By Dave Laney, Search Analyst
Do you really know what your best keywords are? Do you really know which ad copy will generate the best response from your customers? If you haven’t done Pay-Per-Click (PPC) research, you probably don’t.
Using PPC, also known as Paid Search, to do Search Engine Optimization (SEO) research is not only smart, it’s fast and it’s inexpensive. You can get feedback almost instantly, and you can change things on the fly. SEO takes much longer and it’s a bigger investment. So why not optimize that investment by doing some low-cost, up-front paid search? You can use PPC to improve organic rankings and increase conversions. Here’s a step-by-step guide for doing effective PPC research.
1. Define your business goals
What do you want to achieve? Sales, leads, downloads? Clearly define your business goals and objectives.
2. Create your keyword list
Be sure to cast a wide net--this process is all about discovery. Sometimes consumers search for keywords differently than those in the industry. Using variations and synonyms can help you uncover some gems.
3. Build your campaign
- Create ad groups from the keyword list with tightly grouped themes
- Be sure to add negative keywords for terms that you don’t want associated with your campaign
- Write ads that reflect the keywords and business goals
- Always include a clear call to action in the ad copy
- If possible, send the traffic to the landing page most relevant to the keyword and ad copy content
- Make sure your goals are set up properly in analytics--track as much as you can
4. Monitor and tweak the campaign
Once you start your campaign you should be able to tell what’s working and what’s not within a few weeks. The key metrics to monitor are clicks, click-through rate, conversions, conversion rate, and bounce rate. Use the Google AdWords search query report to find more keywords and keyword phrases that are being matched to your existing list. Add the high-volume keywords and any new synonyms to your campaign. Add more negative keywords if necessary. Try your ads with and without keyword insert (be careful not to include competitor brands with dynamic keyword insert). You should run the test for at least one month to ensure you have enough actionable data. A three-month test is even better.
5. Apply the results to SEO
When your PPC research campaign is over, it’s time to apply your findings to your SEO. Start with your keywords. Find the best 10-15 top-performing keywords. There are many tools out there to help you determine the ranking difficulty of keywords.
You’re better off avoiding the most competitive keywords right away, because it will be very difficult to rank high, if not impossible. You want to find high-converting, high-volume keywords with low-to-medium competitiveness. If you have the budget, you should keep your optimized PPC campaign running. This will help drive additional high-quality traffic to your site with measurable ROI.
Analyze your ad copy. Use your best-performing ads as a guide for your title and description tags. You can even use your title and description tags as an “ad” for your site. When writing your titles and descriptions, don’t be afraid to include things like pricing, deadlines, excitement and a strong call to action. In addition, be sure to include your keywords in places like heading tags, alt tags, anchor text, URLs, file names, navigation, etc.
Finally, analyze the content on the rest of the site. Add unique keywords, titles and descriptions to each page. Incorporate them into your content and tags naturally. Make it look serendipitous and don’t overstuff them.
Other ways to use your newly researched keywords
Leverage your keywords in blogs and video content, which will boost your SEO rankings. Use them in social media--for example, tweet keyword-rich questions to your followers and retweet the best answers. You can get a lot of mileage out of a single low-cost, well-planned PPC research program. Give it a try and see.
