A reader wonders: Can you tell me what the harm is in putting in more key words than less key words since a person only gets charged for the clicks on Google when someone actually clicks on your ad?
Howie answers the wondering:
A reader wonders:
In my "broad" keywords list of about 150 words, Google is giving me the message:
Overlapping Terms
If your keyword list has two or more similar keywords, the Traffic Estimator will divide the potential traffic between the overlapping terms. Estimates for such keywords may be less accurate due to this overlap.
My question is: Are broad "Overlapping Terms" ok to use or will I waste $ in the long run?
Here’s what I think:
The "Overlapping Terms" message is not a terrible thing, but in the long run your goal is to figure out what the phrase and exact match keywords are, and get more traffic from them and less traffic from broad match keywords. Google is just telling you that sometimes two different keywords may be triggered by the same search, so it can’t predict in advance where to send the traffic.
You definitely will waste money if you can’t, ultimately, pinpoint your profitable keywords and eliminate the rest, or at least adjust their bids to bring them into the positive ROI range.
And here’s your horoscope, if you’re a Leo:
A stranger you meet on top of a mountain will compliment your dog. Despite this, you will still burn dinner.
Howie Jacobson, PhD., is the author of Google AdWords For Dummies, available on every continent (except Antarctica) wherever fine books, overpriced brownies and cheesy calendars are sold.