How do you handle SEM competition and avoid keyword cannibalization?

1 Analyze your competitors

The first step is to understand who your competitors are, what keywords they are targeting, and how they are performing. You can use tools like Google Ads Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Moz to research your competitors' keywords, bids, ad copies, landing pages, and quality scores. This will help you identify gaps and opportunities in the market, as well as avoid bidding on keywords that are too competitive or irrelevant for your goals.

3 Optimize your bids and budgets

The third step is to optimize your bids and budgets based on your keywords' performance, competition, and return on investment. You can use tools like Google Ads Smart Bidding, which uses machine learning to automatically adjust your bids based on various signals, such as device, location, time, and audience. You can also use bid modifiers to increase or decrease your bids for certain keywords, ad groups, or campaigns based on factors like device, location, time, or audience. Additionally, you can set your daily or monthly budgets and optimize them based on your campaign goals and results.

5 Monitor and adjust your SEM strategy

The final step is to monitor and adjust your SEM strategy based on your data and feedback. You can use tools like Google Analytics, Google Ads Reports, or Google Data Studio to track and measure your key performance indicators, such as impressions, clicks, cost-per-click, conversions, cost-per-conversion, and return on ad spend. You can also use tools like Google Search Console, Google Ads Recommendations, or Google Ads Performance Grader to identify and fix any issues or errors in your SEM campaign. Furthermore, you can use tools like Google Alerts, Google Trends, or BuzzSumo to stay updated on the latest trends and changes in your industry and audience.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?