How to do keyword research with Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner is a free tool provided by Google that, while primarily designed for advertisers running Google Ads campaigns, is an incredibly valuable resource for anyone performing keyword research, whether for SEO, content marketing, or even niche discovery.

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It provides estimates for search volume, competition, and related keyword ideas directly from Google’s vast search data.

While it requires a Google Ads account, you don’t need to run active campaigns to use its research features.

Setting Up and Navigating Google Keyword Planner

Paragraphs: To use Google Keyword Planner, you’ll need a Google account and to set up a Google Ads account. You don’t need to add billing information or create an active campaign to access the tool. Once logged in, you’ll find it under “Tools and settings” in the Google Ads interface. The main functions relevant to keyword research are “Discover new keywords” and “Get search volume and forecasts.” Understanding how to navigate these sections and apply basic filters is the first step to leveraging its power for your research needs.

• After logging into Google Ads, go to “Tools and settings” > “Planning” > “Keyword Planner.”
• You’ll be presented with two main options: “Discover new keywords” (for generating ideas) and “Get search volume and forecasts” (for analyzing existing keywords).
• Google Account: Required to access Google Ads.
• Google Ads Account: Set up, but no active campaigns needed.
• Access Path: Tools and settings > Planning > Keyword Planner.
• Main Options:
  • Discover new keywords: Start with seed keywords or a website/category.
  • Get search volume and forecasts: Paste in a list of keywords to get their data.
• Targeting: Set your location (e.g., United States, California), language, and search network (Google Search or Google Search & Partners).
  Bold Text: While designed for advertisers, Google Keyword Planner offers robust free access to Google’s own search data.

Discovering New Keyword Ideas

Paragraphs: The “Discover new keywords” feature is where you begin your brainstorming and expansion. You can start by entering one or several seed keywords related to your product, service, or content. Keyword Planner will then generate a comprehensive list of related keyword ideas, along with their average monthly searches, competition level (for advertisers), and top-of-page bid estimates. You can also provide a competitor’s website or specific category to generate ideas, allowing you to see what keywords are relevant to a particular industry or content area. This is excellent for uncovering long-tail variations and niche opportunities you might not have thought of.

• Enter “vegan recipes” into “Discover new keywords.” You might get suggestions like “easy vegan dinners,” “plant-based meal ideas,” “vegan breakfast ideas for beginners,” along with their search volumes.
• If you’re launching a new skincare line, you could enter a competitor’s URL, and Keyword Planner would suggest keywords relevant to their website content, such as “organic face wash,” “natural moisturizer for sensitive skin,” or “anti-aging serum reviews.”
• Start with keywords: Enter 1-10 seed keywords separated by commas.
• Start with a website: Provide a competitor’s URL to get keyword ideas from their site.
• Filter results:
  • Avg. monthly searches: Filter by minimum volume.
  • Competition: See how many advertisers are bidding (Low, Medium, High).
  • Top of page bid: Estimated CPC range.
  • Keyword ideas: Grouped by relevance.
• Download ideas: Export the full list to a spreadsheet for further analysis.
  Data/Stats: Provides “Avg. monthly searches” (range, e.g., 1K-10K), “Competition” (advertiser competition, not SEO difficulty), and “Top of page bid (low range)” and “(high range)” which are estimated costs per click.

Analyzing Search Volume and Competition

Paragraphs: Once you have a list of keywords, whether from your initial brainstorming or from the “Discover new keywords” tool, you can use the “Get search volume and forecasts” feature to analyze their historical performance and get forecasts for potential campaign performance. This is where you see the average monthly searches for each keyword, allowing you to prioritize terms with significant audience interest. The “Competition” column, while indicating advertiser competition, can also be a proxy for how commercially valuable a keyword is. High competition often means high commercial intent, but also higher costs in paid ads. For SEO, lower competition can signal easier ranking opportunities.

• You have a list: “how to knit a scarf,” “beginner knitting patterns,” “knitting for kids.” Inputting these, you might see “how to knit a scarf” has 10K-100K searches (high), “beginner knitting patterns” has 1K-10K (medium), and “knitting for kids” has 100-1K (low). This helps prioritize content.
• For “car insurance quotes,” you’d likely see “High” competition and high bid ranges, indicating a very lucrative but competitive keyword.
• Paste keywords: Input your list of keywords (up to 1,000).
• Review metrics:
  • Average Monthly Searches: The estimated number of searches.
  • Competition: How many advertisers are bidding (Low, Medium, High).
  • Top of Page Bid (low/high range): Estimated cost per click for paid ads.
• Historical Metrics: Review data for past months or years to identify trends.
• Forecasts: Predict clicks, impressions, and costs for a potential ad campaign.
• Refine your list: Remove keywords with zero or very low search volume, or those too expensive for your budget (for ads).
  Bold Text: The average monthly searches is the most critical metric for understanding keyword demand.

Understanding Keyword Grouping and Organization

Paragraphs: Google Keyword Planner often groups related keywords together, making it easier to understand clusters of terms. This is highly beneficial for content planning and campaign structuring. Instead of treating each keyword in isolation, you can identify thematic groups. For SEO, this helps you create comprehensive content that covers a topic in depth, addressing multiple related queries. For Google Ads, it allows you to create highly targeted ad groups, ensuring that your ad copy and landing pages are perfectly aligned with the user’s specific intent for that keyword cluster, leading to better Quality Scores and lower costs.

• For the seed keyword “vegan,” Keyword Planner might group suggestions under “vegan recipes,” “vegan restaurants,” “vegan diet plan,” “vegan products.” This tells you these are distinct but related sub-topics you could cover.
• If you’re targeting “fitness apps,” Keyword Planner might group “workout apps for women,” “free fitness apps,” “best fitness tracker app,” indicating distinct user segments and content needs.
• Keyword Grouping: Look for the “Grouped Ideas” tab in the “Discover new keywords” section.
• Thematic Clusters: Identify major themes where you can create cornerstone content or distinct ad groups.
• Content Planning: Use groups to plan comprehensive articles, guides, or sections on your website.
• Ad Group Structure: Create separate ad groups for each keyword cluster to ensure ad copy relevance.
• Negative Keywords: Groups can also help identify broad terms that you might want to add as negative keywords if they contain irrelevant sub-topics.
  Data/Stats: The grouping feature doesn’t provide new quantitative data but helps organize existing data, allowing for more strategic content and ad campaign planning.

Limitations and Best Practices

Paragraphs: While Google Keyword Planner is powerful and free, it has limitations. The search volume data is often presented as ranges (e.g., 1K-10K) rather than exact numbers, which can make precise volume assessment difficult. The “competition” metric specifically refers to advertiser competition, not organic SEO difficulty, so don’t mistake a “low” competition for a truly easy SEO keyword. Furthermore, the tool is primarily designed to encourage Google Ads spending, so its “forecasts” are geared towards ad campaign performance. For comprehensive SEO insights, it should be used in conjunction with other methods and tools. How to do keyword research for Amazon KDP

• A keyword might show “Low” competition in Keyword Planner, but when you check the Google SERP manually, you see it’s dominated by highly authoritative sites, indicating high SEO difficulty.
• The search volume range of 1K-10K for a keyword means it could be 1,001 or 9,999 searches, which is a significant difference for forecasting traffic.
• Supplement with other tools: Use in conjunction with Google Autocomplete, Search Console, and potentially paid tools for deeper insights.
• Focus on relevance: Prioritize keywords highly relevant to your offerings, regardless of competition.
• Understand intent: Always consider the user’s intent behind the search query.
• Iterate: Keyword research is an ongoing process. revisit Keyword Planner regularly.
• Don’t chase only high volume: Low-volume, high-intent long-tail keywords can be very valuable.
• Contextualize “Competition”: Remember it’s for advertisers, not organic SEO.
• Use filtering effectively: Narrow down your lists to actionable keywords.
  Bold Text: Be aware of Keyword Planner’s limitations and use it as part of a broader, diversified keyword research strategy.