In this article, you’ll learn how to buy keywords on Google.
As you’ll find out below, the steps for how to purchase keywords on Google can be used for any search term or query to help increase the rankings and awareness of your website on the search engine results pages (SERPs) without having to focus as much on organic search engine optimization (SEO).
Essentially, by using two specific tools for doing keyword research and setting up paid advertising campaigns, you can pick the best words and phrases to target in the SERPs while also controlling your overall costs to meet your digital marketing budget.
Table of Contents
How to Buy Keywords On Google
1. Sign Up for Google AdWords
The first step for how to buy keywords on Google is to go to the AdWords website and sign up with your Google account. If you do not have a Google account, then you’ll have to create one.
2. Create a Keyword Ad Campaign
The next step for how to purchase keywords on Google is to create a new keyword ad campaign.
Campaigns in AdWords are a set of ad groups that contain your various ads, keywords, and bids that share the same budget, location targeting, and other settings. You can have multiple campaigns running at once that allow you to organize your ads and keyword sets based on specific categories.
When you start a campaign, you have to choose an objective that targets a certain goal, such as:
- Sales
- Leads
- Website traffic
- Product and brand consideration
- Brand awareness
- App promotion
- Local store visits and promotions
After you’ve chosen an objective, you’ll then need to select a campaign type. You can buy keywords on Google and have your ads appear in Google Search, the Display Network, Discover Network, Shopping pages, YouTube, Gmail, etc.
For the purposes of this guide, you’ll want to choose Search so you can reach people on Google’s search engine through purchased text ads based on targeted SEO keywords.
Once you’re done with the initial campaign setup, you’ll be able to get your campaign a name so you can save these settings and move on to step 3.
3. Set Your Keyword Bid
The next step is to choose your keyword bid. This is done under the “Bidding” section.
Here, you’ll choose “Clicks” for the focus type and then check the box for “Set a maximum cost per click bid limit”. This bidding strategy helps you get the most clicks for a Cost-Per-Click (CPC) value that’s at or below your bid limit.
4. Select Locations and Languages
You’ll also have to choose a target location for your keyword ads to appear. You can select all countries and locations or narrow your keyword buying on Google to specific areas around the world. Google AdWords also lets you select the languages your customers speak if this is important for your keyword targeting.
5. Choose an Audience Segment
This is one of the most important areas to optimize AdWords so that you can target the right people with your ads. Otherwise, you may end up buying keywords and getting clicks by users who have no direct interest in your website, products, or services.
At this stage, you want to select audience segments to add to your campaign. You can narrow this down by demographics, interests, hobbies, search history, etc.
6. Choose the Keywords to Buy
At this point in the process, you’ll start working on your first Ad Group. And this step requires you to choose the keywords you want to buy on Google.
If you already know what keywords you want to purchase, then you can add words and phrases to the box so they’ll be used to match your ads with the terms people are searching for. If you need keyword suggestions, Google can help with that too. Just add the target web page URL into the appropriate field and then click the “Get Keywords” button. Google will then crawl the page and automatically suggest keywords you should target on its search engine.
You can further refine your keyword list by modifying the words and phrases based on the match type below. Also, check out this related guide on how many keywords per ad group so you don’t target too many keywords in your Google Ads, which can reduce the effectiveness of your campaign.
- Broad Match: This is the default match type without any word modifiers attached. Broad match lets a keyword trigger your ad whenever someone searches for that phrase, similar phrases, singular forms, plural forms, synonyms, misspellings, relevant variations & other related searches.
- Phrase Match: This match type requires you to add quotes around the keyword, such as “used books”. Phrase match keywords allow your ad to trigger when users search for an exact phrase or the phrase has terms added before or after it, such as “buy used books” or “used books for sale”.
- Exact Match: This match type requires you to add brackets around the keyword, such as [men’s running shoes]. Exact match keywords are the most targeted matching without any loose connections to user searches. Your ad will only appear if the user types in the exact phrase into the search engine.
7. Create Your Ad
The next step after deciding on your target SEO keywords is to create the ad.
Here, you’ll need to come up with a good headline, descriptive ad text, and include a target URL.
The ultimate goal is to increase your Quality Score (QS) which is how Google determines the position your ad should rank in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
As Google states in this guide on improving your Quality Score, there are five things you can do:
- Make ads more relevant to your chosen keywords.
- Edit the ad text to increase click-through rates (CTR).
- Ensure the content on the landing page matches the keywords you’re targeting for SEO.
- Remove low-performing keywords from your ads.
The better your Quality Score, the higher your ad ranks in the SERPs. If your Quality Score is low, then you’ll have fewer people seeing your ad and fewer users visiting your website. Google will tell you what your Quality Score is, but it’s up to you to make adjustments the key areas listed above.
8. Set Your Average Daily Budget
When you’re purchasing keywords on Google you need to set an average daily budget so you can put a cap on how much you’re going to pay per day for keyword ad clicks. Otherwise, Google would keep charging you no matter how much it costs.
By setting an average daily budget, you can control your spending. And throughout the month, you will never pay more than your daily budget multiplied by the average number of days in a month. However, some days you may spend less than your daily budget, and on other days you could spend up to twice as much. But overall, Google will make sure you’re not spending any more than your average budget assigned to the campaign.
9. Publish Your Campaign
At this stage, you’re ready to publish your campaign. On this screen, you can review and double-check the details before you publish the keyword-optimized ad set. Google will then review the ad for compliance and turn it on so it appears in the search engine for your target audience to see.
10. Purchase More Keywords On Google
The final step to buy keywords on Google is to purchase more search terms on the platform by creating more ad groups under the same campaign or setting up new campaigns entirely.
If you’re serious about buying SEO keywords for higher rankings on Google, then you should repeat the steps above to make more ad groups or campaigns so you can test which keyword sets deliver the highest ROI for your digital marketing budget.
There are multiple variables you can test with each ad in Google AdWords, such as the words and phrases you’re targeting, the ad headline, the ad display text, the content on the landing page URL, etc.
Essentially, you want to refine and iterate as you go so you can achieve the best results for your website and business goals.
Research Keywords Before You Purchase Them with Keyword Planner
Another option you have to research keywords for paid SEO search campaigns before you buy them is to use Google Keyword Planner. This is a free tool that helps you discover relevant words and phrases for your website and see estimates of the Cost-Per-Click (CPC) and search volume they receive.
Keyword Planner is a great tool for doing in-depth keyword research to create better-optimized ad campaigns. You can also build strong keyword lists in this software and then transfer them over to AdWords to set up new paid search campaigns.
How Much Does It Cost to Buy Keywords On Google?
It costs between $0.50 to $50 or more to buy keywords on Google. The cost varies for each keyword and is priced on a pay-per-click basis that depends on the competition level and the industry you’re buying keywords from on Google.
Why Are Some Keywords So Expensive?
Some keywords are so expensive because of the supply and demand among advertisers who want to pay for keyword-optimized ads. High CPCs are a result of advertisers competing with each other and that increases the cost-per-click.
Why Purchase Keywords On Google?
Purchasing keywords on Google works faster than SEO to build a larger audience for your website or brand. Buying keywords with Google AdWords is also measurable and flexible so you can target the right keywords to attract the right audience based on your business goals.
When you purchase keywords through Google AdWords, you only pay for the clicks that your ads receive instead of impressions. This pay-per-click (PPC) advertising model allows you to save money and maximize your budget by only paying a cost when a user has taken action to view your website. (See this related guide on the difference between SEO and PPC for more details about how these digital marketing strategies compare.)
You also get detailed performance tracking with Google AdWords so you can measure the number of users that view and click on your ads for each keyword you’re bidding on. This is good information to know because you can further optimize your ads to increase the click-through rates (CTR) and/or decide if an SEO keyword is worth targeting or not based on the sales and conversions you’re getting on the landing page.
According to Google’s Economic Impact report, businesses can make an average of $2 for every dollar spent buying keywords on Google. And that’s really the best metric to measure for success. The fact is that your return on investment (ROI) for purchasing a keyword is more important than clicks (or CTR).
In this other article, we talk about how much does SEO cost per month, hour, and on a project-by-project basis. And for some businesses, the ROI of buying the top positions in Google for their target keywords is much higher than the price of hiring an SEO agency to improve their website’s organic traffic and rankings. Plus, organic SEO takes time to work and some companies cannot afford to wait weeks, months, or even years for results.
Buy Keywords On Google Summary
I hope you enjoyed this guide on how to buy keywords on Google.
As you discovered, the process for how to purchase keywords on Google is easy to do and only requires you to have an AdWords account. Once that’s set up, you can bid on any keyword you’d like to have your website show up on the search engine results pages. This paid advertising strategy works faster than SEO and can allow you to get the top-ranking spots on Google if you have high-quality ads and the right size budget.
