WordStream, Inc.

Boston SEO MeetupEffective Keyword Research for SEO and PPC

Larry Kim, Founder and VP of Products, WordStream, Inc., June 15, 2009

What is Keyword Research?

• Discovering & analyzing a company’s search taxonomy (the universe of search queries of search engine users that are relevant to an organization’s business)

• Leveraging the understanding of your keyword taxonomy to continuously inform and optimize SEO and/or PPC efforts

• It’s the most important task in search marketing since:– In PPC, you’re essentially paying for clicks on search queries– In SEO, you have to model your content around actual search queries– Do a bad job at keyword research, nothing else will work optimally in

search marketing

• Also potentially the hardest task in search marketing to do well

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Keyword Research Challenges

• Billions of Keywords to Choose From!• Keyword Suggestion Tools are Limited

– Popular keywords isn’t the same thing as relevant keywords– Same keywords available to everyone– “Low Resolution”, missing out on “Mid-tail” and “Long-Tail” Terms.

• Generating a keyword list isn’t “keyword research”!• Negative Keywords are critically important yet hard to

identify• How do you organize huge keyword lists?• How do you make keyword research dynamic and iterative?• How do you know where to focus your attention?• How do you co-ordinate a team of individual contributors?

WordStream, Inc.

WordStream, Inc.

Tonight’s Agenda

• Keyword Research Best Practices for PPC & SEO

• Overview of WordStream Solution for Keyword Management

• Questions & Answers

WordStream, Inc.

Step 1: Build a Keyword Database

• Treat your Keyword Research is a valuable, proprietary asset.

• Public Keyword Tools: – Keyword Suggestion Tools, Competitive Keyword Tools, etc.

• Private Keyword Tools:– Web Server Log Files, Keyword Reports from Web Analytics, Search

Query Reports from Google AdWords

• Aggregate all this data• Measure what keywords generated what outcomes (e.g.:

clicks and conversions, etc.)• Important note: Real data from private sources is worth

more than estimated data from public sources

WordStream, Inc.

Step 2: Group and Organize Keywords

• A huge keyword list isn’t actionable for PPC & SEO

• You first need organize into smaller lists based on different keyword segmentations

• First Identify broad topics first, then create sub-groupings around more narrowly focused keyword niches

• Keyword segmentations should be discriminating

• Focus on traffic and goal producing segmentations

Why Keyword Organization Matters for PPC

Optimize your campaign by following Google’s best practices for maximizing Quality Score (Relevancy)– Select specific keywords and negative keywords– Group together closely related keywords – Write relevant text ads and destination pages– Higher Quality Score: Better Exposure, Lower Minimum Bids, Lower Cost Per

Click– Makes bid manipulation more effective, improves conversion rates

WordStream, Inc.

Why Keyword Organization is key for SEO

Author lots of

original Web Pages…– Specifically themed

around narrow subjects

– Includes long-tail keyword variations in the page copy

– Organize content with relevant intelligent information architecture

– Use as landing pages for PPC campaigns

– Repeat!

WordStream, Inc.

WordStream, Inc.

Step 3: Negative Keyword Expansion

• Make sure your Negative Keyword Expansion is keeping up with your keyword expansion

• Keyword Research can reveal terms you’re inadvertently broad matched against

WordStream, Inc.

Step 4: Make Keyword Research Continuous

• Re-factor new keyword opportunities into your existing keyword research

Conduct Keyword Research

Group, Organize,

Find Negatives, Prioritize

Keywords & Tasks

Act: Publish Ads for PPC and

Web Content for SEO

Obtain more

keyword data

WordStream, Inc.

Step 5: Prioritize PPC & SEO Workflow

• Build up a database of relevant search queries, organize into smaller groupings of related keywords

• Systematically generate coverage in paid and/or sponsored listings by publishing Web content and ad groups.

• This can take forever, so prioritize: – Focus on keyword groupings that actually generate

traffic and conversions on your site.– Leverage PPC data to inform SEO if possible

WordStream, Inc.

Step 6: Act!

• Don’t get too lost in dashboards and reports

• Stick to a plan: X new web pages or ad groups per week

• If you don’t add new stuff, you’ll probably generate similar results

• Repeat the process

WordStream, Inc.

Summary of Keyword Research Best Practices

• Private & Proprietary Nature• Personalized and Based on Real Traffic &

Conversions• Keyword Grouping & Organization• Continuous & Iterative• Should include ongoing Negative Keyword

expansion• Data-Driven & Actionable• Should leverage both PPC and SEO data• Break down into prioritized tasks

WordStream Overview

WordStream is a provider of Keyword Management

Solutions for working with large numbers of keywords to

build and optimize PPC and SEO on an continuous basis.

We provide search marketers with a private online

keyword workbench for conducting keyword discovery,

research, grouping & organization and workflow, as well as

integrated tools to take action on their keyword research.

WordStream, Inc.

Keyword Aggregation

• Import Keyword Data from

a Variety of Different Sources

• Continuous Keyword

Discovery continuous and

dynamic

WordStream, Inc.

Keyword Analysis

• Long tail keyword

analysis tools

• Determine what

keywords led to

what outcomes

WordStream, Inc.

Keyword Organization

• Suggests ways to

segment keyword

lists

• New keywords

are automatically

organized!

WordStream, Inc.

Actionable PPC & SEO Tools

• Turn Keyword

segmentations into

Ad Groups

• Associate

keyword groupings

with Web Pages

for SEO

WordStream, Inc.

Negative Keyword Tool

• Suggests Negative Keywords

WordStream, Inc.

PPC & SEO Workflow Tools

• Each keyword

grouping has

associated tasks

• Prioritize tasks

based on user

defined criteria

WordStream, Inc.

Questions?

If you have any comments or questions about this presentation, contact Larry directly:

lkim@wordstream.com http://twitter.com/larrykim

WordStream, Inc.