Keyword research is a core skill for marketers because it is the key to connecting with your customers, whether you are focused on AEO, SEO, content, or paid search.

If you choose the wrong keyword for an SEO article, you can lose time and have a quality article that does not reach its full potential. If you choose the wrong keyword in Google Ads, you can lose budget every day until someone catches it.

Paid search keyword research is about understanding what people search, what those searches mean, what they cost, what landing page they need, and whether your campaign structure gives them a real chance to work.

We've audited hundreds of ad account, and keyword research is one of the basic areas where we consistently see mistakes.

Some accounts have a lot of keywords added with no clear structure. Others have only a few broad match keywords and almost no negative keyword strategy.

Both approaches can work with the right strategy. We have set up campaigns with a limited keyword list because the campaign, budget, or data called for that focus. We have also seen larger broad match campaigns work when they had a strong negative keyword strategy and regular management behind them.

The issue is when a campaign is set up once and left alone.

A better approach is to build keyword research around four questions:

1. What are people searching?
2. What intent does that search show?
3. Does the budget support that search?
4. Do we have the right landing page?

That is the difference between a keyword list and a paid search strategy.

Use keyword research to guide campaign decisions

Keyword research usually starts with a list.

You open Keyword Planner, type in a product or service, review the suggestions, and start saving terms that look relevant.

That is a helpful starting point. The real value comes from what you do next.

For paid search, keyword research should help you make decisions about budget, intent, landing pages, match types, and campaign structure. Every keyword has to earn its place because every click has a cost attached to it.

When reviewing a keyword list, try to answer a few practical questions:

• Is this how customers search?
• What intent does it show?
• Can the budget support it?
• Does the landing page fit?
• Should this be its own theme?
• Should this become content?

That last question matters. Some searches are valuable, but they may belong in an SEO article, guide, checklist, FAQ section, or sales resource before they belong in a paid search campaign.

The goal is to understand the search landscape well enough to choose where you want to spend your budget.

Start with the language customers already use

A good starting point is usually inside the business, a better is talking to your customers.

Before spending too long in a keyword planning tool, understand how the company talks about the offer and how customers talk about the problem.

A business may describe its service with technical, internal, or industry-specific language. Customers may describe the same need with simpler terms, questions, symptoms, or use cases.

Good inputs include:

• Sales call notes
• CRM records
• Customer reviews
• Form submissions
• Chat transcripts
• Existing search terms
• Posts on Reddit

This is where paid search starts to connect with the rest of marketing. You are looking for the language that shows up before someone fills out a form, books a call, or asks for pricing.

You are also looking for what education might be needed before someone is ready to take action.

We saw this clearly when working with a sustainability SaaS company.

Internally, we used terms like carbon management software, sustainability management software, carbon accounting software, and carbon footprint tracking platform.

Those terms eventually became more common in the industry. But early on, there was a lot of education needed to get people searching for those terms. Some of the direct software terms had very low volume, around 0 to 10 searches per month.

At the same time, many people were searching earlier in their research process. They searched things like:

• How to track emissions
• How to measure carbon footprint
• How to reduce carbon footprint
• How to become net zero

Those searches show that people have a problem, they may not know tools exist yet, and we need to connect those dots. Its not impossible to have people in your ICP, but not always know what type of software solved their problem. Assuming rather than learning about your target customer can be costly.

This is where keyword research became crucial.

The high-intent software terms were still important, but the question-based searches helped shape the funnel. They gave us ideas for educational content, landing page copy, lead magnets, and broader keyword tests.

That is one of the bigger lessons with keyword research. You are learning how the market understands the problem and how you can build campaigns around it.

Use Keyword Planner to size the opportunity

Google Keyword Planner is still a great tool to use for paid search research, and its free!

It gives you a useful view of search volume, cost ranges, competition, and related keyword ideas. Since it is connected to Google Ads, it is especially helpful when planning campaign budgets.

The main areas I look at are:

• Monthly search volume
• Top of page bid ranges
• Competition level
• Keyword variations
• Seasonal trends
• Related themes

Volume helps set expectations around timing, visibility, and realistic traffic.

If your target keywords have fewer than 10 searches a month, expect learning time to be longer. You may need to put more emphasis on keyword expansion testing, related terms, or a dedicated budget test.

If a keyword has thousands of searches a month, it may have more scale. It may also have more mixed intent. In that case, negative keywords and landing page fit become more important.

Cost helps ground the strategy.

If the top of page bid range is high, you need to plan around that. You can still get clicks below the estimated CPCs, but those ranges are a good directional gauge of what it may take to be competitive.

Looking at estimated CPCs also helps explain budget limits before the campaign launches.

A $1,000 monthly budget means one thing in a market with an $8 CPC. It means something different in a market with a $150 CPC.

Be careful not treat Keyword Planner like a perfect forecast, rather treat it like a planning tool. It helps you understand what kind of campaign the budget can realistically support.

Evaluate keywords with four filters

When looking at paid search keywords, evaluate them through four filters:

A keyword can look good in one area and weak in another. The goal is to understand the tradeoffs before budget is spent.

Search volume sets expectations

Search volume is how many people are searching for that term in a given time period. High-volume terms can help a campaign scale. They can also attract more mixed intent. Low-volume terms can be more specific. They can also be harder to test because they may receive very few impressions.

Try to avoid making decisions on volume alone. A low-volume keyword can be valuable when it is tied closely to the offer and shows strong buying intent. In some cases, those are the exact searches you want to own.

The key is giving those terms the right structure. If they are placed in the same campaign as broader, higher-volume terms, the broader terms may take most of the spend. Then the low-volume keyword looks inactive, even though it never had a real chance to perform.

Our general rule of thumb is to aim for at least 50 to 100 clicks per month when possible. If you know your budget, you can work backward from expected CPCs and decide what keyword mix gives you enough traffic to learn. Take this with a grain of salt, everything should be evaluated with your situation in mind.

Search intent shapes the offer

Search intent is the reason behind the search.

What is the customer looking for? Are they ready to take action? Are they still learning? Are they comparing options? Two keywords can look similar and need different strategies.

For example:

• “Carbon management software” likely shows product or vendor research.
• “How to measure company carbon footprint” likely shows education or problem research.
• “Carbon footprint calculator spreadsheet” may show someone looking for a tool or template.
• “Best sustainability reporting software” likely shows comparison intent.
• Each search can be useful. Each one needs a different path.

Some terms are strong paid search targets. Some are better for SEO. Some are useful for a downloadable resource. Some may need a comparison page or product page before they are worth bidding on.

When reviewing intent, ask:

• Are they looking to buy or learn?
• Are they trying solving a problem?
• Is this educational?
• Is this comparison focused?
• Are they ready to act?
• Is this a bad fit? (Are they even in our market?)

Intent should shape the keyword, ad copy, landing page, offer, and follow-up.

Cost keeps the budget in check

Keyword research for PPC is crucial because you pay every time someone clicks.

Poor keyword choice can be one of the most costly mistakes in a paid ads account. A high-intent keyword can still be hard to justify when the available budget is too low for the auction.

For example, a keyword with a $180 CPC may be relevant. If the monthly budget is $1,000, the campaign may only get a handful of clicks before the budget is gone. The keyword may be good, the landing page may be decent, and the offer strong. But if you only have a few clicks to attempt to convert, it will be tough to learn anything meaningful.

If you can find a related long-tail keyword that gives you 30+ clicks at the same budget, you may learn more from that test. In that situation, I usually look for a mix of high-intent terms, long-tail variations, lower-cost niches, problem-aware terms, and determine what makes the most sense with the available budget.

The right mix depends on the market. In some accounts, the highest-intent terms are worth the cost. In others, they drain the budget before the campaign has enough chances to convert.

Landing page fit connects the search to action

A keyword should have a page that fits the search.

Have you ever clicked an ad and landed on a page that did not match what they were looking for? It's frustrating, and it usually drives traffic away.

Landing page experience is also one component of Quality Score, which is Google’s diagnostic tool for understanding how relevant and useful your ads and landing pages are for a keyword.

If someone searches for a product category, the page should clearly match that category. If someone searches by location, the page should support that location. If someone searches by use case, the page should speak to that use case.

Before adding a keyword, I like to ask:

• Do we have an exisiting relevant page to drive to?
• Is the headline clear?
• Is the offer obvious? Are calls to actions (CTAs) present?
• Is there enough proof?
• Is the next step easy?
• Would this feel relevant to our target keyword?

Sometimes keyword research reveals a landing page need. That is useful. It tells you where the account can improve before more budget is added.

Choose match types based on budget and control

A paid search keyword is what you choose to bid on. A search term is what someone actually typed into Google.

Match types control how closely those two things need to align. There are three standard match types:

Exact match gives you the most control, but it can still match close variants and searches with the same meaning or intent.

Phrase match gives you a balance of control and reach. It can match searches that include the meaning of your keyword while staying more focused than broad match.

Broad match gives Google the most flexibility. It can match searches related to the meaning or theme of your keyword, which can help with discovery but requires stronger search term review.

AI Max for Search adds another layer. Google can use more signals to expand matching, customize ad text, and send users to different pages when final URL expansion is enabled.

Think of how specific you want to get with your searches. There is a time and place for each match type, but they should each have a strategy behind them.

For smaller budgets, there is less room for error. Keeping things tighter with phrase and exact match is usually a more controlled approach. Once those keywords are dialed in, you can start expanding.

If you are running more of a set-it-and-forget-it campaign, we recommend leaning away from broad match-heavy structures. They can spend quickly, and the conversions may look better than the lead quality actually is. That said, if there is strong conversion tracking, regular search term review, and a negative keyword process, broader matching can be worth testing. It can be especially useful in expensive industries where you are trying to find lower-cost terms that still convert.

The match type decision should come back to:

• Available budget
• Expected CPCs
• Search volume
• Review frequency
• Risk tolerance
• Tracking quality

Start with your keyword list, group by match type, and plan your management strategy accordingly.

Use search terms as ongoing research

The search terms report is one of the best research sources in a live account.

Keyword Planner gives you estimates. Search terms show you what people actually searched after the campaign started matching.

This is where you can see:

• New keyword ideas
• Negative keyword needs
• Close variations
• Customer language
• Content ideas
• Landing page gaps

Search terms are also one of the clearest signs of account management.

When auditing an account, welook for evidence that someone has been learning from the searches. If no keywords have been paused, no negatives have been added, and no search themes have been adjusted, the account may have been left on autopilot and likely has room to tighten up.

That does not mean every account needs constant changes. Some campaigns work well with a tight set of keywords. Some work with broader match types and a heavier negative strategy.

The point is that the account should show signs of review, learning, and refinement.

Search terms can also help outside of paid search. Question-based searches can become blog posts. Comparison searches can become comparison pages.

Try filtering your all-time search terms for words like:

• Checklist
• Template
• Guide
• How can
• What is

You might find a strong list of content ideas your prospects are already searching for.

Paid search gives you a direct view into how people describe their needs. That information should help your ads, landing pages, SEO, and sales content.

Look at competitors, don't copy

Competitor research can help you understand the market.

Tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, SpyFu, and similar platforms can give you directional insight into competitor keywords, pages, and ads. Treat that data as useful, but estimated. Competitor research is helpful for seeing how competitors position offers, which pages they promote, what CTAs they use, how they describe services, and what content they invest in. The next step, however, is judgment.

A competitor landing page may have a good idea worth testing, and their ad copy may reveal an angle in the market. Still, you do not know their lead quality, close rate, conversion rate, or profitability. That is why we like competitor research as an input, not the strategy.

Originality is a powerful differentiator. If you are simply monitoring competitors, keep in mind they are likely doing the same to you. Keeping up with what they are doing is a viable tactic, but developing a unique position can lead to opportunities competitors have overlooked.

Bring the research back into the rest of marketing

Paid search keyword research should make the rest of marketing stronger. For example:

• If you find a high-intent keyword with no matching page, that could become a landing page project.
• If you find question-based searches, those could become blog posts or FAQs. It could also indicate a need for more education.
• If you find comparison searches, those could become comparison pages.
• If you find template or checklist searches, those could become downloadable resources.

This is one of the reasons I like paid search research. It can be an effective tool to use alongside other channels. You can see what people search, what clicks cost, and where the website needs to support demand.

Final takeaway

Paid search keyword research should be part of your regular account reviews. As with everything, what you're targeting should evolve the more you learn to stay competitive and relevant. You want to understand what people search, what they mean, what the traffic may cost, and what experience they need after the click. From there, you can decide where to spend, where to hold back, where to build content, and where to improve landing pages.

If your Google Ads account has not had a serious keyword review in a while, a Google Ads audit can help. We review keyword structure, search terms, match types, negatives, landing pages, and budget allocation so you can see where spend is helping and where the account needs work.

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