[MUSIC PLAYING] When you're setting up your search ads, I want you to keep in mind that not every search is the same. In this lesson, I'm going to teach you three types of searches. And you'll discover the best opportunity to get your ad in front of high-intent buyers. Let's start with an example of each type of search. When you search for Foot Locker, you're trying to find Foot Locker's website.
This is called a navigational search. Instead of typing footlocker.com, many people choose to type in the phrase and click on the first result. Or consider another example of a search where you type, buy running shoes. This would be referred to as a transactional search where you're trying to complete an action.
But you're not sure where to do it. And the last type of search, what's the best in Seoul for a running shoe? This is what we call an informational search. These three different types of searchers are a valuable place for you to start. Now, I want you to start thinking about how a potential customer may google to find your product.
The words that they type into Google are called keywords. And when you figure out what words a customer types into Google, it's called keyword research. So how does knowing about types of searches influence your ad? I'll start with navigational searches, say, someone searches for Foot Locker. With that search, you can probably guess that the searcher is pretty motivated to buy shoes since they are navigating directly to a specific shoe retailer.
If you're a small business owner selling shoes, you could technically create an ad for shoes that appears in Foot Locker as results, though I don't recommend doing this. Not only does it get expensive to compete against brand names, it's not relevant to the searcher. When they search Foot Locker, they're intentional about getting to the sites.
It's extremely hard to win at this game, so I would recommend pursuing one of the following search strategies. Transactional searches are your best opportunity to get your ad in front of high-intent buyers. Rather than searching a specific retailer, they're searching a product and using a term like buy, sale, or near me to demonstrate that they intend to purchase.
With transactional searches, you might also see branded transactional searches like buy Nike running shoes, demonstrating how precise the searcher is getting. Like the navigational searches, you have to be careful here. If you're a small shoe retailer who carries Nike shoes, by all means, go for it.
But if you're selling an adidas shoe and showing an ad to someone searching for Nike, you're going to have a tough time getting those clicks. Again, whether the result is organic or a paid ad, Google will always prioritize the most relevant search result to the searcher. The last type of search that I want to tell you about is an informational search.
This is the search that shows the least buying intent, but often has the widest audience. It's a great way to get traffic to your site and keep people engaged with your brand. If someone searches something like best running path in LA, you don't want to show an ad to buy a running shoe. That's not relevant to what they're looking for.
But what you might do instead is have a blog post on your site that features downtown running paths in major cities across the country. This audience of searchers won't necessarily be looking to buy right now, but based on what they search, you know they're runners. And they're going to need running shoes at some points. You write a compelling article.
Highlight the best paths running in LA. And they'll begin to trust you and your brand. And you'll stay top of mind. This is called content marketing and drives a lot of great traffic to your site if you can do it right. Content marketing is a great way to get organic search results, and then you can use retargeting to entice those visitors to buy your product.
I'll get more into this advanced strategy in the display ads module. For now, I want you to really focus on the transactional searches. With these searches, you know it's an audience interested in buying a product like yours. All you have to do is compete by making the best offer. So now, you know the value of those search ads, and in particular, those unbranded transactional ads, they are your best opportunity for conversions.
In the next lesson, I'm going to show you how we together can create those ads. Let's get into it. [MUSIC PLAYING]
