Keyword research is a fundamental aspect of digital marketing for promoting products or services. It’s all about understanding what your target audience is searching for.
Google offers a free tool called Google Keyword Planner to assist you in finding the right keywords for your content and advertising campaigns. In this guide, we’ll walk you through a step-by-step process on how to use Google Keyword Planner.
Understanding Google Keyword Planner
Google Keyword Planner is a powerful tool designed to help you build a robust keyword list for your business content and advertising efforts. By leveraging this tool, you can significantly enhance your website’s SEO by targeting the most relevant and effective keywords.
This free tool, provided by Google Ads, offers numerous advantages over other keyword research tools. It provides features like keyword discovery, search volume analysis, and competitor keyword monitoring.
To access Google Keyword Planner, you’ll first need a Google Ads account. The good news is you can use the tool without actually running any paid ad campaigns. Let’s delve into the functionalities and how to effectively use Google Keyword Planner.
Functionalities of Google Keyword Planner
Beyond keyword research, Google Keyword Planner can also estimate the costs associated with targeting specific keywords in your advertising campaigns. Here are some key functionalities of Google Keyword Planner:
- Discover New Keywords: Generate keyword recommendations to expand your reach.
- Analyze Monthly Search Volume: Provides estimates of monthly search volume for each keyword, helping you understand keyword popularity.
- Cost Determination: Shows estimated costs to display ads for specific search queries, aiding in budget planning.
- Keyword Management: Helps organize and manage keyword ideas relevant to your brand and different categories.
- SEO Campaign Creation: Facilitates in-depth keyword research to build and refine your SEO strategies.
It’s important to remember that while Google Keyword Planner offers valuable keyword recommendations, the overall performance of your SEO campaigns depends on various factors. These include bidding strategies, budget allocation, product relevance, and customer behavior within your industry. Let’s explore how to effectively use Google Keyword Planner to navigate these factors.
Step-by-Step Guide: Using Google Keyword Planner
While Google Keyword Planner might seem complex initially, this guide breaks down the process into manageable steps, making it easier for beginners to understand and utilize its full potential.
Accessing Google Keyword Planner: Login
To begin, you need a Google Ads account to log in to Google Keyword Planner. If you don’t have one, you can sign up for a Google Ads account by providing your details and business information.
Once your account is set up, log in to Google Ads and navigate to the “Tools” menu. Clicking on “Keyword Planner” will grant you access to the tool’s main features for keyword research. Upon entering Keyword Planner, you’ll encounter two primary tools designed to assist your keyword research efforts.
Choosing the Right Tool
Google Keyword Planner offers two main tools: “Discover new keywords” and “Get search volume and forecasts.” Both are instrumental in developing your keyword strategy for SEO campaigns.
Let’s examine how to use each tool for effective keyword research.
Discover New Keywords
The “Discover new keywords” feature is your starting point for brainstorming and generating fresh keyword ideas. To use this feature, simply enter keywords that are closely related to your products or services.
You can input multiple keywords at once (up to 10 in a single search), separating each with a comma and pressing enter. After entering your keywords, click “Get Results” to access the keyword ideas page.
Another powerful way to use “Discover new keywords” is by entering a specific domain. Google will then analyze the domain and suggest keywords relevant to the website’s content. The resulting keyword ideas are discussed in more detail in the following sections.
Get Search Volume and Forecasts
The “Get search volume and forecasts” tool is ideal when you already have a list of keywords and want to understand their search volume and potential performance. Unlike “Discover new keywords,” this feature doesn’t generate new keyword ideas.
By inputting your existing keyword list, Google provides forecasts on metrics such as expected clicks, click-through rate (CTR), cost-per-click (CPC), and impressions. This allows you to predict the potential impact of your chosen keywords.
Filtering and Sorting Results
Learning how to filter and sort your keyword results is crucial for efficient analysis within Google Keyword Planner. After conducting keyword research using “Discover New Keywords,” you’ll see several targeting options on the results page:
- Locations: Define the geographical areas you’re targeting for your marketing efforts, such as specific countries or regions.
- Language: Specify the language of the keywords you’re researching. This setting influences the keyword ideas generated. The default is usually English (United States), but you can adjust it to match your target audience’s language, like English (United Kingdom) or others.
- Search Networks: Choose the search engines for your ad campaigns. The default is “Google,” but you can include other search partners or Google properties like YouTube.
- Date Range: Set the time frame for search volume data. The default is “12 months,” providing a broad overview of keyword trends.
Furthermore, you can refine your keyword results by applying filters. Here are some useful filter options:
- Keyword Text: Filter results to include or exclude specific keywords.
- Exclude Keywords in My Account: Removes keywords you’re already using in your Google Ads account.
- Exclude Adult Ideas: Filters out keyword ideas related to adult content, violence, drugs, and similar topics.
- Average Monthly Searches: Sort keywords by their search volume, from highest to lowest or vice versa.
- Competition: Reflects the ad competition for keywords, indicating how many advertisers are bidding on them. Categories are High, Medium, and Low.
- Impression Share: Filter by organic or ad impression share. Shows how often your site appears in organic or paid search results for each keyword.
- Organic Average Position: Filters data based on keyword ranking in organic search. Requires linking to Google Search Console.
- Top of Page Bid: Shows the cost-per-click required to have your ad appear at the top of the page for a given keyword. Options include “high range” and “low range.”
Keyword Ideas Section
The “Keyword ideas section” presents a list of recommended keywords for your content and advertising. This section is enriched with search volume data and competition levels for organic SEO.
If the linked Google Ads account has historical ad performance data, the displayed figures become more specific and may include trend graphs for emerging keywords. Let’s break down the key data points in this section:
- Keyword by relevance: Displays keyword suggestions ranked by relevance to your initial input. The most relevant keywords appear at the top.
- Search Volume: Shows the estimated average monthly searches for each keyword, indicating its popularity.
- Competition: Indicates the difficulty of ranking for a keyword in organic search. Competition levels are categorized as High (very competitive), Medium (moderately competitive), and Low (less competitive).
Using the data in the “keyword ideas section,” you can strategically select the most suitable keywords for your brand. Here are key considerations when choosing keywords:
- Search Volume: Targeting keywords with high average monthly search volume can significantly increase organic traffic to your website.
- Commercial Intent: Focus on keywords that align with user search intent, especially long-tail keywords. This helps convert traffic into valuable website conversions.
- Organic Keyword Competition: Assess the ranking difficulty for a keyword in SERP. Keyword competition is influenced by the bidding activity for that keyword in ad auctions.
This comprehensive guide provides a solid understanding of Google Keyword Planner’s functionalities and how to use them effectively. By following these steps, you can streamline your keyword research process and enhance your SEO strategy.
With Google Keyword Planner, developing a targeted keyword list for your SEO campaigns becomes more manageable and data-driven. Start leveraging Keyword Planner today to boost your website’s visibility in organic search results!
