If your interests include setting contextual advertising and SEO, then you probably know about such a handy tool from Google, like a keyword planner. In this article, we will focus on its functionality and tell you how to put it into practice.
What is Keyword Planner?
This service allows you to select relevant search phrases and analyze the interests of the audience. The Google Ads Keyword Planner is free to use.
The tool makes it convenient to perform such tasks:
compiling a list of keys for launching a new or optimizing an existing advertising campaign;
grouping phrases by topic;
uploading the created list of keywords to the AC;
formation of an ad group based on the created list of requests;
Evaluation of the performance of each search phrase in terms of the number of requests and the predicted volume of transitions;
forecasting traffic growth in terms of a particular product, territory or other criteria;
an estimate of the expected advertising budget spend per day;
clarification of the bids of competitors active in the auction.
Advice! You will be able to take advantage of all of these features if you go through the AdWords registration process and spend enough time learning the service’s user interface.
Pros and Cons of Using Keyword Planner
At present, there are quite a lot of services that help you find key phrases. Some of them are already built into advertising accounts, others are independent developments. Many people use the Google Keyword Planner, which has both pros and cons compared to other services.
Pros:
For those who use the Google Ads account to set up ads, the service is absolutely free;
for analysis, a huge array of data is used, accumulated by the algorithms of the search engine itself, and such information is the most relevant;
Simple and clear integration of created lists of requests with an advertising campaign in AdWords;
high accuracy in predicting the cost of a click on a link in ads in special placement and guaranteed impressions;
Quick generation of a semantic core for an advertising campaign in Google
Of the shortcomings, the following points should be noted:
algorithms pick up not so many options for suitable search queries;
the service does not provide for checking the selected keywords for the expected CTR value.
How to work with Keyword Planner?
In order to start using the Google Keyword Planner, you need to register on the platform if you don’t already have your own ad account. When registering for the service, choose the expert mode if setting up advertisements is not yet your plan:
Create an account without a campaign:
When registration is complete, find the Tools & Settings link at the top of the screen. A list of possible actions will appear. You need a Keyword Planner:
In this way, you can go to the “Planner”, even if you do not plan to create a campaign yet.
How to use Google Ads Keyword Planner?
Как найти ходовые ключевые слова для гугл рекламы в 2022? Планировщик ключевых слов
To start working with the keyword planner in AdWords, click on the appropriate item in the list of the “Tools” block:
The system provides 2 modes of operation:
Find new keywords. It allows you to download statistical data for certain search phrases and select the most relevant options for your field of activity. This mode will be convenient for those who have just started the formation of semantics or want to expand it.
See the number of requests and forecasts. Allows you to analyze statistical information for certain keywords – the expected number of clicks and conversions. These data can be useful both for an already operating and for a new AC. They allow you to predict the effectiveness of the list of search queries for fixed bid and budget values. Additionally, you can evaluate the need to adjust these values.
Before using any of the listed modes, you must set several markers that determine the subject of the semantic core.
Information! One or two phrases will be enough to select a thousand or more search queries.
Search for new keywords
Click on the appropriate block if you plan to use Google Keyword Planner to find targeted queries:
Specify the keywords that define your theme. Imagine yourself as a potential buyer and think about what they can type into the search bar to find your product.
Advice! You should not use either very broad (for example, “household appliances”) or too narrow (“where to order an inexpensive Indesit front-loading washing machine and dryer in Kyiv”) phrases.
You can add up to 10 phrases. The system allows you to exclude results with brand names from the selection or, conversely, include them:
Next, refine the language settings and limit the geographic scope to get the correct result in the analyzed location.
Enter the URL of the web resource and use “Show results” – the system will redirect you to the main page of the report. Let’s consider its interface in detail.
The panel at the top is the settings with which you can select the location, language, search network (separately Google search or, including GCM partner resources) and time interval:
Important! You should not blindly apply all system-provided keys. We recommend using common sense and using only targeted and not very broad phrases.
Under the settings panel are the search phrases we set and selected by the system as the most suitable queries:
Let’s dwell on the columns of the table and give an interpretation of the data contained in them.
Computer number of requests per month – shows the average number of requests during one month for the search phrase and its variations.
The level of competition is a qualitative indicator of the key’s popularity among other advertisers in a given region and search networks.
Impression Percentage Received – This column displays information for queries that are already in use in a running campaign. The indicator is defined as the ratio of ad impressions to the total number of requests in a given territory and in selected networks.
Top-of-page bid (minimum and maximum) — cost per click for classified ads.
Important! The service allows you to set filters to exclude certain values. So, for example, if you need to remove all men’s coats from the list, just enable filtering: “Keyword text” – “does not contain” – men’s, men’s, men’s.
By excluding unsuitable queries from the list and leaving only relevant keys in it, we can download it in CSV format or as a Google Spreadsheet. If you need to use queries in a plan or an existing campaign, select them in the appropriate boxes and click on “Add keywords” by setting the location:
Find out the frequency of search queries
Using the Keyword Planner, you can determine the exact number of queries that users enter in the search bar for a given key each month.
On other platforms such as Ahrefs or Serpstat, this option is paid. Google is more loyal to its users.
Important! All the statistics provided by Google Planner are collected directly from search engine statistics, so they are more reliable than those offered by other services.
Use the “Look at the number of requests and forecasts” module to determine the demand for a certain keyword:
Enter the phrase you are interested in or a single word in the line and click on “Start”.
The results will appear on the screen. You can refine your search here. For example, filter data by a specific geographic region. You can always disable filtering and return to the original upload, as well as add other filter options.
Advice! It is important to set up not a wide, but an exact match of keywords. Otherwise, the analytics will be unreliable.
Budget Forecasting
You can use the keyword planner to expand the semantics of your advertisements, as well as to evaluate the popularity of queries and determine the monthly budget. To add search phrases to your plan, follow these steps in sequence: “Schedule”, then “Ad Group”, after, if necessary, “Match Type” and finally “Add keywords”.
The corresponding status will be displayed next to these phrases. Our next goal is forecast.
This estimated impressions and clicks, CPC, estimated daily spend, and expected average position over the next period:
Advice! You can experiment with the cost of a click to understand how the predicted number of clicks depends on its dynamics.
Analysis of the semantic core of competitors
By analyzing the keywords used by competitors in their ads, you can determine which ones are more effective without wasting time and money on your own experiments. If you work in a niche with high competition, then you will understand what exactly will allow you to stand out from other offers.
If other market participants already have an effective query selection strategy, then you don’t have to worry about reinventing the wheel. Google Planner comes to the rescue. Go to the search module for new key phrases and click on “Specify site” in the top menu.
Set the address of a competing website and determine in which context you want to receive keywords: for the entire resource or only for any given page.
Using the analysis of competitors’ keywords often allows you to replenish your own semantic core with many new formulations, which are almost impossible to detect in any other way. If you collect data on several competing resources, you can create a good list of really working requests.
How to transfer the collected semantics from the scheduler to Google AdWords?
It’s not enough just to pick up semantics in Google Ads Keyword Planner. You need to be able to apply the resulting core in a real campaign. You can transfer the collected semantics using the section with options for keywords or ad groups. After selecting the necessary phrases, click on “Add to ad group”. Then mark the appropriate group:
The “Schedule” drop-down menu allows you to transfer the collected semantics to the required AC:
Information! If the campaign does not already exist, you can create it using the selected keys. To do this, use the appropriate item in the “Ad group” drop-down menu.
Keyword Planner Tips
Use the scheduler when you need to quickly test a niche or if you don’t have time to work out the semantics in detail. The tool does not always select all possible phrases, so if quality is your priority, it is better to run campaigns with extended semantics and then turn off low-performing keywords based on the results.
Estimate the average monthly number of requests against the statistics for the year. Otherwise, you will receive distorted information due to the peculiarities of the internal mechanisms of the system.
The probability of an error in determining the frequency of a search query is the higher, the higher the frequency itself. When selecting keywords, you should always remember that the actual performance may differ significantly from the expected.
