Hello! My name is Yana Lyashenko, and I’m a Google logistics specialist. Today we’ll break down a free tool from Google that helps collect the most in-demand keywords. I’ll tell you which queries to focus on, how to assess competition levels, and approximate cost per click.
Alright, let’s go?
Keyword Planner — What Is It and Why Do You Need It?
How many calls and sales will I get by ordering contextual advertising from you?
The tool in question is called Keyword Planner. Its main task is to help advertisers collect high-frequency keyword queries that can later be added to Google advertising campaigns.
Of course, no one prohibits using third-party services for semantic collection. But there’s a nuance here. Google has been actively limiting keyword volumes in advertising accounts lately. Not all queries have sufficient frequency, yet the system still spends resources on auction calculations. If you add a word with near-zero frequency — Google may simply not allow it to show.
The logic is simple: add only that semantic core that actually has frequency and meets Google’s requirements. And where to get it? That’s right — from Google’s own tools.
To open the Planner, you need a Google Ads advertising account. If you don’t have one — create it. You don’t necessarily need to run ads here. Access to the Planner is provided through the advertising account.
Then it’s simple:
Log into your Google Ads account;
In the upper right corner, find the wrench icon — this is the “Tools and Settings” section;
Go to the “Planning” block → “Keyword Planner”.
After clicking, the system will redirect you to a page with two options: “Discover new keywords” and “Get search volume and forecasts”. Leave the second block for now — we’re interested in finding new keywords.
How to Search for New Keywords?
There are two approaches. First — manually enter words or phrases describing the product or service. Second — specify a website URL. You can use either the entire site or a specific landing page.
Secret: nothing prevents you from entering a competitor’s website address — this is absolutely normal practice with no consequences.
What happens when you specify a website? The system scans meta tags, descriptions, headings — tries to extract semantic core from there and suggest it as keywords. Honestly, not the most accurate selection method. But as an additional source of ideas — quite a working option.
Which Keywords to Enter?
So, you’ve opened the Planner and see the input field. What to write there? Start with the most specific description of the product type. Not abstract “houseplant” or “living in a pot,” but specific — Bonsai. Not just “painting,” but “oil painting.” Not “bottle,” but “water thermos.”
Why specificity? This way the system will select targeted semantic core for the product, rather than flooding you with thousands of irrelevant options. It’s important to understand that the input field is limited — you can add about ten to twenty words at a time. If you have a wide assortment, you’ll need to split the work into several approaches. However, this way you’ll see competition levels for each product type separately.
A separate point — branded products. Let’s say you sell Xiaomi phones. Don’t just enter “Xiaomi” — that’s vacuum cleaners, toothbrushes, and lots of electronics in different formats. Write “Xiaomi phone.” And preferably duplicate the query in both Latin and Cyrillic — users search differently.
Settings Before Launch
Before clicking the search button, study the parameters on the right:
Location. Specify the region where you plan to run ads. Don’t set “all countries” — you need frequency and competition specifically for your target geography.
Languages. Choose those relevant for the selected region. If you’re advertising in Zakarpattia — in addition to Ukrainian and Russian, try parsing keys in Hungarian and Polish. Try different language combinations — you’ll get unexpected results.
Search networks. You can leave Google together with search partners — this isn’t a mistake.
Date range. By default, it’s set to 12 months. Also available are ranges — six months, quarter, last month, or all available data. I recommend taking at least the last six months to a year. Buying behavior changes quite quickly now, and old data may not reflect the real picture.
You’re not limited to one word. Enter several variants describing the product. For example: “Bonsai,” “Bonsai buy,” “Ficus Bonsai.” You can add commercial modifiers — “price,” “cost,” “buy.” The system will accept everything and show results for each variant.
What Will the Planner Show?
As a result of the launch, you’ll see an overall demand graph for the selected period, giving an understanding of how interest in the query changed month by month. Next to each keyword in the table — a small seasonality mini-graph. From it, you can see if there are peak demand points and corresponding time periods.
Let’s say you see that for the query “Bonsai,” the main spike is in May. And this pattern repeats for almost all related keys. This helps understand — is it currently the season for this product.
How many calls and sales will I get by ordering contextual advertising from you?
And the “Average monthly searches” column — an averaged value for the last 12 months. It’s important to understand: if it says 1600, this doesn’t mean you’ll get that many queries right now. In off-season periods, the number usually drops significantly. Perceive it as a guideline, not a guarantee.
What Does the Planner Output Consist Of?
After launching the search, the Planner will show a table with found keywords. In the Bonsai example, the system gave out 241 variants. For each — columns: the keyword itself, average monthly searches, seasonality mini-graph, and competition level.
Above the table, the system may suggest expanding the search — adding additional words it considers relevant. There are genuinely useful finds there. Let’s say you’re parsing keys for plush toys, and the system suggests “teddy bears”? But in the Bonsai case, no particularly valuable keys were found in the suggestions.
What Does Competition Level Mean?
Simply explained — competition level shows the number of advertisers competing for impressions on the keyword. High competition means a large number of companies are already running ads on the query.
How is this useful? If the topic is overheated and bids are biting, you can purposefully look for less competitive keys. But here’s an important point.
Attention: a low-frequency query — is not a guarantee of cheap and profitable advertising. At all.
From colleagues I’ve heard: “I’ll collect low-frequency keywords — and bypass competition, and sales will go.” In practice, this hardly works. Take, for example, “Bonsai Ficus Benjamin” — 30 searches per month. About one query per day. And competition — high. Here you’ll have to fight even for crumbs.
Low frequency doesn’t automatically mean low cost per click and guaranteed sales. You need to orient not so much on the number of queries, but on the type — on user intent.
Query Types: Informational vs Commercial
Take the query “What is bonsai.” This is a purely informational query — the person just wants to know what kind of plant this is. Does it convert to a purchase? Most likely, no. Although competition on it is medium — someone is still advertising. But for the task “get sales here and now,” this query isn’t suitable.
But “Tree Bonsai buy” — a completely different story. 320 queries, high competition. And this is logical: people who are just interested in the topic don’t enter the word “buy.”
Try putting yourself in the buyer’s place. You want to purchase something — what query do you enter? “Buy,” “price,” “cost,” possibly a specific model or brand (like “iPhone XS Max 256 GB”). Exactly such queries — are the most conversion-oriented, and these should be prioritized first. Everything else — is second priority.
Bid Guidelines
The Planner also shows approximate cost per click — minimum and maximum on the market. The numbers are averaged, but give a general idea. For example, even with high competition and decent frequency, the bid may be only 2.52 UAH. While for another key with 480 queries and high competition — 1.60 UAH.
By the way, sometimes the system doesn’t show bid statistics for some queries at all — meaning there’s insufficient data for calculation. And not always does a low-frequency word turn out to be the cheapest. So look at bids in conjunction with competition.
Note: with high competition levels, be prepared that costs will be higher than expected, and working with semantic core will require a more thorough approach. However, having passed this stage, you’ll immediately see the most popular queries and understand which keywords to focus on — depending on which stage of the sales funnel you want to work with.
Keyword Priority: Where to Start
Okay, keys are collected — but how to understand which ones are more important? Here’s a simple priority system:
Queries with formed purchase intent. These are phrases where the user is already ready to act: “buy,” “price,” “cost,” “order,” “delivery.” For example, “Bonsai ficus buy” or “tree Bonsai price.” Exactly these keys should bring sales here and now.
Queries describing a specific product type, but without explicit purchase intent. “Ficus Bonsai,” “Bonsai juniper,” “Bonsai pine.” They may have decent frequency (say, 720 queries for “Bonsai ficus”), but conversion will be lower — the person is still just browsing.
General formulations like “Bonsai price.” Seems to have commercial undertones, but unclear which specific Bonsai the person is looking for. Feng shui? Coniferous? Kumquat? Conversion on such queries is noticeably lower.
Separate are queries like “Bonsai Club” — 140 queries, low competition. Logical: people are looking for a community of interest, not a product. But if you can offer something to this audience — why not try?
How to Export and Process Collected Keywords?
The Planner tries to group keywords by topics itself: “Chinese ficus,” “Ficus plant,” tree species (pine, maple, spruce, cedar), separate clusters like “Bonsai club,” “IKEA,” “OLX.” Next to each group — checkboxes that can be unchecked. But don’t rush to remove them.
Even irrelevant phrases will come in handy — they’ll become the basis for a negative keywords list. So better download everything as-is to Excel or Google Sheets, and start sorting there.
What does “sorting” mean? You review the list and mark phrases that definitely aren’t yours. Let’s say, “Bonsai OLX” — if you sell premium plants, then the audience looking for something used and cheap isn’t suitable for you. The word “OLX” goes to negative keywords and applies to all campaigns. Do the same with other irrelevant additions.
The remaining keys are distributed by priority — from the hottest (with “buy,” “price”) upward to more general ones.
