Paid Search

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Keyword Research -- the "Torso" vs. the "Long Tail"

A good keyword list is one of a short list of fundamental "moving parts" in any paid search campaign. Some others would include ad text, bids, and basic campaign settings. Though this seems like a short list of things you need to get right, the way they all interact with your target customer can run into millions of potential outcomes. It's perfectly Googlish that paid search campaigns act like a pocket IQ test. A few innocent-looking tasks will separate the geniuses from, well, everyone else.

Take keyword selection. Here you'll find a few hurdles to jump over:

• Right keywords. You need to select the right keywords: keywords your target prospects might search for. In that context, your target buyer will ideally click on the ad and complete a purchase or like action.
• Relevant ads. Your keyword list needs to be organized thematically and relevant ads need to be written for those groups of keywords.
• Match Options. You need to understand matching options. How does exact match work in Google AdWords as opposed to phrase match or broad match? Also, are you using negative keywords to filter out searches that include words often associated with poorly targeted customers? Examples might include free, sex, oregon, or any other word that might cause untargeted customers to click your ads.
• Unusual keywords. You'd ideally like to find unusual keywords and phrases that few other advertisers have discovered.

On this latter point, many advertisers have become interested in the concept of the Long Tail. If you put a lot of "tail" keywords in your account, they might cost less and hook you up with a more responsive customer. The Long Tail concept is based on a frequency graph (the tail is lower-frequency searches such as "Wichita dentist comparison chart"; the "head" is the popular searches like "MP3" and "free ringtones"). Words at the head are often expensive, so savvy advertisers actively manage and monitor them, or avoid them if they're untargeted.

It's all nice in theory. There are certainly techniques to discover and build long tail keyword lists; adding these can give you a feeling of satisfaction and improve your campaign's ROI. But they may not give you enough volume to really drive your business. Meanwhile, very little research is required to unearth the right "head" words – it just takes deep pockets, careful bidding, and a strong underlying business.

But a key variable that many advertisers neglect is somewhere between head and tail – let's call it the "torso." The "torso" words would include secondary ways of describing your main product or service. They'd include long lists of highly relevant two-word broad matches that contain a popular core word as the first word.

For example, the phrase "mathematics tutorial" needs to be supplemented by including all the variations of tutorial that make sense, as well as any significant versions of the word mathematics that make sense: math, maths, etc.

(Tip: don't obsess too much about including plurals and verb stems if you're using broad match. Depending on your bid and other factors, Google's expanded broad matching and Yahoo's advanced match will likely show your ads on minor variations like this. Advanced advertisers, however, often stick to narrower matching options in the hopes that they can better understand the different values of keywords even on seemingly minor differences between phrases like "Gucci watch" and "gucci watches".)

In addition, you should explore the variations on "math" that amount to getting more specific or granular. If specific topics like algebra are commonly searched by your prospects as well, then include those words.

Great book on paid search by the author of this article.

Sound obvious? It is, on paper. Yet many advertisers are so busy building bigger lists of obscure keywords, or obsessing about where other advertisers appear on core phrases, that they forget to flesh out the torso thoroughly.

By filling out this "meaty" area through a combination of intuition, common sense, and simple brute force, you're going to be doing a thorough job with your account, as opposed to merely a clever or impressive job. This gives you a better chance at a volume of clicks sufficient to make the whole effort worth the time spent.

Resource: Danny Sullivan, "Search's Long Tail," Search Engine Watch.com Blog, 14-Mar-2005. http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/050314-164653

Andrew Goodman is founder and principal of Toronto-based Page Zero Media, a marketing agency which focuses on maximizing clients' results from paid search campaigns from the planning stage, through the first click, right through to purchase or lead.