One of our clients spent about IDR 4 million over two weeks on a Google Ads campaign and got three leads out of it. When we looked into it, the problem wasn’t the ad copy or the landing page. It was the keywords chosen at the start, too broad, too competitive, and not really matching what his potential customers were typing into Google.
Keyword research is the foundation. Get it wrong and no amount of polish on your ad copy or landing page will fix the underlying cost problem. Here’s the process we run through every time we set up a new Google Ads campaign for a client.
Step 1: Build a seed keyword list from the customer’s point of view
Don’t start with your product name or internal jargon. Start with the phrases someone might type when they have the problem your product solves. If you run an AC servicing business in Denpasar, your customer isn’t searching “HVAC maintenance provider”, they’re searching “AC repair Denpasar” or “why is my AC not cooling”.
Write down 10-15 of these phrases as your starting point.
Step 2: Expand and validate with Google Keyword Planner
Feed your seed keywords into Google Keyword Planner (free with any Google Ads account). It gives you three things that matter: monthly search volume, competition level, and an estimated cost per click.
Prioritize keywords with consistent, ongoing search volume and a competition level your budget can actually sustain. High-volume, high-competition keywords usually make more sense for established businesses with bigger budgets, not for a first campaign.
Step 3: Check what your competitors are targeting
Search for your top 3-5 direct competitors and see which queries their ads show up for. Third-party tools can also give you an estimate of the keywords they’re bidding on. The point isn’t to copy them, it’s to spot gaps, relevant terms they haven’t covered yet.
Step 4: Group keywords by intent, not just topic
This is the step people skip most often. “How to clean an AC unit” and “AC repair near me” are both about air conditioning, but the intent behind them is completely different. One is still researching, the other is ready to call someone. If you send both to the same ad and the same landing page, one side of that pair is going to waste your budget.
Sort your keywords into two broad buckets: informational (not ready to buy yet) and transactional (ready to act). If your goal is fast conversions, prioritize the transactional bucket first.
Step 5: Structure your ad groups around keyword clusters
Once your keywords are grouped, don’t dump them all into one giant ad group. Build separate ad groups for each cluster of closely related keywords, then write ad copy that speaks directly to that cluster. Google’s Quality Score, which affects how much you pay per click, rewards this kind of tight, relevant structure more than almost anything else.
Common mistakes that burn through budget
- Targeting overly broad match types without negative keywords
- Not separating your own brand terms from competitor brand terms
- Skipping negative keywords entirely, so ads show up for irrelevant searches
- Never reviewing the search terms report to catch new keywords that are actually converting
When it’s worth handing this off
Proper keyword research isn’t a one-time task, it needs ongoing review as search terms data comes in. If this process is eating into time you’d rather spend running your business, or your ad spend is live but the results still aren’t there, it might be time to bring in a team that handles this daily. If you’re still weighing which channel fits your stage of growth, our piece on local SEO for Bali businesses covers the organic side of the same search-intent question.
Conclusion
Solid keyword research is what separates a campaign that burns budget from one that actually delivers leads. If you’d like the Sentris team to map out the right keywords for your business, reach out for a free consultation.
