With the Keyword Planner, Google provides advertisers with many practical functions. Users who place advertisements in the Google Display Network and in the Google search results have access to many functions and helpful statistics via their Google Ads account. With the marketing tool Google Keyword Planner, you as an advertising customer can find the right keywords for your Google Ads campaigns.
Why a keyword planner at all
The Keyword Planner fulfills three essential tasks that can significantly simplify working with Google Ads campaigns as well as search engine optimization.
Discover new keywords
Look for words or phrases related to your product or service. The keyword planner determines the most relevant keywords for your company. Careful selection of keywords is an essential requirement for successful campaigns.
Compare keyword trends
You’ll get suggestions for bid estimates, how often people have searched for your keywords and how the search volume has changed over time. So you can optimize your keyword list and use your budget on the really important keywords.
Create and share draft campaign
After you’ve identified your keywords, you can save them to your account or share them with others. Then create ad groups and set bids for all keywords before you activate the Google Ads campaign.
Keyword Planner Limitations
In order to be able to use the successor to the Google External Keyword Tools, the advertisers need their own Google Ads account. The Keyword Tool can be used free of charge. How effectively the Google Keyword Planner works depends on the individual use of the ads account. In 2016, Google noticeably reduced the accuracy of keyword data for user accounts with low Google Ads sales. Since the changeover, users without a Google Ads advertising budget will only receive the results at rough intervals.
Due to the strict limitation, users with low Google Ads sales receive grouped information for each keyword and this makes the search for frequent keywords much more difficult. Unfortunately, it is not known from which turnover a user can see data in its precise form. There is no information from Google about the advertising budget from which the restrictions will be removed.
What functions does the Google Keyword Planner have?
Users can find the keyword planner in their Google Ads account in the “Tools” menu. The Google Keyword Planner has 3 basic functions that users can target different countries and languages. Users can search for new keywords, determine the search volume and current trends, and multiply their existing keyword lists.
In addition to the basic functions of the tool, it is possible to work with exclusive keywords. With a relatively short investment of time, users can search for relevant keywords for their advertisements and optimize their website accordingly on the basis of the results. The practical tool is suitable for placing advertisements and is also helpful for optimization for search engines (SEO).
With the Keyword Planner you can
- Search for new keywords using phrases, web pages, and categories
- get new keywords by multiplying the existing keyword lists
- Get detailed data on trends and search volume
- Get forecasts for your campaigns or keywords from your Google Ads account
- enter and upload new keyword lists
Research for new keywords
Ing the best keywords for certain topics is one of the most important tasks of the online marketing manager. But this task is often not that easy. This is especially true for subject areas in which you initially have little know-how. Especially for beginners and inexperienced advertisers, the search for suitable keywords is a very tricky task. The keyword tool makes the search for suitable keywords much easier.
The Google Keyword Planner automatically determines the right keywords for each phrase entered. Users can then simply add these. Alternatively, new ideas can be generated from URLs. Various filter criteria are also available to users. The key words determined can be further segmented using an additional filter. Thanks to the filter options, terms can be sorted out that have too high a click price or generate little traffic.
Determine trends and search volumes
So that users can find out whether it is worth optimizing a website based on a certain keyword, they can use the practical tool to query the respective search volume. It is best for users to filter by region, country or city. The users keep an eye on the search volume and keyword trends at all times. You can optimize your advertisements according to current changes. The search volume value always relates to the average search queries per month.
Ideally, after the research, users will receive keywords that have a high search volume and for which there is little competition. These keywords can be recognized by the low competition as well as the comparatively low cost per click amounts. The users can enter up to 1,000 different keywords in the Google Keyword Planner. A CSV upload tool is available to users for much larger lists with a maximum of 10,000 keywords. With the help of the identified ideas, users can add additional keywords to their existing ad groups or create completely new ad groups.
Multiply the existing keyword lists
The multiplication of keyword lists is a new function of the Google Keyword Planner and was not part of the functionality of the predecessor. With the practical function, users can combine several terms with each other and thus receive compound keywords. This is particularly useful for getting several relevant long-tail keywords. Several lists can be combined with one another in the tool without any problems. A maximum of 1,000 different combinations can be created with the Google Keyword Planner.
This is how ad scheduling works
With the Google Keyword Planner, users examine the search volume for various terms and can display relevant keywords. Users can enter multiple keywords and either separate them with commas or use a new line for each term. In order for the Google Keyword Planner to output precise results, users should select the appropriate language. With a simple click on “Get Ideas”, users see the results. The users see the average search volume per month for each entered term and can view the search volume over a longer period of time.
The monthly search queries can optionally be broken down by location and device. The Google Keyword Planner also outputs thematically appropriate keywords in combination with the average search query volume, the average click costs and the competition. The results can be automatically divided into suitable groups under the “Ad group ideas”. Under “Keyword Ideas”, users can select individual keywords and assign them to appropriate groups.
With the Google Keyword Planner, users can estimate in advance how successful their advertising campaign will be. The tool provides users with all important key figures. The users see daily estimates, impressions, clicks, positions and costs. The keywords and groups can be set individually using the “Keyword Options”. The options “matching phrase”, “largely matching” and “exactly matching” are available. Every change has a direct impact on the performance of the advertising campaigns.
How meaningful is the keyword planner data?
For Google Ads customers with very low advertising budgets, the informative value of the data is considerably limited. In this case, keywords are grouped according to topic and similarity, so that an exact analysis of individual search terms is not possible. In addition, the information on the search volume for each keyword is displayed in groups from 1 to 100, 100 to 1,000, 1,000 to 10,000, 10,000 to 100,000, 100,000 to 1 million and 1 million +.
In addition, the Keyword Planner is naturally focused on commercial topics. So he prefers search terms that are actually advertised. In other words, topics for which no ads are shown are also limited.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the Google Keyword Planner?
Pro
+ free
+ find new keywords with no effort
+ retrieve data on search volume
+ data on competition and trends
+ easily multiply existing keyword lists
+ predictions for keywords and for advertising campaigns
+ useful for ad placement and SEO
+ helpful for budget planning
Cons
-Google Ads account must exist
-Accuracy of the data depends on the advertising budget
-Accounts with a low budget receive much less precise data
-High focus on commercial topics
Conclusion on the Google Keyword Planner
Not using the Google Keyword Planner data when marketing online is definitely a mistake that you should avoid. The Google Keyword Planner is a free tool and uses its analysis and data to help advertisers with ad placement and search engine optimization. It is one of the most frequently used tools for keyword research and can be used to optimize websites.