Grouping Keywords by Relevance – How Good Keyword Structure Drives Great Results

Grouping keywords by relevance is an important part of any PPC or SEO efforts that are going to succeed in the long term, both in the early stages of keyword research and as an ongoing maintenance process. In PPC, relevant keyword grouping means constructing well-organized, targeted campaigns and ad groups and creating relevant landing pages. In SEO, it means effectively targeting keywords with on-site content while creating search-friendly navigation. 

Grouping keywords by relevance brings a wealth of benefits, including:

• Higher Quality Scores, resulting in better ad positioning at lower costs.
• Higher click-through and conversion rates, translating into better search marketing ROI.
• Better rankings in organic search results, giving you more brand exposure.

But achieving a well-organized keyword taxonomy that maximizes relevance is extremely difficult and time-consuming without the proper tools to help you. Most search marketers start with the wrong keywords in the first place and then attempt to manage the intimidating task of segmenting hundreds or thousands of keywords manually in a spreadsheet. 

Enter WordStream, a keyword grouping and management solution that is built specifically with the unique needs of search marketers in mind, so you can achieve better PPC and SEO results while spending less on campaigns. 

Increase Keyword Group Relevance by Starting with the Right Keywords

If you get most or all of your keyword data from typical public keyword research tools, you’re putting your keyword groups at a relevance disadvantage. These tools return the same set of popular keywords to anyone who uses them, meaning your keyword data is no better than that of your competitors. Besides, popularity doesn’t equal relevance. Just because a lot of people are searching on a given term doesn’t mean it’s going to be relevant or profitable for your particular business. 

WordStream believes that keyword research should be based on real, personalized data. When you use WordStream, you collect keyword data from real searches that trigger clicks on your ads.

What this means for you is that every keyword in your database will be relevant, because they come from the real users who have found your site through search engines. Plus, this data is private, so your competitors won’t have access to it. 

Using WordStream to Group Keywords Based on Relevance

It can be daunting to look at extensive keyword lists and try to determine the optimal number of keyword groups and how to create keyword groups for maximum relevance – especially if you have to do it by hand. 

WordStream’s keyword grouping tools make fast work of organizing your keyword database into tight, relevant groups and subgroups. The Keyword Group Segmenter suggests semantically related keyword groupings prioritized by relevance. Relevance here is a combination of size (number of keywords in a potential group) and visits (amount of traffic driven by the potential group). The figure below shows suggested segmentations for the larger keyword group “bird” in a pet store’s keyword taxonomy.

The keyword group suggestions at the top of the list (“bird cage,” “bird food,” “bird house”) will provide the most immediate return, since those keywords are already driving the most traffic to your site. You can increase that traffic and drive more conversions by designing a keyword group, ad group, landing page and website copy around those keywords. It’s much easier to write specific and compelling ad text and copy around small keyword groups segmented by relevance, so you’ll be well on your way to high Quality Scores and strong rankings in the SERPs. 

Setting Negative Keywords for More Relevant Keyword Groups

Another way to maximize relevance of your keyword groups is to set negative keywords. Negative keywords are those keywords within an ad group that you don’t want to bid on. For example, if “bird’s eye frozen foods” ends up in your “bird food” group, you need to set that term as negative so your pet store ad won’t show for that search query. This practice ensures that you’re not wasting bids on irrelevant keywords, which can lower your click-through rate and overall ROI. 

A lot of people develop a list of negative keywords by sitting around and brainstorming. They might also use the search query report feature in Google AdWords to find additional negative keywords. Neither method is ideal for this process. Why? Because they’re incomplete. You’d never be able to think of every possible negative keyword that your ads might match on. And even the search query report won’t show you every query that’s producing impressions. Plus, the tool is slow and cumbersome because you have to go through each keyword one at a time. 

WordStream’s negative keyword tool trumps these methods because:

• It shows you all your potential negative keywords, not just a fraction.
• It allows you to designate negative keywords in clusters, versus one by one.
• It makes smart suggestions for potential negative keywords, easing your workload. 

Using the negative keyword tool regularly, while continuing to segment your keywords into subgroups as your database grows over time, will keep your keyword groups and ad groups as tight and relevant as possible. By using WordStream for ongoing keyword grouping based on relevance, you’ll continue to see great results from your PPC campaigns. 

Get Relevant, Stay Relevant: Try WordStream Free Today

Sign up for a free trial of WordStream and see for yourself how grouping keywords based on relevance can benefit all your search marketing processes.

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