F. Working with Keywords

Recall
from the previous module the importance of keywords, and about how they
make the affiliate marketer’s world go round. Later in this course,
we’ll get into how to create substantial keyword lists for your
campaigns. For now, we want to touch on the various tools and tips
AdWords makes available for constructing such a list.

The Google Keyword Tool

Whether
you are just starting out with your keyword list, or you have a list
and need to add to it, the Google Keywords Tool can help you out
immeasurably. Here is a list of the things this tool can do:

• Find new keywords, which you can add to your list
• Find negative keywords, which can reduce the number of untargeted clicks on your ad and thus improve your click-through rate
• Find expanded matches, which provide additional keywords that tie in to your ad
• Provide estimates of traffic on Google for each keyword, which can help you target your efforts

Generating a Keyword List

The
Keyword Tool is found on the Campaign Details page for each campaign.
Select the Keyword tab, click “Keyword Tool,” and conduct the following
steps:

• You will see a field labeled “How
  would you like to generate keyword ideas?” and three options to choose
  from: Descriptive words or phrases (the default setting), Website
  content, or Existing Keyword.
  • The
    Descriptive words or phrases option allows you to use terms that
    describe what you are selling as a basis for obtaining new keywords.
    • Enter terms in the field provided that describe your product.
    • Leave the Use Synonyms box checked; this will maximize your possible range of keyword results.
    • Filter
      your results by clicking on “Filter my results.” A field will appear
      that enables you to list words or phrases that you do not want included
      in the results.
    • Click on “Get Keyword Ideas” to generate a list of results that is ordered according to the relevance of the terms you entered.
  • The Website content option allows you to use content from any web page as the basis for obtaining new keywords.
    • Enter
      the full destination URL of a web page; you can do so either by
      checking the box marked “Include other pages on my site linked from
      this URL”; or by entering your own text in the box provided.
    • Filter
      your results by clicking on “Filter my results.” A field will appear
      that enables you to list words or phrases that you do not want included
      in the results.
    • Click on “Get Keyword Ideas” to generate
      a list of results that is ordered according to the relevance of the web
      page(s) you entered.
  • The Existing Keyword option
    allows you to use a keyword already on your list with a high
    click-through rate to generate additional keywords.
    • Filter
      your results by clicking on “Filter my results.” A field will appear
      that enables you to list words or phrases that you do not want included
      in the results.
    • Click on a keyword listed in the shaded
      area to generate a list of results, ordered according to the relevance
      of your selected keyword

Once you have
exercised one of these three options, you will have a table containing
your results. The table will have the following columns of information
available to you, which you can display or hide using the “Choose
columns to display” drop-down menu:

• Estimated Ad Position of your ads on Google
• Estimated Avg. Cost Per Click for each of your ads
• The level of Advertiser Competition bidding on each of your keywords
• Previous Month’s Search Volume of users who searched for your keywords
• Avg. Search Volume per month of users who searched for your keywords
• Search Volume Trends, indicating any search volume fluctuations that may have occurred over 12 months.
• Highest Volume Occurred In, which gives the month in which the highest volume of searches occurred.
• Status, which is predicted for each keyword.

In
addition, the keyword results are based on a broad match. In the upper
right-hand corner of the search results, a Match Type drop-down window
enables you to adjust the matching as follows:

• Leave it on broad match,
  which gives you all instances of a phrase you specify regardless of
  what other terms appear with it or the order in which the phrase is
  presented.
• Change the matching to phrase match, which limits your results to instances of an exact phrase that you specify)
• Change the matching to exact match, which limits your results to only the term you specify, with no other terms included.
• Change the matching to negative match, which enables you to filter out searches that contain a particular word or phrase.

In
addition, if you display the either Estimated Ad Position column or the
Estimated Avg. CPC column, a field labeled “Calculate estimates using a
different maximum CPC bid” will appear.

You can use this field
to establish and then change your results based on a maximum
cost-per-click bid. This is particularly good if the sky is not exactly
the limit with regard to your daily budget. To use this field, simply
insert your amount in the empty field and click the Recalculate button
immediately to the right.

Adding Keywords to Your List

Once
the Keyword Tool has generated your results, you can add selected
keywords from this list to a particular ad group. Here’s how.

• At the end of each keyword listing, there is an “Add” link. You can then do one of two things:
  • Click on the “Add” link itself to add the keyword to your list as a broad match.
  • Click on the downward arrows next to “Add” to change the matching to either phrase, exact, or negative match.
• The keyword will then appear on the right-hand side of your browser window, in a shaded box labeled “Selected Keywords.”
• In the shaded box, you can also do the following:
  • Click on “Add your own keywords” to add any more keywords that come to your mind.
  • Click on the Get More Related Keywords button to continue adding keywords from the generated results.
• You can then download your selected keywords to one of three file formats: text, .csv, and .csv (for Excel).
• Or,
  you can save keywords to a different ad group from the one on which you
  based your original keyword search. Simply click on “Save to a
  different ad group.”

You can then determine traffic
estimates for the keyword list you have just completed building by
clicking on “Estimated Search Traffic,” and you can delete certain
keywords simply by clicking “Delete.”

Bear in mind that if you
opt to click on “Estimated Search Traffic,” you should not click
“Cancel” and back out. Doing so will remove the keyword list you’ve
created. Instead, do one of two things:

• If you click on “Estimated Search Traffic,” you can save the keyword list by clicking on “Save Changes.”

• If you do not click on “Estimated Search Traffic,” you can save the list by clicking “Save to Ad Group.”

The Edit Campaign Negatives Tool

This
tool enables you to include negative keywords to your campaign.
Negative keywords are words that serve to filter out traffic you do not
want to have click on your ad. That’s because this kind of traffic is
not likely to result in conversions for you, and you don’t want those
Google users to click on your ad and drive up your ad costs.

To
give a simplified example, say you’re selling coffee, but you don’t
dabble in decaf coffee. (Who would, one would ask.) The Edit Campaign
Negatives tool can filter out “decaf” so that your ad does not appear
in search results for keywords related to “decaf.”

The Edit Campaign Negatives Tool is found in the Campaign Management tab under the Tools link.

• Click on the Edit Campaign Negatives Tool link to access the tool
• Select the campaign for which you wish to introduce negative keywords and click on the Go button.
• The
  next page contains a field labeled “Enter words manually.” Enter the
  negative keywords in this field and click on the “Add Keywords” link.
• If
  you would like to add a particular negative keyword to all ad groups
  throughout a campaign, the Clean Sweep option allows you to do that.
  Through a drop-down menu on the Campaign Management page, you can
  select the location of the negative keywords and click on “Run Clean
  Sweep.”

The Traffic Estimator

While adding keywords to your campaign is all fine and good, you don’t necessarily want to add keywords left and right.

You
should, however, add keywords that you believe will be top-performing
keywords in terms of click-throughs and conversions. And it would be
nice to have information that forecasts what your ad’s placement and
performance would be for that keyword.

This is where Google’s
Traffic Estimator comes in. This tool enables you to generate and
analyze traffic and cost estimates for a keyword before you take the
time to add the keywords to your campaign. You can also use this tool
to gauge the performance of keywords currently in your campaign.

The estimates on keyword performance that the Traffic Estimator produces include:

• The status of the keyword, based on your cost-per-click bid
• The minimum cost-per-click bid you must pay to run your ad
• The level of search volume received by the keyword
• The estimated average cost per click for the keyword
• The estimated cost per day for clicks on that keyword
• The estimated average position for your ad on that keyword

The
Traffic Estimator is found by clicking on Campaign Management, then on
Campaign Details for a particular campaign, and then on the Keywords
tab for that campaign. To activate the tool, simply do the following:

• Click on the Edit Keywords link at the top of the keyword table.
• Enter the keyword(s) in the field provided; each keyword must be on its own line.
• Click on the Estimated Traffic link. The estimates for that keyword will appear.
• If
  you wish to adjust your cost-per-click bid, you can recalculate your
  estimates based on the new bid. Then either click Save Changes to keep
  the new information or Cancel to revert to the original settings.

The
Traffic Estimator is also found through the Tools section of the
Campaign Management tab. After clicking on the Traffic Estimator link
in the Tools section, you would do the following:

• Enter your keywords
• Select a currency
• Select your target language
• Select your location
• Indicate whether you wish to have the estimates customized based on your account history
• Click on the Continue button

Including Keywords in Your Ads

A
large part of writing effective ad copy is the placement of your
keyword in the ad. Google users who click on your ad do so based on
their search of your keyword. Therefore, they are more likely to click
on the ad if they see the keyword in the ad.

More importantly,
the keyword you include in the ad will appear in bold font on the
Google search results when a user searches on that keyword. This
approach makes your ad stand out more to that user.

This is not
to say that every other word in your ad should be the keyword; that
would defeat your purpose, which is to make the user confident enough
in what your ad says to click on the link. Instead, the following is
advised:

• Be sure to include the keyword in the headline for your ad.
• Do
  not mention the keyword in the description for your ad unless the
  keyword flows naturally in the text. Even then, one appearance is
  probably plenty.

Detecting and Fixing Keyword-Related Problems

There are times when an ad will not appear due to issues which may include:

• Your
  cost-per-click bid for the keyword exceeds your daily budget. Make
  certain your daily budget can accommodate this bid and still allow your
  ad to be shown.
• Your cost-per-click bid is below the
  minimum bid for that ad group. You can go to the Keywords tab for the
  ad group, click on the “Increase quality or bid to activate” link, and
  enter your new cost-per-click bid
• You have deleted the keyword from your ad group. You can simply re-add the keyword.
• The
  keyword is designated inactive for search, due either to a low minimum
  bid or a low Quality Score. Move your cursor over the Magnifying Glass
  icon, click one of the “Details and announcements” links in the help
  bubble that appears to bring up the Keyword Analysis page or the Ads
  Diagnostic Tool, and following the instructions for fixing the problem.
• A
  keyword is disapproved; you will receive an email to this effect if
  this occurs. Refer to Google’s editorial and content policies.