How Should I Use Keywords in My Ad Campaign?

Short Answer: To optimize your ad campaign, review all your keywords carefully. Use highly relevant and specific exact match keywords such as “drain cleaning near me” and “drain cleaning services” while removing irrelevant keywords like “storm draining,” “cleaning,” and “drain specialist.” Additionally, ensure that irrelevant keywords are excluded from your ad groups to maintain focus and improve ad performance.

Full Explanation

Using keywords effectively in your ad campaign requires careful evaluation of what search terms truly align with your business goals. By focusing on exact match keywords that are directly related to your services, like “drain cleaning near me” and “drain cleaning services,” you ensure that your ads are shown to users actively searching for exactly what you offer. This helps increase the relevance of your ads and can improve click-through rates and conversions.

At the same time, it’s important to remove any keywords that are not relevant to your specific service. Keywords such as “storm draining,” “cleaning,” and “drain specialist” may attract a wider but less targeted audience, which can dilute your campaign effectiveness and increase wasted spend. Excluding these keywords from your campaign and ad groups helps keep your targeting focused and efficient.

Step-by-Step Breakdown

Review all keywords: Start by examining every keyword currently in your ad campaign.
Identify exact match keywords: Pinpoint highly relevant terms like “drain cleaning near me” and “drain cleaning services” that directly relate to your business services.
Remove irrelevant keywords: Eliminate terms such as “storm draining,” “cleaning,” and “drain specialist” which are unlikely to attract your ideal customers.
Exclude irrelevant keywords: Set these unrelated keywords to be excluded from your ad groups to avoid wasted impressions and clicks.
Maintain keyword focus: Keep your keyword list refined and targeted to maximize ad relevance and performance.

Real Examples

A local drain cleaning service might include exact match keywords like “drain cleaning near me” and “drain cleaning services” to capture users searching specifically for their services in the area. At the same time, removing or excluding keywords like “storm draining” or generic terms such as “cleaning” ensures that their ads don’t show for unrelated searches that could lower engagement or waste budget.

Common Mistakes

Including irrelevant keywords: Using broad or unrelated keywords can attract non-target audiences.
Neglecting exact match keywords: Not using precise keywords might lead to less targeted traffic.
Failing to exclude irrelevant keywords: Without exclusions, campaigns may waste budget on irrelevant clicks.

FAQs

Q: Why should I use exact match keywords?
Exact match keywords ensure your ads are shown to users searching for very specific terms closely related to your services, increasing relevance.

Q: What happens if I keep irrelevant keywords in my campaign?
Including irrelevant keywords can result in wasted ad spend and lower conversion rates because your ads appear to users who are unlikely to need your services.

Q: How do I exclude keywords from my ad groups?
You can add these irrelevant or unwanted keywords as negative keywords in your ad group settings to prevent ads from showing for those searches.

Key Takeaways

Review all keywords thoroughly to ensure alignment with your service offerings.
Use exact match keywords like “drain cleaning near me” and “drain cleaning services” for targeted ad delivery.
Remove and exclude unrelated keywords such as “storm draining,” “cleaning,” and “drain specialist” to optimize your campaign performance.
Maintaining a focused keyword list helps improve ad relevance, reduce wasted spend, and attract qualified customers.