Choosing the right keywords for Google Ads can be a daunting task. Selecting the wrong keywords can quickly drain your advertising budget without yielding results. That’s why keyword research is a crucial first step in launching any Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaign on search engines.
Google Ads, a leading PPC platform, offers a built-in feature for keyword research called Google Keyword Planner. This tool is available for free and provides valuable insights to help you optimize your ad campaigns. Want to learn how to effectively use Google Keyword Planner? Let’s dive into this comprehensive guide.
What is Google Keyword Planner?
Google Keyword Planner is a free tool integrated within Google Ads, designed for in-depth keyword research. It’s beneficial for both paid search campaigns (PPC) and organic search optimization (SEO). To access this powerful tool, you’ll need a Google Ads account.
One of the significant advantages of Google Keyword Planner, besides being free, is its reliance on Google’s own extensive data. This ensures you’re getting insights directly from the source of search trends and user behavior.
Benefits of Using Google Keyword Planner
Google Keyword Planner offers a multitude of benefits for anyone looking to improve their online advertising and SEO strategies:
- Free to Use: Access and utilize Google Keyword Planner completely free of charge, without any subscription fees.
- Keyword Ideas: Generate new keyword suggestions relevant to your business, products, or marketing objectives.
- Monthly Search Volume: Discover the average monthly search volume for your chosen keywords, helping you understand their popularity.
- Cost Estimates: Get estimated costs for running ads targeting specific keywords, allowing for budget planning.
- Keyword Organization: Categorize and group your keywords, streamlining your campaign structure and keyword management.
- Targeted Campaigns: Develop highly targeted campaigns based on robust keyword research, attracting the right audience. It’s important to remember that campaign success also depends on factors like ad quality, product appeal, and understanding your buyer persona.
How Does Google Keyword Planner Work?
To access Keyword Planner, ensure you are using Expert Mode in Google Ads. It’s not accessible in Smart Mode, which is designed for simplified Smart Campaigns.
Make sure your Google Ads account setup is complete, including billing information. You can set up a campaign to explore the tool without actively running it and incurring costs.
Step-by-Step Guide: How to Use Google Keyword Planner
Follow these 7 steps to effectively use Google Keyword Planner for your keyword research:
#1 Access Google Ads
Click ‘Get Started’ to begin. You will be prompted to log in to your Google account. If you already have a Google Ads account, you’ll see a list of your Google Ads accounts. If you’re new to Google Ads, you can create a new account.
#2 Navigate to “Tools” and Select “Keyword Planner”
Once in your Google Ads account, find the “Tools & Settings” menu, usually located in the top right corner. Click on it and then select “Keyword Planner” from the dropdown menu under the “Planning” section.
You’ll be presented with two primary options:
- Discover new keywords: This option helps you find fresh keyword ideas to reach people interested in your business offerings.
- Get search volume and forecasts: This option allows you to check the historical search volume and other metrics for keywords you’re already considering, as well as forecast their future performance.
#3 Using “Discover new keywords”
This is the ideal option when you are looking for new keyword ideas. You can start your keyword discovery in two ways:
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Start with keywords:
If you choose this feature, enter words or phrases that describe your business, products, or services. For example, if you sell car diagnostic tools, you might enter “obd2 scanner”, “car code reader”, or “automotive diagnostic tool”. This option taps into Google’s extensive internal keyword database across various industries.
Tip: You can input multiple keywords here. Simply separate each keyword with a comma and press Enter. For example, for an automotive parts store, you could enter ‘car battery’, ‘brake pads’, ‘engine oil’. Ensure the keywords are directly relevant to your business offerings.
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Start with a website:
Use this feature to extract keyword ideas from a website that offers similar products or services to your business. You can analyze your own website or a competitor’s site.
Within this feature, you have two choices: (1) Use the entire site: Keyword Planner will scan the entire website for keywords, and (2) Use only this page: Keyword Planner will only analyze keywords from the specific URL you provide.
After choosing your method, click ‘Get Results’. Google Keyword Planner will then generate a list of keyword suggestions for your consideration.
#4 Using “Get search volume and forecasts”
This option is most useful when you already have a list of keywords and want to evaluate their search volume and potential performance. It’s not designed for generating new keyword ideas. To use it, copy and paste your keyword list into the search box, or upload a list in .csv format. Then, click ‘Get Started’.
You’ll see a keyword results page similar to the “Discover new keywords” feature. However, here you primarily get data specifically about the keywords you provided, along with Google’s predictions for clicks and impressions for those keywords.
#5 Filter and Sort Keyword Lists
At the top of the keyword results page, you’ll find four targeting options: Locations, Languages, Search networks, and Date range.
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Locations:
Select the geographic areas you are targeting with your marketing efforts. You can target countries, regions, or even specific cities.
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Languages:
Choose the languages relevant to your target keywords and audience.
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Search networks:
This option lets you decide whether to target only Google Search or include Google search partners. Search partners can include other search engines and websites that partner with Google to show ads. For focused campaigns, selecting only ‘Google’ is often recommended.
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Date range:
Select a specific time period for historical data analysis, or leave it at the default setting of 12 months to see longer-term trends.
Further refine your results with filters. Here are some useful filters:
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Keyword filter:
Specify whether the keyword results page should show keywords that contain or do not contain certain words or phrases.
For example, if you only sell wireless OBD2 scanners, you could use the “contains” filter and enter “wireless” to focus on related keywords.
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Competition:
“Competition” indicates the level of competition for ad placement for a keyword, specifically for your chosen locations and search networks. You can filter for keywords with low, medium, or high competition. This is particularly helpful for PPC advertising.
Competition levels—low, medium, or high—are determined by the number of advertisers bidding on a keyword relative to all keywords across Google. If data is insufficient, a hyphen (-) may appear.
Remember, Google Keyword Planner is primarily designed for Google Ads, not SEO. The “Competition” score here refers to Google Ads competition, not the competitiveness of keywords in organic Google search results.
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Exclude keywords in my account:
This filter removes keywords you are already using in your existing Google Ads campaigns, helping you find new opportunities.
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Exclude adult ideas:
This filter removes keywords related to adult content from your search results.
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Avg. monthly searches:
Filter keywords based on their average monthly search volume. It’s useful to filter for both high-volume keywords and potentially low-volume, niche keywords depending on your strategy.
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Ad impression share:
“Ad impression share” is the percentage of impressions your ads received compared to the total number of impressions your ads were eligible to receive. This metric can help identify keyword opportunities for increasing impressions and clicks. This filter is relevant for Google Ads, not SEO.
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Top of page bid:
This filter shows estimated bid ranges to have your ad appear at the top of the page for a keyword. You can filter to target keywords within a specific bid range, useful for budget management.
#6 Analyze Keyword List in “Keyword Ideas”
After filtering, start analyzing the keyword list presented in the “Keyword Ideas” tab. Key metrics to consider include:
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Keyword (by relevance): This is a list of keywords Google deems most relevant to your initial keywords or website URL.
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Avg. monthly searches: The average number of times people search for the keyword and similar terms based on your chosen date range, location, and search network settings.
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Competition: Again, remember this relates to Google Ads competition, not SEO. It reflects the number of advertisers bidding on that keyword. For smaller businesses, targeting medium to low competition keywords can be beneficial for budget management, as they often have lower suggested bids.
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Three month change: Indicates the change in search trend over the last three months, comparing the most recent month’s data to the data from two months prior.
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Top of page bid (Low range & High range): The estimated low and high range of bids that advertisers are paying to have their ads appear at the top of Google search results for that keyword. Higher bids generally indicate more valuable traffic.
#7 Select Relevant Keywords for Your Business
Now that you understand the features and metrics in Keyword Planner, it’s time for the final step: choosing keywords relevant to your business goals.
Using the ‘Discover new keywords’ feature is often the best starting point for finding new keywords in Google Keyword Planner.
Begin by identifying keywords that are neither too broad nor too specific. Aim for keywords that accurately describe your products or services.
For example, if you sell OBD2 scanners, instead of using a broad keyword like ‘car tools’, or a very specific one like ‘professional wireless Bluetooth OBD2 scanner for European cars’, a good starting keyword could be ‘OBD2 scanner’. After entering your initial keywords, click ‘Get Results’ to explore related keyword ideas.
Tips for Maximizing Google Keyword Planner
Enhance your keyword research process with these helpful tips:
#1 Leverage Filters for Budget and Audience Optimization
As discussed earlier, Google Keyword Planner provides various filters. Utilize these filters strategically to refine your keyword lists, target the right audience, and optimize your advertising budget.
While filters are powerful for sorting keyword data, avoid over-filtering initially, which might limit your discovery of valuable keywords. As you become more familiar with keywords in your industry and the available filtering options, you’ll learn which filters best suit your business needs.
#2 Bid on Branded Keywords
Branded keywords are phrases directly related to your brand, products, and services. These keywords can be discovered through social media monitoring and search engine analysis.
Three types of branded keywords include: (1) Brand names: e.g., ‘obd2scanner.store’, (2) Product names: e.g., ‘Autel MaxiCOM MK808’, and (3) Misspellings of brand names: e.g., common typos of your brand name.
Why bid on your own branded keywords? Here’s why it’s a smart strategy:
- Increase Brand Visibility: Enhance your brand’s chances of appearing multiple times on the search engine results page (SERP), dominating search results for your brand.
- Control Your Messaging: Manage the information displayed about your brand in search results, highlighting promotions or specific product features to attract clicks.
- Reduce Competitor Visibility: Minimize the chances of competitors appearing in search results when users search for your brand. Competitors might bid on your brand keywords.
- Cost-Effective: Branded keywords typically have lower costs per click. If your brand is recognized, you can achieve high Click-Through Rates (CTR) and Quality Scores at a relatively low bid price.
- Boost Conversions: Branded keywords often attract users with a higher purchase intent. People searching for your brand are likely already familiar with your products and may be ready to convert.
#3 Extract Keyword Ideas from Competitors
Identify keyword opportunities by analyzing competitor websites using Keyword Planner. Input a competitor’s website URL into the “Start with a website” option to see the keywords they may be targeting.
#4 Refine Location Targeting
Google Keyword Planner’s location filter allows you to narrow down your targeting from country level to city level. This is especially valuable for PPC campaigns targeting local audiences, such as automotive repair shops targeting customers in their city.
#5 Utilize Negative Keywords
Negative keywords prevent your ads from showing for specific search terms that are not relevant to your business. Your ads won’t be displayed to anyone searching for those phrases.
This is crucial for eliminating irrelevant keywords that could waste your ad spend. For example, if you sell automotive OBD2 scanners for professionals, and you use the keyword ‘OBD2 scanner’, you might find keywords like ‘cheap OBD2 scanner’ or ‘DIY OBD2 scanner’ which might not align with your target audience. Adding these as negative keywords ensures your ads are shown to a more relevant audience.
That concludes our guide on how to use Google Keyword Planner. Now you’re equipped to confidently research keywords for your Google Ads campaigns.
Remember to utilize filters, leverage branded keywords, eliminate irrelevant terms with negative keywords, and explore competitor keyword strategies. The more you explore keywords in Google Keyword Planner, the more adept you’ll become at finding the right keywords to drive success for your business!
