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Conversions and Query Length - The Sequel
August 25, 2006
I was intrigued by a post a few weeks ago by my esteemed colleague Erik regarding Conversions and Query Length. (Disclaimer #1- yes, that is my comment at the bottom, and yes I did leave a comment at my own companies blog BUT it is there because I believe strongly in the correlation between metrics and decision making.)
The focus of this post is along a similar thread but it is related specifically Pay Per Click (PPC) and search Query Length. I did a study for a client of mine recently with the goal of finding what key phrases were converting the best, not just attracting the most clicks.
(Disclaimer #2- the names & labels etc have been changed to respect confidentiality, but the numbers are real.)
In this example our client Kramerica is selling their famous Muffin Tops. We have thousands of key phrases at our disposal but we want to know which terms to build on. Upon doing our research we get the following data:
This graph tells us that by far our best converting key phrases are either two or three words in length. Notice the dramatic drop off with longer key phrases, one’s that traditionally we would tend to view as ‘more qualified searchers’.
The next thing we notice from our research is how many key phrases we have that are giving us the conversions listed above:
Wow! From this we can see that out of 35 key phrases providing conversions 5 are dominating the conversion ratio’s (good fodder for a post about the 80/20 rule). Can you guess how many words are in each of the 5 key phrases that are providing all of the results. (If you need help refer to the first graph)
Finally we want to look and see if there are any trends in the actual words themselves that make up the key phrases.
This is a bit more challenging to the eye but let me cut to the chase. This chart is telling us that our ‘Top Converters’ also specifically begin with the word ‘Free’. Notice how poorly the phrases do that just contain the word ‘Free’.
So, all of our research and data crunching tells us the following:
1) We should expand on key phrases that contain two or three words.
2) We should begin them with the word ‘Free’
Now this is just a portion of the campaign strategy, but I’d say it’s a good place to start.
Okay, cool charts you say, but what is my point? My point is that metrics are important. Keyword discovery tools are great, Google Zeitgeist is great, Technorati is great, but the best data lies in your own campaigns. It may sound redundant but make sure you or your campaign manager looks at the wealth of data you already have compiled.
All posts by Brent Sharp
posted by Brent Sharp at August 25, 2006 11:59 AM
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Comments
The real takeaway here is what you say at the end:
"The best data lies in your own campaigns".
Wow, that is one of those things that is very simple but oh so powerful ... and oh so true. Very well said Brent!
Posted by: Doug at August 25, 2006 03:14 PM
Interesting project, but isn't the sample data you took a little small to draw those conclusions? Also, in some industries Google and Yahoo don't even allow the word "free" to appear anymore as part of the keyword.
Posted by: Florian at August 28, 2006 11:30 PM
Florian, good questions. The sample data is actually all of the data for a 3 month period, and it's small because it's only for phrases that convert to sales. The numbers would be much higher for phrases that convert to clicks. In this case 'free' is an integral part of what the client is offering to customers so it is verifiable to the Search Engines and therefore allowed.
Posted by: Brent at August 30, 2006 10:19 AM