SMX London Keyword Planning in a Close Variant World

#SMX #11B @WordStream @navahf
Navah Hopkins - WordStream
Keyword Planning
in a Close Variant
World

• Worked in digital marketing
since 2008
• Manage international
accounts in all verticals
• Avid gamer, marketing nerd,
and cat mom
About Me

It Can Be Very Tempting to Think of Search Networks as
Villains.

In Reality, the Short Term Pain Foreshadows Long Term
Growth.

Google (and Bing) Have Made it Pretty Clear
Audiences, Attribution, and Automation are
Their Priorities

So What Are We Doing talking About
Keywords?

Losers Think Abandoning Keywords For
Display and Autopilot Search is the Future

Winners Know That Audience Focus Is At The
Heart of Keyword Strategy

• Average AdWords CPC increased
14% Q4 2017 YOY
• Minimum first page bids for non-
branded keywords rose 23% YOY
• Mobile devices produced 55% of
Google’s Q4 2017 clicks
Keyword planning that
doesn’t factor in
audiences wastes
money.
*https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2018/02/05/marketing-statistics

Search Networks Are Evolving

Can You Imagine if This Was Our Search
Experience?

We Used to Have to Account for All Variables

You Would Need to Bid on These Keywords
Exact: where is the nearest vet, vet near me, nearest vet, vetinarian
near me
Phrase: vet near me, where is the nearest vet, vetinarian near me, vet,
vet near,
Modified Broad: vet, where is the nearest vet, vet near me, where
nearest vet
Broad: pet doctor, local vet, vet near me, where is nearest vet, cat
hospital

This Caused Ad Groups to Swell to Unruly
Sizes

Now, You’d Only Need These Keywords
Exact: where is nearest vet, vet near me
Phrase: where is nearest vet, vet near
Modified Broad: vet near me
Broad: where is nearest vet

However, Most Advertisers Are Still Configured
This Way
Exact: where is the nearest vet, vet near me, nearest vet, vetinarian
near me
Phrase: vet near me, where is the nearest vet, vetinarian near me, vet,
vet near,
Modified Broad: vet, where is the nearest vet, vet near me, where
nearest vet
Broad: pet doctor, local vet, vet near me, where is nearest vet, cat
hospital

Google Sometimes Gets Fooled into Putting
Budget in Old Keywords Instead of Valuable
Ones

It’s Our Job to Honor the Rules of Engagement
and Help Google Know Where to Put Our
Money

What Makes A Duplicate/Match Type Rules of Engagement
Close Variant Mechanics

• Singular/Plural
• “ed”,“ing”,“er”
• Abbreviations
• Misspellings
• One Word Turned into Two Words
& Visa Versa
What Makes a Variant?

To Be Clear, the Following Are Now Duplicates
of One Another (on the Same Match-Type)
Wholesale = Wholesaler = Wholesaling = Whole Sale = Wholesaled
Lawyer = Lawwyer = Lawyers = Law yer
Real Estate in Texas = Realestate in Texas = Real Estate TX

They Are Caught By Match-Type – Match-Types
on Different Bids Don’t Compete With Each
Other
Always bid more
onAlan Rickman

The Order of Match-Types
1. Exact: all keywords must be present, nothing added (except for functional words, but
they can be in any order.
2. Phrase: keyword phrase must remain in-tact, but there can be keywords before and
after.
3. Mod. Broad: all keywords must be present, but they can be in any order and there can be
additional keywords in between, before and after.
4. Broad: so long as at least a synonym of one of your keywords is there, your ad can show.

A Pirate is Looking for Supplies
Anti Fairy Repellant
Mustache wax
Crocodile hunters
A way to stop child abduction

• Anti-Fairy Repellant
• AntiFairy Repellant
• Repellant for Fairies
• Fairy Repellant
Exact Enters First

Exact Enters First: The
Following Would Be
Duplicates on Exact
• Anti-Fairy Repellant
• AntiFairy Repellant
• Repellant for Fairies
• Fairy Repellant

• Mustache wax under $20
• Organic mustache wax
• Mustache waxing
• Mustachewax
Phrase Enters Second

Phrase Enters Second:
The Following Would
Be Duplicates on
Phrase
• Mustache wax under $20
• Organic mustache wax
• Mustache waxing
• Mustachewax

• I need a crocodile hunter
• Crocodile hunting permit
• CrocodileHunter boots
• Hunt crocodil groupon
Mod. Broad Enters
Third

Mod. Broad Enters
Third: The Following
Would Be Duplicates on
Mod. Broad
• I need a crocodile hunter
• Crocodile hunting permit
• CrocodileHunter boots
• Hunt crocodil groupon

• Child abduction hotline
• Runaway children
• Gps tracker for kids
• Donate to amber alert
Broad Enters Fourth

Broad Enters Fourth:
The Following Would
Be Duplicates on Broad
• Child abduction hotline
• Runaway children
• Gps tracker for kids
• Donate to amber alert

*#SMXInsights Incoming!*
Pick Your Variant

Keyword Choices Influence Budget Efficiency
Based on $369
spend between
October 25th
and November
23rd 2017

HAH! is My Favorite Way to Pick Variants
Historical Metrics
Auction Prices
Human Intuition

Historical Metrics Are Important

Conversions (if you trust them) Are the Most
Important

CTR is a Great Second Consideration if
Conversions Can’t Guide You

QS Can be a Tie Breaker, but Not a Major
Consideration

Do You Really Want to Pay a Premium for
Conversions?

By Removing Close Variants,
We Were Able to Reduce CPA
by 37%

Auction Price Plays A Big Role In Account Efficiency

Depending on Device, You May Need to Chase
Position #1 vs #2-3

Different Locations Have Different Auction Prices
and Ways of Thinking

Conflicting objectives can choke budgets: if
you need volume, you can’t have big ticket
leads and visa versa.

Share these #SMXInsights on your social channels!
#SMXInsights
 Pick Auction Price thresholds that yield high ROI:
– Can you fit at least 10 clicks a day? If not you’re banking
on better than 10% conversion rate.
– Do you have hubs of customers with better margins? Bid
them up via location targeting!
– Do the bids fall in a consistent range, or are there
outliers? Could be a sign of conflicting objectives.

How did your best customers say they found
you?

How would you
search for your
services?

Are certain terms close but not quite your ideal
customer?

What if There is No Data?

#SMXInsights
 Test the following keyword strategies for 2-3
weeks and then grow!
– B2B: be sure to include “service” “software” and/or
“platform” to weed out any B2C traffic.
– B2C: Go longtail on broad, then harvest queries!
– eCommerce: Consider leading with Dynamic Search
Ads to see what your customers search for, then build
off those queries!

Healthy Campaigns have the Following Traits

#SMXInsights
 Honor Google’s Investment Banker
Tendencies:
– No more than 5-7 ad groups per campaign
– Healthy bid to budget ratio: no bid exceeds
10% of daily budget
– Maintain strategic continuity by keeping ad
groups to 5-10 keyword concepts on
multiple match types

So How Do We Transition?

Client Story: A & A Machinery Pre-Close Variant
(July 2017)

Post Close Variant Change (August 2017)

Seven Months Later, Still Going Strong

#SMXInsights
 How did we achieve Close Variant Victory?
– Segmented giant national campaign into micro
campaigns focused on high ROI hubs of
customers. (Two months to ramp up)
– We audited each location for how users
searched and paused variations driving up the
spend. (One month to see ROI)
– We imported successful campaigns into Bing.

Let’s Recap!

What is Now Considered Duplicates
1. Singular/Plural
2. “ed”,“ing”,“er”
3. Abbreviations
4. Misspellings
5. One Word Turned into Two Words & Visa Versa
6. Exact match keywords in different orders

• Auction Price
• Historical Data
• Human Intuition
• Proven Keyword Structures
Keyword Planning
Should Be Ruled By the
Following:

Happy Ad Groups
Look Like This
5-10 Keyword concepts
3-5 expanded text ads
Multiple match types
Have bids that fit within the budget (10 click
minimum)
Not Like this
More than 30 keywords
Too many keyword concepts
Too many ads to test for variables

Tests Are Important – Don’t Feel Like You’re
Locked Into Your Choice

LEARN MORE: UPCOMING @SMX EVENTS
THANK YOU!
SEE YOU AT THE NEXT #SMX

SMX London Keyword Planning in a Close Variant World

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