How To Do Effective Keyword Research

When it comes to pay-per-click (PPC) marketing campaigns, keyword research is essential. 

Since PPC keywords are lower in the funnel and convert at a higher rate, effective keyword research is crucial to distinguish the more appropriate keywords to meet your goal.

Effective keyword research can help you find the keywords that your target audience actively looks for in search engines. 

Determine Your Goals

Determining the end goal of your PPC campaign is the first step. Keep a planner with smaller and larger goals to help you get where you want. 

These are some examples of questions you have to answer before even kicking off the campaign:

• Who are you as a brand?
• What is your brand about?
• What separates you from your competitors?

Once you have figured these out, you will need to determine the mission of your brand; Whether it is to increase the number of subscriptions or reach certain sales goals by a specific date.

Create A List of Relevant Topics

Consider making a list of relevant topics about your business and note how they relate to your personas before kickstarting your campaign.

If you have a brand that specializes in fitness, some topics that would be related to your brand could be:

• General Fitness
• Meditation
• Cardiovascular
• Yoga

You will want to think about topics that your target audience searches in Google.

Find A Good Keyword Research Tools

Google Keyword Planner is the perfect tool to research keywords. 

You can make lists of possible keywords for PPC campaigns by using Google’s keyword planner. The lists can range in the hundreds and even thousands of keywords. 

Websites like Ahrefs, SEMrush and Answer the Public can serve as other tools available to use online.

When Doing Competitive Keyword Research

Competitive keyword research can help online businesses decipher what keywords their competitors are using to target their audience. 

You can use the Google Keyword Planner to determine the keywords your competitors are using. The website also warns you if you have the URL of your competitor, who provides the same products or service. 

Finding the keywords your competition uses to target its audience can help you find ways to find clicks.

Understand Your Geographical Area

You want to make sure that the audience you target is within your geographical location. Setting your keywords to a specific location can help websites appear higher in search engines.

Search engines will give your website pages a bad rank if the keywords used do not align with the location you are targeting.

Identify Targeted Short- and Long-Tail Keywords

Once you have made your keyword list, you will want to find the short and long-tail keywords you want to use. 

Short-tail keywords are often one-word search terms that relate to your brand’s main topic. 

On the other hand, long-tail keywords are more descriptive and help find the search intent of your target audience. Long-tail keywords do not get as many clicks as short-tail keywords. However, they often have a higher conversion rate.

Use Keywords Based on Your Website Content

It is paramount to make sure that your keywords align themselves with the content within your website. 

The keywords based on your website’s content can help your pages to rank higher.

Making sure you choose the right keywords for your site or campaign can help searchers understand what your site provides.