How to Use Google Ads Keyword Planner for Your Marketing Strategy
How to Use Google Ads Keyword Planner for Your Marketing Strategy
Google Ads Keyword Planner is a powerful tool that can help you find the right keywords for your online advertising campaigns. Whether you want to reach more customers with search ads, display ads, video ads, or app ads, Keyword Planner can help you discover new keywords, get traffic estimates, and optimize your bids and budgets.
In this blog post, we will show you how to use Google Ads Keyword Planner for your marketing strategy, and share some tips and best practices to get the most out of it.
What is Google Ads Keyword Planner?
Google Ads Keyword Planner is a free tool that allows you to research keywords for your online advertising campaigns. You can use it to:
- Discover new keywords related to your products or services
- Get historical and forecasted data on search volume, competition, and cost-per-click (CPC) for your keywords
- Create and refine your keyword lists based on your goals and budget
- Export your keyword ideas to use in other Google Ads tools or platforms
How to Access Google Ads Keyword Planner?
To access Google Ads Keyword Planner, you need to have a Google Ads account. If you don't have one yet, you can create one for free here.
Once you have a Google Ads account, you can access Keyword Planner by following these steps:
- Sign in to your Google Ads account
- Click on the Tools & Settings icon at the top right corner of the page
- Select Keyword Planner from the Planning section
How to Use Google Ads Keyword Planner?
There are two main ways to use Google Ads Keyword Planner: discover new keywords and get search volume and forecasts.
Discover New Keywords
If you want to find new keywords for your online advertising campaigns, you can use the Discover new keywords option in Keyword Planner. This option allows you to enter words or phrases related to your products or services, or enter a website or category that describes your business.
For example, if you sell organic coffee online, you can enter "organic coffee" as a keyword, or enter your website URL or the category "Coffee & Tea".
After entering your inputs, click on Get Results. You will see a list of keyword ideas that are relevant to your inputs, along with data on average monthly searches, competition level, and suggested bid for each keyword.
You can use the filters on the left side of the page to narrow down your keyword ideas based on various criteria, such as:
- Location: You can select the geographic areas where you want your ads to show
- Language: You can select the language of your potential customers
- Search networks: You can choose whether to include keywords from Google Search only or from Google Search and Search Partners (such as YouTube or Google Maps)
- Date range: You can choose a specific time period to see how the search volume and trends vary over time
- Keyword text: You can include or exclude keywords that contain certain words or phrases
- Average monthly searches: You can set a minimum or maximum number of searches for your keywords
- Competition: You can select keywords based on how competitive they are (low, medium, or high)
- Ad impression share: You can select keywords based on how often your ads are shown for them (low, medium, or high)
- Top of page bid (low range): You can select keywords based on the lower range of what advertisers have historically paid for a click when their ad is shown at the top of the page
- Top of page bid (high range): You can select keywords based on the higher range of what advertisers have historically paid for a click when their ad is shown at the top of the page
You can also use the columns icon at the top right corner of the page to customize the data columns that you want to see for your keyword ideas. For example, you can add columns such as:
- Organic impression share: The percentage of times that your website appears in organic (non-paid) search results for a keyword
- Organic average position: The average position that your website appears in organic search results for a keyword
- Account status: Whether you already have an ad group or campaign that contains a keyword
- Plan status: Whether you have added a keyword to your plan
To add keywords to your plan, you can select them individually by checking the boxes next to them, or select all of them by checking the box at the top left corner of the table. Then, click on Add Keywords at the top right corner of the page.
You can also download your keyword ideas as a CSV file by clicking on the Download Keyword Ideas button at the top right corner of the page.
Get Search Volume and Forecasts
If you already have a list of keywords that you want to use for your online advertising campaigns, you can use the Get search volume and forecasts option in Keyword Planner. This option allows you to enter or upload your keywords, and get historical and forecasted data on how they might perform.
For example, if you have a list of keywords related to organic coffee, you can enter them manually or upload them as a CSV file.
After entering or uploading your keywords, click on Get Started. You will see a summary of your keywords, along with data on impressions, clicks, cost, click-through rate (CTR), and average CPC for your keywords.
You can use the filters on the left side of the page to adjust your plan based on various criteria, such as:
- Location: You can select the geographic areas where you want your ads to show
- Language: You can select the language of your potential customers
- Search networks: You can choose whether to include keywords from Google Search only or from Google Search and Search Partners (such as YouTube or Google Maps)
- Date range: You can choose a specific time period to see how the forecasts vary over time
- Bid: You can set a manual or automatic bid for your keywords
- Budget: You can set a daily or monthly budget for your plan
- Devices: You can select the devices that you want to target (mobile, tablet, or desktop)
You can also use the columns icon at the top right corner of the page to customize the data columns that you want to see for your keywords. For example, you can add columns such as:
- Historical metrics: The average monthly searches, competition level, and suggested bid for each keyword based on historical data
- Plan forecast: The impressions, clicks, cost, CTR, and average CPC for each keyword based on your plan settings
- Plan historical metrics: The impressions, clicks, cost, CTR, and average CPC for each keyword based on historical data and your plan settings
To add keywords to your plan, you can select them individually by checking the boxes next to them, or select all of them by checking the box at the top left corner of the table. Then, click on Add Keywords at the top right corner of the page.
You can also download your keywords and their data as a CSV file by clicking on the Download Plan button at the top right corner of the page.
Tips and Best Practices for Using Google Ads Keyword Planner
Here are some tips and best practices for using Google Ads Keyword Planner for your marketing strategy:
- Use a mix of broad and specific keywords: Broad keywords are more general and can help you reach a wider audience, while specific keywords are more relevant and can help you attract more qualified leads. For example, if you sell organic coffee online, you can use broad keywords such as "coffee" or "organic coffee", and specific keywords such as "organic fair trade coffee" or "organic arabica coffee".
- Use negative keywords: Negative keywords are words or phrases that you don't want your ads to show up for. For example, if you sell organic coffee online, you can use negative keywords such as "free" or "instant" to avoid showing your ads to people who are not interested in your products. You can add negative keywords to your plan by clicking on the Negative Keywords tab at the bottom of the page.
- Use keyword match types: Keyword match types are settings that determine how closely a search query has to match your keyword for your ad to show up. There are four main keyword match types: broad match, broad match modifier, phrase match, and exact match. For example, if you use broad match for "organic coffee", your ad might show up for searches such as "organic coffee beans" or "best organic coffee", but also for unrelated searches such as "organic gardening" or "coffee cake". If you use exact match for "[organic coffee]", your ad will only show up for searches that exactly match "organic coffee". You can change the keyword match type by clicking on the Match Type column in Keyword Planner.
- Use long-tail keywords: Long-tail keywords are longer and more specific phrases that have lower search volume but higher conversion rate. For example, if you sell organic coffee online, you can use long-tail keywords such as "organic fair trade coffee subscription" or "organic decaf coffee pods". You can find long-tail keywords by using the Discover new keywords option in Keyword Planner and looking for keyword ideas that have low competition and high suggested bid.
- Group similar keywords into ad groups: Ad groups are sets of keywords that share a common theme or intent. For example, if you sell organic coffee online, you can create different ad groups for different types of organic coffee, such as "Organic Espresso", "Organic French Roast", or "Organic Decaf". Grouping similar keywords into ad groups
