A Step by Step Guide on How to Use Google Keyword Planner

Doing keyword research is the main thing in digital marketing to market the products or services. The goal is to find out what the target audience is looking for. Google has a free tool called Google Keyword Planner that can help you get the right keywords for content and ads. In this guide, we will show you how to use Google Keyword Planner step by step.

What is Google Keyword Planner?

Google Keyword Planner is a tool that can help you create keyword lists for your content or business ads. With the help of this tool, you can boost the implementation of SEO on your website by choosing the right keywords.

Besides facilitating keyword research, the tool provided by Google Ads can also be accessed for free and has many advantages over other keyword research tools. The features that you can use include finding keyword ideas, the search volume, and monitoring the keywords used by competitors.

Unfortunately, you need to create a Google Ads account first before using Google Keyword Planner. But you don't have to worry, because you can still use this tool without having to advertise something on Google. Check out the function and how to use Google Keyword Planner in the following article.

Google Keyword Planner Function

Besides being able to do keyword research, Google Keyword Planner can also be used to see the estimated costs for keyword targeting. The other functions of Google Keyword Planner are as follow:

• Discovering New Keywords
• View Monthly Searches: this tool provides an estimated search volume for each keyword, each month.
• Determine Cost: this shows how much on average you need to spend in order for your ad to appear in the search for that query.
• Managing Keywords: You can see suitable keyword ideas for various categories that are relevant to your brand.
• Create a New SEO Campaign: help you to do in-depth keyword research to create your new SEO campaign.

It should be noted that, although Google Keyword Planner can provide targeted keyword recommendations, the performance of your SEO campaign will be influenced by several other factors, for example, bids, budgets, products, and customer behavior in your industry. Learn more about how to use Google Keyword Planner below.

How to Use Google Keyword Planner

After knowing the function of this keyword research tool, then you need to know how to use Google Keyword Planner. It might seem quite complicated for beginners, however, the following guide will help you understand step by step more easily.

Google Keyword Planner Login

As previously mentioned, in order to log in to Google Keyword Planner, you must have a Google Ads account. If you don't have an account, then you can register for Google Ads first by filling in your personal data and information related to your business.

After successfully creating an account, you need to log in to Google Ads and select the Tools menu to be able to enjoy the Google Keyword Planner service. When you click on the Keyword Planner menu, you will see two main tools that can be used for keyword research.

Selecting Tools

The two main tools found in Google Keyword Planner are; discovering new keywords and search volume and forecast. Both tools can be used to help you build a keyword list for your SEO campaign.

Take a look at how to use Google Keyword Planner for the following keyword research.

Discover New Keyword

To research keywords using Google Keyword Planner is by utilizing the Discover New Keyword feature. To find new keyword ideas, you simply enter keywords that are relevant to the product or service of your business.

You can also enter many keywords at once (maximum 10 keywords in one research), separate each keyword with a comma, then press enter. After entering the keyword, then click the “Get Results” button and you will see a keyword idea page.

How to use Google Keyword Planner for keyword research can also be done by adding a specific domain address and Google will display keyword ideas that match that domain. The generated keyword ideas will be discussed in the next section.

Search Volume and Forecast

The next way how to do keyword research using Google Keyword Planner is by using the Search Volume and Forecast features. This feature will be very useful if you have collected a number of keywords and want to track their search volume. The reason is that this feature cannot help you get new keyword ideas.

With this feature, you will only get research results based on the keywords you enter and Google will provide predictions regarding how many clicks, click-through rate (CTR), cost-per-click (CPC), and impressions were generated.

Filter and Sort Results

Next, you'll learn how to use Google Keyword Planner to filter and sort keyword idea results. After doing keyword research using the Discover New Keywords feature, you will at least see the following four keyword targeting options on the Google Keyword Planner results page.

• Locations: represents the country or region that you are marketing to. For example, you target Indonesia in the location form.
• Language: is the language of the keywords you are tracking in Keyword Planner. This setting will affect the results of keyword ideas that are displayed. By default, the language will be set in English (United States), but you can adjust it according to the location and language you are targeting, for example, Indonesian.
• Search Networks: it indicates the search engine you want to use in publishing your advertising campaign. The default search network is “Google”, but you can change it to another search engine or other Google property (like YouTube).
• Date Range: displays the search period, you can leave it at the default setting which is “12 months”.

Apart from that, you can also sort and filter Keyword Planner results by adding certain conditions. Here are some of the filter options you can choose:

• Keyword Text: with this filter you can display results based on certain keywords.
• Exclude Keywords in My Account: this condition is used to exclude all keywords that you have used in your Google Ads account.
• Exclude Adult Ideas: this condition is useful for excluding keyword ideas that include adult content, violence, illegal drugs, and others.
• Average Monthly Searches: use to filter keyword data based on the highest and lowest search volume.
• Competition: the competition score refers to the AdWords competition, showing how many people bid on that keyword. This metric is divided into three categories high, medium, and low.
• Impression Shares: You can also add filters based on organic impression shares and ads (ads). This data shows how often your site is shown in organic or paid searches for each keyword.
• Organic Average Position: this condition will filter data based on keyword ranking in organic search. To apply this filter, you need to connect with Google Search Console.
• Top of Page Bid: shows the cost-per-click or bid amount you can afford to have your ad appear in the top position for that keyword. This filter is available in two options, namely high range, and low range.

Keywords Ideas Section

Keyword ideas section is a list of new recommended keywords that you can use for your content or business ads. The data displayed is equipped with information on search volume and keyword competition in organic SEO.

If the Google Ads account used has posted ads (AdSense) before, then the numbers displayed will be more specific and you can see a graph of the keyword trends that appear. The following is a more detailed explanation of each of these data:

• Keyword by relevance: displays a list of keyword ideas that are relevant to the keywords you entered earlier. The top order is the most relevant keywords.
• Search Volume: shows the approximate average number of searches each keyword gets each month.
• Competition: shows how difficult it is to compete for rankings with that keyword. The level of competition is divided into three, namely High (competition is quite tight), Medium (competition is not too difficult), and Low (competition is low).

Based on the data in the keyword ideas section, you can follow how to use Google Keyword Planner to choose the most suitable and relevant keywords for your brand. Some things to consider in choosing keywords, namely:

• Search Volume: choosing keywords with a high average search volume can help you bring in more traffic organically.
• Commercial Intent: choose a keyword that represents the user's search objective, usually a long-tail keyword. That way, you can turn traffic into conversions for your website.
• Keyword Competition in Organic SEO: in choosing keywords, you also need to consider how difficult it is to rank for a keyword in the SERP competition. This keyword competition is obtained from a large number of bids on a keyword.

Well, that's a complete guide on how to use Google Keyword Planner. Follow each step presented in how to use Google Keyword Planner above and enjoy the convenience of doing keyword research. With Google Keyword Planner, you can create a list of the right keywords for your SEO campaign. Improve your site's performance in organic search with Keyword Planner now!