Targeting Clickthroughs and Conversion Rates with Search Ads
When optimizing your paid ads to target specific keywords, we recommend including the appropriate keyword(s) in the following context:
Ad Title
The title of your ad will be the first thing users see – it must draw the user into the ad to encourage a read of the ad content. Ad titles that contain the exact text that a user searched for is far more likely to get a click. Thus, it's wise to create ads with as much specificity as possible. Although many ad programs will let you create one ad targeting many different
Ad Copy
Employing your targeted keywords in your ad copy results in higher click-through-rates. Don't stuff the keywords in needlessly, though – use them in an intelligently-written fashion in well-crafted copy for best results.
URL
Search marketing programs allow you to use a display URL that differs from the actual URL the link refers to. Use this as an opportunity to craft a short, user-friendly, and keyword-laden URL.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
In Google Adwords (and Yahoo! Search Marketing), click-through rate heavily influences your ad's position, the price you pay and your propensity to be displayed in the results. All of the factors mentioned above, along with creativity and rigid testing can help you to drive up your ad's CTR.
Landing Page Quality
Google (and perhaps Yahoo!) is using landing page quality to approve/deny ads, measure how relevant landing page is and determine price and position of ads in their search results. Keywords used, quality of site design, relevance to the topic and user experience all figure into this somewhat subjective and secretive scoring mechanism.
Conversion Rate
Google, Yahoo and MSN all offer integrated analytics to track conversions. When you set up a PPC account, you insert code from the service onto the page and it will track the unique “actions” (i.e. an “add to cart,” form submission or signup). Higher conversion rates, like landing page quality, will influence cost per click prices, placement in the results and how often your ad is displayed.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Final Thoughts: Best Practices for Keyword Research & Targeting
The practice of keyword research seems straightforward at first – type a few relevant terms into a tool, get some results, target the good ones on your site, and watch the traffic roll in. In practice, however, the intricacies of every portion of this process make it invaluable to know the ins and outs of keyword search marketing. A few of the most important takeaways from this document include:
Keyword Tools Provide Relative Numbers, not Accurate Predictions
Be wary of using the keyword tools to forecast exactly how much traffic will come to your website. The vast differences in the estimations provided and the disparity of sources can mean that even the highest rankings won't bring in the level of visitors predicted (or that the predictions will be dwarfed by reality). Use the tools to determine which terms and phrases are more popular than another, but don't trust anything but real numbers garnered through test campaign experience to predict real volume.
Brainstorm Terms Cautiously
Remember to think about the value of a visitor who's come to your site via the term or phrase you target. The more specific the query, the higher the chance of conversion, so don't rule out less voluminous searches. The keyword tools can be great sources of brainstorming material, but they all require a solid starting point, and it's up to you to know enough about your industry to determine what keyword niches will provide value.
Keyword Targeting
Title tags, URLs, headlines, and text content are all good places to put your important terms, but beware of stuffing or spamming – the engines may penalize your site. It's also wise to remember that anchor text can have a huge impact on rankings – make sure to include keyword in anchor text when relevant.
The Long Tail
Oftentimes, the greatest amount of value in search referrals comes from the “long tail” of rarely-searched, low volume keywords. You can attract these visitors by writing consistently fresh, updated content on your site in the form of a blog, wiki, article list, newsletter, or even user-generated content.
Keyword Cannibalization
A common problem in keyword targeting is to attempt to attract the same search terms on many different pages on a site. While occasionally targeting the same keywords on a couple pages is unavoidable, be wary of using the same terms on every page's title tag and header. Instead, write more detailed pieces to target long tail terms and link back to the high-level, targeted page with the proper anchor text.
Keyword Tools Provide Relative Numbers, not Accurate Predictions
Be wary of using the keyword tools to forecast exactly how much traffic will come to your website. The vast differences in the estimations provided and the disparity of sources can mean that even the highest rankings won't bring in the level of visitors predicted (or that the predictions will be dwarfed by reality). Use the tools to determine which terms and phrases are more popular than another, but don't trust anything but real numbers garnered through test campaign experience to predict real volume.
Brainstorm Terms Cautiously
Remember to think about the value of a visitor who's come to your site via the term or phrase you target. The more specific the query, the higher the chance of conversion, so don't rule out less voluminous searches. The keyword tools can be great sources of brainstorming material, but they all require a solid starting point, and it's up to you to know enough about your industry to determine what keyword niches will provide value.
Keyword Targeting
Title tags, URLs, headlines, and text content are all good places to put your important terms, but beware of stuffing or spamming – the engines may penalize your site. It's also wise to remember that anchor text can have a huge impact on rankings – make sure to include keyword in anchor text when relevant.
The Long Tail
Oftentimes, the greatest amount of value in search referrals comes from the “long tail” of rarely-searched, low volume keywords. You can attract these visitors by writing consistently fresh, updated content on your site in the form of a blog, wiki, article list, newsletter, or even user-generated content.
Keyword Cannibalization
A common problem in keyword targeting is to attempt to attract the same search terms on many different pages on a site. While occasionally targeting the same keywords on a couple pages is unavoidable, be wary of using the same terms on every page's title tag and header. Instead, write more detailed pieces to target long tail terms and link back to the high-level, targeted page with the proper anchor text.