Public holidays and special occasions are always a good reason to launch an advertising campaign and drive relevant traffic to your website. With Easter approaching and supermarket shelves being stuffed with countless chocolate eggs, we\u2019d like to share with you some useful ideas on how to build a powerful keyword list for a thematic PPC campaign. While it takes time for SEO seeds to produce their first roots and shoots, PPC is great if you want to snatch some extra traffic even when other opportunities to do so have dried up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this guide, we\u2019ll walk you through all the important stages of keyword research, using Semrush tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s say we are a supermarket planning an Easter PPC campaign. There are four topics we can build our keyword list around: products, gifts and celebrations, recipes and brands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All keyword research starts with pulling together an initial set of keyword ideas. This can be easily done with the Semrush Keyword Magic Tool which has a convenient keyword grouping feature. You\u2019ll only need ONE seed keyword to build a whole keyword empire around it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our seed keyword is going to be \u2018Easter,\u2019 so we\u2019re typing it in and selecting our target country database.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tool will provide you with keywords semantically related to your initial search, sorted into groups by search topic. These groups will contain your search query supplemented by keyword modifiers, i.e. keywords that don\u2019t change the core meaning of your search query, but produce variations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For our Easter campaign, we identified the following groups that we are going to research in more detail:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
OPTIONAL: There is an option to narrow down your results with the help of advanced filters. To give you an example, we looked for a minimum search volume of 100 and the maximum word count of 6. We also excluded words like \u2018opening hours\u2019, \u2018when\u2019, \u2018why\u2019, \u2018who\u2019, \u2018sunday\u2019, \u2018weekend\u2019, \u20182015\u2019, \u20182016\u2019, \u20182017\u2019 from our search:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We looked into each group we were interested in and added the best keywords to the Keyword Analyzer \u2014 a kind of keyword repository where you can view real-time keyword metrics like search volume, difficulty, CPC, and top competitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019re now going to export all the keywords stored in Keyword Analyzer to the PPC Keyword Tool . Think of it as a refinery plant where all your findings will be processed and refined into more useful \u2018products\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tool will prompt you to set up a Project with Semrush if you haven\u2019t already done so. Follow the instructions to create your first Project, give it a title, and continue with the PPC Keyword Tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At this stage, you can further expand your keyword list by adding keywords from other Semrush keyword research services, for instance, from the \u2018Related Phrase\u2019 report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here is a tip for you. The last thing you want to do is ruin the immaculate keyword list you\u2019ve just imported from the Keyword Magic Tool, with hundreds of crude keywords, so be sure to create a separate group (call it \u2018Related Keywords\u2019):<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Click the \u2018+ Keywords\u2019 button in the top right corner of the page and select \u2018Semrush\u2019 as a source. Type in your seed keyword, choose the target country, the amount of keywords you\u2019d like to import and click \u2018Add\u2019:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You will notice that your \u2018Related Keywords\u2019 list has been augmented with synonyms like \u2018bank holidays\u2019, \u2018good friday\u2019, acronyms, abbreviations, and singular and plural forms. Obviously, this list needs refining, and the best way to do so is by manually selecting relevant keywords and sending them to your main \u2018clean\u2019 group, using the \u2018Actions\u2019 button.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NB: do not delete misspellings like \u2018easter effs\u2019. These are a goldmine for a PPC specialist, as they have lower CPC and can produce relevant traffic. You just need to make sure you use the \u2018Exact Match\u2019 for these keywords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You might also want to pinch some of your competitors\u2019 keywords. Again, start off by creating a separate group (\u2018Competitors\u2019), click the \u2018+ Keywords\u2019 button, choose \u2018Domain report (paid)\u2019, enter your competitor\u2019s domain, your seed keyword and the amount of keywords your conscience allows you to borrow:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now scroll through the newly formed list to see your competitor\u2019s paid keywords and send your best picks to the main group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are plenty of ways to narrow down your keyword list, which will probably look gigantic by now. Use these simple tricks and watch your keyword list shrink rapidly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NB: Later you might want to replace a year in a keyword (like \u2018easter ideas 2015\u2019) with the current year, instead of removing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When searching for irrelevant words to exclude, remember to mark them as \u2018Negatives.\u2019 This will prevent your ads from coming up for keyword phrases that aren\u2019t relevant. To do that, go to the \u2018Negatives\u2019 tab and choose to add them manually:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another simple way to optimize your keywords is by clearing out unnecessary articles, prepositions, or any other unwanted keyword modifiers in your list. Click the \u2018Actions\u2019 button and select \u2018Clean keywords\u2019:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Assumingly, we have quite a few duplicates in our list since we\u2019ve been using multiple channels to compile our keyword list. To remove those, we\u2019ll just need to click on \u2018Remove duplicates\u2019 and delete selected duplicates in one click:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s say you have the keywords \u2018egg chocolate\u2019 and \u2018milk chocolate egg.\u2019 Using the broad or modified broad match will allow Google to diversify your \u2018egg chocolate\u2019 keyword with other keywords it considers relevant, for example, with \u2018milk.\u2019 That way, you will end up having two different ads come up in search for the same keyword (\u2018egg milk chocolate\u2019), causing your ads to compete with each other. And that\u2019s not what you want. The solution would be to add \u2018milk\u2019 as a negative to the group \u2018egg chocolate\u2019 and vice versa. However, when you have hundreds of keywords, finding these terms manually is a nightmare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The PPC Keyword Tool provides a unique feature that removes cross-negatives, thus preventing slaughter and cannibalism among your AdWords campaigns. This, however, requires some preparatory work, namely dividing your existing keyword list into campaigns. We created four campaigns: \u2018Products\u2019, \u2018Gifts & Decorations\u2019, \u2018Recipes\u2019 and \u2018Brands\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Using the simple filter bar, we found all keywords containing the word \u2018recipe\u2019 and sent them to the \u2018Recipes\u2019 campaign by clicking the \u2018Action\u2019 button and choosing the \u2018Move to group\u2019 option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We, at Semrush, tend to keep one keyword per group, and strongly recommend doing so to anyone. The PPC Keyword Tool allows you to do it in one click by using the \u201c1 kw = 1 gr\u201d option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Click the \u2018Cross-group negatives\u2019 button, select all four campaigns and the tool will immediately present you with all negative keywords found in your campaign:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before you export your keyword lists, you need to set your preferred phrase match option which will primarily depend on your goals. If you don\u2019t want your ads to come up in search for irrelevant keywords, choose the \u2018Modified broad\u2019 option. If you want to spend your budget carefully and target specific keyword combinations, then choose the \u2018Exact match\u2019. You can apply the match type either to the whole group or to specific keywords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When juggling a large number of keywords, you are likely to end up having empty groups, special symbols and other minor issues that can affect your campaign\u2019s performance. Use the \u2018Recommendations\u2019 feature to take a final look at the lists and make sure you haven\u2019t skipped anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once your keyword list is finally done and dusted, you can export everything to a CSV file which can then be uploaded to AdWords Editor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the end, we have just over 100 keywords, all nice and neat, 100 percent relevant, with excellent search volumes, sorted into four campaigns and ready to be exploited!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This scheme is actually applicable to any thematic PPC campaign, not just the Easter one. So when the next special occasion crops up, leaving you no time to plant your SEO seeds, just define your campaign topics, target audience and budget, and let the tools do the rest for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Best Practices to Using PPC To Promote Events When using paid search to promote events, it\u2019s ..<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
How To Build a Powerful Keyword List for a Thematic PPC Campaign Public holidays and special occasions are always a good reason to launch an advertising campaign and drive relevant traffic to your website. With Easter approaching and supermarket shelves being stuffed with countless chocolate eggs, we\u2019d like to share with you some useful ideas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alienroad.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alienroad.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alienroad.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienroad.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31263"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alienroad.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31539,"href":"https:\/\/alienroad.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31263\/revisions\/31539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alienroad.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienroad.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienroad.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}