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SEM: I'm building a methodology for building keyword lists which have direction relation to search intents + stages of a buying cycle/funnel.
JP
JP
Joseph Peterson, Names, Domains, Sentences and Strategies answered:

We have an overlapping but non-competing interest in this area.

What I'd recommend is ... skip the books or guides on Google AdWords or the Bing equivalent. You've already read enough, and your question is framed with enough specific detail that you're obviously no slouch and probably past the beginner stage, I'd say. Reading guides would provide steadily diminishing returns. DIY time!

Brainstorm keyword ideas. Research the search stats. Once you feel you've covered all the relevant search queries and prioritized them, then it's time to run experiments.

That's why I say skip the books. At a certain stage, you have to leave biology textbooks behind and go dissect some frogs or observe the live frogs (your customers?) in nature.

Nothing is more empirical than running an efficient SEM campaign. You know this. Rules are starting points to b left behind in this space. Books and guides might provide some preliminary tips (at best) or be authoritarian (at worst).

Just arrange your spending alternatives as hypotheses. Measure which strategy performs better using some carefully planned A/B testing over a statistically significant period of time / impressions / clicks.

Set aside the generalizations. No author will give you what you need because you're already thinking of your problem at a granular level of detail.

Brainstorm. Plan tests. Measure. Rinse & repeat.

If you want to put 2 heads together, I might be able to throw out some extra ideas. But you don't necessarily need another person.

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