When you are operating a business in a competitive market, marketing is more important than ever. You need to differentiate your brand, and you need to ensure your brand is visible to your target audience. Unfortunately, marketing in competitive markets can also be more expensive than ever, as you are fighting for the same limited resources with so many more business competitors.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in SEO, where keyword competition can cut significantly into the digital marketing budget. Google Ads are a popular way to cut the line and reach the top of the search results — but with some keywords, you could be paying a sizeable price per click with no guarantee of a return.
So, are there ways to rank highly using competitive keywords without paying a premium? Read on to find out.
Some of the Most Expensive Keywords
First, it might help to understand the types of keywords that tend to be more expensive. In general, expensive keywords tend to be ones used in a large number of search queries, which means hey are often short and vague. In 2023, the most expensive keywords include:
| Keyword | Average Cost Per Click (CPC) |
| Business services | $58.64 |
| Bail bonds | $58.48 |
| Casino | $55.48 |
| Lawyer | $54.86 |
| Asset management | $49.86 |
| Insurance | $48.41 |
Many of these keywords are associated with extremely high-profit industries with companies that can afford to pay a premium for the advantage of ranking highly on the SERP. However, even if you are not operating in a high-profit industry or competing for the most expensive keywords on Google, you probably want to keep your cost per click (CPC) as low as possible to free up space in your SEO budget. To do that, you need to understand more about how CPC is calculated and how you can keep your CPC manageable.
Understanding CPC
The formula for calculating CPC is outrageously simple: the amount of money you are paying for clicks on your Google ads divided by the total number of clicks your ads are receiving. Yet, knowing how much you are paying currently for your Google advertisements is not exactly the same as knowing how much you should be paying.
To determine your ideal CPC, you need to know how much profit your company is making from the conversions it receives through Google Ads. Multiplying this information by your current conversion rate should give you a number that you can use as your break-even CPC — the amount of budget you have available to cover your ad keywords. Here’s an example from the real estate industry:
- An agent earns a 3 percent fee from a $600,000 house sale, earning $18,000 in revenue.
- Covering taxes and fees leaves the agent with $9,000 in profit per sale.
- If the agent’s conversion rate from Google ads is 2 percent, their break-even CPC is $180.
Sure, that agent could spend all $180 on a few clicks using the “real estate” keyword, which is on Google’s list of most expensive keywords. Being in the number-one position could increase brand awareness, though it might not increase traffic beyond a handful of visitors. A better strategy for that real estate agent might be to purchase less competitive keywords, allowing ads to appear in a larger number of searches though perhaps not immediately at the top. Then, that agent can use more of their marketing budget to leverage better SEO strategies for a high, long-term ranking.
Long-Term SEO Strategies
Google Ads are not the only way for businesses to appear at the top of the SERPs. In truth, you don’t need to pay for keywords at all; instead, you can pay for high-quality SEO strategies that increase your webpage ranking and encourage more organic web traffic to flow into your business site. You might consider working with a digital marketing firm that utilizes white label SEO services, which are third-party SEO experts that are fully dedicated to improving your business’s SEO. Especially when you are working in a competitive market, you need to improve your marketing in a holistic way, which means doing more than buying keywords and taking SEO shortcuts.
Keyword competition is increasing in every industry, and more businesses are looking for better ways to rank highly and reach their target audiences. With the right SEO strategies, you can keep your CPC low and your profits high.
