HomeHigh-Converting Keywords: What Are High-Converting Keywords?

High-Converting Keywords: What Are High-Converting Keywords?


As the name suggests, high-converting keywords are the keywords that drive particularly high conversion rates within a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaign. To run a PPC campaign, advertisers place bids on keywords that signify interest in their products or services. Those bids are entered into an auction, and the advertisers who perform best in the auction get their ads shown whenever that particular keyword is searched.

So, if you sell home furniture, you want to place a bid on the keyword “dining room table.” Then, if someone searches “table for dining room,” your bid is entered into an auction. If you do well, your ad shows! Read more about the Google auction process here.

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What makes for high conversion rates?

The conversion rate for a certain ad is the number of people who click through the ad and convert divided by the total number of people who click through. Good news: there are plenty of actions you can take to boost your conversion rates.

One surefire way to turn more clicks into customers is to differentiate yourself from the pack. Everybody and their mother offers coupons and discounts in exchange for emails on their landing pages. You can do better than that! Recognize what your prospects are looking for and provide it. For instance, if you sell software to small businesses to optimize their online advertising efforts, you should use your landing pages to offer a free grading tool ‒ unthinkable, I know. That way, the prospect gets legitimate value out of their initial interaction with your company, and you get the information you need to nurture them into a lead. It’s a win-win recipe for more conversions.

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Another tried and true practice to boost conversion rates: remarketing. If a searcher clicks your search ad and then bounces, does it make sense to abandon that person as a prospect? Not at all! Although they did not purchase your product or service right away, they are likely to remain interested for the foreseeable future. That’s where remarketing comes in. Use the (cheap!) Google Display Network to ensure that the prospect has your brand on their mind as they continue to consider their purchasing options. Further, remarketing lists for search ads (RLSA) allow you to increase your bid on a given keyword when one of your remarketing prospects searches something containing that keyword. In other words, this prospect has already shown interest, and you’re able to press the gas as soon as that interest resurfaces. It’s a no-brainer.

high-converting-keywords-remarketing-process

So, what keywords should you bid on?

If nailing keyword bids were an easy task, a lot of us here at WordStream would be out of work. One of the trickiest things about it: volume. Of course, you want your keywords to drive high search volume because that means they’ll put a lot of eyeballs on your ads and, thus, give you a lot of opportunities to capture leads. However, with high search volume comes a lot of people with no interest in your product or service. When you’re paying for each click, the idea of attracting clicks from people who will never convert is a nightmare. This is precisely why search advertisers must beware the broad keyword…

…and take advantage of the long-tail keyword! This is exactly what it sounds like: a more specific, less competitive keyword that attracts a smaller, super relevant audience of people further along the intent scale. Bidding on these keywords is an essential tactic for any advertiser looking to minimize waste (i.e., everyone).

Negative keywords, too, are fantastic. These allow you to identify searchers who are demonstrably uninterested in your company and whose clicks will drain your marketing budget. For example, if you operate an ecommerce site that sells men’s clothing, it makes no sense to show your ads when someone searches “women’s clothes.” So, bid on this term as a negative keyword and you’ll notice the difference immediately.

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For more tips and tricks on keywords and online advertising, read the WordStream blog.

Looking for in-depth keyword data you can leverage for success in paid and organic search marketing? Check out our free keyword tool!

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