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To enhance your online advertising efforts, PPC keyword research plays an impactful role. The right combination of keywords can help your ads appear in front of more people while matching the audience’s search intent.

Without conducting thorough PPC keyword research, you can’t create more precise advertisements and landing pages that entice consumers to click. 

Therefore, PPC keyword research is unavoidable as it can eventually result in more website conversions and a favorable return on your ad spendings.

In order to help you take your marketing performance to the next level, this blog shares strategies on how to do keyword research for PPC.

So, Read on!

Learn More: 12 Most Effective Ways To Increase Your PPC Conversion Rate

What Does PPC Keyword Research Mean?

A definition post explaining the meaning of PPC keyword researchChoosing keywords to use in pay-per-click advertising campaigns, typically via Google Ads or other search engine marketing platforms, is known as PPC keyword research.

The aim is to find the keywords you plan to bid on for your PPC campaigns. When visitors search for such terms, your ads will appear.

You can gauge the significance of PPC keyword research by the fact that a list of 15–30 highly relevant keywords works better than a longer list of less relevant keywords.

Important Categories For Keyword Research for PPC

The following categories may help you in your PPC keyword research:

Generic terms: These are the common terms that your audience may be using. These can revolve around your services or products.

Related terms: People interested in your goods or services may be searching for them even though they have nothing to do with what you’re selling.

Competitor Keywords: you can borrow the relevant terms of rival companies that provide goods and services comparable to yours.

Brand terms: These keywords contain your proprietary terms and brand name. For instance, if your brand name is Max Comfort and you sell furniture, the terms will be Sofas by Max Comfort or Max Comfort recliners.

Components That Help You With the Financial Aspects

Average Monthly Searches: The quantity of times a keyword is entered into a search engine each month.

Cost Per Click (CPC): It is the amount you’ll pay each time a user clicks on your ad when it shows up for a certain keyword. 

Competition (CMP): A Google Ads Keyword Planner score ranging from 0 to 100 that represents the degree of competition for a keyword’s ad placement. Low, medium, and high keywords are indicated while searching for new ones in Keyword Planner.

Top of Page Bid: An approximation of the amount you must pay for a specific keyword to guarantee that your ad appears in that phrase’s search results. This aspect may change over time. For this, again, you can use Keyword Planner to get a low-range and high-range estimate.

How to Do Keyword Research for PPC: 9 Key Strategies

An infographic explaining how to do keyword research for PPC in nine stepsNow that you are aware of the fundamentals of PPC keyword research, let’s walk you through the creation of an effective strategy.

1. Determine Your Niche & Goals

Selecting your company’s appropriate industry or niche is the first step before utilizing a PPC keyword research strategy. 

You may attract the wrong kind of clientele, who may never convert if you do it incorrectly.

Consider the kinds of goods or services you provide and start noting every product and service you provide on paper.

Similarly, prior to commencing PPC keyword research for your business, you must establish your campaign’s objectives. 

Here are the two campaign goals for PPC keyword research:

Metric objectives: Desired number of clicks or conversions during a specific time frame

Conversion objectives: Help determine the actions you want the audience to take to convert.

2. Find Relevant Keywords

Once you know which road you are on, it’s time for the real work in your PPC keyword research journey.

First, you have to make a list of potential terms that align with your marketing objectives and target audience.

This entails examining keyword performance and rankings. Consider the keywords most appropriate for your particular items, brand names, and target audience.

By making categories for different terms while doing PPC keyword research, you can avoid confusion. 

You can create new keywords related to the ones you type into the search field using tools like Google’s Keyword Planner or SEMrush.

If you are new to keyword research for digital marketing, read You Need To Know About Google Search Console Keywords Research.

That said, you have to pay attention to elements like:

Search volume: Pick terms that people look for a lot. This guarantees a sufficient prospective audience for your advertisements to warrant your investment.

Use Suitable terms: Prioritize search terms with a transactional (ready to buy) or commercial (product research) intent, which has a higher chance of generating revenue.

Competitive density: Seek out terms where fewer marketers are placing bids. If there is less competition, you can obtain ad places at lower prices.

Personal Keyword Difficulty (PKD%): Seek keywords with a lower PKD%, which signals that your site can rank easily. If the range is between 85 to 100%, it means it is very difficult. Alternatively, the number ranges from 0-14%, which denotes the easiest level.

The difficulty of the keyword competition for your domain to rank in the top 10 search engine results pages (SERPs) is indicated by this number.

3. Include Long-Tail Keywords in the List

While shorter keywords may have some benefits, it’s usually a good idea to concentrate mostly on long-tail keywords for PPC keyword research. 

They work for PPC keyword research as they are more tailored to the search intent of the user. 

Not only that, but they are also more precise and attract more relevant traffic. 

The best advantage is that there are typically lower bids and less competition for long-tail keywords.

Normally, a smaller number of businesses bid on them since they are more specific, which results in fewer businesses bidding overall. 

Related Blog: Long Tail vs. Short Tail Keywords: How to Find the Best Ones for Your Content Strategy

4. Use Negative Keywords

Think about what you don’t want your brand to be associated with or noticed for and what you want to show for. 

Include negative keywords in your PPC keyword research to improve targeting accuracy and steer clear of clicks that are of no use. 

5. Incorporate Product Terms 

Adding these to your PPC keyword research means that you explain the hows and whys of your goods or services. 

They are useful, self-explanatory terms that people use when they’re trying to find a product or service that will solve a certain issue.

Your objective is to develop a product phrase collection that closely aligns with your offer. For instance, these keywords may include sofa cleaning ideas, finding cheap furniture, and many more.

6. Consider Voice Search Optimization 

Voice search on mobile devices is becoming increasingly common. People will express their questions aloud and let their phones interpret them when they don’t feel like typing them out. 

As it is the new big thing, it starts to affect the types of searches people conduct.

They may say something like, “How can I find the best furniture?” in complete phrases. As the average voice search result is in natural language, you can focus on full-sentence keywords pertinent to your company’s ad to attract these users.

7. Focus on Branded Keywords

Targeting branded keywords, or phrases that include brand names from both you and your rivals, is another simple method to use in PPC keyword research. 

Some consumers may conduct searches just for your company. The last thing you want is for them to see PPC ads that belong to your rivals.

8. Utilize the Keywords of Your Rivals

You probably want to rank for whatever keywords your rivals are currently using, and you want to outrank them specifically.

You can use tools like SpyFu to determine the terms for which your rivals rank. The tool also allows you to monitor your keywords and make necessary changes as you move forward.

After obtaining a list of keywords from your rivals, concentrate on creating content that helps you win over the audience.

9. Track & Improve Your Keyword’s List

You need to closely monitor the performance of the keywords you have acquired from the PPC keyword research. 

In fact, PPC keyword research is an ongoing activity that requires constant improvement and modification. 

If you find that certain keywords are not yielding the desired results, you can replace them with more effective ones. 

In the next section, you will find suitable PPC keyword research tools.

6 Keyword Research Tools for PPC

The following list will help you get the best keyword research tool for PPC:

1. Google Keyword Planner 

Google’s Keyword Planner is the most well-known and popular tool for PPC keyword research. It can give you a general idea of organizing ad groups and using broad keywords.

Using only this tool for PPC keyword research won’t be a smart decision as it has its limitations.

Advertisers can use this tool to research fresh keywords and ad group ideas. For every keyword, Google’s tool offers statistics such as search volume and estimated average cost per click. 

2. Übersuggest 

It is a tool that suggests keywords. Take your head term, put a letter or number before it, and then simultaneously extract suggestions for that phrase.

Ubersuggest can assist you in identifying niche topics to investigate inside your head phrase and is also useful for long-tail keyword research.

However, it’s generic and should be used to generate ideas and expand your PPC keyword research lists. 

3. SpyFu

Spyfu is a popular keyword research tool for PPC. It provides several helpful features that can help you boost ad conversion rates and enhance your digital marketing campaigns. 

It provides a wide range of keyword management options at a reasonable cost.

It is great for competitor analysis for PPC keyword research and to learn more about their traffic-boosting strategies. 

All PPC and CPC metrics and search results will be included in the reports, making it useful for SEO as well.

4. WordStream Free Keyword Tool

It is a versatile PPC keyword research tool that is downloadable and customizable. 

Input your website’s URL, industry, and area on the Wordstream Keyword tool to get a comprehensive list of keywords, including volume, cost, and competition information.

5. SEMRush

SEMRush can help you optimize the keywords on your website. 

This tool allows you to examine rival websites and view further information regarding ranking, conversion rates, and a host of other features.

You will have access to all important keyword metrics, product listing ads, historical data analysis, and other helpful information for PPC keyword research.

6. Google Trends

Google Trends is a free tool that helps estimate keyword popularity by offering information on term popularity over time in particular places.  

When using Google Keyword Planner, you can easily complete a number of tasks correctly. 

This entails locating keyword groups and categories, spotting seasonal patterns, locating pertinent subjects, and discovering fresh terms that rivals still need to adopt.

FAQs 

How can I pick the best PPC keywords? 

After thoroughly grasping your target audience, prioritize keywords according to search volume, competitiveness, and relevancy. You may also use tools like Google Keyword Planner to identify pertinent terms.

What are negative keywords in PPC keyword research? 

These are the keywords you should exclude from your campaign. You may improve targeting and ad spend efficiency by preventing ads from appearing in irrelevant searches.

How frequently should my PPC keywords be updated? 

To keep up with emerging trends and changes in the competition, examine and adjust your keywords regularly—ideally once a month or whenever you feel the need.

Contact The Dreams Agency for PPC Campaigns in Canada

There you have it–this is how you can conduct PPC keyword research effectively.

As you proceed, remember long-tail keywords that can be more affordable, focused, and less competitive.

Search intent is essential for matching keywords to user requirements. Relying only on high-volume keywords may be costly and highly competitive.

If you want to play the cards right while carrying out PPC keyword research, The Dreams Agency is always a call away!

Our experts can help you create, monitor, and modify your digital marketing strategies to get the best outcomes possible.