Be aware of useless keywords, search marketers advised

25th June 2008

Determining the wrong keywords can be just as important as highlighting the most-effective terms and phrases, search marketing professionals have been advised.

A new post on the Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog recommends that advertisers learn to distinguish keywords that are likely to result in sales from those that will probably yield nothing.

"Just because you offer a certain product or service does not mean you should bid on that term," the blog post states.

For example, an advertiser that sells karaoke equipment should perhaps avoid bidding on the term 'subwoofer', as most people purchasing one would buy it from a karaoke dealer.

The tip was one of five offered by the Yahoo! Search Marketing blog.

Other recommendations included defining the target audience, combining high-volume and low-volume keywords, combining branding with niche marketing and including obvious words such as brand names.

In related Yahoo! news, the company's shares rose this week after TechCrunch reported that merger talks with Microsoft has been restarted.