The series of Search Engine Strategies (SES) conferences attract a variety of SEM professionals across the globe.

The Chicago leg of the conference was held just last week and one of the guest speakers was Christine Churchill from KeyRelevance.com who discussed (yep, you guessed it) keyword research for PPC campaigns.

We’ve written a number of articles in the past about keywords. Keyword research is one of the most important aspects of any PPC campaign – its no use bidding on a search term for your PPC ad, if that’s not the keyword your target market is going to use to find you. Here is a quick reference guide to our most popular keyword research article:

DIY SEO: How to Perform Keyword Research Using Google’s Free Tool
Are Keywords in the Domain Name Still Important?
Google’s New Keyword Research Tool Adds More Filtering Options
The Top 10 Small Business SEO Mistakes
Google Advice: Don’t Obsess About Keyword Position in URLs

Back at the SES conference, Christine was kind enough to chat to Byron Gordon from the SES Conference Channel after her presentation to discuss keyword research in more depth. You can check out the video below of their discussion; however I have also outlined the steps Christine uses to conduct keyword research for any company:

1. Look at the keywords already available within your company. What phrases or words do you use to describe your products or services? Try not to list pet phrases that customers won’t know.
2. Go to your consumer base to get an understanding of what they call or describe your products or services. It’s highly likely that consumers might call your product a different name.
3. Search online on how people are describing your product. Journalists or product reviewers are a good source as they relate directly to the consumer.
4. Use keyword tools such as Google Trends, Google Insights, Keyword Discovery and Hitwise to get a viewpoint on keyword popularity that is beyond what you can get in your analytics. Use a variety of tools, some free and some fee-based to get a better comparison.

Keyword research isn’t a one-off exercise. Words evolve and keyword phrases change over time, so make a habit of conducting keyword research at least once a year. Good luck!