Researcher's Keywords

These are the seed keywords that you use to start off the keyword management process. This process will include finding variations and subsets of keywords that fall into the next two categories.

If you get stumped for keywords to start off the process, then the Keyword Cracker has a few suggestions.

Shopper's Keywords

These are keywords that people use to shop around - they're not necessarily looking for anything to buy, just seeing what's out there. It's the online version of window shopping, and we all do it.

Only ever target these keywords if you're sure of you're conversion rates, or just want traffic. If someone buys, it's the virtual equivalent of the real world case when you see something that you just can't resist.

Buyer's Keywords

These are like gold dust. They are the fabled long tail keywords that indicate that the visitor is ready to buy.

The target for these kinds of keyword phrases, if you snag them in a PPC keyword bidding war, should be a highly converting sales page, or catalog.

Or, come to think of it, a Focussed Lens!!

What is the AdWords Keyword Tool?

It is a tool provided by Google that provides a window on the AdSense and Google Search databases.

It matches the Pay Per Click Keyword Bids with advertising keywords from the AdWords database, and then cross references them with the Google search term database.

The result is a powerful keyword management aid that helps the content producer to match keywords with search traffic.

It also helps AdSense advertisers (content producers) optimize their own keywords and keyword bids that they make in an attempt to attract traffic that can be flipped for profit.

CPC vs PPC

This last is made possible by knowing the relation between Cost Per Click and Pay Per Click Keyword - bids made on keywords will increase their CPC, and also the proportion of money that is returned to the advertiser as a result of the PPC campaign. In other words, high CPC means higher revenue.

If a content producer makes keyword bids on keywords with a CPC of $0.05, but then targets keyword phrases 'worth' $15.00, then they can flip a good portion of that traffic for profit.

To work out at what point they ought to stop buying these keywords, they need to know the search volume associated with each one.

Search Volume

The AdWords Tool provides the user with a count of the number of times that each keyword has been searched for. The result is the Search Volume.

This is useful when trying to calculate the maximum budget for a campaign relying on keyword bids to deliver traffic. The other side of the equation depends rather on what the content producer wants to achieve.

Picking Keyword Bids Metrics

Deciding which metrics to use depends on whether the content is being provided to generate Traffic or Income.

Clearly, if Traffic is the goal (it's a sticky site) then keywords with high Search Volumes are the ones to place bids on.

On the other hand, if Income is the goal, then the equation is slightly different. Advertiser competition is a good indicator, as is the aforementioned CPC.

However, the content producer has to be aware that, unless the product they are selling has high income potential, they must be very careful how much they allow for their keyword bids.

The predicted income has to outweigh the cost of the keywords being bid on!