Keyword Search campaigns are a great way to reach new users who have declared themselves as potential prospects by searching for one or more relevant keywords you define. This article will guide you through how to generate a list of keywords and terms to add to your campaign.
Guide to Generating a Keyword Term List for Search Retargeting
Building your keyword list can be broken down into two simple steps:
1. Initial brainstorming
2. Keyword and term selection
Initial Brainstorming
In this first step you'll think of all the relevant terms someone might search for that would denote a potential interest in your event.
When brainstorming these keywords and terms it can be helpful to start with these categories:
A. Industry terms + conference/trade show/event
B. The names of competitive shows
C. Industry publications
Once you've finished brainstorming it's time to narrow down your list to the most relevant terms.
Keyword and term Selection
Search Keyword audiences frequently return audience sizes in the millions and for most marketers that is just too many users to reach and many of those users are probably casual hobbyists or consumers and not potential prospects.
To ensure you're marketing to and reaching the most relevant prospects this step will refine your keyword list and remove the broadest terms.
SEMrush offers an online tool that allows you to check the monthly search volume of your terms and find related terms. Remember that a higher search volume is not always a good thing-- it could mean your term is too broad and this is a time where less is more. Less search volume means more marketing budget available to target relevant prospects so being as specific as possible in your keywords and terms is good.
Once you've selected your final list of terms and keywords it's time to format your list for uploading.
Formatting your Keyword Term List for Uploading
Now that you have your complete list of keywords it's time to format it for upload to your Feathr campaign. All you need is a single column, with no heading, of search terms you'd like to target.
- Copy your list of terms and paste them into an Excel spreadsheet as a single column of keywords.
- Each cell of the spreadsheet is considered a unique search term so if you want to collect the data of searches of a phrase, that entire phrase should be in one cell and individual terms should be placed in their own cells. E.g. the following terms in quotations "Digital marketing for events", "digital marketing tools", "Feathr" should each be in their own cell.
- Save your keyword list as a .xlsx or utf8-encoded .csv file format. Do not include a header or it will be considered a term and cookie data collected for it.
- Upload your list in the Target section of your campaign setup.
Your upload should look like this, using your own targeted terms. No special formatting required.
Common Questions
How many keywords should I include?
There is no minimum or maximum number of keywords you should include. Search Audiences often return very large results so what's most important is that the keywords you select are specific and relevant to your show so that you are marketing to the most relevant prospects.
Can I have different keyword lists for different campaigns?
Yes! If potential exhibitors would search different terms than a potential attendee you should tailor your lists to the audience you are going to market to under that campaign and don't forget to tailor your creatives to the interests of that segment as well.
How are keywords matched?
Keywords are matched to users who "phrase match".
For example, if you include the keyword phrase "giant dog treats" in a spreadsheet, any user whose search includes the words "giant dog treats" exactly in that order with any other words before and/or after it would be added to the audience we collect.
E.g. "giant dog treats overnight", "super giant dog treats", and "super giant dog treats overnight" would all be included in the audience since they each include the phrase "giant dog treats" in that exact order you submitted.
However, "giant puppy dog treats" would not be included because the phrase "giant dog treats" is not written in the exact order in which the keyword phrase was submitted.
From what search engines are search queries captured?
The data provider we partner with to identify and capture the search behaviors of users on desktop and mobile browsers has relationships with over 5,500 websites and mobile apps. So while Google is not one of the search engines where we capture user data, (Google search results are only available directly through Google) there is no shortage of user information we can capture so you can target the relevant prospects you need to reach.
How can I tell which keywords performed the best from my list?
Our data provider does not disclose the individual performance of each word/phrase, so it's important to research your terms and create descriptive lists. It's common for Feathr customers to run concurrent Search Keyword campaigns to test lists against each other.