a simple strategy on how to choose keywords for adwords

Quite often the challenging part for beginners, is the task of choosing and configuring keywords for different ad groups in Google Adwords. The most common questions usually include: What if I do it wrong and choose the wrong keywords? Why don't I get enough clicks or traffic? Why does it cost so much?

All of these questions are either directly or indirectly related to the process of choosing keywords. To be honest, there is really no right or wrong way to choose keywords. The keywords that work for you may be completely different from the keywords that work for somebody else. So, with out going through the process of choosing and running the ad group, it is hard to know what would work the best.

Ideally, you need a strategy that minimizes the impact of selecting or using a keyword that does not work for you. Here is a four step process that I often use and recommend. I use it on most ad groups, especially to start with. Once you have the ad group up and running for a reasonable amount of time, you can further optimize it based on the analytic data.

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choose keywords with at least three words

When you choose a particular keyword, make sure that it is not a very generic keyword. The keyword should have at least three words. Generic one word keywords are usually expensive and have a lot of competition. If and when appropriate you could use a two word phrase as well, but i generally suggest to start with 3 word keywords.

Depending on the product or service you are trying to advertise, it may be possible to come up with even longer keywords. If you can, then longer the keyword the better in this case.

choose phrases that occur in your landing page

The best place to find keywords is your own website or landing pages. Assuming that you already have landing page that you accurately describes (or sells) what you are trying to market, use it as a starting point to find your keywords. Any three word phrases that you have used to describe your service or product is a good candidate for the keyword.

In most cases, you should first work on the landing page to enhance and optimize the content of the page. Once you have the content for the landing page, it is much easier to identify the keywords that accurately describe your product/service etc.

always use phrase match type

The match type specifies how your keywords are matched against search queries. Using phrase match type for your keyword has many advantages, especially when it comes to the budget and cost. I recommend that you start with phrase match for all your keywords initially, before changing it to exact or broad match types.

use chosen keywords in your ad text

Also, use the keywords that you have chosen in the ad text that you create. This makes the ad more relevant to your keywords as well as your landing pages. This can also improve the overall CTR and the quality score of your keyword.

The main purpose of this strategy is to minimize the cost and to minimize the impact of poorly chosen keywords on the budget. Once you have such an ad group set up, you can monitor the performance of the ad group regularly and choose to add more keyword or remove them.