Are you having trouble finding relevant keywords for your paid search campaigns? It’s time to explore beyond the Google Keyword Planner and discover fresh, relevant keywords.
Traditional keyword research tools often lack depth, providing limited insights into user search behavior complexities. As a result, PPC managers might struggle to uncover new keyword opportunities.
This article highlights 19 tools and strategies for keyword mining to help discover new search terms and enhance your campaigns.
By the end, you’ll have an arsenal of techniques to optimize your campaigns and gain a competitive edge in your growth strategy.
Finding new opportunities beyond Google’s Keyword Planner
While the Google Keyword Planner is useful, exploring alternative research methods is crucial to discover a wider array of relevant searches.
Increasing the volume of relevant searches can effectively expand your campaigns and business, potentially leading to more sales or leads.
Here are some effective tools and strategies to consider when expanding your campaigns.
1. Dynamic search ads (DSAs)
These ads use website content to automatically generate ads and associated keywords.
By analyzing the search terms that trigger your DSAs, you can identify valuable keywords to incorporate into your standard search campaigns.
Fellow PPC expert Nils Rooijmans shared on LinkedIn that he likes using DSA campaigns, moving successful terms to revenue-generating campaigns. He also uses AI tools for new keyword ideas.
2. Google Search Console
GSC provides insights into the search queries that led to clicks on your website. These insights can help identify new keywords and optimize your ads accordingly.
Dig deeper: Using search query reports to optimize PPC campaigns
When you enter a search term on Google, scrolling to the bottom of the page for related searches can offer ideas for new keywords or variants of existing ones.
In one instance, searching for dance costumes led to excellent search term suggestions, which would be valuable additions to a paid search account focused on costumes.
4. Competitor websites
Take inspiration from competitor sites by analyzing their content to identify relevant keywords they may be using in paid search campaigns.
5. Google Autocomplete
Pay attention to the suggestions appearing as you type search queries. These suggestions often reveal popular search terms and long-tail variations.
6. Microsoft Advertising
While Google Ads may be dominant, Microsoft Ads search term reports can offer new keyword ideas.
Analyze the search terms triggering your ads on this platform to discover additional keyword opportunities that can be incorporated into your Google Ads campaigns.
Terms found in the Google Search Query Report can also be incorporated into your Microsoft campaigns.
PPC specialist Petya Yildizgoren validated this tactic on LinkedIn and introduced Amazon Ads as another source for new keywords.
Monitoring social media platforms for industry-specific trends, popular topics, and commonly used phrases can help uncover relevant keywords aligned with your target audience’s interests.
For example, while managing an account, noticing comments about customers favoring US-made products led to adding related keywords to drive additional non-brand traffic for the advertiser.
8. Customer conversations
Listen closely to conversations your customers have with your support team or sales representatives.
Capture the keywords and phrases used to describe your products or services.
For example, while working with a client offering a call center service, it was found that leads used “answering service” instead of “call center” when describing their needs.
9. Website survey
Conduct surveys on your website to gather feedback directly from customers. Focus on open-ended responses to identify terms used to express respondents’ needs and goals.
11. Broad match type
Create campaigns using broad match type terms without negative keywords to find new keywords from search term reports.
A helpful tip is separating these campaigns to ensure your budget isn’t consumed by irrelevant keywords.
Dig deeper: Broad match keywords: When to test and when to avoid
Don’t limit yourself to one keyword research tool; consider combining tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, or Moz Keyword Explorer to uncover different perspectives and insights on potential keywords.
13. Google Trends
Use Google Trends to identify popular search terms and their search volume over time. This tool can also show related queries and geographic data for deeper insights into user behavior.
14. Analytics data
Dive into your website analytics data to see which organic keywords drive traffic. This can be a good starting point for identifying relevant keywords for your paid search campaigns, though other tools beyond Google Analytics, like Adobe Analytics, can also be explored.
15. Customer persona research
Create customer personas based on demographic, psychographic, and behavioral factors to guide your search for new keywords aligned with their interests and behaviors.
16. Customer demographics analysis
Acknowledge that many customers search in their native language and may still make purchases from a site in the local language.
For instance, while working with a healthcare client, adding Cantonese and Punjabi keywords and ads performed well despite the site being in English.
17. Customer reviews
Focus on the language used in customer reviews to identify commonly used keywords and phrases related to your products or services.
This insight can reveal potential keyword opportunities.
18. Collaborate with your team
Don’t overlook input from team members, whether colleagues in different departments or external agencies. They may offer unique perspectives and ideas for relevant keywords.
Regularly review industry news, updates, and trends to keep current on emerging topics or terms potentially relevant to campaigns, staying ahead of competitors, and refining keyword strategies.
Leveling up your PPC query mining strategy
There are many techniques and tools to conduct keyword research and discover new opportunities for paid search campaigns.
Additional strategies include semantic keyword research, topic modeling, and seasonal keyword research.
Suggestions from the paid search community include using Performance Max search categories and tools like Answer the Public for question-based queries.
Many experts suggest leveraging AI tools for generating new keyword ideas by seeding prompts with well-performing terms.
Traditional keyword research methods are valuable but scratch the surface of potential opportunities. By combining these techniques with AI tools, you can uncover hidden gems and optimize your campaigns for maximum ROI.
Whether you’re looking to expand or refine your campaigns, these strategies can help create a comprehensive keyword approach beyond the limitations of traditional planners and drive business growth.
Contributing authors create content reflecting their expertise and contribution to the search community. The editorial staff oversees their work, ensuring quality and relevance to readers. The opinions expressed are their own.
