Google’s New Search-based Keyword Tool

You can spend hours seeking out keywords for your Pay Per Click campaigns or site optimization. With millions of users searching Google everyday there are undoubtedly countless keywords being used to search out products like yours that never occurred to you. Up until recently, Google keyword tools were limited to the AdWords Keyword Tool. But now Google has introduced the Search Based Keyword Tool to help track down those keywords that never crossed your mind but that searchers are using in Google search.

The basic premise of the tool is to tell you the most popular keywords being searched on in Google that match the content of your site but you are not currently using in your campaigns. Then, if you are logged in to the AdWords account for the site you are inquiring on, the Search-based Keyword Tool will make suggestions on landing pages that might be appropriate to use in ad campaigns. But don’t blindly take their word for it on the suggestions; make sure the page is appropriate for your goals.

The tool can be accessed directly from the site, http://www.google.com/sktool/, through your AdWords account under the Campaign Management/Tools tab, or direct from AdWords Editor under the Tools/Keyword Opportunities tab (more on this option later in this post).

If you are logged in the “Website” box will have a drop down menu of sites associated with your account. If you are not logged in this box will just have example.com listed and this is where you would enter the site you want to inquire on. You can use the with words or phrases box to narrow your results down to only keywords and/or landing pages containing specific words or phrases.

The results brought back are
• keywords (that are not currently being bid on)
• monthly searches (same as the Keyword Tool)
• competition (same as the Keyword Tool)
• suggested bid (same as the Keyword Tool)
• ad/search share (This shows only if you are logged in and tells you the percent of time show in organic and search ads)
• landing page suggestions (remember to review the suggestions carefully)

(Note: if you do not own or have access to the site you are inquiring on, the results you see will be limited to up to 100 and keywords already being bid on will be mixed in with those that are not.)

Further details can be obtained on each suggested keyword by clicking on the magnifying glass. This will take you to Google Insights for Search.

The tool also gives you a few options for narrowing down the results on the left side of the results page.

If available, it will show you various categories for your search results. Click on the category headings to expand them and sort your keyword results into the various categories.

Or if you need to focus on specific brands or want to eliminate brands from your campaigns you are given options to sort the results list by brands (if applicable). This is very helpful to see if there are high ranking brands that you sell but are not focusing on or maybe to present areas you could expand into.

Once you have the list you need the tool gives you the option to save a draft which you can review later in the “My Draft Keywords” tab at the top. Or you can export selected keywords or the whole list to a csv file for later review or to bring into AdWords Editor.

If you are using this tool to beef up your existing campaigns with keywords you may be missing, the version of the Search-based Keyword Tool that can be used through AdWords Editor will save you the steps involved in exporting.
You can find the Editor version of the tool (currently in Beta) in the Tools/Keyword Opportunities menu. Once there select the “Search-based Keywords” tab.

The tool works similarly to the other version with one great convenience. You can drag the keywords directly into your campaigns. You can even select the match type to use and use the landing page and bid price the tools suggested for you.  Just make sure you are reviewing that information carefully before accepting it at face value.

If you prefer, there is an export option here as well.

Need help with paid media advertising? Contact us today.