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While many keyword tools can be utilized to help you find and implement your keyword sets, one of the easiest and most accessible would be the Google Ads Keyword Planner. Yes, you do have to have a Google Ads account to get access to Keyword Planner, but then again if you’re planning keyword sets, you’re more than likely looking to jump into Google pay per click marketing anyway. I say this knowing that this tool is also often utilized on the SEO side of online marketing and web optimization to gain insights into google searches and search intents when using the Google search engine. Google’s keyword planner isn’t the most robust nor does it contain features of some of its closest competitors, but for base strategy and getting a good start, I’d say it does good enough to get you going at the least.
So How Do You Access Google Ads Keyword Planner?
As stated before, you’ll need a Google Ads account (expert mode only) to start, so let’s begin there. Use a search engine and search “Google Ads” and follow the link to create your account (you should end up at ads dot google dot com). You will have to input a credit card and create a campaign, but no you don’t have to spend money on it. Just follow the prompts and fill in the questions as asked.
Now remember to pause your campaign otherwise you’ll regret it later. Remember you don’t have to run anything; you just have it there. Once you have set up your Google Ads account and have set up your campaign look in the upper right hand of the screen click on Tools & Settings > go to Planning > Keyword Planner.
We’re there, the big payoff, and it wasn’t even that hard.[bctt tweet=”As I said there are many ways you can use Google’s keyword planner and it really does return quite a bit of valuable information if you know where to look.” username=”ThatCompanycom”] Of the several reasons to use the keyword planner when planning out your campaigns, the most obvious is to generate keyword ideas. This is a fairly simple process that will more than likely return way more keywords than you’re expecting to use.
Implementation of the Keyword Planner
A good place to start is by pulling keywords and categories from your site’s infrastructure. I.e. headlines and menu items often contain the keywords that are going to be at the base of your campaign. Simply gather some of the most important words from your site and brainstorm anything else that you feel you are missing. Take your time and analyze each keyword in your selection. Look at it for things like the intent of the searcher and make sure you’re focused on the “why” they are performing the search. If you can’t answer that question with something that benefits you and your company then you will need to rethink the keyword.
It’s time to jump in, input each of your keyword ideas and Google will return a list of similar keywords along with vital information. Information such as the volume of monthly searches, the competition for each keyword, and how much you would expect to pay per click if you were to run said keyword. Knowing information like the monthly average that a word is searched on Google is incredibly important when factored with things like the competition rating.
Budgeting Budgeting Budgeting…
Usually, the competition is high because a keyword has proven to have marketing value which also means you can expect to pay a decent amount for the keyword. You could also likely expect that your bids may increase if you jump into a bidding pool where larger companies are bidding on the same keywords you’re targeting.
This is why really looking at the value of each keyword and what you’ll expect to pay for it is crucial to controlling a budget and making effective campaigns. You don’t always have to be competitive for every search term even if you feel it is within your company’s wheelhouse. It is important to strike a balance between performance and price.
Tips for Keywords
The trick is to whittle down your high competition keyword pools to the major performers you can get for a good price and then supplement your keyword pool with cheaper clicks to maintain traffic and find your superstar performers at a much lower cost while building authority on your site.
Again, make sure as you’re selecting your keywords and you really thinking through “why” you are selecting each word. Are you gathering the words, phrases and search terms that people would search for when they are looking to gather information or buy? Compare that to the intent you’re looking for from the end-user. Selecting the wrong keywords at this stage can end up costing you a lot of money in wasted searches. (Tangent Alert – when setting up campaign keyword pools, negatives are your friend. You have been warned and your welcome.)
Making Use of Keyword Planner’s Features
Location, Location, Location…
Another trick of the Keyword Planner is that it gives you the ability to refine your keyword sets by location. By using the targeting settings, you can not only gather historical data that you’ll find useful you can also get ideas for the Google Search Partner sites.
Forecasting for Keyword Planner
Forecasting your keywords is good to know as it will take into consideration the metrics that make up your account including things like bid, budget, and ad quality along with other factors to let you know what you can expect from the performance of your keywords and what you can do to improve your campaigns based around current bids.
Taking a quick peek at how your competitors are doing it
Another useful feature of the Keyword Planner is the ability to see what your competitor is running. By inputting the URL of a competitor into the search bar you’ll be able to see keywords they are running which can give ideas for your own campaigns. If you know your competitor to be successful there’s a good chance that by analyzing their keyword pools you can make an educated guess that they are bidding on keywords that are proven and successful.
Bonus Time
Lastly, using keyword planner, you’ll be able to see seasonal trends and different times of the year that you can expect your keywords to perform at a higher rate as well as gather other seasonal terms by adjusting the calendar to specific timeframes. These are all things that must and are considered with PPC management and it is why we take such pride in our white label PPC management.
It’s Not You, It’s Me
So, you’ve looked at what the Google Ads Keyword Planner has to offer and just be honest, it’s not for you. Well, you’re in luck as there are many alternatives, some of them being ones I myself use often. Below I’ll give a quick listing of the ones I have had good luck with, maybe they’ll get a blog post of their own someday.
- WorkStream
- SEMrush
- KeywordSpy
- KWFinder
- SpyFu
This is a basic explanation of what you can expect when using the Google Ads Keyword Planner. Hopefully, you got a quick and dirty look at how you can start to develop your own keyword strategy. Ideally, this will help you get the creative juices flowing. But if you need any help along the way, feel free to contact us for our white label PPC service.
