Making Money from Most Expensive Keywords

Since I am really interested in Search Engine Optimization, Analytics, and have recently tried Google Adwords on this site, I wanted to dedicate a post to these high CPC Keywords lists that are all over the internet. I’m not going to lie, when I first saw a list of most expensive Google keywords a few years ago, I got excited at the idea of monetizing that content. I expected high competition for these keywords but having a good understanding of SEO, I still thought that I could compete and make some money using these lists. Ofcourse, I was wrong, simply because a list of high CPC keywords in Adwords does not translate to money made from impressions and clicks on a web page.

These lists are pretty useless and I wonder if there is any reason they exist, apart from promoting this misunderstanding. For example, now there are many 2014 Highest CPC Keyword Lists and ofcourse the keywords don’t change much from year to year. These lists do give insight into how Google makes money and how much you would pay in general if you wanted to advertise for these keywords. But, this is pretty much all that you can learn and there is not much other value in these lists. Here’s why the price you pay in Adwords does not translate to the amount you get from a click on your blog or website:

First of all, ads cost less for content, as in your web page, as opposed to the ads that appear on Google search. So, Google not only takes a cut from each click but they also make direct money from these ads on their search engine and the conversion rate there is much higher. Secondly, Adsense doesn’t necessarily correlate ads to the content on your page or markup, you often see ads based on your online behavior or recommended ads according to Google Ad preferences. Finally, the CPC or cost per click is totally different depending on the geographical location of the users clicking the ads. Someone clicking your ad in USA will give you more money than someone in India that clicks on the same ad.

And yes, the competition for placement in SERPs (ranking high in search engines result pages) for these keywords is still really high. So, if you want to make money with Google Adwords, analyzing these lists is probably a waste of time. What do you think?