Niche keyword phrases in PPC

September 18, 2008 2:18 pm admin Google Adwords

Going back in time, if a Google Adwords advertiser wanted to have a certain phrase within their PPC campaign and to trigger adverts, that was easily possible.

If you wanted to have “purple widgets with red spots” as a phrase then that was fine - as long as the CTR was considered to be good enough.   This, in my view, was a fair system.

Fast forward a few years and the ability to use niche keyword phrases is rapidly disappearing and advertisers often find that, having set up a keyword phrase, that the Google system won’t allow their adverts to enter the auction.  Let’s look at why that may be, starting with Google’s explanation …

According to Google sources I’ve spoken to, if I wanted to have a particular phrase in a campaign and the Google system considered that low numbers of people would type that phrase, then the advert wouldn’t be allowed to appear.  The reason given for this was that if the Google system allowed people to have numerous niche phrases in their campaigns, that it would clog up servers and reduce the response time when people search within Google.

That, to say the least, is laughable.  Let’s look at it another way …

If people were allowed to use niche keyword phrases in PPC then they wouldn’t need to compete aggressively against other advertisers who are using more generic phrases.  So, if I wanted “purple widgets with red spots” but there were advertisers promoting themselves under just “purple widgets” then if the playing field was level I’d be able to have an advert that differentiated my purple widgets with red spots from the other adverts that just promote plain old purple widgets.

However, if Google allowed my advert to be visible when people typed “purple widgets with red spots” then I’d be highly likely to get cheaper clicks than the other advertisers because my advert would be so specific, my CTR strong, and my website landing page would also have relevant content.   This would mean that I’d get the click whereas the advertiser prepared to pay more for ‘purple widgets’ clicks wouldn’t do.  That would appear to be perfectly fair and fits in with both what an advertiser and a searcher would want.

But it would appear that Google don’t see this as good business.  After all, if you could stop people from having adverts visible only when niche phrases are typed then that would create more people having to compete for the more generic phrases.  So, if there were 10 companies wanting to promote their purple widgets of various specifications then they could all be limited to just using the phrase ‘purple widgets’ if Google doesn’t allow them to be more specific.   This then means that, as companies do, they start to compete against each other for dominance in the search results when ‘purple widgets’ is typed, which of course means that they play a constant game of click cost raising leapfrog.  Ultimately, the only winner is Google.

In my view, the path that Google is taking is fundamentally flawed.  Yes, it may make short-term financial sense to force advertisers down a path that means they have to compete against each other for a smaller range of phrases that are allowed to trigger advert.  But the end result will be small businesses who can’t afford to pay those levels of click costs and so they’ll take their advertising budgets elsewhere.

Above all else, what it should also come down to is advertiser choice.  If, for example, I want to have an advert display when people type “purple widgets with red spots” then surely that’s my right as an advertiser?  I fully accept that I wouldn’t get many clicks and I also accept that I’d still have to offer higher click cost allowances because the generic ‘purple widgets’ advertisers would still appear if people type my phrase.  However, if if I’ve got a reasonable advert positioning (i.e. I’m offering a good budget and good cost per click) then whenever someone types “purple widgets with red spots” then I’m much more likely to gain the click than the other adverts around me.   The clicks may be really low in numbers but what I’m after is quality of clicks and I’d apply this to other parts of the PPC campaign (e.g. “brown widgets with yellow spots”) so that I end up with lots of clicks of relatively small numbers for numerous different phrases.

Unfortunately, as things stand though, the Google system appears to be blocking those advertisers who innovate and do exactly what they should be doing, which is to create keyword phrases that link in tightly to the advert text and also the website.   Longer-term, Google will find that the small business market (who, after all, got it where it is today) will desert them because of the increasing costs per click and the inability to innovate through niche keyword phrases.