Starting a new campaign build can often be a daunting task with uncertainty about just where to start. To help give you some ideas this blog post will share one of the ways I approach building a new campaign from scratch.

One of my favourite ways to start building a campaign mud map is through the use of the ‘Search Onion’. Not only does it help me illustrate my thoughts, it’s also a great tool for explaining to clients how we go about structuring campaigns and distributing budgets between keyword groups. I find it is most useful in identifying priorities when budgets are particularly stretched.

The ‘Onion’ is not dissimilar to the commonly referenced ‘Search Funnel’. Whilst this is also an excellent way to illustrate keyword importance, I find the ‘Search Onion’ useful in helping clients visualise their search accounts and for initial organisation. It’s also a nice way to illustrate the importance of good structure by dropping in the analogy that if you don’t cut your keywords correctly they can make you cry.

The ‘Search Onion’ works on the premise of 3 primary layers of keyword groupings starting at the core and working out in order of importance.
(more…)