Google Keyword Planner: How to Use It A Step-by-Step Guide
Do you want to identify the right keywords to increase organic traffic to your website? If so, understanding how to utilize Google Keyword Planner would be quite helpful.
You may use Google Keyword Planner to find fresh keyword suggestions and blog post themes, improve your search engine rankings, and more. However, if you've never used the tool before, it could be a bit difficult to figure out how to utilize it.
First, create a Google Ads account
Before using Google Keyword Planner, you must have a Google account. If you don't already have one, it simply takes a few minutes to create one.
Go to the Google Ads homepage and select Start Now after creating an account. To sign in, choose your Google account now.
Google Ads will lead you through creating your account and your first ad when you sign in. Whether you choose to run ads or not, you must submit your payment card details. After entering your payment card details and accessing your account, you may quickly halt the advertisement that it guided you through producing if you decide not to run it.
Just keep in mind to stop it soon away to avoid being charged for the advertisement. Additionally, Google will temporarily authorize $50 on your card.
Access Google Keyword Planner in step two.
On the right upper corner, select Tools & Settings to access Google Keyword Planner. Then, select Keyword Planner in the Planning drop-down box.
Next, you'll see two choices:
- Discover new keywords – This option provides you with fresh keyword suggestions that you can utilize to drive more traffic to your website.
- Find historical trends, search volume, and future projections for a set of terms with this option. Get search volume and forecasts.
Step 3: Examine the option to find new keywords.
You'll see two options, Start with Keywords and Start with a Website, after choosing Discover new keywords.
You can input words (for instance, Google Analytics) or phrases (for instance, how to use Google Analytics) under start with keywords to find keywords. Up to 10 keywords or phrases may be entered, and if you'd like, a website may also be entered to serve as a filter. Click Get Results after entering the search terms.
Create a website first
You may input a website URL to discover keyword suggestions if you choose the start with a website option. You may utilize the search phrases that Google Keyword Planner suggests for you by using the website you entered as a source.
You may even choose to search the entire website or just a certain page. Once the URL has been entered, click Get Results.
This choice is ideal for observing what your rivals are doing and getting inspiration from their keyword usage. Enter the URL of their website to view the keywords they are focusing on.
When you click the Get Results button, Google Keyword Planner will provide results based on the URL or the keywords you specified and make several more keyword suggestions.
For instance, the search tool displayed 674 keyword suggestions when we typed in "Google Analytics" as our search query. To increase the scope of your search results, it also proposes other terms.
Google Keyword Planner will give four metrics for each term:
- Average monthly searches: This provides a range of monthly searches for the term so you can identify the most popular search terms.
- Competition is a fundamental statistic that shows how tough it is to acquire an ad spot (often classified as low, medium, or high). You can also use it to understand how difficult it is to rank for an organic keyword.
- Top of page bid (low range): This displays the lowest amount that advertisers would be willing to offer.
- The amount displayed here is the largest amount that advertisers would be willing to spend on a front page bid.
To identify new terms depending on region, language, search network, and period, you may also utilize other criteria.
Step 4: Examine the option to "Get Search Volumes and Forecasts"
Let's now look at the second keyword-finding option we have available: get search volume and predictions.
Simply type your search terms in the box, comma-separated, or on the next line, and click Get Started.
Concerning the keywords you enter, Google Keyword Planner will project the total number of clicks, impressions (the number of times your ad would be shown if you were running ads), overall cost, average position, and cost-per-click (CPC) you might expect over the following 30 days.
Each keyword prediction is further broken down into individual clicks, impressions, costs, click-through rates (CTR), and the average cost per click (CPC).
As this report is intended to provide the information for the particular keywords you supplied, there are no keyword suggestions in it. Go to the Historical Metrics tab to examine the average monthly searches and competition for each term to get the most out of this analysis.
Google Keyword Planner provides a lot of SEO value even if it is designed for advertising. First off, it is completely free! It also provides a fantastic place to start when looking for keywords for your company.
To view keywords, input a website address or look for specific search phrases. The bid amounts and degree of competition are excellent indicators of how profitable the keywords are. It assists you in choosing financial keywords that might boost sales.
On the other hand, you might want to try some of the options below if you're seeking comprehensive information about keywords and your competitors.
Tips for Selecting Keywords Google Keyword Planner used
While picking the appropriate keywords to concentrate on may make or break your SEO strategy and your organic traffic figures, it can be challenging.
There are a few common recommended practices to follow when selecting keywords:
- Pick a mix of competitive and less competitive keywords. While you might be able to rank for the less difficult ones sooner, it will take you longer to rank for the more competitive ones. This helps you strike a balance between earlier and later traffic.
- Before focusing your material on a certain keyword, dig further into each one. To broaden your investigation, use a different keyword research tool and your own Google searches. Search for keyword variants queries that "people also ask," and other relevant terms or subjects that you might wish to incorporate into your article.
- Just because there isn't a lot of traffic to a term doesn't mean you should lose up on it. Yes, you should aim for keywords with some search traffic, but if the subject is relevant to your website, cover it nevertheless. There are other types of traffic than organic traffic. You may also produce material that is excellent for social media or newsletters but has a low amount of organic searchers. not yet, at least!
Let's look at some of Google Term Planner's alternatives now that you know how to utilize them to generate fresh keyword suggestions.
3 Best Alternatives to Google Keyword Planner
Google Keyword Planner is a free but powerful tool for locating great keyword suggestions. Its primary goal is to help anyone who wants to run pay-per-click (PPC) ads on Google. Other SEO plugins and tools are available with many other functions.
Therefore, we advise you to fine-tune your keyword research and look at the following Google Keyword Planner alternatives if you want explosive SEO success.
You may use Semrush instead of Google Keyword Planner as another well-liked SEO tool. The tool is loaded with features that will help you enhance your content, social media presence, and sponsored traffic in addition to improving your SEO performance.
Because of its keyword research tool, Semrush is favored by many SEO specialists. Any search phrase may be entered, and it will provide comprehensive information about its search volume, CPC (if you intend to run ads), and a full view of search results.
One of the most effective SEO tools available is Ahrefs. It is a fantastic alternative to Google Keyword Planner since it has strong functionality.
For a better understanding of their competitors, many SEO professionals and company owners use this premium product (or use their free tools). Any URL may be entered, and Ahrefs will display comprehensive information about the keywords, their positions, the overall number of backlinks, and the top pages, and even allow you to identify content gaps between your website and that of your rival.
Its keyword research tool is likewise quite effective and provides data comparable to SEMRush. It may be used to generate fresh concepts and choose which keywords to emphasize on your website.
Bonus: WordPress Tracking Organic Traffic
If you have a WordPress website, there is a great method to monitor all the additional organic traffic you will be receiving as a result of utilizing Keyword Planner as shown in this guide.
MonsterInsights is the best Google Analytics plugin for WordPress.It enables you to quickly link your WordPress website to Google Analytics (both GA4 and Universal Analytics), allowing you to access all the crucial data directly in your WordPress dashboard.
Additionally, you can set up complex tracking capabilities like event tracking, eCommerce tracking, form tracking, custom dimension monitoring, outbound link tracking, and more with the press of a mouse.
Its Search Console report is one of its primary features, which makes it a fantastic tool to utilize in conjunction with Google Keyword Planner. You may see in the report the precise search phrases or keywords that people are using to locate your website.
Go to Insights » Reports and choose the Search Console option to read the report.
Your top Google search phrases are included in the report along with their click-through rate (CTR), impressions, and average position.
You may use the report to get keyword suggestions and target them to boost your organic traffic.
We really hope you enjoyed reading our essay on using Google Keyword Planner. You might also want to read our comprehensive guide on Google Analytics for publishers if you've made it this far.
