subject: Why Do We Click What We Click? [print this page] If you are on of the thousands of companies or individuals about to embark into the world of Pay Per Click, be it Google, Yahoo, or Facebook then you are probably trying to figure out which of those pesky keywords you should use in creating your ad. You are not alone. There are people whose whole career involves finding just the right set of keywords to get their client a top rank in search engines. Those same principles of search engine optimization are the backbone of the pay per click world.
Speaking Someone's Language
Just because you call them tennis shoes doesn't mean that everyone else does. You need to figure out what everyone else calls them and how do you do that? What are the ways of finding that out? Well, that takes the right tools. If you haven't already, sign up for Google Webmaster Tools. The tool will provide you with a report that shows you the most searched terms and compare it against the most clicked terms for each and every page of your website. If you have it already then go up to the statistics menu and click on "top search queries" and you will get a wealth of data that can help you figure out the right words versus the wrong words.
If we go back to the tennis shoe analogy we can walk through a sample conundrum. You call them tennis shoes. Kids call them "sketchers", "kicks", "sneakers", or "trainers". What once was the common vernacular, "tennis shoes", has changed, therefore your keywords should change. You need to reflect back the common vernacular in your keywords. Language is important and if you want someone to find you versus you finding them then you need to adopt their language to show them the way.
There are other tools out there that can give you the appropriate words for your ad or website, such as WordTracker. That particular tool will allow you to enter a general term and spit common key words back at you and rank them according to popularity.
Strings and Things
One of the more amazing thing about SEO is trying to understand the strings that people type into the search field. Sometimes it is not just a word but a phrase that you need to include. Many times people forget to create common phrases in their keywords search and this also can lose them some vital clicks along the way.
Remember to think about how people talk on the street and utilize that "language" when plotting your advert.
Defer to Experts
Honestly this is an art form. If you have the money to defer to someone who focuses solely on SEO and ad keywords then do so. It will save you a lot of time and headaches trying to figure it out yourself. Put it this way, when you go to China do you want to carry around a dictionary and a Rick Steve's or hire an interpreter?
