Cards for Humanity

How a popular ecommerce tool just became more useful

Late last summer, Google rolled out a new feature in its impressive AdWords offering, and we think it’s worth a mention. It’s called a “search card,” and before we expand, let’s start with a primer on AdWords.

Anyone using AdWords is familiar with its one-stop shop concept for vendors who may be too low-volume to invest in a major commerce infrastructure just yet. It provides an auction-based method of pushing your products up the chain of search results that appear when potential customers go looking for what you’re selling. Ordered search results can be gold, or they can render your hopes moot, depending on where you place when all is said and done.
​
AdWords provides a path to zeroing in on the way your products are searched for, and how to improve your chances of showing up as a hit. Its individual variables are known as “cards” that categorize different functions relevant to a keyword search strategy. With the addition of search cards, you now have a pretty reliable method of refining your keyword tags in a manner that will bring better results from those potential customers  you just know are aching for your goods.

The nuts and bolts

Manipulating search terms seems obscure to many. It wasn’t long ago that merchants were at the mercy of expensive display ads in newspapers or short television and radio spots. The best targeting they offered was the general demographic known as “audience.” Things have progressed quite a bit, but offsetting the technology is the groundswell of competition. It’s still important to stay on top of the shopping scene from an e-perspective.

AdWords’ search cards provides invaluable access to trending word searches. Considering its parent company Google is primarily in the search engine business, it’s safe to say this is the most in-depth and comprehensive data you will have at your fingertips without paying a king’s ransom for a specialized program.

An interesting variable to consider, for example, is a negative keyword search term. That is a word that may be purposely omitted in order to achieve more reliable results. If you have knowledge to the words that are not searched for, you have a powerful tool that may help refine your keyword usage in a way that shows instant results. Just as useful as its ability to cut down on fruitless searches by eliminating a word that does not apply to your offerings.
​
So all of these tips may sound good, but fully understanding it probably requires a graphical demonstration. This AdWords support page does a nice job of laying out examples of how the search card drills down to more accurate and useful search terms you may throw out there to swim among the sea of competitors in the ecommerce universe.