Perform Keyword Research for Google Ads

Before you start

You will need a Google Ads account. If you don’t have one, please follow SOP 014 (web version): Create a Google Ads account

Key steps 28 steps

1. 1 Head to Google Ads and log in to your account.
2. 2 From the navigation menu on your left, click “Tools” and look for “Keyword Planner” under “Planning”.
3. 3 Click “Discover new keywords”.
4. 4 Enter up to 10 keywords related to your industry or niche.
5. 5 Click “Get results”.
6. 6 Here, you will see a list of keyword ideas available (ranked by relevance) based on the keywords you entered earlier.
7. 7 Once you’ve adjusted the settings, your goal is to filter these keyword ideas so that the keywords that are most relevant and valuable to you are left. Start by clicking “Add Filter”:
8. 8 On the right panel, you will find the options to further refine the keyword list based on common keyword attributes such as brand, product type, color, gender, etc. Check or uncheck keywords that are most relevant for your keyword research.
9. 9 If you wish to start over and head back to the Keyword Planner dashboard. Click “Tools” from the navigation menu on your left and select "Keyword Planner".
10. 10 Enter your website or a competitor’s website and click “Get results”.
11. 11 There are several metrics for each keyword suggestion but you should focus on the following:
12. 12 Once you’ve adjusted the settings, your goal is to filter these keyword ideas so that the keywords that are most relevant to you are left. Start by clicking “Add Filter”:
13. 13 Set top of page bid (high range) to above $1.50 to identify keywords that are valuable to advertisers.
14. 14 Filter specific themed keywords using the semantic keyword filter. For example, you can filter keywords related to men’s snowboard jackets as seen below:
15. 15 Remove keywords that are not relevant. For example, if you're not interested in snowboard "shops", you can remove “shop” from your list of keywords.
16. 16 On the right panel, you will find the options to further refine the keyword list based on common keyword attributes such as brand, product type, color, gender, etc. Check or uncheck keywords that are most relevant for your keyword research.
17. 17 If you wish to start over and head back to the Keyword Planner dashboard. Click “Tools” from the navigation menu on your left and select "Keyword Planner".
18. 18 Once you’re done filtering the list of keywords, click “Download keyword ideas” to export the keywords in a .csv file or a Google Sheet.
19. 19 Head to the Keyword Planner dashboard.
20. 20 Click “Get search volume and forecasts”.
21. 21 Paste the keywords into the text field and click “Get started”.
22. 22 Click “Forecast” on the top.
23. 23 Adjust the following metrics to get a forecast for your keywords:
24. 24 You will get an estimated forecast based on the previous input. For instance, the following forecast is based on a $30 daily spend and a 4% conversion rate on the landing page.
25. 25 You can then compare if the average cost per acquisition (Avg. CPA) is lower than your cost per conversion to determine the potential profits for this campaign. You can also adjust the forecast with a different daily ad budget and conversion rate before you decide if this set of keywords is worth running a campaign for.
26. 26 Repeat steps 5-9 for all the keyword selections you have identified from the initial list of keyword ideas.
27. 27 The next step is to organize all these keywords into campaign and ad groups. To do that refer to SOP 143: Design a Structure a Google Ads Campaign Account (web version): How to structure a Google Ads account.
28. 28 You now have a set of grouped keywords to create a new campaign for!

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The document 29 pages

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