PPC Keyword Bucketing
14th June 2006
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Here’s how to generate a huge keyword list, and some thoughts on the strategy of keyword bucketing. Start by generating your keyword list by using keyword research tools like Wordtracker, Yahoo Keyword Tool, Google Keyword Tool to generate a massive list of keywords. Once you have your keyword list, start bucketing your keywords into categories of similar terms. Think of it like segregating the terms into adgroups. This way, you’ll be able to write highly targeted & relevant ads for each keyword bucket. Besides bucketing the keywords for relevancy, it also behooves you to segment the keywords by each stage in the purchase cycle. Depending how you set-up your account structure, the above stages of the purchase cycle can be used in a tiered account structure. Some other keyword segments to bucket: And rather than just Broad Matching all your terms, take the time to use Keyword Matching Options. You’ll need to decide a bidding strategy for each segment for budgeting purposes. For example: Do you want to spend 10% on Buying Terms, 30% on Consideration terms, and 60% on Awareness terms? The subject of bidding strategy is really a post in itself. So, I’ll just mention that the next step is a budget allocation for each segment. No related posts. |
June 15th, 2006 at
this is a valuable post and learned some new industry jargon. i think its good practice to lay all my keywords on the table and segment them into appropriate “buckets” - periodically. It’s very easy for large kw lists to get disorganized over time - frequently bucketing sounds like an effective way to manage large ppc campaigns. Also, I’d recommend the importance of writing different creatives to target the consumer depending on which phase of the buying cycle he/she is in, and as always, the creative should reflect the kw’s queried.
June 16th, 2006 at
Shimon, good post. There is much more to what you say but it’s difficult to explain it all in one post, I know.
Another tactic is to ALWAYS look at what your competitors write in their ads and thus when you come up with ads, make sure they stand out.
I wrote about this in my blog few weeks ago and still couldn’t put it all in one post.
June 29th, 2006 at
Shimon, I liked this post alot. These are good strategies for site operators that bid on many terms for a relatively narrow set of products (i.e. perhaps you only sell a handful of products or services.)
What you say about the purchase cycle is a great point. People at different stages of the cycle are looking for different types of information. Thus, it also makes sense to consider what landing pages you’re sending people to for these different stages.
For considered purchases (those that typically take several visits and days or weeks to consummate), early on people are doing research and trying to narrow down choices. Here it makes sense to provide a landing page with high-level product/service differentiators that can qualify you in the prospect’s mind.
Later on in the purchase/persuasion cycle, people need more specific information, and this is where the long tail keywords come into play. It follows that the landing pages should also be more sensitive to the specific keywords that have been viewed in the PPC.
Keep up the great work w/your blog!
cheers
Dave
August 23rd, 2006 at
[...] Some tips to increase CTR: 1) Use targeted, relevant keywords to your audience. 2) Bucket your keywords into highly relevant adgroups. 3) Create a highly targeted ad within your adgroups. 4) Use negative keywords 5) Use Keyword Matching options 6) Use the keyword in your ad text, or dynamic keyword insertion. 7) Use a strong call-to-action in your ad text.
Test multiple ads in each adgroup. 9) Raise your CPC ( if you can). 10) Opt into the Content Network. [...]
December 19th, 2006 at
Nice summary Shimon. The PPC world is a pretty exciting place right now.
April 14th, 2008 at
Thanks for this well written, thoughtful and result oriented article on PPC Keyword Bucketing. Internet Marketing with PPC is a puzzle on many front but this method will definitely help in solving the problem to a great extent.