search-ad-keyword-architect

Search Ad Keyword Architect

Build a comprehensive keyword architecture for paid search campaigns. Goes beyond basic keyword lists by organizing terms into a strategic framework: funnel stages, intent buckets, match types, and competitive density tiers.

Core principle: Bad keyword strategy is the #1 reason startups waste money on Google Ads. This skill builds the strategic foundation before you write a single ad.

When to Use

• "Do keyword research for our Google Ads"
• "What keywords should we bid on?"
• "Build a keyword strategy for paid search"
• "Audit our existing keyword list"
• "Find high-intent keywords in our space"

Phase 0: Intake

1. Product name + URL — What are we advertising?
2. Product category — How would a buyer search for this? (e.g., "sales automation", "AI writing tool")
3. ICP — Target buyer role, company stage, pain points
4. Competitor domains — 3-5 competitors
5. Monthly PPC budget — Affects aggressiveness of recommendations
6. Existing keywords? — Currently bidding on anything?
7. Known converting keywords? — Any existing performance data

Phase 1: Keyword Universe Building

1A: Competitor SEO Keyword Mining

For each competitor, research their organic keyword rankings:

# If seo-domain-analyzer available:
python3 skills/seo-domain-analyzer/scripts/analyze_domain.py \
  --domain <competitor_domain> \
  --output json

Also web search:

Search: site:<competitor_domain> [product category keywords]
Search: <competitor> SEO keywords ranking
Search: <competitor> top pages organic traffic

Extract keywords with buying intent — skip informational-only terms.

1B: Review & Community Language Mining

The exact language buyers use matters more than what marketers think they search:

Reviews:

python3 skills/review-scraper/scripts/scrape_reviews.py \
  --product "<your product>" \
  --product "<competitor>" \
  --platforms g2,capterra \
  --output json

Extract phrases like:

• "I was looking for a [term] that could..."
• "We switched from [X] because we needed..."
• "Best [term] for [use case]"

Reddit:

python3 skills/reddit-scraper/scripts/scrape_reddit.py \
  --query "best <category> tool OR software OR platform" \
  --sort relevance \
  --time year \
  --limit 30

Hacker News:

python3 skills/hacker-news-scraper/scripts/scrape_hn.py \
  --query "<product category>" \
  --type story \
  --limit 20

1C: Your Site Content Audit

python3 skills/site-content-catalog/scripts/catalog_site.py \
  --url <your_website> \
  --output json

Identify:

• Pages that could serve as landing pages
• Keywords your content already ranks for (leverage in ads)
• Gaps — search terms you're not covering

1D: Search Suggest & Related Terms

Search: "[category] tool" → note Google autocomplete suggestions
Search: "[category] software for [ICP role]"
Search: "[pain point] solution"
Search: "how to [problem your product solves]"

Phase 2: Keyword Architecture

2A: Funnel Stage Mapping

Organize all keywords by buyer journey stage:

Stage	Intent Signal	Example Keywords	Bid Priority
Problem-aware	Searching for solutions to a pain	"how to scale outbound without hiring SDRs"	Medium — educational intent
Solution-aware	Searching for a category	"AI SDR tool", "outbound automation platform"	High — comparing options
Product-aware	Searching for specific products	"[competitor] alternative", "[competitor] vs"	Very high — close to purchase
Most-aware	Searching for your brand	"[your brand]", "[your brand] pricing"	Must-have — defend brand

2B: Intent Classification

Intent Type	Ad Group Strategy	Landing Page Strategy
Transactional ("buy", "pricing", "free trial")	Aggressive bid, exact match	Direct product/pricing page
Commercial ("best", "top", "vs", "alternative")	Strong bid, exact + phrase	Comparison or feature page
Informational ("how to", "what is", "guide")	Low bid or skip — save for SEO	Blog/resource (if targeting)
Navigational (brand searches)	Must-bid, exact match	Homepage or brand LP

2C: Competitive Density Assessment

For top 30 keywords, estimate competition level:

Density	Signal	Strategy
Low	Few ads showing, no big brands	Bid aggressively — first mover advantage
Medium	Some competitors, not saturated	Bid strategically — differentiate with copy
High	Major players dominating	Bid selectively — long-tail variants, exact match only
Very high	Big ad budgets, position 1-4 locked	Avoid head-on — focus on long-tail or competitor terms

2D: Match Type Matrix

Keyword	Exact [keyword]	Phrase "keyword"	Broad keyword	Recommendation
[keyword 1]	✓	✓	✗	Start exact, expand to phrase after data
[keyword 2]	✓	✗	✗	Exact only — too broad in phrase
[keyword 3]	✓	✓	✓	All match types — high-volume, need coverage

Phase 3: Negative Keyword Architecture

Category Negatives

[Industry]-specific terms that share words with your keywords but wrong intent

Intent Negatives

jobs, careers, hiring, salary, internship
free, open source, download (if not applicable)
tutorial, course, certification, how to become
login, support, help, documentation
review, reddit, quora, forum (if not desired)

Competitor Brand Negatives (Optional)

If not running competitor campaigns, negative-match competitor brand names to prevent waste.

Phase 4: Output Format

# Keyword Architecture — [Product Name] — [DATE]

## Research Summary
- Sources analyzed: [competitor SEO, reviews, Reddit, HN, site audit]
- Total keywords discovered: [N]
- After dedup + filtering: [N]
- Recommended for campaign: [N]

---

## Keyword Universe by Funnel Stage

### Most-Aware (Brand Defense)
| Keyword | Match Type | Est. Volume | Competition | Priority |
|---------|-----------|------------|-------------|----------|
| [keyword] | Exact | [H/M/L] | Low | Must-have |

### Product-Aware (Competitor Capture)
| Keyword | Match Type | Est. Volume | Competition | Priority |
...

### Solution-Aware (Category)
...

### Problem-Aware (Top of Funnel)
...

---

## Recommended Ad Group Structure

| Ad Group | Theme | Keywords | Match Types | Landing Page |
|----------|-------|----------|------------|-------------|
| [Name] | [Theme] | [N] keywords | [Exact + Phrase] | [URL] |

---

## Negative Keyword Lists

### Campaign-Level Negatives
[List]

### Ad Group-Level Negatives
[Per ad group]

---

## Competitive Density Map

| Keyword Theme | Your Position | Top Competitors Bidding | Density | Recommendation |
|--------------|--------------|------------------------|---------|---------------|
| [Theme] | [Not bidding / Bidding] | [Names] | [H/M/L] | [Bid / Skip / Long-tail] |

---

## Quick Wins (Start Here)

Top 10 keywords to launch with — highest intent, manageable competition:

| # | Keyword | Match Type | Intent | Competition | Why |
|---|---------|-----------|--------|-------------|-----|
| 1 | [keyword] | Exact | Transactional | Medium | [Reason] |
...

---

## Budget Allocation Recommendation

| Funnel Stage | % of Budget | Reasoning |
|-------------|------------|-----------|
| Brand defense | [X%] | Protect brand searches |
| Competitor capture | [X%] | High-intent, ready to switch |
| Solution-aware | [X%] | Category buyers — highest volume |
| Problem-aware | [X%] | Only if budget allows |

Save to clients/<client-name>/ads/keyword-architecture-[YYYY-MM-DD].md.

Cost

Component	Cost
SEO domain analyzer (per competitor)	~$0.10-0.30 (Apify)
Review scraper	~$0.10-0.30 (Apify)
Reddit scraper	~$0.05-0.10 (Apify)
HN scraper	Free
Site content catalog	Free-$0.10
Analysis	Free (LLM reasoning)
Total for 3 competitors	~$0.50-1.50

Tools Required

• Apify API token — APIFY_API_TOKEN env var
• Upstream skills: seo-domain-analyzer, review-scraper, reddit-scraper, hacker-news-scraper, site-content-catalog
• web_search — for keyword discovery

Trigger Phrases

• "Do keyword research for Google Ads"
• "What keywords should we bid on?"
• "Build a keyword architecture for [product]"
• "Find high-intent search keywords"
• "Audit our PPC keyword strategy"