How to Use Google Keyword Planner Tool: A Free Tool for SEO

If you are looking for an awesome way to find keywords for free, then look no further than the Google Keyword Planner Tool. This free tool for SEO allows users to search for keywords related to a specific product or service and provides data on the popularity and competition level of those keywords.

Google Keyword Planner is a free tool provided by Google that helps advertisers and website owners find relevant keywords for their campaigns and websites.

The keyword planner will show you the estimated monthly search volume for a certain keyword and how much it would cost to target them if you were to run a campaign. This is a great insight into seeing how valuable a keyword is.

Why use the Google Keyword Planner Tool?

There are so many SEO and Keyword Research tools out there, it can often get daunting when trying to choose one to use for your blog.

As a blogger, you want to do keyword research, competitive analysis and keyword rankings and Google Keyword Planner can help you with this all for free. It also provides additional information such as average monthly searches and historical data trends.

It can quickly identify the most relevant keywords for your blog post without having to spend hours researching and analyzing search data. This can save you time and effort and help you create content that is more likely to be successful.

When used with Google Search Console, you can create a detailed keyword research plan without having to pay for 3rd party tools.

Google Keyword Planner can be accessed through a Google Ads account, and it is commonly used by digital marketers and website owners to improve their online visibility and drive more traffic to their websites.

It is free to use, but you have to set up a Google Ads account first.

how to use Google keyword planner for keyword research Pinterest pin

Step 1. Set up a Google Ad account

Go to ads.google.com and follow the prompts to set up a Google ad account with your Google details (you should have a Google account, this is how you access your Google analytics!)

Once you are logged in, select Start Now and click on Switch to Expert Mode at the bottom

how to use google keyword planner tool - a screenshot showing where switch to expert mode is located in Google Ads

Next, select Set up an account only at the bottom of the page

screenshot showing create an account without a campaign at the bottom of the page.

On the next screen, enter your billing country, time zone and currency and select “Submit“.

screenshot of the confirm your business information for Google ads

Next, click on Explore your account

Once you are inside your Ads account, select Tools and Settings from the top menu > Planning > Keyword Planner

Step 2. How to Use Discover New Keywords

First of all, select Discover new keywords. This will then give you the option to either Start with Keywords or Start with a website.

  • Start with keywords helps you to expand on the keywords, phrases or topics you want to cover on your blog
  • Start with a website means you can enter a website URL to find keyword ideas. Google Keyword Planner uses the website you entered as a source and suggests search terms, although it is very limited.

Start with the keywords and put in a few words that describe your business or any ideas you have about your next blog post.

screenshot of discover new keywords page in google ads keyword planner

Once you have chosen a few keywords, select Get Results and all the information will be displayed for you.

You will be able to see information on –

  • Your keyword and keyword ideas
  • Avg. monthly searches
  • Three-month change
  • YoY change (year over year growth)
  • Competition (low, high or medium)

You can start filtering your results by ordering them by avg. monthly searches to get the top searched results, or order them by competition (ideally you want low competition so that you have a better chance of ranking).

The great thing about the Google Keyword Planner is that it will also give you ideas that don’t contain the words you entered but are related to them.

This will give you more search terms you may not have thought about and you can start creating blog content around those keywords.

Step 3. Filtering and finding the best keywords

There are endless ways to filter your keyword information so that you can find the best keywords for your blog. The easiest way to do it is to filter it by competition (you want low competition keywords with avg. monthly searches ideally over 100. 1k – 10k is even better!)

Demographics

You can change the location and date range to target specific demographics. This is great if your niche is specific to a country, or you want to see what is currently trending in Google

keyword demographics

Refine your keywords

With 1000s of keywords to choose from, Google gives you the option to refine them. You could narrow down your search to just a brand or particular website. For example, my keyword “SEO for blogs” could be narrowed down to the platform WordPress or a particular site.

screenshot of refine keywords in Google Ads keyword planner
Choose refine keywords
screenshot of the refine keywords menu in google ads keyword planner

Using the YoY and 3-month change metrics for trends

This metric shows you the change in search from this year to the same time last year.

Sort out YoY from highest to lowest and you will see that some keywords have had a 900% increase. These are good keywords to target.

The 3-month change is the same, but for a 3-month difference. This helps to show what is seasonal and currently trending.

screenshot showing yoy in Google keyword planner

Lucrative keywords

Finally, Keyword Planner has a “top of page bid (high range)” column which shows the higher range of what advertisers have historically paid for.

By ordering your keywords with the most expensive keyword at the top, Google is showing you what people deem to be lucrative keywords and therefore, creating a Google ad around it.

If the keyword is lucrative, there are potentially a lot of people searching for it. These are great keywords to use in your blog content.

screenshot of keywords ordered by top of page bid (high range) on Google Keyword Planner

Google Ads Keyword Planner is an incredibly useful tool for bloggers who want to improve their SEO and create targeted content.

The Google Keyword Planner can suggest keywords that are relevant to your blog post and that people are actually searching for.

This means you can optimise your content for the right keywords and attract more traffic to your site.

Frequently Asked Questions

frequently asked questions

Q. Do I need a Google Ads account to use Keyword Planner?

A. Yes, you need a Google Ads account to use Keyword Planner. However, you can create a Google Ads account for free, and you don’t need to actually run any ads to use the Keyword Planner tool.

Q. Is Keyword Planner only for paid advertising?

A. No, Keyword Planner can be used for both organic search and paid to advertise. While it was originally designed for paid advertising, it can also be used to optimize your website for organic search by identifying relevant keywords.

Q. How accurate is the search volume data in Keyword Planner?

A. The search volume data in Keyword Planner is based on actual search data from Google. However, the data is aggregated and rounded, so it may not be 100% accurate. Additionally, the search volume data can vary depending on the location, language, and device used to perform the search.

Q. Can I use Keyword Planner to find long-tail keywords?

A. Yes, Keyword Planner can be used to find long-tail keywords by using the “Keyword Ideas” tab. This tab will suggest a variety of related keywords based on the seed keyword that you enter.

Related Posts >>>

how to use Google keyword planner for keyword research Pinterest pin
Save for later!

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *