The Shark Tank

Maintaining a robust online presence is essential for companies that want to do well in today’s world. Google Ads is an excellent service that allows your company to target specific keywords and locations while also allowing you to exclude negative keywords for topics you want to disregard. Utilizing these keywords will allow your business to appear in hundreds of relevant online searches, not only reinforcing your brand authority, but also increasing the number of impressions to your website.

By accurately understanding what each type of keyword modification is, and the steps that you should be taking to narrow the searches you appear in, your company could increase your paid ad’s reach to the right people while also saving money on wasted clicks.

What Are Keywords?

Google Ads allows businesses to tailor their ads to target specific audiences by utilizing keywords and negative keywords. Some keywords are in higher demand, for example, while others may carry less competition. To obtain the keywords that will best help your business target its ads, you will need to bid for those which are relevant for your subject area.

Most companies have more than one defining component that is relevant to their operation, of course, so it is crucial to mention specific details in the keywords you want to appear with on Google. Keywords can be helpful in telling Google what your business does, and in turn, where you want your ads to be placed. The more keywords you input, the more relevant and optimized your keywords can be.

For example, a law firm may specialize in personal injury. If they only utilize keywords relevant to car accidents, Google will associate them with those terms only. However, if a business utilizes keywords in relation to all areas of their personal injury firm, from medical malpractice, bicycle accidents, or slip and fall injuries, Google will more accurately understand their business, and in turn have them appear to a wider range of possible clients.

How Do They Work?

Ad space, across any platform, costs money. Therefore, if you are going to spend money on an ad campaign, you will want to specify who sees—and who may not see—your ad. This is where keywords, and negative keywords, come into play.

Paid keywords are used to help you target your ads to specific audiences. If you are paying for an ad for car accident injuries, for example, that ad should be reaching the specific type of user you wish to appear in front of, and should also exclude those who would not convert (such as individuals who are searching for a divorce attorney). By inputting as many of the specific phrases, words, or sentences that you qualify for, Google can better understand all of the services your business provides. If done right, this procedure can help you effectively spend your marketing dollars.

Negative keywords, on the other hand, are used to prevent your ad from appearing in any irrelevant searches. So, if you only work with car accident cases, you can dissociate your ads from searches that will not apply to you by using negative keywords like ‘dog bite lawyer’ and ‘child custody lawyer’. Continuously updating your negative keywords can help Google optimize what searches your company appears for—and, conversely, does not appear for—using real-time data pulled from Google searches into Google Ads.

Types of Keywords

Like many online platforms, the more money you spend through these advertisements, the more likely it will be that people will interact with your website. However, most companies do not have an unlimited supply of marketing funds. By prioritizing the keywords you push ads for, and understanding the negative keywords you do not want to appear for, you can wisely use your funds to target the best and most relevant results for your brand. Below are examples of the types of keywords that you could utilize in your Ads campaign.

• Broad match: This is the widest net you can cast with a keyword. Applying your ad to any search term related to a car accident would constitute a broad match. This type of keyword can help you understand the search queries people in your area are searching for, but it also means you will appear in a broader array of searches.
• Modified Broad Match: This allows you to search for words while not placing them in a specific order. If you have ‘+DUI’ and ‘+lawyer’, your ad could appear in search queries like ‘lawyer for DUI’, ‘DUI lawyer’, ‘I have a DUI and need a lawyer’, and other iterations.
• Phrase Match: This type of keyword allows your ad to appear for specific phrases that you match. If your keyword is ‘teen car accident’ and someone Googles that phrase, they will most likely see your ad. This is true regardless of any words placed before or after the keyword phrase—so long as someone searches ‘teen car accident’ within their search, your ad will appear.

Exact Match: This is the most specific type of Google Ads that you can have. If your keyword is ‘Personal Injury Lawyer in Washington DC’, your ad will not appear unless someone Googles that exact phrase. While this is extremely specific, it might yield the best results, depending on your target audience.

How Do I Use Them?

While you will have to implement keywords with the beginning of your campaign, it can take time and continued maintenance for your keywords to hone in on specific characteristics or demographics of the location or topic you wish to target. Your adword campaign may also require additional time for your list of specified keywords to convert into valuable sales.

As time goes on, and your Google Ads account is monitored, you can further exclude specific searches as they come up, and favored search terms can also be included. Of course, this process requires time and commitment to do well. If you do not check your campaign’s search terms regularly, you could be paying for ad placements that do not benefit your business.

The Future of Keywords with Google Ads

Google Ads is a great service that allows your company to target specific keywords, and exclude negative keywords for topics you want to disregard. Utilizing both of these will allow your business to appear in hundreds of relevant online searches, which can reinforce your brand recognition and increase the number of people exposed to your content.

Knowing what keywords apply to your business, and the ones that will not translate into useful leads, is incredibly important for having an intelligent and intuitive online presence. Because Google is always updating its platform and services, refining the type of search terms you chose to target can have a powerful and noticeable boost on your ad performance.