Google AdWords™ for Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Chapter 5. Choosing the Right Keywords

In This Chapter

• Understanding the importance of keywords

• Reading your prospects' minds through their search behavior

• Discovering tools for keyword research

• Mastering keyword formats and variations

• Sorting your keywords into ad groups

• Discouraging the "wrong" people from visiting your site

• Increasing traffic by discovering new keywords

You're in control of most parts of your online marketing. You write your ads. You design and create your Web site. You write checks for advertising. You set your prices, hours of operation, and policies. But one of the most important elements of your online strategy isn't created by you at all, but by your prospects: the keywords they use to search for your solution to their problem. Your job isn't to invent keywords, but to identify the keywords they're already typing. If you can't find those keywords, the AdWords game is over before it starts. No keywords means no impressions, no clicks, no leads, no sales.

After you've discovered those keywords, however, your job isn't over. Now you have to figure out "the want behind the word." Each keyword represents a different mindset — a different set of assumptions about how to fulfill a need, and a different state of buying readiness. For example, the singular and plural keywords can imply huge differences. Someone searching for used car is probably closer to buying than someone who types used cars. The plural searchers typically are at the early stages of their quest, whereas ...