SEA Best Practices:

10.07.2020

There are several things to consider when it comes to SEA, but let us start right at the beginning: Keywords. One could consider keywords to be the cement in the SEA foundations: Without that cement, the structure would not stand and without keywords, there would be no SEA. What is therefore important to make sure of, is that your keywords are spot on for your company, product or service. The keywords you select should attract customers with the highest potential for conversion, and “make you the most potential money for your cost-per-click investment”. With that in mind, here are a few best practices that will help you along the way.

Understand Your Business

Before considering anything else, it is important that you understand your own business and what keywords best describe it. Including keywords that do not resonate with your business and services is SEA suicide, as you would be marketing something unrelated and unoffered. So, start off by making sure that your keywords reflect your business exactly.

Put Yourself in Your Customer’s Shoes

When it comes to keywords, it is also important to look at things from the customer perspective; because at the end of the day, they are the ones who are typing in their search queries in the search engine. Try and imagine what it is that they would type when they would look for a product or service like yours, and include those keywords and keyword combinations in your portfolio. Something that you should then pay attention to is that you are including reasonable keywords that they would actually use, and not just keywords someone with insider knowledge would. Although certain terms might come natural to you, they are not always present in your “regular human being’s” dictionary.

Analyze the Search Term Reports

Speaking of what potential customers type into the search engines, it is best practice to analyze your search term reports. Not only can these be a source of inspiration for keywords to add to your portfolio, but also a source of keywords to exclude. Keywords that you would want to exclude would be keywords that would be attracting unwanted impression and clicks, which cost you money. Including analyzing search term reports into your account management can save money, while attracting more qualified traffic.

Embrace Long-Tail Keywords

The volume of long-tail keywords might scare you off from using them, as one could think that a smaller volume would result in higher conversion rates, when in fact they work in the opposite way. Long-tail keywords typically result in higher conversion rates, as the traffic that is drawn in with these is actually your best target audience. It is kind of like choosing your bait when fishing: It might take longer before you have any fish on your line, but the probability that it will be the fish that you want will be higher. Definitely do include long-tail keywords in your keyword portfolio. It is typically recommended to have them in separate ad groups, so that you can tailor the ads accordingly. In addition to this, long-tail keywords tend to be cheaper, and who doesn’t want to save on costs?

Your Keyword Should Be Everywhere

As keywords are the start of the beginning, you have to make sure that these keywords are reiterated throughout your whole SEA strategy. Starting from within the campaign set up, make sure that the keyword is included in the ad group name and the ad copy. Taking it further, the keyword should ideally also be found in the display URL, and the eventual landing page. People often say that consistency is key and that is definitely the case for keywords.

These best practices are only a handful of what could be done to better your keyword portfolio, but they can provide you with a solid beginning. If you are interested in learning more about SEA strategy, you can engage in the comprehensive workshops lead by OMMAX. There can always be exceptions to the rule, so make sure to test and see what works best for you and your company. Just remember that your keyword portfolio is always a work in progress that can be optimized!