Pay per click optimization isn’t really all that hard. There are several methods you can use to help you better optimize your campaigns. I would not recommend using search assist as your primary optimization method, but I would recommend it as an adjunct to your primary and secondary optimization methods. I would use it at the ad group level rather than the campaign level, but here are a few tips to help you use any of the search engines’ search assist tool to better optimize your pay per click ads.

• Find Additional Search Terms – If you’re not sure you have a complete list of keywords and you want to see what potential keywords searchers may use to find your site then search assist could help you. Each of the search engines will show you a list of search terms as you type your term into the search box. Take a look at those suggested search terms to see if any of them would apply to what you are offering in your PPC ads. If so, add it to your list.
• Narrow Your Match Types – Type in a broad match or phrase match type for your PPC ad group and see what suggestions search assist offers. Are any of the terms relevant and more specific? Add it as a keyword phrase one match type level lower than the search term you used to find it in search assist.
• Find Negative Keywords – You can also find negative keywords for your ad groups. When you type your search phrase into the search box check to see what other search terms are being suggested. Any that don’t apply should be added to your negative keyword list. Chances are other searchers will use those search terms and you don’t want your ads showing up for irrelevant search queries.

What other ways do you use search assist for optimizing your pay per click ad groups?

If you’ve been running your pay per click advertising campaigns solely on Google’s external keyword research tool then it’s time to stop. That’s a good tool for conducting initial research and for narrowing down your list (or expanding it to pick the best targeted keywords). But when you are ready to hone your PPC campaigns to a level of maximum tightness and increase your CTR (as well as your overall quality) then you need Google’s Advanced Keyword Research Tool.

Google’s advanced keyword research tool is perfect for pay per click campaign optimization. When you’ve narrowed down your list of most profitable keywords to the very best, enter your best-looking keyword into the keyword box of the advanced tool. But only enter one keyword. Then click “Find Keywords”. The advanced keyword research tool will return a list of keywords based on actual searches.

What the tool will tell you is the level of competition for each suggested keyword and the minimum big you need to make to ensure your ads are approved. Keep in mind that the suggested bids are just that – suggestions. Quality factors may require a higher bid, but the suggestion is pretty good.

If you have your landing page set then you can enter the URL of the landing page and Google will analyze it to help you discover the best keywords. Bear in mind, however, that this works best if your landing page is a standalone website; otherwise, the tool will analyze your entire site and not just one page on the site. But entering a keyword into the box without the URL is a great way to uncover your most profitable keywords and the ones with the lowest level of competition.

Close Loop Marketing has announced four pay per click tools for beta testing and they look pretty cool. A quick survey of the tools:

• Keyword Wrapper - Enter your list of keywords and choose broad, phrase, or exact match and let the keyword wrapper add the quotations and brackets for you. All you need to do is copy/paste your keyword list into your pay per click campaign box at Google, Yahoo, MSN, or PPC provider and you’re all set. No longer will you have to spend an hour going through your entire list to add the quotation marks and brackets. Nice tool.
• Keyword Cleaner – Work a lot of clients? Have long lists of keywords? Enter your list with bids and other extraneous information then click Generate Results and the keyword cleaner will strip away everything you don’t need, leaving you with just your keyword list. Clean and easy.
• Keyword Geotargeting – Want to make sure you’re hitting every market you can? This is a very helpful tool if you target large areas with a lot of zip codes, neighborhoods, suburbs, etc. You enter your list of geotargeted keywords the Keyword Geotargeting and Wrapper Tool spits out your bona fide list of geotargeted keywords. Super nice.
• Keyword Permutations – The Keyword Permutations and Wrapper Tool will take your list of keywords and analyze it to see if you’ve covered all the bases. Did you get every possible misspelling? Are there any variations of keywords and phrases that you left out? This tool will catch them for you.

Nice tools. And they look like a lot of fun too.

Kontera Blog posted its most clicked keywords this morning. Evidently, Oscar de La Hoya is more clickable than Jennifer Aniston. Well, I’d click her.

Bad jokes aside, though, one thing every pay per click manager needs to be aware of is that you can capitalize on celebrity names in many non-related pay per click advertising campaigns (if you do it right). Let’s say you sell suntan lotion. Why not write a description like, “What Suntan Lotion Does Jennifer Aniston Use?” Then add “Click here” for the answer.

Is it cheap? Yes. Dirty? Maybe.

This is called getting creative. You are using a well-known name brand to draw attention to your own. But understand that this won’t work for everything. You can’t say “Jennifer Aniston wears snow boots” unless you know for a fact that she wears snow boots. Suntan lotion works because suntan lotion and Jennifer Aniston both represent beauty in the eyes of a certain market segment. Therefore, this technique can succeed.

Keep in mind that keywords are tools and weapons. How you use them determine whether or not you get the click. And if you’re going to be cheap and dirty the least you can do is make sure your Jennifer Aniston is clickable.

If you’re a pay per click toolaholic then you are probably on the prowl for new tools every day of the year. But the most essential PPC tool in any advertiser’s arsenal is free. It’s the Google AdWords Keyword Tool.

This most essential pay per click advertising tool is valuable whether you use Google AdWords or not. Not only can you research keywords for your advertising campaign, but the tool will tell you which month of the year a certain key phrase received the most Google searches, provide a yearly trend so you can see high and low months for search volume, tell you the average search volume for the past month and the average search volume overall, and also tell you what your expected ad position and average CPC would be if you were to bid on that keyword. And it will also tell you the level of competition for any given keyword. All of that is invaluable information.

You do not necessarily need to bid on the exact keyword phrase. A long-tail keyword phrase might actually be more targeted and cost you less to bid on. Wouldn’t you like to know that? The Google AdWords Keyword Tool will help you identify those keywords.