PPC keyword research: intent beats quantity in paid search
Paid search makes weak keywords cost money. Here's a PPC keyword research method built on intent, match types, and ruthless negative lists.
October 20, 2025 · 1 min read
SEO tolerates a few fuzzy keywords. PPC doesn't — every vague phrase you bid on spends your budget. The winning method for paid search is not a bigger keyword list but a cleaner one, filtered hard by intent.
Sort keywords by what they cost, not volume
Volume tells you how many eyeballs; intent tells you which ones pay. In PPC the four types behave radically differently: informational queries leak budget, commercial queries convert, transactional queries convert best, and navigational queries are usually someone else's brand. Structure your account around the commercial and transactional keywords and let negatives drain the rest.
Layer match types over the same keywords
You don't need a new list for every match type — you need the same well-chosen list across exact, phrase, and broad-match-modified ads. Start small and exact, then expand: add phrase match for discovered variations, and keep a negative list that grows daily with every query that wasted money.
- •Exact match: the core converting terms
- •Phrase match: approved variations close to the core
- •Negative list: every search term that spent without converting
The PPC long-tail advantage
Long-tail PPC keywords are cheaper per click and closer to purchase — "crm for real estate agents" beats "crm" every time. Generate long-tails for each persona, then upload the buyer-intent group straight into your exact match campaign. Low volume, high return, easy to defend.