Overnight Success: Insider Secrets to Unearthing Hidden PPC Keywords for a Profitable PPC Campaign

If you're trying to reach the top of the SERPs and snag those precious clicks from your competitors, there's a good chance that you've already tried PPC keywords.

A Pay-Per-Click campaign is a great way to boost your website to the top of the search results in a hurry. Organic SEO can take several months to start showing the results you want, but a PPC campaign can give you a boost immediately.

There's only one problem...

All of your competitors have their own PPC campaigns, and you're all competing for the same keywords.

To come out on top, you need to employ an expert strategy. 

Luckily, we have some insider tips for you. Keep reading for tactics to boost your PPC keywords over your competitors starting today!

Boost Your Quality Score

How many times have you searched Google, and the top result has absolutely nothing to do with what you're searching for? It's unhelpful at best. You scroll past in a huff.

Google's concerned with user experience over everything. They don't want frustrating or unhelpful results bogging down their users' searches. 

To prevent this, Google awards PPC campaigns with a Quality Score. Your Quality Score is based on three main factors: Click Through Rate (CTR), Ad relevance, and the relevance of the landing page.

You can't do too much to directly affect your CTR, but you can certainly increase the relevance of your ad and landing pages. 

Make sure that you're selecting only appropriate search terms. You might show up on more searches if you pay for every keyword you can think of, but many of those results won't be relevant.

Keep your PPC keywords focused on relevant terms. This will boost your Quality Score, giving you an edge against your competition.

Action item: Evaluate your PPC keywords now. Put yourself in the user's shoes. Are your landing pages relevant to the searches they're making? Or are they bait-and-switching your customers? 

Remove any irrelevant keywords from your campaign. If the landing pages don't matter to the users making those searches, it's not just lowering your quality score: it's wasting you money.

Heads Or Tails?

Generally speaking, there are two types of keywords: head keywords and tail keywords.

Head keywords are short keywords that produce broad results. This would be something like "flowers." Head keywords have high search volumes, but they don't help users find what they're looking for.

Tail keywords are longer and more specific. They have a much lower monthly volume, but the results are more useful. This might be something like "flowers that attract hummingbirds for sale in Toronto." 

Often, when a company chooses keywords for a PPC campaign, they opt for high-volume head keywords. While this might show up in more searches, it will be less relevant to those searches.

Point your keyword research to more specific tail keywords, and your CTR will be sure to rise up.

Action item: look through your PPC keywords. How many of them are head keywords? Consider modifying these into more valuable tail keywords.

Remember that while those tail keywords have lower search volume, those searches are more valuable to your CTR.

Get Negative

Let's say your company is looking for a new employee. Their resumé is impressive and their interview is promising. But before you pull the trigger, you want to do some digging.

You search Google for "police records."

Instead, you get results for The Police's records. 

Google showed you literally what you were looking for, but got it wrong.

Admittedly, this example is a bit exaggerated, but similar issues can get in the way of a successful PPC campaign.

The trick is to use negative keywords. You can add keywords to disqualify your PPC campaign from showing up. 

For instance, if you run a music venue trying to sell tickets, and you run a PPC campaign for "concerts," then you would show up when users search for "free concerts."

Since you're selling tickets to your events, these searches would provide little value to you. 

But if you add "free" as a negative keyword, then your listing won't appear in those searches. And fewer appearances in irrelevant searches means your CTR will go up, boosting your Quality Score.

Action item: Test your existing PPC campaigns. Are your keywords showing up in searches that don't bring value to your company?

If so, add negative keywords so you don't end up appearing in those irrelevant searches and lower your quality score.

Fill In Your Competitors' Gaps

You already know that your PPC campaigns aren't perfect. But there's good news: your competitors' campaigns probably aren't either. 

Think like a customer and search for a common problem that you're trying to solve. Pay close attention to your competitors—what are they missing? What answers aren't they offering? What searches don't they appear in?

Use this information to drive your own strategy. If your competitors are missing valuable searches, this is an opportunity for you to swoop in and claim those searches for yourself.

Mind Your Landing Pages

Studies show that on average, 55% of users to your website will only stay there for fifteen seconds or less.

It's absolutely imperative that you make the most out of those 15 seconds. And if your landing page isn't effective, it will increase your bounce rate and lower your conversions. 

And like we said earlier, if your landing page isn't relevant to the searches, it will damage your Quality Score, hurting the overall impact of your PPC campaign. 

Build a landing page that is relevant to your PPC keywords. Optimize it with a clear Call To Action so users can convert easily. 

Think about what kinds of conversions you're aiming for. While adding people to an email list is valuable, directing them to a page where they can make a purchase will show a much higher return for your investment.

Action item: Assess your current landing pages. Starting from the Google search, take the customer journey all the way to conversion.

How many steps does a user have to take to convert? Where might users fall off? What parts of your sales funnel can you streamline?

Let The Best PPC Keywords Win!

When it comes to dominating the search engine game, it's a dog eat dog world. 

These action items can help give you a boost, but the SERPs are a ruthless jungle where only the strong survive. If you want to beat out of the competition, you need the best strategies in your corner.

That's where we can help. 

If you're looking for an agency that can help find profitable PPC keywords and boost your rankings in the SERPs, contact us. We'd love to help.