Keywords for PPC Crash Course Video from the Trada Paid Search Library

Trada's PPC Library presents: Intro to Keywords.

What exactly is a keyword?

When people search for something online, they type something in to define what they're looking for. This is called the 'search term'. So if I'm looking for supplies for my laboratory, I'll type in 'lab equipment' or 'plastic centrifuge tubes' in the hopes that I'll find something to help me with my next experiment.

When you have a paid search campaign, you select keywords. These are words and phrases that you hope someone might type in to find your product or service.
If you are Beaker's Lab Equipment, you will want to add a variety of keywords for each product you sell, because not everyone out there will use the same search terms.

The difference between a search term and keyword is this: Search terms are what people type into the search engine, and keywords are words and phrases you choose that you hope will match what people type in.

In paid search, you decide what you are willing to pay for each keyword. Other businesses will do the same. When someone types in one of your keywords as their search term, an auction happens instantly. Whoever wins the auction will have their ad come up in the first position, and the second place winner's ad will show up below that, and so on. Several factors are considered when deciding who wins the auction: and one of them is the 'bid price'.

There are two types of keywords: head-of-tail keywords and long-tail keywords. Head-of-tail keywords are short: one or two words, like Flasks or Tubing or Lab Coats.

Long-tail keywords are long: High BTU Bunsen Burner or Black Vacuum Rubber Tubing.

Head-of-tail keywords - the short ones - tend to drive more traffic, because more people are likely to use them as their search terms. But because they're more popular, and paid search works like an auction, head-of-tail keywords tend to have more expensive bid prices. And because the keywords are less specific, they are less likely to drive conversions. An example is this: You're trying to sell lab supplies. Someone who types in 'rubber gloves' might not be looking to buy lab gloves at all - they could be looking for rubber dishwashing gloves, or they might be wondering what year rubber gloves were invented.


Long-tail keywords, on the other hand, are more specific. They drive less traffic, because fewer people will use Where to Buy Powder-free Nitrile Exam Gloves as a search term. But long-tail keywords are still valuable, because the bid price on such an obscure keyword will be much cheaper. And anyone who has typed in Where to Buy Powder-free Nitrile Exam Gloves is probably looking to buy Powder-free Nitrile Exam Gloves, so the conversion rate on long-tail keywords is much higher.

While each single long-tail keyword tends to drive less traffic than a head-of-tail keyword, overall long-tail keywords will drive the bulk of the buyers.

A comprehensive campaign will have both kinds of keywords, and lots of them. After all, if you're missing a relevant keyword in your PPC campaign, there are people out there searching for your lab supplies who can't find them.

This is the part where we tell you that with Trada, you can have multiple PPC experts create and manage keywords for you. The diversity of thinking that comes from a crowd is better at guessing all the terms your customers might use to search for your product. And they don't stop at keywords - Trada's certified paid search experts manage bid prices, write ads, and constantly optimize your campaign to be the best it can be. They're motivated - because they are paid on their performance. Trada is the world's first crowdsourced paid search marketplace. Learn more at trada.com.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• keywords
• keyword
• PPC
• paid search
• online marketing
• SEM
• Trada
• learn PPC