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In pay-per-click advertising, your keywords are the foundational blocks on which profits and goals depend. Choosing the right keywords isn’t easy, and guesswork will rarely — if ever — deliver the results you desire. Thankfully, PPCexpo has a search terms report that offers the perfect solution.
The search terms report from PPCexpo, better known as the Search Query Report, enables you to discover new keywords with high potential for a positive return on investment (ROI). Furthermore, you can use the search terms report to identify keywords that attract clicks from unqualified users, and then you can add these terms to your negative keywords list.
In this article, we’ll explore the search terms report and its importance of in modern PPC advertising.
A search term/search query is the word or string of words that a user types into the search bar in a search engine, such as Google or Bing. Also known as a search term, these queries are the real-world application of a keyword, and as such, they may be out of order or misspelled.
If you want to buy men’s jeans online, you can type the search term, men’s jeans, into Google. A savvy advertisers will use this same term as a keyword in their Google Ads campaign, and therefore, their ad may appear in the search engine results pages (SERPs) for users like you with this keyword intent.
In essence, keywords are assumptions about the way we think users perform online searches, while search terms are the reality. With the search terms report, you can find new keywords that are more closely aligned with user intent and how your target audience uses search engines.
In the search terms report, you will see that there are four different types of search query:
A navigational query is a search term that a user enters with the intent of finding a particular website or webpage.
For example, a user may enter “YouTube” into Google instead of simply typing the YouTube URL into the browser navigation bar.
An informational search query seeks information about a specific topic, like how to do something.
For example, you may type “How to identify problems with your car tires” into Google. This may be just for the information, with no intent to purchase car tires.
Commercial search queries compare competing products and services, which is usually done before making any purchases.
For example, someone may search “best laptops in 2023” if they are comparing different products on the market.
A transactional search query is a search term used to complete a transaction, like an online order or purchase. These search terms may include product or brand names, as well as words with purchasing intent, such as buy, purchase, or order.
For example, if someone searches “buy apple iPhone,” we can assume they are interested in buying the product.
If you want to understand Google Ads STRs (Search Term Reports), it’s important to look at the way the Google search engine works.
Google uses different algorithms for Regression Analysis and Machine Learning applications, which helps it make accurate predictions based on historical data.
Whenever someone completes a search, the Google algorithm instantly presents a list of paid advertisements that are closely linked to the content and context of the search.
Below, you can see the Google Search Term analysis dashboard. The terms listed in may differ from those on your keyword list, depending on your keyword matching options.
You can assess performance in relation to your match types to figure out the right match type for all of your keywords, ultimately finding a good balance that offers a broad reach, and attracts relevant traffic.
According to Google, the introduction of BERT generated a 15% growth in new search queries. This update takes small stop words (i.e., to, for, in, on) into consideration to deliver more optimized results that are closer to the true search intent of the user.
This development is particularly useful for long-tail queries and voice search, as Google now has a better understanding of context, which means more accurate results. This saves the user time and effort and ensures advertisers reach the most engaged, relevant audience.
Learn More: Google BERT: Top Things You Must Know in 2023
So, with the search terms report from PPCexpo, here are a few ways you can scale your campaigns.
With PPCexpo, you can analyze your search term reports in an interactive PDF format.
The data is based on the top 15 keywords and has been divided into three distinct categories – awareness, consideration, and conversion.
The awareness stage is where a person recognizes they have a problem and that they need a solution. Prospects begin to search for broad terms. Typically, these searches are just to gather information, with little purchasing intent involved.
In the awareness stage, advertisers should focus on the following metrics:
What results can you get from performing analysis at the awareness stage?
By evaluating data at this stage, you can identify keywords for your negative keywords list, and also identify potentially high-value terms that may perform better with an adjustment in match type.
If you are getting lots of impressions but no clicks, it’s a sign that your ad copy needs improving. Revise the headlines, call-to-action, and images to make it more attractive.
In this stage, prospects will evaluate the available options on the market. Advertisers should try to connect with them by providing excellent landing page content, case studies, and product guides that not only dispel doubts but also reinforce the belief that their product or service is the best choice.
Prospects in this phase have already clicked on your ad, so now you must convince them of the value the product or service will add to their life.
In the consideration stage, advertisers should focus on the following metrics:
What results can you get from performing analysis at the consideration stage?
Here, you can use the insights to confirm whether your ads are relevant to the keywords. Ensure your landing pages provide all the essential information on your products or services, as to offer prospects everything they need to make a decision.
In the conversion stage, prospects have narrowed down viable options, and are now ready to make a purchasing decision. Advertisers can gather detailed data insights here, pinpointing the precise search terms that lead to conversion.
In the conversion stage, advertisers should focus on the following metrics:
Also, it’s a good idea to keep an eye on your Wasted Spend, as it tells you how much money you have lost before a specific search term generates a conversion.
What results can you get from performing analysis at the conversion stage?
In this phase, you can identify new terms that lead to conversion. For example, you may use men’s jeans as a broad match keyword, but then see that jeans for men generated a few conversions. You can add these terms as an exact match keyword to attract more leads and conversions.
Remember that search term match types in the search terms report aren’t always the same as your chosen match types.
Much of the discussion on using the search terms report thus far focuses on the past. In hindsight, you can see what has already happened. But what if you want to prepare for what is yet to come?
With forecast analysis, you can. Forecast analysis considers core factors in your account, such as your bid, budget, seasonality, and historical ad quality, and then it estimates the future performance of your campaigns.
You can use Google Keyword Planner to get forecasts for your keywords, getting an overview through graphs and tables, and some suggestions on bids.
In the PPCexpo search terms report, you can use forecast analysis to get valuable insights about the potential impact of any significant changes to your account. Such as:
In the image above, keywords are categorized into three categories:
The Performance Analysis section of the search terms report shows you the performance of specific search terms. The performance analysis is based on the following factors:
What results can you get from Performance Analysis?
By conducting performance analysis, you can see how search terms performed in a specific period in regards to impressions, clicks, costs, and conversions. You may find a few keywords are delivering good impression and conversion rates, and decide they are worth keeping.
In the Matching Keyword section below the trend chart, you can view keywords that matched the user search query. Furthermore, you can assess details about the keywords, including:
You can view other breakdowns by device or DoW (day of the week), effectively drilling down to determine the value of a keyword to your campaign. This information is all you need to make smarter decisions about whether to change the match types or the keywords in your campaign.
Knowing your audience and how they use search engines is essential nowadays in marketing. When you’re in paid advertising, it’s critical, as poorly-targeted ad campaigns can quickly drain a budget with little to no return.
The Search Query report from PPCexpo has the tools you need to dig deeper into your data, so you can figure out the best search queries, match types, and negative keywords for your campaigns. Once you have the full picture, you’ll soon be able to get the results you crave.
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