1.
Sean Malseed
Strategic Development

2.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
Introduction
• Why is SEMrush qualified to talk about eliminating trial and error?
• Simple: it's the basis of the software we make.
• We track 95 million keywords and 40+ million domains, and use
mathematical models to find incredibly detailed information on domains
and companies in general.
• This gives us a very unique insight into exactly this topic. We know what
companies spend and where, which of their products are profitable, what
ads they buy on Adwords, Adsense, and much more.
Introduction

3.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
Stop, look, listen and think

4.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
Jumping in

5.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
Trial
Error

6.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
So, where do we start?

Start by thinking differently. We need to figure
out a real approach.

7.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
Confidence is the feeling you haveConfidence is the feeling you have
before you fully understand the situationbefore you fully understand the situation

8.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
Do reconnaissance
1.Identify your real competitors
2.Check what they are doing before you build
your list
3.Avoid their mistakes, find holes in their
advertising, build from their successes

9.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
Identify the competition
Great tools to do this:

Your brain. You or your client is in the industry you're marketing to.

SimilarSites.com – great metrics on websites that share common
factors and common visitors, ranked by Similarity Score.

Competitive analysis tools – KeywordSpy, WordTracker, SEMrush,
SpyFu, etc.

10.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
Identify the competition
Grouped by
similarity score

11.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
Identify the competition
Ranked by number
of shared visitors

12.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
Identify the REAL competition
Transactional vs. Informational Competitors

Organic is tough – a blog about skateboarding does not
compete with a website selling skateboards.

Transactional keyword – looking to buy something. “pro
skateboards”

Informational keyword – looking to learn about something. “pro
skateboarders”

13.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
You don't compete with Amazon.com.
Amazon.com “competes” with everybody.

14.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
Identify the landscape
Now that you know who to look at, you need to
know what to look at.
We'll identify the PPC landscape, and see how we
will fit in effectively.
There's a few simple things you can do.

15.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
Pro Tip #1
If several competitors bid on a keyword, and you don't –
you're missing something.
If a keyword seems
really good to you, but
none of your
competitors bid on it...
there's a reason.

16.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
Building a keyword list
Start from a proven foundation

17.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
Combining competitors' experience
These three sites have 520 paid
keywords in common.

18.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
Scooters are lame

19.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
Cut out irrelevant information
233 shared AND relevant paid
keywords.

20.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
Pro Tip #2
If a competitor bids on a keyword each month, it converts.
They did the trial and error. You just look for their successes.

21.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
Expanding the list
Take the top terms from the previous step, and toss it
into Google Trends, limited to Product Search.

22.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
Expanding the list

23.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
Pro Tip #3
Exact match matters! Do all of your research with
exact match keywords.
Singular and plural keywords should be treated as
separate keywords.

24.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
Why exact match?
In this presentation, I've focused on PPC. For
example, we find that “buy pro skateboards”
converts more than “buy a pro skateboard”
If it looks like plural converts way more than non
plural, make sure you're bidding on plural.

25.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
Why exact match?
Because Google Keyword Tool is a salesman.

26.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
Why exact match?
Setting Google Keyword Tool for Exact match is simple.

27.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
Why exact match?
You need to accurately compare keywords
against each other, without overlapping volume.
How to compare
apples to oranges?
Use exact match...
they share broad
match volume.

28.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
Mergewords.com

29.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
KeywordEye.co.uk

30.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
KeywordToolDominator.com

31.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
Check everything in GKT

32.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
Recap – the Idea
Know your competitors
Steal your competitors' experience
Use tools to build smart keyword lists
Transactional vs. Informational keywords

33.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
Recap – the Idea
Always use [Exact] match.
Whatever you're planning, someone has done
something comparable.
Don't always trust Google. Remember, they want you
to bid on as many keywords as possible.

34.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
Recap – The Tools
Use your competitors' experience! Here are the tools I
covered:
SimilarSites.com – Find out who your real transactional
competitors are by shared visitors.
SEMrush.com – Find out what PPC keywords are successful
for your competitors, and use them.
MergeWords.com – Quickly get combinations of keywords,
great for localizing.

35.
www.semrush.com
@seanmalseed @smx
Recap – The Tools
Use your competitors' experience! Here are the tools I
covered:
KeywordToolDominator.com – Find purely transactional
keyword using Amazon, eBay and Google Product Search
suggestions.
KeywordEye.co.uk – Find out what PPC keywords are
successful for your competitors, and use them.
Google Keyword Tool – Of course, check everything in GKT!
Don't trust any one third-party tool 100%

36.
Thank you!
Sean Malseed
@semrush
@seanmalseed
pr.semrush.com/london
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