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I recently helped a client work on a Keyword research strategy.

Starting with a blank canvass, we wanted to start with a wide funnel and quickly find the avenues of opportunity.

Using traditional Google tools, we did some keyword analysis to find value in keyword search terms. A manual value calculation weighed the criteria of:

• local monthly search volume
• attainable high search ranking (i.e. reasonable chance of 1 – 3 ranking with moderate bid spend)
• strategic value as keyword for content search/SEO

We then classified the groups in terms of:

• GOLD – great value, focus most attention here
• GEEN – high cost/high potential volume, spend some attention here but closely monitor these terms for future opportunity
• ORANGE – low-cost/low strategic value, worth a gamble but not likely a great strategic choice. be cautious about wasting budget here

Keyword Search Results – Manual Triage

Additionally, we wanted to look at other avenues to explore ideas for keyword research so we elected to  perform a scan of some of the competitor’s keywords using a keyword spy tool.

This search provided some information with multiple applications in addition to looking at the keyword families that client was considering.

Our  main strategy for using this tool was to get an idea of the space that our  clients primary competitors were competing for. We also wanted find supporting evidence to validate the attention, or lack of attention, that we were directing our client to particular keyword families to find points of difference and points of parity. 

With the information supplied by the spy tool, we were also able to gain some additional spin-off insights.

We felt that we were able to hone in on some of the competitor’s weaknesses, or potentially detrimental obsessions with some particular keywords. We found this in keywords that the competitor was aggressively bidding for that had both very high Average CPC and a comparatively low competition score. (We assumed the information provided by the tool is accurate)

Competitor Keyword Analysis

Possible explanations for this paradox are:

• an external competitor (or small group of) was (were) trying to bid them out of the market
• they were generating a high bounce rate with a possible mis-match between successful ads linked to unsuccessful landing pages
• this keyword is one that the competition is willing to pay huge sums to ensure they will get 1st position

There is no doubt that this tool is useful to some extent but the real value is how one interprets and applies of the attained information as part of a greater strategy that dictates success.

In addition to the obvious uses for competitor knowledge, here are some possible tactics that one can employ by using information provided by this tool:

– Find the pressure-point keywords that a competitor cannot live without, indicted by keywords that are highly over-valued and try to bid them up. (Be careful not to be too competitive as you may inadvertently sped budget.) 

– If you are a smaller player and you want to gain awareness by association, try to make sure you end up on all AdWord searches that they do. (And potentially bid them up.)

It should be noted that tools such as this are great tactics to augment a well conceived AdWords bid strategy but they are not, in themselves, a comprehensive strategy.