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Playbooks

Ppc research

A complete PPC research process - keyword discovery, competitor mapping, ad-copy intelligence, landing-page audit, and bidding context - built to be the first 4-6 hours you spend on any new PPC market or campaign.

Updated

Before you start

  • A defined market or campaign you're researching (new launch, new geo, new category, or first PPC effort)
  • Access to Google Keyword Planner (free, requires a Google Ads account)
  • One paid research tool: SpyFu, SEMrush, or Ahrefs (free trials available)
  • 4-6 hours of focused time for the full research cycle
  • A document to capture findings progressively

The playbook

8 steps

0/8

  1. Define the research question and the decision it informs

    PPC research without a target decision sprawls. Before opening any tool, write the question and the decision: 'Should we launch PPC for product X in geo Y? Decision: green-light/no-go and budget allocation if green-light.' Every subsequent research step references this. The discipline of question-first prevents the 8-hour rabbit holes that produce no actionable output.

    Expected outcome

    A scoped research question tied to a specific decision, written at the top of your research document.

  2. Run the keyword discovery sweep

    Open Google Keyword Planner. Input 5-10 seed terms describing your category. Export the discovered keywords with search volume, competition, and CPC range. Then run the same seeds through SpyFu / SEMrush for competitor-suggested keywords (keywords competitors bid on that Keyword Planner misses). Combine into one list; deduplicate. This is your research universe - 200-2,000 keywords typically.

    # Keyword discovery workflow:
# 1. Keyword Planner: seed terms → 200-500 keywords with Google's data
# 2. SpyFu/SEMrush: same seeds → 100-300 additional competitor keywords
# 3. Combine, dedupe, classify by intent (commercial/informational/navigational)
# Output: research universe of ~300-1,500 keywords

    Expected outcome

    A deduplicated keyword universe of 300-1,500 terms with intent classification.

  3. Identify the priority keyword set

    Filter the universe to the priority set - typically 30-50 keywords that drive the decision. Filter criteria: commercial intent (skip pure informational unless you have a content-PPC bridge), search volume >100/mo, CPC within your target unit economics. The priority set is what you'll deep-research; the rest becomes context.

    Expected outcome

    A priority keyword set of 30-50 commercially-intent terms within your CPC tolerance.

  4. Map the competitive landscape on the priority set

    For your 30-50 priority keywords, identify who currently bids. Three sources: SpyFu's competitor lookup, SEMrush's PPC competitor report, and Google Ads Transparency Center for display/YouTube creative. Build a competitor matrix: domain, keywords overlap count, estimated spend, ad-format mix (search only / search+display / full-funnel). Aim for 5-15 named competitors with clear roles.

    TipSort competitors by keyword-overlap percentage with your priority set. Top 5 by overlap are your primary research targets; the rest are context. Avoid the trap of researching every competitor equally.

    Expected outcome

    A competitor matrix with 5-15 named competitors, sorted by keyword overlap with your priority set.

  5. Audit top competitors' ad copy and landing pages

    For your top 5 competitors by overlap, pull ad-copy archives (SpyFu/SEMrush) and click through to landing pages. Capture for each: dominant ad-copy archetype, top 3 landing pages, hero offers, social proof patterns, CTA strength. This is the qualitative layer of PPC research - the layer that tells you what 'winning' looks like in this market.

    Expected outcome

    A qualitative audit per top-5 competitor: archetypes, landing pages, offers, CTAs.

  6. Estimate the bid landscape and unit economics

    Combine Keyword Planner's CPC range with SpyFu/SEMrush's estimated competitor CPC. Calculate the price of entry per priority keyword: top-of-page bid × estimated CTR × estimated CVR = CPA estimate. If CPA exceeds your LTV / target payback, the keyword is uneconomic regardless of how attractive the search volume looks. This step kills many would-be-PPC campaigns at the research stage - which is exactly when killing them is cheapest.

    Expected outcome

    A unit-economics view per priority keyword: top-of-page CPC × CTR × CVR → estimated CPA, evaluated against LTV.

  7. Synthesize into a green-light / no-go recommendation

    The output of PPC research is a recommendation, not a report. Format: market opportunity (size, attractiveness), competitive intensity (who's there, how entrenched), entry economics (estimated CPA vs LTV), recommended initial test (keyword set, budget, success criteria), risks. Two-page brief maximum. The brief drives the decision; the supporting analysis lives in appendices nobody reads but everybody needs to be able to find.

    Expected outcome

    A 2-page green-light / no-go brief with a specific initial test recommendation and success criteria.

  8. Set the post-launch research cadence

    If green-lit, switch from one-time research to maintenance cadence: weekly Auction Insights review, monthly competitive audit, quarterly full research refresh. PPC research isn't a project that ends at launch - it's the ongoing input to bidding decisions. Bake the cadence into the team's calendar at launch time so it doesn't get forgotten in execution chaos.

    Expected outcome

    A defined post-launch research cadence (weekly / monthly / quarterly) calendared at launch time.

Shuttergen

Research finds the market. Shuttergen wins it.

Once PPC research green-lights the market and identifies the winning competitor archetypes, Shuttergen generates the creative variants tuned to those patterns - so the research-to-live-ads cycle compresses to a single sprint.

Generate competitive creative freeAnatomy of a winning audit →

Pitfalls

What goes wrong

  • Researching without a target decision

    PPC research without a decision target sprawls indefinitely. The question 'is PPC viable in this market' is too vague; 'should we allocate $X to PPC for product Y in Q3' is actionable.

  • Treating keyword volume as the primary signal

    High volume + bad unit economics = wasted spend. Unit economics (CPA vs LTV) is the load-bearing decision criterion; volume is context.

  • Skipping the qualitative competitor audit

    Quantitative research (volumes, CPCs, competitors) tells you the market is viable. Qualitative research (archetypes, landing pages, offers) tells you how to win in it. Skipping qualitative produces 'we should enter' recommendations without 'how we should enter' direction.

  • Producing a research deck instead of a 2-page brief

    Long decks impress; short briefs decide. Two pages with the recommendation, the supporting evidence, and the test plan is more useful than 30 pages of analysis.

Limits

When this playbook won't work

  • Decision timeline is hours - PPC research is 4-6 hours minimum to do well
  • Decision-makers won't accept directional estimates - PPC research outputs ranges, not precise predictions
  • Category is too new for keyword data to exist - PPC research depends on baseline search behavior to analyze
  • The decision has already been made - PPC research after the decision is justification, not analysis

Why PPC research deserves its own discipline

PPC research sits between PPC strategy and PPC execution. Strategy answers 'should we be in PPC at all'. Execution answers 'how do we run today's campaigns'. PPC research answers 'what does the market look like and how should we approach it'. The middle layer is often skipped and produces predictable failures.

Research is cheap; bad PPC is expensive. A 4-6 hour research cycle costs a few hundred dollars in opportunity cost. A poorly-targeted PPC campaign burns $5,000-50,000+ before the team realizes the market wasn't right. The math always favors more research, less execution-before-research.

The discipline of question-first research is the meta-skill. The same analyst given a vague brief sprawls; given a tight question, focuses. The team that systematically writes questions before opening tools produces 10x more actionable PPC research than the team that doesn't.

Internal: ppc-competitor-analysis, ppc-analysis-tools, competitor-ppc-analysis.

Research finds the market. Shuttergen wins it. Once PPC research green-lights the market and identifies the winning competitor archetypes, Shuttergen generates the creative variants tuned to those patterns - so the research-to-live-ads cycle compresses to a single sprint.

Generate competitive creative free

PPC research across different contexts

New product launch: focus heavy on the qualitative competitor audit. You're entering an existing market; the question is 'how do we differentiate'. Spend 60% of research time on competitor ad copy and landing pages.

New geo expansion: focus heavy on the bid landscape. The competitive set is different per geo, CPC dynamics shift, and unit economics may not translate. Spend 60% of research time on bid estimates and unit-economics modeling.

Category expansion (existing brand, new category): focus heavy on keyword discovery and intent classification. You may know the playbook; you don't yet know the keyword universe. Spend 60% of research time mapping the keyword landscape.

First-time PPC for an established brand: balanced across all steps. You're missing baseline knowledge at every layer, so the full research cycle earns its weight uniformly.

FAQ

Frequently asked

What is PPC research?
The end-to-end process of understanding a paid market before committing budget - keyword discovery, competitor mapping, ad-copy intelligence, landing-page audit, bidding context, and a green-light / no-go recommendation. Sits between PPC strategy and PPC execution.
How long does PPC research take?
4-6 hours for the full cycle, done well. Faster than that and you're skipping steps; slower and you're sprawling. Maintenance research after launch is 30-90 minutes per week.
What's the difference between PPC research and PPC keyword research?
PPC keyword research is one step inside PPC research (the keyword discovery sweep). PPC research is the full cycle: keywords + competitors + ad copy + landing pages + bidding + recommendation. Keyword research alone doesn't drive a launch decision.
What tools do I need for PPC research?
Google Keyword Planner (free) plus one paid tool - SpyFu for budget + PPC depth, SEMrush for balanced PPC + SEO, Ahrefs for SEO-primary teams. Google Ads Auction Insights becomes relevant post-launch. Free trials of all three paid tools cover a one-time research cycle if you can't justify ongoing subscription.
Is PPC research worth doing for small campaigns?
Yes - the small-campaign cost of bad research is still meaningful. Scaled-down version: 90-minute research cycle on the priority keyword set only. Better than no research; matches the budget at risk.
How is PPC research different from PPC competitor analysis?
PPC competitor analysis is one component of PPC research (the competitive landscape step). PPC research is broader - it includes keyword discovery, bid landscape, unit-economics modeling, and the launch recommendation. Competitor analysis is the deepest layer; PPC research is the full picture.
Should PPC research be done in-house or outsourced?
In-house if you'll be running the campaigns - the research builds the operating knowledge the team needs. Outsourced one-time research from an agency works for go/no-go decisions but produces lower team learning than running it internally.

Related

Keep reading

Resource

Ppc competitor analysis

The competitive layer of PPC research.

Resource

Ppc analysis tools

Tools that power the research.

Resource

Competitor ppc analysis

Analyst's investigation framing.

Resource

Ppc keywords

PPC keyword research deep-dive.

Research

Anatomy Of Good Meta Ad Library

Adjacent paid-social audit framework.

Research finds the market. Shuttergen wins it.

Once PPC research green-lights the market and identifies the winning competitor archetypes, Shuttergen generates the creative variants tuned to those patterns - so the research-to-live-ads cycle compresses to a single sprint.

Generate competitive creative freeAnatomy of a winning audit →