The role of keywords in Google ads

Learn why Google Ads are important, how to use them and what to watch out for in less than 5 minutes.

All over the world there are more than one or two small business owners who have succeeded. They've had a super product, good service and a killer marketing strategy that necessarily includes advertising on Google.

If you dream of being the next business owner to hit the jackpot, be sure to include Google Ads in your marketing plan. And then make a list of keywords relevant to the products or services you offer.🔑

✨Today we will talk about them - what is the role of keywords in your Google Ads campaigns and how to choose which ones to use. Finally, we'll give you a bonus tip from our professional practice on how to predict your budget.

The role of keywords and why they are important

Keywords allow the marketer to target a particular ad so niche that our marketing "ancestors" 50 years ago never dreamed of.

Instead of sending so-called "cold" letters in the mail, crossing your fingers that someone will call, today Google Ads allows you to show your ad right in front of the people who might be interested in it. How does Google's algorithm figure out who they are?

By what they type into the search engine.

Let's say you advertise coffee mugs. Maria wants to buy coffee mugs and types "coffee cup shop" into Google because she wants to find a place that sells the item in question. Your ad shows up first on the results page, Maria clicks through, and the next day she's drinking her coffee in your mug. ☕

Types of keywords in google advertising and what is the difference between them

Elementary, Watson, isn't it? Not quite.

There are three ways that keywords in Google Ads can match a user's search .

Exact match

The keyword is written in brackets. In order for your ad to show, the user search must have exactly the same meaning as the keyword. This high level of specificity allows more control over the audience that will see your ad, but narrows the pool of potentially interested parties.

For example, if your keyword is shoes for men, your ad will show up to someone searching for "men's shoes", "shoe for men", etc. 👞

Because Google is very smart, the plural in Bulgarian is almost impossible to confuse. If the word ends in "and" in the plural, the algorithm will recognize it and the ad will show, even if your keyword is singular. If the word in the search ends in "ove", however, think its :)

Phrase match

The keyword is written in quotation marks. In this case, the ads appear on searches that include the meaning of the keyword, but may themselves be more specific than it.

For example, if your keyword is "women's shoes", a phrase match will show your ad to a user searching for "red women's shoes". 👠

Phrase match is a way to reach more consumers than exact match, and potentially relevant to your business because they are looking for something related to the products or services you offer.

Broad match

The third way of keyword-search matching expands the reach of your ad by showing it to anyone whose search is related to what you're advertising. However, not all keywords have to be in your ad. It is only important that the meaning is the same.

In broad match, the keyword is written without punctuation. In this case, you can expect a lot of traffic, but also a lot of irrelevant searches, so do not count on a high conversion rate.

For example, if your keyword is "small yard irrigation system," your ad could show up in searches that include every word of the phrase or those that contain none but are related in meaning. 🏕

Negative keywords

Keywords can also be used to target your Google Ads ads in other ways. Namely, by adding them to the list of negative keywords, i.e. those where your ad will not show.

Search terms report is your assistant for this purpose. It gives you information on what searches your ads are showing up in, and if you see something that doesn't match what you're offering, you'd better add it to the list of negative keywords.

For example, if you're a cosmetics store but you don't offer Korean brands, you might exclude the keyword "Korean cosmetics". If you don't, you run the risk of bringing a lot of irrelevant clicks to your head and frustrated consumers who didn't find what they were looking for. 💄

How keyword research is done

Google has a magical tool for this purpose called Keyword Planner and it's free. We advise you not to waste your money on paid solutions because they are all based on Planner.

What are the steps to work with Keyword Planner?

• We make a list of all relevant keywords for our business.
• We check every word in the Keyword Planner.
• We look at what volume of searches each keyword has per month.
• We check what the level of competition is - low, medium or high.
• We pay attention to what the minimum and maximum bid values are for each keyword.

How to predict your Google advertising budget

Once you've pulled the information in the five steps from the Keyword Planner, it's time to plan your actions.

If you have an online store, separate the keywords for each category into clusters. For example, "sofas", "bedrooms", "children's rooms", etc.

If your budget is limited, it's a good idea to remove words with high competition. In such cases, a click may cost you too much to be worth it at all.

With an arithmetic average of the maximum and minimum bids for which you have Keyword Planner data, you can determine the estimated cost per click for each keyword.

Once you have the average cost per click and the search volume, multiply the two and you will get the estimated budget for that particular keyword. Add up the budgets for all the keywords and, voila, you have an approximate monthly budget for Google Ads.

Final recommendations for Google Ads

If the amount you want to invest in this type of advertising is low, it's a good idea to use more specific keywords. When you choose exact match, you get a lower cost per click because of a higher Quality Score.

Another good practice is to have every keyword present as a headline in the ad. This again earns you a higher Quality Score and a lower cost per click.

Until recently, the so-called SKAG (Single Keyword Ad Groups) account structure was popular, where each keyword had to be in a separate ad group. Thankfully, Google now allows up to three titles to be added to a single ad, which expands the keyword possibilities and this practice is no longer relevant in most cases.

Look at Google Ads as a game of chess. Your goal is to get a lower cost per click and more results for the budget you have. Depending on its size, you may sometimes have to sacrifice a pawn for the common good, i.e., forfeit a keyword because the ad money isn't enough.

If you need a guide to walk you through the depths of Google advertising, we at ADvantage Digital Agency are here to share our experience with you. Request a consultation today!