Keyword research is critical to achieving success with pay-per-click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO). Learn how to conduct keyword research in our FREE keyword research guide for search engine marketing.

1. WordStream, Inc. Boston SEO MeetupEffective Keyword Research for SEO and PPC Larry Kim, Founder and VP of Products, WordStream, Inc., June 15, 2009

2. 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 WordStream, Inc.

3. 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.

4. WordStream, Inc. Tonight’s Agenda Keyword Research Best Practices for PPC & SEO Overview of WordStream Solution for Keyword Management Questions & Answers

5. 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

6. 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

8. Group together closely related keywords

9. Write relevant text ads and destination pages

10. Higher Quality Score: Better Exposure, Lower Minimum Bids, Lower Cost Per Click

11. Makes bid manipulation more effective, improves conversion ratesWordStream, Inc.

13. Includes long-tail keyword variations in the page copy

14. Organize content with relevant intelligent information architecture

15. Use as landing pages for PPC campaigns

16. Repeat!WordStream, Inc.

17. 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

18. WordStream, Inc. Step 4: Make Keyword Research Continuous Re-factor new keyword opportunities into your existing keyword research

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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.

23. Keyword Aggregation Import Keyword Data from a Variety of Different Sources Continuous Keyword Discovery continuous and dynamic WordStream, Inc.

24. Keyword Analysis Long tail keyword analysis tools Determine what keywords led to what outcomes WordStream, Inc.

25. Keyword Organization Suggests ways to segment keyword lists New keywords are automatically organized! WordStream, Inc.

26. Actionable PPC & SEO Tools Turn Keyword segmentations into Ad Groups Associate keyword groupings with Web Pages for SEO WordStream, Inc.

27. Negative Keyword Tool Suggests Negative Keywords WordStream, Inc.

28. PPC & SEO Workflow Tools Each keyword grouping has associated tasks Prioritize tasks based on user defined criteria WordStream, Inc.

29. Questions? If you have any comments or questions about this presentation, contact Larry directly: lkim@wordstream.com http://twitter.com/larrykim WordStream, Inc.