Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your website

254

Next, follow these steps to assess the performance of keyword clusters:

• Sit down with a list of your top-priority keyphrases and your PPC report span-

ning the life of the campaign. (This can be the same report you used yesterday.)

• Go through your report and decide how you want to group your keywords into

clusters. It might help to highlight different clusters in different colors as you go.

You can define as few as two clusters or as many as you’re interested in study-

ing. It’s OK to have leftover keyphrases that don’t fit into any cluster.

• For each of the keyword clusters, copy total clicks and overall click-through per-

centage on a keyword-by-keyword basis into the PPC Cluster Worksheet. Or, if

your conversion tracking has been in place long enough for some real data, enter

total conversions and conversion percentage. See Tables 9.1 and 9.2 for examples.

• Use your PPC service to find the campaign-wide total number of clicks (or con-

versions, if that’s what you’re reviewing here) and the PPC Cluster Worksheet

will calculate the percentage that each cluster is receiving.

Keep in mind, an accurate apples-to-apples judgment along these lines depends

on the ranks for these terms being similar.

Tab le 9.1

Sample PPC Keyword Cluster Data for Cluster 1

Keyword(s)

Keyword Clicks/Conversions

mars rover

mars exploration rovers

athena rover

athena class rovers

Cluster 1 Clicks/Conversions

181

Cluster 1 Percentage of Total

36%

Tab le 9.2

Sample PPC Keyword Cluster Data for Cluster 2

Keyword(s)

Keyword Clicks/Conversions

space exploration

space science

space travel

space traveler

Cluster 2 Clicks/Conversions

Cluster 2 Percentage of Total

Now:

Gather clustered keyword performance data from your PPC campaign.

c09. 8:10 254