Generic keywords are broad, non-branded search terms that describe a product's general function, category, or purpose. People use these terms when they don't have a specific brand in mind and are instead searching based on a need or interest. For example, a user might search for 'photo editing app' or 'fitness tracker' rather than a specific company's product.
Generic keywords are vital for reaching new audiences who aren't familiar with your brand. They boost your visibility in search results by targeting users looking for a general solution, not a specific product. This strategy helps capture a wider segment of the market and drives significant long-tail traffic to your site.
Effectively using generic keywords involves a multi-pronged approach to capture users at the top of the funnel. The goal is to increase visibility and attract new customers who are searching for solutions rather than specific brands. A solid strategy combines competitor research with careful keyword placement.
While often used interchangeably, generic and broad keywords serve distinct functions in a search strategy.
While generic keywords are powerful for reaching new audiences, they come with common pitfalls that can undermine your strategy. Misusing them can lead to wasted effort and poor visibility. Avoiding these frequent mistakes is key to a successful campaign.
Evaluating generic keywords shows their significant role in expanding audience reach despite lower conversion rates.
How do generic keywords impact my ad spend?
They can be expensive in paid search due to high competition. The real value often comes from organic SEO, where they drive top-of-funnel traffic and build brand awareness over time without a direct per-click cost, making them a long-term investment.
Are generic keywords too competitive for smaller brands?
Not necessarily. Instead of targeting broad, high-volume terms, focus on long-tail generic keywords. These more specific phrases have less competition and can attract highly relevant users who are closer to making a decision, leveling the playing field.
How can I measure the ROI of generic keywords?
Look beyond direct conversions. Track metrics like organic traffic growth, new user acquisition, and brand visibility. Generic keywords fill the top of your funnel, so their impact is often seen in assisted conversions and long-term brand recall.
Product-Led Growth (PLG) is a business strategy where the product itself drives user acquisition, conversion, and expansion.
Learn about big data, including understanding big data characteristics, benefits of leveraging big data, & challenges in managing big data.
Learn about B2B marketing attribution, including challenges in B2B marketing attribution, & key metrics for effective attribution.
Lead scoring models rank prospects by assigning points for their behaviors and demographics, helping sales teams prioritize their outreach.
The Dark Funnel describes customer buying activities that are untrackable by companies, such as private chats and word-of-mouth referrals.
Sales automation uses software to streamline and automate repetitive, manual sales tasks, freeing up reps to focus on selling.
Sales enablement technology refers to software and tools that equip sales teams with the resources they need to close more deals efficiently.
End of Day (EOD) refers to the close of business hours. It's a common deadline for tasks and reports to be completed before the workday ends.
User-generated content (UGC) refers to any form of content, like images, videos, or text, created and shared by users on online platforms.
Customer relationship marketing is a strategy for building lasting connections with customers to foster long-term loyalty and engagement.
GPCTBA/C&I is a sales qualification framework for understanding a prospect's goals, plans, challenges, timeline, budget, and authority.
Objection handling in sales is the process of responding to a prospect's concerns about a product or service to move the deal forward.
Psychographics categorizes people by their attitudes, interests, and lifestyles, revealing the 'why' behind their purchasing decisions.
Lead qualification is the process of determining which prospects are most likely to become paying customers based on predefined criteria.
A commission is a service charge paid to an agent for a transaction. It's typically a percentage of the sale, rewarding performance directly.
Intent leads are prospects who show buying signals through their online actions, indicating they're actively looking to make a purchase.
No Cold Calls is a sales strategy that replaces unsolicited calls with warm outreach to prospects who have already demonstrated interest.
Retargeting marketing is a digital advertising strategy that targets users who have previously interacted with your website or brand online.
Single Sign-On (SSO) is an authentication method allowing users to access multiple applications with one set of login credentials.
Account management is the post-sales practice of building and nurturing long-term relationships with a company's most valuable clients.
Workflow automation uses rule-based logic to run a sequence of tasks that would otherwise require manual human effort to complete.
Account-Based Marketing (ABM) software helps teams coordinate personalized marketing and sales efforts to land high-value customer accounts.
A Target Account List (TAL) is a focused list of high-value companies that a business specifically aims to convert into customers.
The FAB technique is a sales framework connecting product features to advantages and then to the specific benefits for the customer.
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search results.
Regression testing ensures that new code changes don’t negatively impact existing features. It's a key step to maintain software quality after updates.
Learn about business development representative, including skills and qualifications for BDRs, & roles and responsibilities of a BDR.
Process Builder is a Salesforce automation tool that lets you create 'if/then' business processes with a user-friendly visual interface.
Marketing Operations (MOps) is the engine of a marketing team, managing the technology, processes, and people to run campaigns effectively.
Stress testing is a type of software testing that determines a system's robustness by pushing it beyond its normal operational capacity.
A Marketing Qualified Opportunity (MQO) is a lead vetted by marketing as a genuine sales opportunity, ready for direct sales follow-up.
“No Spam” is a commitment to sending only relevant, solicited messages. It means avoiding bulk, unwanted emails to respect the recipient's inbox.
Objection handling is the process of responding to a prospect's concerns or hesitations about a product or service to move a deal forward.
Sales objections are reasons or concerns raised by a potential customer as to why they are hesitant or unwilling to make a purchase.
AI data enrichment uses artificial intelligence to automatically enhance and update raw data, making it more complete, accurate, and valuable.
Chatbots are AI-powered programs that simulate human conversation. They interact with users via text or voice, typically for customer support.
Account-Based Sales (ABS) is a focused B2B strategy where sales and marketing teams treat high-value accounts as individual markets of one.
The marketing mix is the set of marketing tools a company uses to sell products, defined by the 4Ps: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.
An Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) is a detailed description of the perfect, hypothetical company that would get the most value from your product.
Webhooks are automated messages sent by an app when a specific event occurs. They push real-time data to another app's unique URL.
An Operational CRM is a system that automates and improves customer-facing business processes like sales, marketing, and customer service.
Learn about B2B sales, including key strategies for B2B success, types of B2B sales models, & B2B vs. B2C sales: understanding the differences.
Revenue forecasting is the process of estimating a company's future revenue, using historical data and market trends to guide strategic planning.
A canary release is a deployment strategy where new software is rolled out to a small user group first, minimizing risk before a full release.
Learn about bottom of the funnel, including maximizing conversions at the funnel's end, & strategies for nurturing bottom-funnel leads.
A consumer is an individual or entity that buys products or services for personal use, not for resale. They are the final user in a supply chain.
Data appending is the process of adding new data fields to your existing database records to enrich and complete your information.
A Letter of Intent (LOI) is a document declaring the preliminary commitment of one party to do business with another, outlining the chief terms.
Customer retention refers to the strategies and activities a company uses to prevent customer churn and encourage them to continue buying.
Pipeline coverage is a key sales metric. It's the ratio of your total open pipeline value to your sales quota for a specific period.
Personalization in sales means tailoring outreach to a prospect's specific needs, interests, and context to make communication more relevant.
X-Sell, or cross-selling, is a sales strategy of selling additional, related products or services to an existing customer base.
A Sales Development Representative (SDR) is a sales specialist who finds and qualifies new leads, building a pipeline for the sales team.
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is the total cost a business spends to gain a new customer. It includes all sales and marketing expenses.
A buying signal is any action from a prospect that indicates they are interested in making a purchase, helping sales teams prioritize leads.
Contact data is the set of details, like names, emails, and phone numbers, used to get in touch with a person or business for outreach.
Cold calling is a sales tactic where reps contact potential customers by phone who haven't previously expressed interest in their product or service.
Warm outbound is a sales strategy for contacting prospects who've shown interest in your brand through prior engagement, like website visits.
The awareness stage is the first step in the buyer's journey, where a potential customer realizes they have a problem or an opportunity to explore.
Employee engagement is the emotional commitment an employee has to their organization, motivating them to contribute to the company's success.
CRM enrichment is the process of adding third-party data to your existing customer profiles to make them more complete and accurate.
A sales intelligence platform is software that provides sales teams with data and insights about prospects to help them sell more effectively.
A Point of Contact (POC) is the designated individual or department that serves as the main hub for information and communication on a matter.
Cohort analysis is a behavioral analytics tool that groups users with common traits to track their actions and engagement over time.
Programmatic display campaigns use automation to buy and sell digital ad space in real-time, targeting specific audiences across the web.
A sales coach is a mentor who trains and guides sales reps to enhance their skills, boost performance, and ultimately close more deals effectively.
Closed Lost is a sales term for a deal that didn't go through. The prospect decided not to buy, or the sales team disqualified them.
Closed opportunities are potential deals that have concluded. They are categorized as either 'closed-won' (a sale was made) or 'closed-lost'.
An account is a company or organization that you're targeting for sales. It can be a prospective, current, or even a past customer.
Demand is the economic principle describing a consumer's desire and willingness to purchase a specific good or service at a particular price.
Channel partners are third-party firms that help market and sell a company's products or services, acting as an indirect sales force.
A lead generation funnel is a systematic process that guides potential customers from initial awareness of your brand to becoming qualified leads.
Learn about buyer intent data, including sourcing and interpreting buyer intent data, & key metrics in buyer intent analysis.
Sales workflows are a set of automated actions that streamline the sales process, helping teams engage leads consistently and close deals faster.
Net new business is revenue from customers who have never purchased from your company before. It’s a crucial indicator of sustainable growth.
Customer buying signals are the actions, behaviors, or statements a prospect makes that indicate they are moving towards a purchase decision.
Lead scraping is the process of automatically extracting contact information and other relevant data about potential customers from online sources.
A sales pipeline is a visual representation of where prospects are in the sales process, from the first contact to the final sale.
Accounts Payable (AP) is the money a company owes its suppliers for goods or services bought on credit. It's listed as a current liability.
Learn about B2B intent data, including how B2B intent data enhances sales strategies, sources of B2B intent data, leveraging B2B intent data for competitiveness.
Revenue intelligence is the process of collecting and analyzing customer data to provide insights that help sales teams make smarter decisions.
Warm outreach is contacting prospects with whom you have a pre-existing connection, like a mutual contact, making your message more personal and effective.
Closed Won is a CRM status for a sales deal that has been successfully concluded, resulting in a signed contract and a new customer.
Persona-based marketing uses fictional customer profiles, or personas, to create targeted messaging for specific audience segments.
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) is a web security vulnerability that allows attackers to inject malicious scripts into trusted websites.
Average Revenue per User (ARPU) is a key performance indicator that calculates the average revenue generated from each user or subscriber.
Direct sales involves selling products directly to consumers in a non-retail setting, such as at home, online, or person-to-person.
Sales and marketing analytics involves measuring and analyzing performance data to maximize effectiveness and optimize return on investment (ROI).
A Representational State Transfer (REST) API is a web service that uses a simple, stateless architecture for systems to communicate online.
Data security protects digital information from unauthorized access, corruption, or theft throughout its entire lifecycle.
Microservices is an architecture where apps are built as a collection of small, independent services that communicate with each other over APIs.
Docker is a tool that packages applications and their dependencies into isolated environments called containers for easy deployment and scaling.
Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) is the predictable income a company expects to receive from its customers over a one-year period.
A Customer Data Platform (CDP) centralizes customer data from all sources to create a complete, unified profile for each individual customer.
Consumer Relationship Management (CRM) is a strategy for managing all of a company's relationships and interactions with its customers.
Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM) is the portion of the market your business can realistically serve with its current products and sales channels.
Sales intelligence is technology that gathers and analyzes data to help salespeople find and understand prospects and existing clients.
A Salesforce Administrator is a certified professional who manages and customizes the Salesforce platform to meet a company's specific business needs.
Learn about behavioral analytics, including implementing behavioral analytics successfully, & key metrics in behavioral analytics.
Scrum is an agile framework that helps teams structure and manage their work through a set of values, principles, and practices.