Paid Search

How to Conduct Mobile Search Keyword Research Christine Churchill , KeyRelevance.com , Dallas, TX - Feb 15, 2011

Mobile search is accellerating as more and more people move to Internet-capable cell-phones and smartphones. Between 2009 and the end of 2010, the number of Google searches from mobile devices mushroomed five-fold. Given this explosive growth, mobile PPC advertising makes sense for many businesses. Local businesses especially are often a good fit for mobile advertising.  If you run a business where consumers might contact you via their mobile phones, targeting those customers via mobile ads could be crucial.

Mobile Searchers Differ from Desktop Searchers

Remember that the mobile user often has completely different motivations and behaviors than the user sitting at a desktop or laptop. Cell-phone users are often not at home, they are using a small display that is hard to read, and they commonly have a different intent and urgency for their searches.

If you're a mobile advertiser, consider these differences as you plan your mobile advertising. Establish separate mobile campaigns. Ads and keywords you use in the mobile campaign should be tailored to the mobile user, not a duplicate of the ads and keywords you used for your desktop searchers. Test your landing pages to make sure they show up well on mobile devices.

Mobile Keyword Research

As with other forms of online marketing, keyword research is the first step in developing your mobile marketing plan. For optimal success, tailor your keyword research specifically for mobile users. The search terms mobile users tend to use can be very different.

Google Keyword Tool to the Rescue

Fortunately, Google has made it easy to gain insights into mobile searches by their recent addition of an option in the Google Keyword Tool (adwords.google.com/keywordtool) that provides volumetric data for keywords used by mobile searchers.

The Tool has undergone extensive changes over the last year. The source of the data has changed from Google and its partner sites to only the Google search engine. In the first few months after the transition, Google was limiting the keywords to only keywords of commercial intent. Fortunately, Google fixed this issue in early December 2010. Now the Tool is back to being a valuable source of keyword information. I still recommend that you use multiple keyword tools for a diverse view of the search landscape, but Google Keyword Tool information is better now (February 2011) than it was in the last quarter of 2010.

Let me walk you through using the Tool to gather mobile keyword data.

Mobile Keyword Option in Google Keyword Tool

1. Open the Google Keyword Tool.
    
2. Enter your keyword phrases into the "Word or Phrase" box. Remember to enter only one phrase per line.

   To illustrate that users use a different pool of keywords for desktop versus mobile search, I'll use the keyword "pizza" as my main keyword. And to avoid getting a lot of brand names showing up, I'll filter out popular brand names, negating them by putting a hyphen (or minus sign) in front of each negative word. This allows me to see search phrases without brand names. (I've included more negative keyword filter phrases than are shown in the graphic below.)

Keyword Search Setup. Larger image.

3. Click on the Advanced Options Link below the keyword list. If you're an international marketer, you'll be interested because it allows you to select specific countries and languages for keyword research. For the PPC marketer interested in mobile phrases, you can access mobile device options. Under the Advanced Options area there is an section titled "Show ideas and Statistics for," followed by a pull-down menu. Here are the choices:
   • Desktop and laptop devices
   • All mobile devices
   • Mobile WAP devices
   • Mobile devices with full internet browsers (e.g., iPhone or Android)

The graphic below shows the pull-down menu options.

Advanced Options. Larger image.

4. View Desktop/Laptop Keywords. First, I'll do a search for keywords that are entered into Google Search using the "desktop or laptop device" option. I'll fill in the CAPTCHA (if required) and hit Search. Sorting the phrase results by descending popularity, I get the list of terms as shown below (taking advantage of the filter phrases I set up).

Desktop/Laptop keywords for "pizza". Larger image.

Looking through the list you'll see many phrases like "pizza dough" or "pizza dough recipe" that someone at home might be interested in if they wanted to make a homemade pizza. Nearly half of the top ten terms indicate intent to make pizza, not order it.

5. View Mobile Search Keywords. Now I'll contrast these terms with the phrases entered by a mobile searcher. Go to the Advanced Options section and select "All Mobile Devices" in the pull-down menu. The terms that appear now are very different in both volume and apparent intent. Although you still see recipe terms, you see many more terms that clearly indicate searchers interested in ordering pizza or finding a restaurant that makes pizza. As you would expect, mobile users were more interested in eating pizza than making it.

Mobile Search keywords for "pizza." Larger image.

Mobile PPC Advertising

Considering the growth of mobile and local search, mobile advertising is an excellent way for businesses to get in front of customers. Mobile search isn't going away; the trend towards mobile search continues to grow. If you haven't yet tried mobile advertising, you may be missing out on an important way to reach your customer base.

Don't forget to tailor your PPC campaigns to the intent of the mobile user. Using keyword tools that supply search query information from mobile searchers can provide insight into the mind of the mobile users. Understanding the differences in intent can help you tailor your ads and landing pages to deliver the information the searcher wants. When you give the searcher what he wants, and he is more likely to turn into a customer.

Christine Churchill is the President of KeyRelevance.com, a full service Dallas search engine marketing company that specializes in helping businesses succeed online. Christine and her experienced team of online marketers provide a holistic approach to marketing: increasing a site's visibility online, improving the user experience on the site, and maximizing the site's conversion potential.