Marketing at the keyword level defines 2 basic types of keywords- general and specific. General marketplace keywords are expensive because competition is high due to high search volumes, but these keywords are expensive because their ROI tends to be poor. A general search query means the seacher is not very far along in the buying process and at this point is educating themselves on the market; even if this education is just comparative pricing. Specific keywords are those further along this buying process where it is evident in the search query that the searcher knows what he or she is looking for. In extremely specific cases, product numbers are searched for goods and area codes for services.
So along the process of educating, comparing and buying a good or service it also makes sense then, to tailor your ads to each point along that graph too. I would even argue in many cases that you don’t want to be found along the 1st two points of the graph, but nevertheless, let the data speak for itself– i.e. track everything.
To put this into practice it makes most sense to have ad groups within a given campaign differentiated by keyword specificity as it relates to the buying process. Therefore it is a clear path to writing for the different targets. Ad group 1 is written for the uneducated searcher, ad group 2 to the price comparer and 3 (if different than step 2) is for the buyer with credit card in hand. Again, the keywords are making the distinctions for all 3 steps.
Confused about how this relates to your web site or online marketing? Let us know and we’ll make it make sense customized to your business needs.
