5 Steps to a Successful PPC Keyword Bidding Strategy

Keyword bidding is one of the most critical steps in creating a pay-per-click (PPC) strategy. Effective keyword bidding ensures that you use the right keywords and reach people needing your products or services.

An experienced Chicago PPC agency outlines the five steps to a successful keyword bidding strategy:

1. Research relevant target keywords
2. Check local search keywords
3. Group keywords together
4. Set bidding
5. Adjust bidding according to ad performance

Build successful strategies by following these easy steps. Let’s go!

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1. Research Relevant Target Keywords

Researching the target keywords is a critical part of PPC keyword bidding. Targeted keywords determine when and where ads appear on search engine results pages (SERPs). You can effectively reach your desired audience by selecting relevant keywords for your campaign.

When a user searches for a term that matches selected keywords, your ad appears in their results page. Since they are already interested in your product or service, there is an increased chance that they will click on your ad.

Using target keywords also improves an ad's quality score — a metric that search engines use to measure ad quality and relevance. The higher the quality score, the more likely the ad will appear for users searching for it. Find relevant keywords through these research strategies:

• Brainstorm a list of potential keywords related to your product or service. Think about the terms that potential customers might use.
• Use keyword research tools, such as Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, and Ahrefs, to provide data on their search volume, competition, and estimated cost per click (CPC) of keywords.
• Analyze competitors to get ideas for keywords that you may have overlooked.
• Use long-tail keywords because these have lower search volumes but are more targeted to your product or service.
• Refine the list of keywords to only include the most relevant, high search volume, low competition, and a good balance between relevance and CPC.

Outsourcing PPC campaigns? Be sure to choose an experienced PPC agency that pays close attention to keyword research in order to get the most out of your budget.

2. Check Local Search Keywords

Check for location-based search terms if your business has a local office or shop. Local search keywords include a specific location or regional qualifier, such as a city, state, or region. These keywords are essential in PPC ads because they help businesses target local audiences who are more likely to convert into customers.

For a pizza shop in Chicago, include local keywords such as "pizza delivery in Chicago," "best pizza in Chicago," or "Chicago pizzeria" in the PPC ads. This helps ads appear in search results for people searching for pizza in the local area.

Using local keywords helps compete with other local businesses in the area, improve ad relevance, and increase an ad's quality score. All of these lead to lower costs per click and higher ad rankings. To effectively find local search keywords, follow these techniques:

• Identify the target location, such as a city, state, region, or neighborhood. Use tools, such as Google Trends, Google Analytics, or social media insights, to determine the audience location.
• Use keyword research tools to identify keywords with a high search volume in the target location.
• Analyze local search queries, using Google's autocomplete feature to identify common search phrases that include the target location.
• Look at local competitors to see what keywords they are targeting. This gives an idea of popular industry and location keywords.

3. Group Keywords Together

Grouping keywords in a PPC campaign helps create ad groups that are highly relevant to the target audience. This can increase the chances of ads showing to the right people and improve ad copy relevance, click-through rates, and conversions.

Additionally, grouping keywords allows for setting specific bids and budgets for each ad group. You can allocate budgets more effectively and ensure that you're not overspending on less relevant keywords or lower conversion rates.

By creating ad groups, performance tracking becomes easier. You can quickly identify which ad groups are performing well and which need improvement, allowing you to adjust and optimize campaigns for better results. The following tips can help you group keywords and use ad groups for better PPC campaign management:

• Categorize keywords into groups based on their themes and relevance. For a clothing company, group keywords such as "men's clothing," "women's clothing," "summer clothing," "winter clothing," etc.
• Create ad groups based on those categories. Each ad group should contain a set of closely related keywords that are relevant to a specific theme, product, or service.
• Write an ad copy specific to each ad group and use the keywords in that group.
• Set bids and budgets for each ad group based on their performance history and estimated conversion rates.
• Monitor the performance of each ad group and adjust bids, budgets, and ad copy as needed.

4. Set the Bidding

Select a maximum bid amount to pay for a click on your ad. This bid amount determines how much you pay whenever someone clicks on the ad. Setting the correct bid is crucial because it affects where and how often ads appear in search results.

Setting a maximum bid helps control ad spending and prevent overspending on clicks. You can maximize return on investment (ROI) and achieve campaign goals more efficiently.

Setting a higher bid also helps outbid competitors and secure better ad placement. Note that different keyword searches can have different bid values based on relevance and popularity. Set the correct bid for each keyword to ensure that ads show to your target audience and get the most out of your advertising budget. Here are steps to set bidding in PPC:

• Determine campaign goals, such as driving traffic, generating leads, increasing sales, or achieving another objective.
• Choose a bidding strategy such as manual CPC, automated CPC, enhanced CPC, target cost-per-action (CPA), and target return on ad spend (ROAS).
• Set the maximum bid.
• Monitor bidding performance regularly and adjust bids as needed. You may need to increase bids if ads are not displayed often enough.
• Consider bid adjustments based on specific criteria, such as location, device, time of day, and audience demographics.

5. Adjust Bidding According To Ad Performance

While monitoring PPC ad performance, you eventually need to adjust bidding depending on the ad performance. If ads are not appearing in the top position on SERPs, you may need to increase your bids to improve their position. As mentioned, a higher ad position can result in more visibility and clicks.

If advertising costs exceed the budget or campaigns are not generating a positive ROI, you may need to adjust bidding to reduce costs. To focus on specific high-value keywords, adjust bidding to increase the chances of winning and appearing in the search results.

Adjusting PPC bidding involves changing the maximum CPC bids to optimize campaign performance. Here are some steps to follow to adjust PPC bidding:

• Analyze campaign performance data to identify areas that need improvement, such as low click-through rates, low conversion rates, or high cost per acquisition.
• Identify the keywords that are most relevant and valuable to your campaign goals to focus your bidding adjustments on the most important ones.
• Increase or decrease max CPC bids for each keyword based on bid strategy and campaign goals.
• Test different max CPC bids and analyze the results to optimize campaigns.
• Consider automated bidding for many keywords, if you want to save time.
• Outsource PPC campaigns to an expert Chicago PPC agency to get the best keyword bidding and PPC management help.

Summing Up

For a successful PPC keyword bidding strategy, remember to research relevant target keywords and local search keywords, group keywords together, set bidding, and adjust bidding according to ad performance. A well-formulated bidding strategy leads to better, more effective campaigns, so take advantage of every step.

Do you want to learn more about PPC keyword bidding? Let an expert Chicago PPC agency provide the correct answers. Contact Digital Authority Partners (DAP) today.