Google Keyword Planner is simply a keyword probe instrumentality for advertisers. But you tin besides usage it to find keywords for SEO. It tin adjacent amusement you the keywords your competitors are targeting.

In this guide, you’ll larn however to get immoderate superior SEO worth from Keyword Planner. 

Google Keyword Planner is free. All you request is simply a Google Ads relationship to use it. 

To acceptable 1 up, spell to ads.google.com, click “Start now,” and motion successful to your Google account.

Next, click the tiny bluish “Switch to Expert Mode” link.

Then click the tiny “Set up an relationship only” link.

On the adjacent screen, participate your billing country, clip zone, and currency, past click “Submit.”

On the occurrence surface that follows, click “Explore your account.” 

On the paper bar, click “Tools and settings” > “Planning” > “Keyword Planner.”

If you privation to spot hunt volumes and metrics for an existing database of keywords, click “Get hunt measurement and forecasts.” Otherwise, click “Discover caller keywords” to find caller keyword ideas.

There are 2 ways to observe caller keywords:

1. Start with ideas – Enter up to 10 words oregon phrases related to your business. 
2. Start with a website oregon webpage – Enter a URL and take whether you privation keyword suggestions based connected the full tract oregon conscionable that page. 

For example, if we participate a fewer keywords related to SEO, we get 2,934 keyword ideas.

This is beauteous debased compared to the fig of keyword ideas you get from a third-party keyword probe instrumentality similar Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer.

But the neat happening astir Keyword Planner is that it generates related ideas that don’t incorporate the presumption you entered. 

For example, present are immoderate ideas we get if we participate “SEO” arsenic our seed idea:

Typically, you’d request to participate much effect ideas to find keyword ideas similar this successful accepted keyword probe tools.

There’s nary constituent successful trying to fertile for irrelevant keywords, truthful the champion starting constituent is to filter retired keywords that don’t marque consciousness to target.

For example, accidental that you’re looking for keyword ideas related to T-shirts for an online covering store. 

If you participate “tshirt” arsenic your effect idea, you’ll spot a batch of brand-related keywords:

This is good if you merchantability T-shirts from these brands. Otherwise, they’re a distraction.

Luckily, Keyword Planner makes it ace casual to refine ideas. Just click “Refine keywords” successful the precocious close to rapidly see oregon exclude keywords by attributes similar brand, color, and style.

For example, you tin easy filter retired keywords that notation brands you don’t sell. 

If you inactive spot galore irrelevant keywords aft this, usage the “does not contain” keyword filter to exclude them. 

From here, it’s conscionable a lawsuit of looking done the ideas for keywords that make sense. 

Here are a fewer ideas and ways to do this:

Find low-competition long-tails

Long-tail keywords are keywords that get a fewer monthly searches. Because of this, they thin to beryllium easier to fertile for than fashionable keywords.

Keyword Planner doesn’t amusement the nonstop fig of monthly searches for keywords, but it does amusement the mean monthly range. So you tin easy find long-tail keywords by sorting the ideas by mean monthly searches from debased to high.

For example, if we bash this for the effect keyword “ebike,” we spot galore ideas with 10–100 monthly searches, including “power e bike” and “genze e222b electrical bike.”

However, not each of these are needfully casual to rank for.

Unfortunately, Keyword Planner can’t assistance you fig that retired due to the fact that its “competition” metric has thing to bash with integrated hunt competition. It’s the contention level successful Google Ads. As such, you should wage perfectly nary attraction to it.

Instead, we urge plugging keyword ideas into a third-party instrumentality similar our escaped Keyword Difficulty (KD) checker. This estimates the trouble of ranking connected the archetypal leafage of Google connected a standard from 0 to 100.

If we bash this for “power e bike,” we spot that it has rather a precocious KD score.

On the different hand, “genze e222b electrical bike” has a precise debased KD score.

Another information erstwhile choosing keyword ideas is their postulation potential. The easiest method for this is to plug the top-ranking leafage for the keyword into our escaped postulation checker. 

If we bash this for the top-ranking leafage for “genze e222b electrical bike,” we spot it gets an estimated 394 monthly hunt visits. So it intelligibly has postulation potential.

Find trending keywords

Keyword Planner has a YoY alteration metric. This shows the alteration successful hunt trends betwixt the latest period and the aforesaid period from the erstwhile year.

You tin find breakout topics if you benignant keyword ideas by this file from highest to lowest.

For example, if we participate “e bike” arsenic our effect keyword, we spot that “gazelle arroyo” has a +900% YoY increase.

This is apt due to the fact that Gazelle announced a reintroduction of its Arroyo electrical bikes successful the U.S. earlier this year. 

If you tally an affiliate website, this is an fantabulous mode to find products worthy reviewing. 

Find seasonal keywords

Keyword Planner besides has a “three period change” metric. This shows the alteration successful hunt trends betwixt the latest period and the 2 months prior.

You tin find seasonal topics if you benignant keyword ideas by this file from highest to lowest.

For example, if we usage “e bike” arsenic our effect erstwhile again, we spot that “ebike achromatic friday” has a +900% three-month increase.

This is due to the fact that Black Friday is conscionable astir the country (at the clip of writing).

Let’s participate “sweater” arsenic our seed. We spot galore presumption related to disfigured Christmas sweaters seeing a caller summation successful searches. Again, this makes consciousness fixed the clip of twelvemonth (once more, astatine the clip of writing).

Find lucrative keywords

Keyword Planner has a file for “top of leafage bid (high range).” As Google notes, this shows the “higher scope of what advertisers person historically paid for a keyword’s apical of page bid.” 

Now, advertisers person thing to bash with SEO. But it’s logical to presume that if they’re consenting to wage a batch for clicks from a keyword, it indispensable person commercialized value. In which case, it’s worthy trying to fertile organically. 

For example, if we benignant our ebike keyword ideas by “top of leafage bid” from precocious to low, 1 of the keywords that advertisers wage large bucks for clicks from is “zooz ebike.”

This is hardly astonishing fixed that these bikes outgo $2K–$3K.

Bonus: Google Keyword Planner tips & tricks

Now you cognize the basics of utilizing Keyword Planner, let’s look astatine a fewer tricks and tips that astir SEOs aren’t aware of.

1. Unlock nonstop hunt volumes

Google’s reluctance to amusement nonstop hunt volumes is 1 of the astir frustrating things astir Keyword Planner. It’s wherefore galore SEOs nary longer usage the tool.

For example, some of these keywords person a hunt measurement scope of 1K–10K:

But if we cheque these 2 keywords successful Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer, we spot that 1 of these keywords gets much than doubly arsenic galore searches arsenic the other. 

Luckily, there’s a instrumentality to unlock much precise (but not perfect) hunt volumes successful Keyword Planner.

Here’s the process:

1. Go to the Forecast tab
2. Click to adhd keywords
3. Enter your keywords successful quadrate brackets (this specifies exact match)
4. Click Save
5. Choose the maximum CPC connected the graph

Now wage attraction to the “Impressions” column. This tells you the estimated fig of impressions your advertisement would get implicit the adjacent period if you were to tally it for the selected keywords. 

Because you acceptable the bid worth truthful high, these impressions should beryllium adjacent to the monthly hunt measurement for that keyword. 

Let’s usage Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer to cheque however adjacent these numbers are.

It looks similar it was beauteous overmuch dormant connected successful this case.

2. See section hunt volumes 

Most keyword probe tools don’t archer you however galore radical hunt for a word successful circumstantial states oregon cities. They lone amusement hunt volumes for the full country, which could beryllium amended for local SEO. 

In Google Keyword Planner, however, you tin simply alteration your determination to a antithetic country, state, oregon metropolis to spot section measurement ranges. 

For example, determination are an estimated 100K–1M monthly searches for “plumber” successful the U.S.:

But if we alteration the determination to Birmingham, Alabama, the scope changes to conscionable 100–1K:

You tin besides harvester this with the nonstop measurement instrumentality supra to get much precise measurement estimations for local areas. 

For example, accidental we were to max retired our bid for “plumber” successful Birmingham, Alabama. In that case, we’d get an estimated 636 monthly impressions connected our ad. 

3. See fashionable hunt locations

Keyword Planner tin besides amusement you the astir fashionable hunt locations for immoderate term. Just scroll to the bottommost of the Forecasts tab for your keywords.

For example, 54% of impressions for “superbowl” travel from the U.S. 

But you tin spell adjacent deeper. Knowing that astir searches travel from the U.S., you tin acceptable the U.S. arsenic the determination successful the determination filter. Now the Locations container volition amusement the apical states.

Going adjacent deeper and mounting the determination to a authorities volition amusement you the apical cities. 

In fact, if you acceptable your determination to a city, it’ll adjacent archer you the astir fashionable ZIP/postal codes. 

important

This is based connected impressions forecasts for ads—so instrumentality the results with a pinch of salt. If you’re conscionable looking for a country-level breakdown of hunt volumes, Keywords Explorer has you covered with much precise data. 

4. See what devices searchers are using

It’s ever champion signifier to guarantee your contented is optimized for mobile, arsenic mobile-friendliness has been a ranking origin connected mobile for years. But it’s inactive much important for immoderate topics than others. 

After all, if fewer radical are searching for your taxable connected mobile, past you don’t request to accent excessively overmuch astir perfectly optimizing your contented for mobile users.

For example, accidental we adhd the keyword “free keyword probe tool” to our keyword program and cheque the “Forecasts” tab. We spot that 81% of impressions hap connected computers, not mobile phones oregon tablets. 

Given this information, it’s astir apt not worthy stressing excessively overmuch astir making screenshots successful the station easier to work connected mobile—especially not if doing truthful detracts from the desktop idiosyncratic experience.

However, for immoderate keywords, it volition beryllium the different mode around. 

For example, 92.3% of impressions for “best edifice adjacent me” hap connected mobile phones. 

This makes sense. People Googling this are astir apt conscionable looking for a bully edifice for luncheon portion retired and about. So if you’re a section edifice looking to fertile for this and related keywords, optimizing your contented for mobile is simply a apical priority. 

Final thoughts

Google Keyword Planner is simply a almighty instrumentality worthy incorporating into your keyword probe workflow. It’s packed with invaluable insights you can’t get from other tools. 

But it does person its limitations—the deficiency of close hunt volumes being a big one.

If that’s what you’re looking for, investing successful a nonrecreational keyword probe instrumentality similar Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer is the mode to go. This shows nonstop hunt volumes for each keywords and different utile metrics similar Keyword Difficulty (KD) and Traffic Potential (TP).

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