Is there any reason to add the word "buy" to our Adwords keywords?

[EcommerceSite]

Was having a discussion with someone so I am going to write this up as neutral as possible and let you guys decide.

We have a large keyword list and they are all setup as phrase. Should we go back and add the word buy in front of all those keywords? Even though they are setup as phrase already. Example:

"Widget" (as a phrase)

Should we go back and add

"Buy Widget"

as a keyword?

[JasmineA]

oh! ok

I dunno, I think that sounds pretty normal. I would only start cutting keywords out if they were high cost, no return.

So since you work in a really niche market, and if you want to test the theory of "buy X" v just "X", then I would request incremental budget from marketing to run a 2-3 week test on your major head terms on broad match. then look at the search query report for only that keyword during that test time to get some new ideas for keywords to target.

[EcommerceSite]

A little bit. We don't actually sell widgets, I was just using that as an example. We deal in somewhat of a niche market so the keywords we do use never have a lot of impressions. Right now we probably have about 9k keywords. Think I should try to cut that down?

[JasmineA]

Yes to what Dave said.

"big broad terms are expensive and usually have a higher Cost Per Conversion. Long-tails are more specific, cheaper and lead to more conversions."

The term "widget" is a big, broad term.
The term "best widget for email" is long-tail.

What types of widgets are you selling? Some example modifiers could be

desktop widget
Mail widget
Best mail widget
Best widget for email
Android widget for mail

Does this help clarify?

[EvolveCreative]

big broad terms are expensive and usually have a higher Cost Per Conversion. Long-tails are more specific, cheaper and lead to more conversions. If you're using broad match, consider using a broad match modifier.

[EcommerceSite]

Your last sentence is kind of throwing me off. Are you saying I should or should not rely on big broad terms? Do you have suggestions for other modifiers?

[JasmineA]

Yes to what David & Dave have said.

To add, I think you should also not be targeting the term "widget" so generally. "buy" probably isn't the best modifier you could use, or the best use of your time if you have a lengthy list of one word keywords.

I would hope that you are advertising on more keywords than just broad head terms, like "HP" "Windows" "Widget" "Tech" "Money" "word" -- i went a little off topic there, but I'm sure you get the point.

You should rely minimally on big, broad terms like these but instead,  target longer 2-4 word phrases more frequently. It will improve your CPC and overall ROI.

[EvolveCreative]

The phrase of "widget" should pull your ad for "buy widget," so it really isn't necessary. However, if you create a new ad group for "buy widget" you can control the budget for these specific keywords.

Remember, 30 KWs per ad group is best practice.

[DavidKonigsberg]

If you see alot of impr for the keyword "buy keyword" after you run it on phrase etc i would make a new agroup for buy with the buy keywords with ads focused on that intent. This will allow you to bid on them separately and talk to what they are looking for better then a broad or phrase.