When someone is searching for a generic term, often they are looking for information, or in the research phase. Let’s take a look at the keyword phrase “jumper cables,” for example. If your site contains a page that sells jumper cables, this term may seem attractive because it receives a hefty amount of traffic. Here are some of the results I received when researching this phrase on Google’s AdWord Keyword Tool:

jumper cables – 27,100
battery jumper cables – 1,900
jumper cable – 12,100
heavy duty jumper cables – 1,000
buy jumper cables – 210

Now, if you ran a PPC campaign in for these exact phrases, I would almost guarantee that “buy jumper cables” would be your best converting keyword. When a user types this phrase into a search engine, we know exactly what they are looking for. If your page is properly optimized, you’ll have a shot at ranking well in the SERP’s.

Aside from the relevancy, generic terms are more often than not more expensive than long-tail keywords. Users searching for “jumper cables” could be looking for information on how to use them, or just browsing brands as they are in the research phase. It might be worth bidding on this term for branding purposes, if you can get it for a reasonable price, but don’t expect a high click-through-rate or conversion rate. As far as optimizing your page, make sure not to waste your time optimizing it around ambiguous keywords.

Branding v. Conversions

When you are running a paid search campaign, it is important to define anything that can be broken down. Make sure to break your keywords down into buckets and to be aware of what type of strategy you want to implement.

I was reading an article in today in the print version of Website Magazine. The article was titled “Developing the Right PPC Bidding Strategy” and I’ll share with you a few of key components, which I deeply agree with.

There are basically three paid search strategies that you should be aware of: Branding, Conversion and Sales Cycle. Sales Cycle is simply a combination of the first two, so we’ll discuss those.

A branding strategy would include gaining as much exposure in your market as possible by bidding on a large number of keywords (general and long-tail). It’s important not to rely on conversions when using this strategy, rather getting your name out there and embedding into the heads of potential targets. This strategy is ideal for new companies and web sites.

The second strategy is focused on conversion and would likely pertain to an established company or web site. Using this strategy in your paid search campaign involves bidding long-tail keywords that are proven to give you a solid ROI.

Of course, you can always run a campaign that integrates both strategies, but it’s vital to be aware of what type of campaign you’re running.