Running Your First Google Ads Campaign? Find Out What You Need To Know About Keywords

There's a common mistake that many make when trying to run their first pay-per-click (PPC) campaign through Google Ads: they assume that PPC SEO keywords work the same as organic search optimization keywords. But that preconceived notion could end up wasting the campaign coffers on the wrong people.

Now don't get us wrong – we're not saying that PPC isn't an incredibly effective way of driving traffic and conversions to your website; it is. But what we are saying is that poorly paid SEO optimisation campaigns – while using the likes of Google Ads – can result in your campaign targeting people who aren't going to offer value to your website. In fact, they'll just increase the bounce rate, lower the conversion ratio, and cost you money. That's because, unlike with natural search optimization, you don't want to throw a fishing net out to capture every person; instead, you want to use a fishing line with the right bait. By using the right (optimisation) tools and using the right bait (keyword), you'll capture the right fish (your target persona). So why is this more important? While you might capture the wrong audience when using the wrong keyword on your website (the wrong audience being those who offer you little value beyond a click), you're not going to have to pay money for that if bandwidth isn't an issue. But on Google Ads, you're going to be paying for every single click. Why would you want a lot of these clicks to offer you no return on your investment?

But they do say that 'every cloud has a silver lining', right? So instead of using these keywords to drive traffic to your website, you can use them to do the opposite. This is what Google calls 'negative keywords'. These keywords are an incredibly helpful way of setting the parameters of your PPC campaign. By designating certain words and phrases as 'negative' (i.e. they offer little value per click), you can limit your ads being shown to the wrong people – thus giving your ad spend more value. Google Ads works by trying to spread your advert to as many relevant people as possible. But as you are not in control of the channels that Google uses to promote your ads, negative keywords allow you to reign in the parameters. While the internet search optimization tactics for your website can benefit from such keywords, your PPC campaign isn't going to benefit – so why not utilise 'negative keywords' as a positive? With that said, there's definitely an art to knowing the difference between keywords that work in your organic search optimization efforts, and keywords that don't work in your PPC optimization efforts. So how do you determine or find out the 'negative keywords' that could affect your ad campaign?

You could, of course, start researching reports and planning; but an easier and more effective answer is to hire a search engine optimisation consultant. A company or consultant with experience in both organic search optimization and PPC optimization (i.e. those who are Google Partners) can be the deciding factor in fashioning and measuring the success of your ad campaign.