Week 2 of PPC Chat is in the books and what a discussion it was! This week’s theme was keywords. Everything from bid type to negative keywords was on the table. The chat began with a couple of questions about the different broad match keyword types.

Broad Match

Everyone pretty much agreed that AdWords modified broad match gives advertisers more control while still being able to cast a wider net.  Michelle Morgan commented that modified broad match makes it easier to target more qualified searchers while more importantly improving conversion rate over regular broad match.  Session based broad match on the other hand isn’t well received, especially when looking at search query reports.  Though we do see some conversions, CPA is sometimes too high to justify the exposed net.

Bidding on Branded Keywords

Again, everyone was in agreement about this topic.  Bidding on your branded keywords is a great plan.  Not only are average cost-per-clicks (CPCs) lower, but as Justin Freid pointed out, you should take up as much real estate as possible on the SERPs.  Bidding on branded terms can take budget away from non-branded terms, however, the lower CPAs and higher conversion rates will justify this spend.  It’s important to note that you should always be transparent with clients about what terms you’re bidding on.  Make sure they know what terms are (and aren’t) driving conversions.

Bidding on Competitor Keywords

This topic brought more of a mixed bag.  Bidding on competitor terms is great in some industries and will bring you quality traffic depending on search intent.  Others have seen competitor terms garner poor quality scores with low click-thru-rates (CTRs), making this tactic ineffective.  John W. Ellis put it best when he said “I will bid on competitive terms, but I warn the client that if we open that door, then it could go both ways.”

Negative Keywords

Nothing is better than a good negative keyword discussion!  Keri Morgret enlightened the audience by sharing unconventional sources for negative keywords.  Among these sources are: disambiguation pages on Wikipedia, Twitter search, and even the Internet Movie Database (IMDB).  In reality, negative keywords (and new campaign keywords) are all over the place and you just have to keep your eyes open.

That wraps up this week’s edition of PPC Chat.  Are there specific questions or topics you would like to see raised in upcoming chats?  Please leave your suggestions below.