Knowledge is the Foundation To Success  

Google is notorious for providing its users with free web-based products like Gmail, Google Music, Google Docs and the brand new Photovine.  While all these innovative Google products are robust, user friendly and easy to use, the Google tool that I use most frequently for pay-per-click (PPC) account creation and keyword research is the Google Keyword Tool.  This little gem of a tool allows me to plug in a specific list of words or phrases that I think people might be searching on.  Once the list is searched, I  can see keyword data on competition, global and local monthly searches, approximate CPC and lots more.  Google has recently made an update to the free Keyword Tool that was much needed and greatly appreciated.  Users are now allowed to search 2500 keywords and phrases at a time, a HUGE increase from the previous limit of only 100 keywords.

Why is this so great you ask?  Well, I begin my keyword research with root words and descriptive words.  For example, let’s say I am building a new campaign for a company that sells colored hanging file folders.  They have 20 different colors of folders and they can be called hanging file(s), hanging folder(s) or hanging file folder(s).  To begin the keyword research for this project, I would use an excel formula to create every possible variation of each color with each root word (yellow hanging file, yellow hanging files, yellow hanging folder, yellow hanging folders, hanging file yellow, hanging files yellow, hanging folder yellow, hanging folders yellow, etc.).  With 20 colors and 4 root words, this would give me a list of 160 possible search terms to research using Google’s Keyword Tool.  With the old tool I would need to paste the first 100 words in, star the ones with advertiser competition and/or search traffic, then paste the remaining 60 words and do the same thing.  With the new tool I can paste the entire list in one easy step – which is great!

Once I have several hundred keywords starred in the Keyword Tool, there is a “More like these” option which allows me to search for terms that are similar to the ones I have already chosen to star.  In the previous version of Google’s Keyword Tool I would only get search results for the first 100 keywords that I had starred, which was an inconvenience.  I would have to download the list, break it down into groups of 100 keywords and perform multiple searches again and again to get potentially great keyword suggestions for my new account.  With the new version, as long as my starred keywords do not exceed 2500, the Keyword Tool will provide me similar search terms for all of my starred keywords.  Hooray!

Another update to the tool that is worth noting is the “Group by” feature.  By default the Keyword Tool is set to “Group by None” but if you click on the dropdown, you can choose “Similarity to search terms” and the most pertinent words (keywords that include search terms) will show up grouped together below the search terms, but above the related keyword suggestions.  This is great for weeding through the hundreds of irrelevant keywords that the Keyword Tool often provides.

All in all, the Google Keyword Tool is getting better each and every time there is an update.  I am excited to see how it will progress through the rest of this year and beyond.  Keep up the good work Google!

If you are one of the estimated 61.5 million people in the US who own a smartphone, you probably do at least a small percentage of your online searches from your device.    With Verizon announcing both their partnership with iPhone and the release of brand new Verizon 4G smartphones, the number of people who search from their mobile devices is going to keep rising.  Google says that their mobile searches have grown by more than five times over the last 2 years!  This increase in mobile searches is going to encourage smart advertisers to allocate a portion of their online advertising budget to people searching from mobile devices.

But how will advertisers and professional PPC management companies like JumpFly know what keywords mobile searchers are looking for?  As usual, Google is two steps ahead with their new Keyword Tool.  In September, Google announced that it was officially launching the latest version of their Keyword Tool within AdWords.  Since then, there have been several notable improvements to the tool including the addition of new ways to filter and refine the keyword list, starring keywords and the ‘view as text’ button.

The latest improvement to the Google AdWords Keyword Tool is the ability to create keyword lists targeted to mobile users.  Underneath the box where you type in the keywords you wish to research, there is a ‘+’ button next to ‘Advanced options.’  Click on this ‘+’ and you will see a dropdown menu to show ideas for all mobile devices, mobile WAP devices and mobile devices with full internet browsers (like iPhone and Andriod phones).  This enhancement to the already great Keyword Tool will allow AdWords advertisers to create better, more highly targeted campaigns for mobile users.

As an avid smartphone user, I can honestly say that I browse the internet more from my phone that I do from any desktop or laptop computer.  I am excited to see what new, more highly targeted advertisements are shown to me in the next few months.  It should be interesting to see how this new feature can help mobile search evolve.  Stay tuned!

It used to be – in the old days (okay the “old days” in the search engine marketing (SEM) world was 2 years ago) – that large pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns with thousands of keywords were the way to go.  The bigger the better.  Some of the older Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing accounts that I’ve taken over have had over 50,000 keywords!

Now, according to Google AdWords and what we’ve seen in our own management efforts, it is a much better idea to start with a smaller PPC advertising account and expand slowly.

There are two reasons for this. 

Quality Score

First is the need to establish a good quality score.  Using extremely targeted terms and matching them carefully to your ad copy is the best way to establish a high quality score in your account.  There are other factors, of course, but these are the most controllable aspects of the quality score calculation.

The 80/20 Rule

Second is the smart use of your time and money.  Business owners are busy people.  The methods that you use to grow your business should be chosen carefully with respect to your time and your expenses.  What we see again and again with all of our clients is that 20% of the keywords in a PPC account (actually, it’s probably more like 5-10%), make up 80% of the traffic and conversions for the business. 

What does this mean to you?  For the best effect, you should focus your time and expense on those 20%.

The Catch

The problem, in many cases, is that we don’t really know what the 20% is until we test them.  Yes, keyword research and competitor research reveals a lot of data on what the top keywords are for a particular industry.  However, until those keywords are tested with your ad copy, your call to action, and your business model, we don’t really know which ones will be in the top 20.  It has to be  tested.

So, for the best PPC results and the best use of your time, you should start with a small, targeted account with tight ad groups and focused, effective ad copy.  But – this tight campaign should then be expanded based on the actual results. A qualified PPC Management Company will provide a complimentary consultation to help you determine the best route for your PPC Campaigns.