection process. You should select words with lower competition. Highly competitive keywords may require higher bids to ensure your ads are seen. Look at the keywords your competitors are targeting in their PPC campaigns. While you should refrain from copying their strategy, this can give you ideas you might have overlooked.
• Search Intent: Understanding the intent behind search queries is crucial. Search intent refers to what users seek when entering a query into a search engine. Are they looking for information (informational intent), a specific website (navigational intent), or something to purchase (transactional intent)? Focusing on keywords with transactional intent for PPC campaigns can be more profitable as these users are further down the purchase funnel. Look for keywords that match the intent of your potential customers. To make sales, you want keywords with a buying intent, like “buy handmade soap online” or “best handmade soap for sensitive skin.”
• Long-tail Keywords: These are longer, more specific phrases that searchers will use when they’re closer to making a purchase or using voice search. They’re counterintuitive initially, but they can be hugely valuable if you know how to use them. For your handmade soap business, long-tail keywords might include “handmade lavender and chamomile soap” or “artisanal soap for dry skin.” These can be valuable because they’re often cheaper and attract targeted, high-converting traffic.

5. Incorporating Keywords into Your PPC Campaigns

After identifying the right keywords, you must integrate them into your PPC campaigns. Here’s how:

• Ad Groups: Once you have a list of potential keywords, you should organise them into groups based on themes or topics. This can help you structure your PPC campaigns and ad groups more effectively, leading to better ad relevance, performance, and result tracking.
• Ad Copy: Include keywords in your ad text to enhance visibility during relevant searches.
• Landing Pages: Ensure the destinations for individuals who click on your ads or landing pages incorporate your keywords. This strategy improves page relevance and can enhance ad quality scores.

6. Continuous Optimisation

Remember, keyword selection isn’t a one-time task but an ongoing process. It requires regular review and optimisation based on the performance data from your PPC campaigns. You should regularly review and update your keyword strategy based on performance data and any changes in your business or market.

Use the data to identify and focus on high-performing keywords while weeding out those that don’t contribute to conversions by ensuring your PPC campaigns reach the right people at the right time, ultimately driving more sales for your business.