Picking the Right Keywords

Last time on the blog, we walked new users through getting started and setting up their first AdWords campaign. There is a lot to be said for the importance of having a clear goal and a carefully named campaign. You will spend even more of your time in digital marketing however, on keywords. What exactly are keywords? How do they work? And how can you be sure that you pick the right ones to help your campaign be as successful as possible? Picking the Right Keywords is easier than you think.

Let’s have a look.

Making Up Ad Groups

Keywords do several things for your campaigns. First and foremost, they are fundamental building blocks that make up the structure of your campaign. After you’ve created the campaign and given it a name, it’s time to create ad groups to fill it up. Ad groups are groups of ads connected by a common theme or concept, as their name suggests. What binds these ads together? Keywords. Use keywords to group your ads into ad groups, and from there, your campaign’s structure will be secure.

Further, keywords help users, and Google decide if your ad is relevant to a user’s query. The keywords you select for a campaign act as “triggers” which decide if your ad should appear on a search or not. When a user makes a query, if it is relevant to one of your keywords, then your ad might show up on the results. The central “key” to success with AdWords comes in picking the right keywords. No pun intended.

Where to Begin

When you first create a new campaign or ad group, generating keywords out of the gate can be difficult. How can you know exactly what will be relevant to users’ searches before you’ve received any yet? Thankfully, AdWords can help you with its handy keyword planner. The planner appears at the right side of the screen when you’re adding new keywords to an adgroup or campaign. If you tell Google your website’s URL, and a brief description, then AdWords can help generate a list of keywords for you to get started with. All you need to do to add these ideas to your campaign is simply click the sign to the left of them. Don’t like an idea, or think it’s relevant? No problem. You can simply ignore it or try it and remove it later. At any time, you can always move to the left side of your screen and manually input other keywords that you feel are relevant or valuable to your campaign. You should start with Google’s suggestions there. Remember though that this isn’t complete. They are not necessarily a comprehensive list.

The Next Step

After you create your starting list, you can return to the planner at any time in the “tools” menu in AdWords. Generally speaking, you’ll also want to understand more about the different keyword types and when to use them, though that’s more advanced than we’ll get for this article.

After generating your list, make sure to save your work! Don’t waste time on management. Spend the time you save on keyword generation on finding other ways to grow your business.

Conclusion

Know that keywords are the fundamental building blocks of every AdWords campaign you create and manage. They trigger your ads, help users and Google see which queries are relevant to your ads, and form the structure of every campaign. They help distinguish and sort your ad groups by theme. Getting a solid grip on how keywords work is the first step to truly mastering Google AdWords.

Happy Marketing!

For further reading, check out these articles:

How to Choose the Right Keywords for SEO by Jacob Millen.

Choosing the Right Keywords from the blog