How does Google Keyword Planner help with keyword research?

Keywords play a key role in search engine ad­ver­tis­ing (SEA) and search engine op­ti­miza­tion (SEO). To be found online and reach your target audience at the right moment, you need to know which search terms matter. Google’s Keyword Planner helps with this by providing search volume, com­pe­ti­tion levels, and forecasts, so you can make informed decisions for your keyword strategy.

What is Google Keyword Planner?

Google Keyword Planner is a free tool from Google that was orig­i­nal­ly developed to help ad­ver­tis­ers plan Google Ads campaigns. Since AdWords became Google Ads in 2018, the tool has also offered useful insights for SEO keyword research. It helps you build keyword lists, analyze search volume, assess com­pe­ti­tion, and identify trends, making it a valuable tool for planning SEO and SEA strate­gies.

Its key features include

1. Searching for new keywords
2. Re­triev­ing search volumes and trends
3. Creating keyword com­bi­na­tions
4. Gen­er­at­ing forecasts for clicks and costs

Close

How to use Google Keyword Planner

Gen­er­at­ing new keywords with Keyword Planner is straight­for­ward. To access Keyword Planner, you must complete your Google Ads account setup, including your billing in­for­ma­tion. In your Google Ads account, open the Keyword Planner from the tools menu. To start your research, click “Discover new keywords”. To analyze an existing keyword list, choose “Get search volume and forecasts”.

You can use the tool to

• enter up to ten terms or a website
• define your region or city
• specify the language
• choose between “Google Search” and “Google & Search Network partners”
• set a time period
• narrow down the results with filters, such as search volume, com­pe­ti­tion or bid range

After clicking “Get results”, you’ll receive a list of keyword ideas with search volume, com­pe­ti­tion and trend data. Google often displays ap­prox­i­mate ranges rather than exact figures. You can then export the results as a CSV file, add them to a keyword plan or use them directly for a campaign forecast.

Benefits of Google Keyword Planner for SEO

The Keyword Planner helps you assess search volume, com­pe­ti­tion and trends for relevant keywords. For SEO, its main benefits include

• Analysis of search trends: Google displays trends and seasonal fluc­tu­a­tions in search queries, helping you respond more ef­fec­tive­ly to changes in demand.
• Expanded keyword lists: The tool suggests keyword ideas that you can integrate directly into your website strategy. You can save or download these lists and use them for further planning.
• Targeted keyword analysis: Location settings and device break­downs let you see which keywords are most relevant to your target audience. This helps you align your keyword strategy more closely with user needs.

What data does the keyword tool provide?

Google Keyword Planner does more than generate new keywords and combine keyword ideas. It also provides detailed sta­tis­tics and forecasts for search engine marketing. Its main advantage over com­pa­ra­ble tools is that the data comes directly from Google. As a result, it often reflects real user search behaviour more closely than the databases compiled by other providers. The following table explains the key metrics and forecasts shown in Keyword Planner during keyword research and analysis:

Using Google Keyword Planner as the basis for an SEA campaign

Keyword Planner is useful not only for keyword research, but also for creating per­for­mance forecasts for Google Ads campaigns. When planning a campaign, you can view estimated data on clicks, costs and im­pres­sions. The tool typically displays the following metrics:

These metrics are es­pe­cial­ly useful for analyzing the expected per­for­mance of your Google Ads campaigns and planning your budget more ef­fec­tive­ly.

How to view data in Google Keyword Planner

In addition to the default view of monthly search volume trends as a bar chart, Google Keyword Planner offers further analysis views that help you assess the potential of selected keywords more ac­cu­rate­ly.

• Breakdown by device shows how average monthly searches are dis­trib­uted across device types such as tablets, smart­phones and computers.
• Breakdown by location shows how search volume is dis­trib­uted ge­o­graph­i­cal­ly, for example by country, region or city. This view is par­tic­u­lar­ly useful for local and in­ter­na­tion­al campaigns.
• Plan forecast and per­for­mance overview simulate clicks, im­pres­sions, costs and con­ver­sions based on your selected keywords and bidding settings. This helps you estimate expected campaign per­for­mance more re­al­is­ti­cal­ly.
• Share of possible ad im­pres­sions shows his­tor­i­cal ad im­pres­sions divided by exact-match searches during the previous calendar month, for the selected location and network.
• Com­peti­tor-based bench­marks are available outside Keyword Planner through the Google Ads Auction insights report. This report lets eligible campaigns compare their per­for­mance with other ad­ver­tis­ers.