In the previous blog, I wrote about Setting Goals in Google AdWords.  In this blog, we move onto discuss how you go about selecting your keywords for use in the campaign. There are 5 main steps required:

1. Create an initial list by "brainstorming" with others (clients, colleagues, friends), writing down all the words that you think are the ones that people use to search for your products and services.
2. Now Expand your list to include as many possible relevant words and options as possible
3. Target the list by using Keyword Matching Options
4. Refine your list
5. Group the final keyword list into themes or clusters (most likely around your product and service  offerings)

Let''s expand on each of these points:

1. Create an initial list. This is the easy part.  Simply sit down with a piece of paper, jotter, whiteboard, etc and write down as many words and phrases that you believe are used by potential prospects.
2. Expand the list. Take the initial list and now expand that list by writing down every relevant keyword under every category that you have.  For example, if you are in the "ethnic foods" business, then your terms might look like:chinese food Irish food french food german food indian food eastern food Middle eastern food mexican food Jananese food Then start to look at the list and consider which terms would not make good keywords.  For example, you would not look for a "german dish", whereas you might look for "german food".  If in doubt, check a keyword using the Google Keyword Tool. Now expand your list by including plurals and synonyms for each phrase.  Your keyword list will now be greatly expanded. Next, expand the list for each of the new words in the list that you have just found.
3. Target the keywords Using the Google Keyword Matching Options, you can now start to target the keywords.  For more details, refer to how Google defines Broad, Phrase and Exact matching options as well as the negative matching options.
4. Refine your list by doing the following:Eliminate Irrelevant Keywords Add Synonyms Add Colloquialisms You could add mis-spellings (but remember that the Google results page usually offers searchers the correct spelling option if they have mis-spelt a word, so perhaps this option is becoming increasingly redundant!)
5. Group Your Keywords Now you need to organise your keywords into groups. To do this,a. Identify your main themes and group your keywords accordingly b. place all the synonyms in the same group c. place all of the mis-spelling together Now create separate Ad Groups for each of the themes.

In the next blog, I will explain how to develop your adverts around the keyword groups that you have just created. Click here for a more detailed explanation of Google AdWords Matching Options

Ian Dodson