The Keyword| Google Keyword| Digital Marketing

 What is a Keyword?

A keyword is a term used in digital marketing to describe a word or a group of words an Internet user uses to perform a search in a search engine or search bar.

In an SEO strategy, keywords are very important and should be the core of any copy written for the web (present in the content, titles and SEO elements).

Keywords should be developed and carefully selected before launching content online on web and mobile platforms.

 

Keywords: Definition

Words or phrases describing your product or service that you choose to help determine when and where your ad can appear.

• The keywords you choose are used to show your ads to people. Select high-quality, relevant keywords for your ad campaign to help you reach only the most interested people, who are more likely to become your customers.

• When someone searches on Google, your ad could be eligible to appear based on the similarity of your keywords to the person's search terms, as well as your keyword match types. Keywords are also used to match your ad to sites in the Google Network that are related to your keywords and ads.

• A great keyword list can help improve the performance of your ads and help you to avoid higher prices. Poor keywords can ultimately cause you to have higher prices and lower ad position.

• You can add match types to your keywords to help control which searches your ad can be matched with.

About keywords in Search Network campaigns

Keywords are words or phrases that are used to match your ads with the terms people are searching for.

Selecting high-quality, relevant keywords for your advertising campaign can help you reach the customers you want when you want.

This article explains how keywords work, and where your ads will show.

How they work

To get your ads to appear when people search for your product or service, the keywords you choose need to match the words or phrases that people search for.

                                       

Example

If you sell frisbees, you can add "buy frisbee" as a keyword in your Google Ads campaign. When people type "buy frisbee" on Google search, your ad might appear on the search results page. In addition, if your Search campaign is also targeting the display network, then your ad could also appear on websites about ultimate frisbee.

When a customer searches for a term that matches your keyword, your ad enters an auction to determine if it will show. Learn more about the ad auction.

The cost for each keyword will be different depending on the quality of your keyword, your competition in the auction, and other factors. Make sure your keywords and landing page are all closely related to the terms that a customer might be searching for. To help you understand the quality of your keywords, each keyword has a Quality Score.

This score is based on expected clickthrough rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience. Higher quality ads and relevance to user searches typically lead to lower costs and better ad positions. Learn how to make sure your ads are relevant.

How your keywords match to searches

You can use keyword match types to choose the range of what searches your keywords can match. With an exact match, your keyword will only show on searches that are the same meaning as the keyword. With phrase match, your keyword can show on searches that include the meaning of your keyword.

If you don’t specify a match type, your keyword will default to a broad match and can match to searches related to your keywords. Learn more about keyword matching options.

How to exclude searches

To prevent your ad from showing for particular searches, you can also add negative keywords.

Negative keywords can help you make sure your ad only shows on the searches you want. Learn more about negative keywords.

Example

If you sell dog clothes you can target searches for “pet clothes” and add "cat" as a negative keyword to make sure your ad doesn't appear to people looking for cat clothes.

Where your ads appear

You can choose to target your ads to a number of different ad networks. Keywords work a bit differently on each network:

• Google search and search partner sites: When you build your ad groups, you select keywords relevant to the terms people use when they search, so your ads reach customers precisely when they're looking for what you offer.

• Google Display Network: If you've chosen to show ads on Display Network sites, Google Ads uses your keywords to place your ads next to content that matches your ads. Google's technology scans the content and web address of a webpage and automatically displays ads with keywords that closely match the subject or web address of the page. For example, on a webpage that includes brownie recipes, Google Ads might show ads about chocolate brownies or delicious dessert recipes. Learn how to choose your keywords for Display Network campaigns.

Tips

• Choose your keywords carefully. Include terms or phrases that your customers would use to describe your products or services. Make sure your keywords directly relate to the theme of your ad and the page you're directing your customers too. Keywords of two or three words tend to work most effectively.

• Group similar keywords into ad groups. Try grouping your keywords into themes. These themes can be based on your products, services, or other categories. For example, if you sell rings, you can have a group of keywords for "engagement rings" and another group of keywords for "wedding rings." Then you can create separate ad groups for these groups of keywords and have specific ads for "engagement rings" and specific ads for "wedding rings."

Basic tips for building a keyword list

Selecting the right keyword list for your campaign can help you show your ads to the right customers. Your keywords should match the terms your potential customers would use to find your products or services. Learn more about how to add, edit, and remove keywords.

This article explains some basic ways you can start building a good keyword list.

Think like a customer when you create your list

Write down the main categories of your business, and then write down the terms or phrases that might fall under each of those categories. Include terms or phrases your customers would use to describe your products or services.

Example

If you sell men's athletic footwear, you might start off with some basic categories that customers would use, like "men's sports shoes." You can also add "men's sneakers," and "men's tennis shoes," if you find out these are commonly used terms for your products. Expand your list further by including your brand and product names.

Select specific keywords to target specific customers

Select more specific keywords that directly relate to your ad's theme if you want to target customers who may be interested in a particular product. Using more specific keywords would mean that your ad only appears for terms that apply to your business. But keep in mind that if the keywords are too specific, you might not be able to reach as many people as you'd like.

Example

If you sell men's athletic footwear, you might choose specific keywords like "men's basketball shoes," a type of shoe you offer. That way, for example, your ad would be eligible to appear when someone searches for these types of shoes or visits a website about basketball.

Select general keywords to reach more people

Select more general keywords if you'd prefer to reach as many people as possible. Keep in mind that you might find it difficult to reach potential customers when adding very general keywords because your ad could appear for searches that aren't always related to your business. Also, more general keywords can be more competitive and may require higher bid amounts. Layer broad targeting with Smart Bidding, so machine learning technology can prioritize the best performing searches regardless of their match type. Learn more About Smart Bidding.

Test general keywords, and then decide which ones give you better results. No matter how general your keywords are, they should always be relevant to your ads and website.

Example

If you're a large shoe store, you might choose a general keyword like "shoes." That way, for example, your ad would be eligible to appear when someone searches for a wide variety of shoes or visits websites about fashion.

Group similar keywords into ad groups

To show more relevant ads to potential customers, group your keywords and ads into ad groups based on your products, services, or other categories. If multiple keywords match a given search term, Google chooses the keyword to serve based on the ranking outlined in this article about similar keywords in the same ad group. Having the same keyword in different match types shouldn’t increase your costs or hurt performance in any way.

If instead, you add all your keywords and ads to one ad group, a customer searching for "women's evening shoes" may see your ad about "men's tennis shoes." Learn more about creating a new ad group.

Example

If you own a shoe store, you might create 2 ad groups: 1 for running shoes and 1 for evening shoes. Your ad group for running shoes could include ads with keywords like "running shoes" and "running sneakers." Your ad group for evening shoes could include keywords like "evening shoes" and "dress shoes."

That way, potential customers could see your ad about evening shoes when they search for "evening shoes"—not when they search for "running shoes."

Note: You don’t have to add every variant of every keyword, as all match types can capture traffic from closely related variations of your keywords.