Keywords Selection for Google Adwords

Awarded at Toronto "Ultra Advanced SEO Symposium" Nov. 2005.

Here's another example of the vital importance of keyword research and intelligent use of the keyword (for keyword you can substitute "market niche") information discovered.

As has been pointed out so many times on this website .... it is impossible to do well on the Internet unless effective keyword research is done in advance of website design.

When it comes to using PPC (pay per click) campaigns like Google Adwords it is even more important to do thorough and exhaustive keyword research since this is the only way way you will ever get high volume and cost effective traffic to your website. And since you are spending money to do this obviously you want to maximise ROI

Companies and individuals with the online market research skills and knowledge and who understand the critical importance of determining what real people want to achieve when they do search and are able to effectively plan and implement the use of advanced keyword research will always outperform in a massive way those with less skills and shorter less targeted keyword lists. This is why so many companies always outsource PPC campaigns rather than attempt to do in house.

We believe our skills will typically increase targeted traffic using Google Adwords by dramatic amounts and at the same time will probably reduce the overall campaign cost per click by anything up to 75% within a 2 months period of managing a campaign that already exists.

You can expect to get charged a combination of fixed and variable fees by outsourcing effective Google Adword campaign set up and management. Typically we would charge about R2,000 to get a basic campaign set up and then 20% of adspend thereafter with a guaranteed minimum monthly fee over a specific period of time.

When you commission any outside organisation to install and manage a PPC campaign do not expect to claim ownership of any of the work done in the event of cancellation of a contract. The reasons are that the success is in the skilled set up and ongoing management of a campaign.

In summary successful Google Adword campaigns depend upon following:

Ongoing keyword research and refinement based upon campaign feedback and other information sources

Efficient keyword list extension

Selection of correct keyword bid amounts down to individual keywords where it makes sense to do this (which it does most of the time)

Incorporation of appropriate keyword type (eg broad match or phrase match) into campaigns and ad groupings