Why Historical Analysis Of Search Keywords Is Essential For Your Success

In online marketing, the keywords you choose to target are a critical part of where your business goes in the future, but what about their past?

Analyzing just how your keywords have performed over time is more important than many digital marketers seem to realize.

After all, your ad campaigns can only be effectively directed if you have a clear understanding of what has been working to date, and more importantly, what has not been working.

There are multiple benefits to conducting a historical analysis of search keywords in the Google Ads search network, such as:

• Enabling you to pinpoint the specific keywords that are performing better, and therefore learn to manage them differently in your campaigns.
• Helping you identify underperforming keywords that are losing money or contributing a poor return on advertising spend (ROAS).
• Providing greater insights into the behavior of keywords over a period of time, which allows you to adjust your bids accordingly.

PPCexpo endeavors to make this historical keyword analysis easier for marketers and the report we offer allows for a much deeper assessment of your campaigns.

Let’s see what it can do for you.

The Keyword Period-Over-Period Report by PPCexpo

This report is a definitive historical keyword analysis, which provides marketers and analysts all the key insights they need on essential Google Ads keyword-related metrics.

With these insights, you will be able to measure keyword performance over a range of periods, such as days, weeks, months, quarters, or years.

The report covers an array of key metrics, including:

4 Keyword Behaviors to Study

For each of these metrics, the Keyword Period-Over-Period Report presents an opportunity for analysis of the keyword behaviors listed below. This analysis is presented in a tile layout on the report’s overview page.

• 1- Top 15 Keywords Based on Metric Value

The top 15 keywords in your account, campaign or an ad group are selected based on the metric value in descending order. The aggregated metric value of the top 15 keywords for the previous period and the current period is displayed in the tile visualization.

• 2- Bottom 15 Keywords Based on Metric Value

The bottom 15 keywords in your account, campaign or an ad group are selected based on the metric value in descending order. The aggregated metric value of the bottom 15 keywords for the previous period and the current period is displayed in the tile diagram.

• 3- Count of Increasing Keywords Based on Metric Value

The report displays a total count of the keywords that depict increasing behavior in their metric value. This can be viewed across the different time periods.

• 4- Count of Decreasing Keywords Based on Metric Value

The report displays a total count of the keywords that depict decreasing behavior in their metric value. This can be viewed across the different time periods.

2. How The Summary Tiles Calculation Is Done

Here are some key factors to consider when analyzing the report by PPCexpo:

The Current Period is the most recent time period, and the Previous Period is the subsequent time period.

For the Current Period, when you are looking for keywords that are Increasing or Decreasing, you should compare the most recent period with the subsequent period to detect the relevant keyword behavior.

Increasing Behavior

For the Current Period, when you are looking for keywords that are showing increasing behavior in the metric value, you should compare the most recent period with the subsequent period to detect the increasing keyword behavior.

For example, if the impression value of the keyword “shoes” in the most recent period is 200, and in the subsequent period its value was 150, we can put this keyword in the “Increasing” category.

Decreasing Behavior

For the Current Period, when you are looking for keywords that are showing decreasing behavior in the metric value, you should compare the most recent period with the subsequent period to detect the decreasing keyword behavior.

For example, if the impression value of the keyword “headphones” in the most recent period is 120, and in the subsequent period its value was 180, we can put this keyword in the “decreasing” category.

For the Previous Period, when you are looking for keywords that are Increasing or Decreasing, you should compare the second period with the third period to detect the relevant keyword behavior.

3. Trend Lines

There are four different trend lines to consider. We can use the visualization to assess them all.

Top Trend Lines

When you look at the visualization, you can use the following steps to assess the metrics on the Top tiles trend lines:

1. Take note of the top 15 keywords based on their metric value in the most recent period.
2. Aggregate the metric value for those keywords, and then plot the data point.
3. Trend lines are only drawn on the data of most recent period.

Bottom Trend Lines

When you look at the visualization, you can use the following steps to assess the metrics on the Bottom tiles trend lines:

1. Take note of the bottom 15 keywords based on their metric value in the most recent period.
2. Aggregate the metric value for those keywords, and then plot the data point.
3. Trend lines are only drawn on the data of most recent period.

Increasing Trend Lines

When you look at the visualization, you can use the following steps to assess the metrics on the increasing trend lines:

1. Compare keywords behavior from most recent period to subsequent period. Count the keywords if the metric value is increasing in the most recent period when compared with the subsequent period.
2. Draw the data point for the count of keywords.
3. The most recent period and subsequent period data are used to detect the increasing trend in the metric value.

Decreasing Trend Lines

When you look at the visualization, you can use the following steps to assess the metrics on the decreasing trend lines:

1. Compare keywords behavior from most recent period to subsequent period. Count the keywords if the metric value is decreasing in the most recent period when compared with the subsequent period.
2. Draw the data point for the count of keywords.
3. The most recent period and subsequent period data are used to detect the decreasing trend in the metric value.

4. Drill-down Analysis

By performing a drill-down analysis, you can get a list of the actual keywords that meet the criteria using in summary page tiles.

PPCexpo provides a slope chart, which is an intuitive method of visualizing the historical analysis of search keywords. This is presented in the form of a trail, where you assess the keyword’s behavior over time.

The drill-down calculation is done as follows:

Top Drill-down

Starting from the most recent period, it displays the top keywords based on their metric value in descending order. Each period is represented as a column in the slope chart, and it will display its own top list.

Bottom Drill-down

Starting from the most recent period, it displays the bottom keywords based on their metric value in ascending order. Each period is represented as a column in the slope chart, and it will display its own bottom list.

Increasing Drill-down

Starting from the most recent period, the slope chart will display keywords based on their behavior (i.e. increasing).

Increasing behavior is calculated based on the metric value comparison of the most recent period and the subsequent period.

Each column in the slope chart (i.e. the Period) will display its own list of Increasing keywords.

Decreasing Drill-down

Starting from the most recent period, the slope chart will display keywords based on their behavior (i.e. decreasing).

Decreasing behavior is calculated based on the metric value comparison of the most recent period and the subsequent period.

Each column in the slope chart (i.e. the Period) will display its own list of Decreasing keywords.

Keyword Knowledge is Power

The more you know about your keywords, the better it is for your campaigns. By using the report from PPCexpo, digital marketers can analyze the performance and trends of their keywords in great detail.

From there, you’ll be in a much stronger position to make the right decisions about which keywords to cut, and which to invest more in.