Google's 100 Most Expensive Keywords: How Geo-targeted Long-tail Keywords Could Be Your Bread Winner

Businesses large and small typically are aware that bidding on the right keywords is the key to a substantial ranking in Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) and in return, increased revenue. However, what are the right keywords for your company and can you even afford them? SEMrush (with the help of Google) was able to determine the top 100 most expensive keywords on Google, and 78% of them were all in the “legal” category. So how can your small legal firm in Fort Lauderdale, Florida rank at all? Since the price of a keyword mostly depends on how often it is searched, if you are a small business owner it can be easier for you to dominate a different variation of that keyword.

For example, one thing that Tandem Interactive focuses on when it comes to keywords is LOCATION, something that we call geo-targeted keywords. A location specific keyword can target your area and allow you to rank highly for your industry in your designated area. According to Google, 73% of online activity is local content. When it comes to geo-targeting, it is best to use long-tail geo-specific keywords in order to rank for your precise location.

Some long-tail geo-specific keyword examples for businesses in Florida are:

Hurricane Shutters Sunrise Florida

SAT Prep Class Boca Raton Florida

Pizza downtown Fort Lauderdale Florida

In order to rank for geo-targeted keywords you have to think like a consumer. Thinking like a consumer is one of the best tactics you can use for nearly any part of your SEO and PPC campaigns. If I live in Florida and I am in downtown Fort Lauderdale after a night of partying and I want pizza, I will most likely search in my phone for “pizza downtown Fort Lauderdale”. Whatever the case may be, I am typically not searching for your company’s name.

Keep in mind that your website will also play a part in your ranking in search results. If your company has a well-established website it will organically rank better. If your website is new you can expect it to be one of the very last results. “Pizza Fort Lauderdale” yields 12.4 million results. So if you are a smaller and newer pizza restaurant and you are located in the heart of downtown it is easier for you to rank for “pizza downtown Fort Lauderdale Florida”, which yields less than 500,000 results instead. You want your keyword to still be something that locals would search, but also specific so that it is easier for you to rank in a category that yields less results.

Once you have searched Google to find which geo-targeted long-tail keywords would be best for your company to rank for, Tandem recommends that you keep an eye on your website’s analytics to see if your geo-targeted words are increasing traffic. If your new keywords are increasing traffic through your PPC campaign, find out where that traffic is coming from and then focus more pages and blog content around those keywords to help your organic rankings.

Check out SEMrush’s One Hundred Most Expensive Keywords on Google:

PPC Checklist You'll Want to Keep Handy

Whether you are a PPC guru or a PPC virgin you will want to keep this awesome PPC checklist handy when duplicating a new campaign by copy and pasting an old one.

Within AdWords Editor you can have a copy-and-paste frenzy. Copy and paste entire campaigns, keywords, negative keywords, locations, and sitelinks…copy and paste all the things!

However, copy and pasting leaves room for several errors. If you are not OCD or you are pressed for time, you may miss a crucial detail that can cost you (or worse your client) money. 

Fortunately, Tandem Interactive’s very own PPC Ninja has laid out a checklist of criterion that must be changed when copy and pasting ad campaigns.

AdWords Editor Check List:

Campaigns & AdGroups

□        Rename the Campaign & Necessary AdGroups

□        If location specific, assess the keywords (CRTL + H to find and replace text)

Keywords and Targeting:

□        Evaluate which negative keywords are not inhibiting the new keywords

□        LOCATION! If your campaigns are location-specific, then make sure that you are targeting the correct area.

Ads and Extensions:

□        Change “Final URLs” – formerly known as “Dest. URLs”

□        If necessary, change the Display URL. Making the Display URL specific to your campaign and AdGroup will allow your quality score to increase even further!

□        Sitelinks will also paste across campaigns in Editor; however, if you directly edit the copied sitelink it will affect the original campaign’s sitelinks as well. If the sitelinks need rewording or a different Final URL, then be sure to delete the pasted ones and create brand new ones that are specific to your new campaign. 

AdWords Check List:

       Once the new campaign is posted, there are a few more areas to double check:

□        Callout Extensions: These will not paste over. You need to manually add callouts to your new campaign.

□        Call Extensions: Don’t forget to manually add the phone number to your ad.

       Other miscellaneous options are as follows:

□        Add the new “Structured Snippet Extensions”

□        If you had Day Parting on your previous campaign, double check whether it suits the new campaign.

□        Double check that the campaign is optimized for mobile devices.

Lastly, set a reminder to double check your new campaign 24 hours after going live to ensure that everything is tracking and performing accordingly!