1,000 keywords v. just 3

[DROBNJAK]

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I am a newbie, thus the question.

Why people use 1,000 keywords in a PPC campaigns, split into ad-groups, when it is logical ( to me ) that consumers would only use 2 or 3 terms to look for product?

When one looks up on Google Ad Words tool, he/she can clearly see that bulk of searches goes to few keywords. Another indication is competition's ads would pile on converting words, while there would be no ads on non-converting words.

I guess, that non-converting keywords even when dirt cheap, are still not profitable? So what is the wisdom of canvasing with 1,000 keywords?

dejan

[99MWD99]

Because you can set up laser targeted landing pages for each ad group.

For example I have a campaign running that has about 6,000 keywords. These keywords are in tightly nit ad groups and each ad group had about 5-10 keywords in.

To keep your quality score high and thus your ad costs low, keyword, ad and landing page must be all be of good quality and be relavent to each other.

I then point these ad groups to dynamic landing pages which have exactly what the searcher is looking for.

Another reason for many keywords and ad groups is that some campaigns are geo-targeted. An example of this is dating:

dating liverpool
singles liverpool
lesbian dating liverpool
women liverpool

etc....

if you mutliply this by all the towns and cities in the UK then you have quite a big keyword list to manage.

[bazza99]

Hi Dejan,

There are a number of reasons why PPC advertisers might look to use a large number of keywords, separated into ad groups that allow them to produce ad copy that is closely related to the keywords.

As you note, 2 and 3 word phrases are likely to get the most searches, but this also means that they are the most competitive and hence will lead to higher costs per click.

Longer phrases will often be more profitable because there is less competition (and hence lower advertising costs), while conversion rates may be considerably higher.

To give an example, if you were trying to sell Ford Fiestas then you might find that there are hundreds of searches each day on the search term "Ford Fiesta". There may also be a considerable amount of competition. This means that your CPC is likely to be high.

The conversion rate may be poor. After all, how many people searching on that term are about to make a purchase?

In that example, it might make more sense to bid on a phrase like: "buy a Ford Fiesta online". Although that phrase will only get a tiny fraction of the clicks, it will have a much higher conversion rate.

You'll also be able to write an ad that is highly targetted to that longer phrase. This will increase the % of people clicking on your ad and should also reduce your cost per click still further over time.

Hope that makes some sense!

Keith

[DROBNJAK]

... targeting longer phrases ...

I actually read article on "bum marketing" where guy was specifically going after left out longer phrases with links from articles websites.

d.