How to Choose the Right Keywords for Your Google Search Ads

Choosing the right keywords for Google Search Ads starts with customer intent. The goal is finding the specific searches someone would type when they're actually ready to use a service like yours, right now, in their area.

Intent matters more than relevance

A lot of keywords are relevant to a business without actually being useful to potential customers. "Dance" is relevant to a dance studio. "Adult dance classes Cincinnati" is more relevant and shows someone close to taking action. The difference isn't the topic, but intent. The search itself suggests the person is looking to do something, not just learn something.

The simplest test is asking whether a person searching that exact term would be a realistic customer for a specific location. Broad, topic-level searches tend to bring a lot of traffic and very little of it converts. Narrower, intent-driven searches bring less traffic, but a much higher share of it is worth paying for. Google also recommends keeping keyword lists focused by removing duplicates, reviewing terms that receive little or no search volume, and grouping closely related keywords into tightly themed ad groups. This helps keep your ads relevant to the searches you actually want to target while giving you better control over your campaigns.

Where to actually find keyword ideas

Once you determine what kind of searches you're looking for, keyword research tools help you find the specific terms worth considering. Google's Keyword Planner is the most direct starting point. This walkthrough is a useful quick reference if you haven't used it before. Semrush's Keyword Magic Tool is another solid option, particularly for seeing related terms and competitive context you might not think of on your own.

The point of these tools isn't to use every suggestion they generate. It's to widen your view of how people are actually phrasing their searches, then filter that list down using the same intent test, rather than treating a tool's output as a finished keyword list.

Build a focused list, not a long one

A smaller, carefully chosen set of keywords is almost always more useful than a sprawling one. When every keyword in a campaign is relevant, it's much easier to understand which searches are actually driving results. When the list is bloated with loosely related terms, performance data gets muddier, and it's harder to tell what's actually working.

Before adding a keyword, it's worth running it through a short set of questions: 

• Does this describe something you actually offer? 
• Would someone searching it be a real potential customer?
• Does it match the page they'd land on? 
• Is there a reasonable chance it pulls in people looking for something you don't provide? 

A keyword that fails any of these is usually better left out.

Don't skip the local layer

For a multi-location brand, local specificity is where a lot of the real value sits. A generic service-based keyword ("personal training") competes against everyone. A localized version of that same search ("personal training near me" or "personal trainer [city]") is both less competitive and far more likely to come from someone looking for a location like yours specifically, not a national brand in the abstract.

This is also where keyword strategy and localized campaign structure start to overlap. The same system that lets a franchise run one campaign structure across every location can apply the same logic to location-specific keywords, without rebuilding the keyword list by hand for every market. We covered that broader setup in How Do I Run Google Ads for a Multi-Location Business Without Setting Up Every Location Manually?

Negative keywords matter just as much

Choosing the right keywords isn't only about what to include, it's also about what to deliberately exclude. Negative keywords stop your ads from showing up for searches that technically overlap with your business but aren't worth paying for. For example, someone looking for a job rather than a service, a DIY approach rather than a professional one, or a free alternative to what you charge for.

A useful gut check here is simple, would you actually want to pay for that click? If the honest answer is no, it's worth adding as a negative keyword rather than letting it quietly drain your budget.

Keep it a living list, not a one-time decision

As campaigns run, the data shows you which keywords are driving results and which ones looked promising but haven't performed. Revisiting the list periodically, tightening it based on real performance, and adding negative keywords as new irrelevant searches surface, is what keeps a keyword strategy sharp.

For a franchise network, having a system that applies this discipline consistently across every location, rather than leaving it to whoever happens to be managing each account, is what makes a strong keyword strategy scale instead of eroding location by location. Flamel's Google Ads solution is built with that consistency in mind.

FAQ

Should every location use the exact same keyword list? Mostly yes, but with local variations layered in. The core service-based keywords usually apply everywhere, while location-specific versions of those same terms should reflect each market.

How many keywords should a single ad group have? There's no fixed number, but a smaller, tightly relevant list is almost always more useful than a long one. If a keyword doesn't clearly relate to the ad group and landing page, it's usually better left out.

If you want help building and maintaining a keyword strategy across your whole network, you can schedule a demo to walk through it directly.