Site Explorer (Legacy Reports)
How to use the PPC Keywords report
In this report, we show the keywords that a target website, subdomain (e.g., blog.domain.com), subfolder (e.g., domain.com/blog/) or URL appears for in the paid search results.
Below are some actionable ways to use this report.
See the keywords your competitors are bidding on
Enter your competitor’s domain into Site Explorer and go to the PPC Keywords report.
If we analyze shopify.com, we can see the keywords they’re bidding on in paid search.
Since your competitors are paying for traffic from these keywords, it may indicate that they're profitable for them—and could be for you too.
See non-branded keywords using the “Exclude” filter. Enter your competitor’s brand name and check only the “Keywords” box.
See the cost-per-click (CPC) for each keyword
The Cost-Per-Click (CPC) metric shows the average cost of a click on the paid search results for a given keyword.
If we look at "business name generator," it has an average CPC of $2.50 in the U.S.
Use this to gauge the competition, and decide if you want to compete.
See which keywords send the most paid traffic
Looking at ratekick.com, we can see the keyword “thegeneral” sends them the most paid traffic, closely followed by "mortgage rates chart" and "einsurance."
Keywords that send your competitor tons of paid traffic may be lucrative, so you might want to consider targeting them.
See the exact ad copy your competitors are using
Hover over the yellow “Ad” icon to see your competitors’ ad copy.
This is a great way to find inspiration for your own ad copy.
If you’re ranking organically for any of these keywords, you can also learn from your competitors’ ad copy to improve your title tags and meta descriptions. This might help you get more clicks and generate more search traffic.
Learn more about crafting a good title tag and meta description here.
See the pages your competitors are sending paid traffic to
Find out which pages your competitors are sending traffic to under the “URL” column.
Click through to the URL to analyze their landing pages. This is a great way to find out what could be working for your competitors and find inspiration for your own landing pages.
See paid keyword metrics, ad copy and landing page URLs from 170+ countries
Click on the respective flags to see a report for that country. The numbers show how many keywords the target appears for in that country.
Click the “More” dropdown to see all countries. If a country is greyed-out, it means that the target isn’t bidding for any keywords in that country.
Find low-cost keywords to bid on
et the CPC filter to have a low maximum value (e.g., $1.)
Analyze the report to find relevant, low-cost keywords that you can bid on.
NOTE. Depending on your niche, you may need to play around with the max bid value. Low-cost keywords might be low cost because they don’t have a lot of commercial value. Use your best judgment.
Find lucrative low-competition keywords to rank for
Keyword Difficulty (KD) estimates how hard it will be to rank in the top 10 organic search results for a given keyword. It's scored on a scale from 0-100.
Set the KD filter to a maximum of 10 and the CPC filter to a minimum of $10. This will show low-difficulty keywords that may have high commercial value.
These keywords are often worth trying to rank for organically.
NOTE. The numbers suggested for the KD and CPC filters will vary based on your niche. Feel free to play around with them until you get a list of keywords you’re satisfied with.
Here are some potentially lucrative, low-competition keywords that may be worth targeting if you’re in this niche.
