Google Keyword Planner is a free tool that helps you find keywords related to your business, products, services or website. It also shows you estimates of the monthly searches, cost and competition for each keyword.
Step 1: Access Google Keyword Planner
To use Google Keyword Planner, you need to have a Google Ads account. If you don't have one, you can create one for free in a few minutes. Just follow the prompts and enter some information about you and your business.
Once you have a Google Ads account, log in and click on the wrench icon in the toolbar at the top of the page. Then, choose "Keyword Planner" from the menu.
Step 2: Choose Your Tool
There are two main tools inside Google Keyword Planner: "Discover New Keywords" and "Get Search Volume and Forecasts". For SEO purposes, we will focus on the first one, which helps you find new keyword ideas for your content.
There are two ways to discover new keywords: by entering words or phrases that describe your business, or by entering a website URL related to your business.
For example, if you run a website that offers tutorials on various topics, you could enter words like "how to", "tutorial", "guide", etc. Or, you could enter a URL of a popular website in your niche, such as https://www.wikihow.com/.
Step 3: Filter and Sort the Results
After you enter your keywords or URL, Google Keyword Planner will generate a list of keyword ideas for you. You can see the average monthly searches, competition and cost for each keyword.
You can also use filters and sorting options to narrow down your results and find the most relevant keywords for your SEO goals.
For example, you can filter by location, language, search network, date range, etc. You can also sort by keyword relevance, average monthly searches, competition or cost.
Step 4: Analyze the Keyword Ideas Section
The keyword ideas section shows you all the keywords that Google Keyword Planner suggests for you based on your input. You can see how many people search for each keyword every month, how competitive it is and how much it costs to advertise on it.
You can also see how each keyword fits into different categories related to your business. This can help you group your keywords into themes and topics for your content.
To analyze the keyword ideas section, you should look for keywords that have:
- High monthly searches: This indicates that there is a lot of demand and interest for this topic.
- Low competition: This indicates that there are not many other websites ranking for this keyword.
- Low cost: This indicates that there is not much competition from advertisers for this keyword.
These are the keywords that have the most potential to drive organic traffic to your website.
Step 5: Choose a Keyword
Once you have analyzed the keyword ideas section and found some promising keywords, you can choose one or more keywords to target in your content.
To choose a keyword, you should consider:
You should match your content type and tone with the search intent of your keyword. For example, if your keyword has an informational intent, you should create an informative article or guide. If your keyword has a transactional intent, you should create a product page or landing page.
Bonus Step: Get Exact Keyword Search Volume Data
One limitation of Google Keyword Planner is that it only shows ranges of monthly searches for each keyword, not exact numbers. This can make it hard to compare keywords and estimate traffic potential.
However, there is a workaround to get exact search volume data for any keyword. Here's how:
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In this tutorial, I will show you how to use Google Keyword Planner for SEO and how to get the most out of it.
Step 1: Access Google Keyword Planner
To use Google Keyword Planner, you need to have a Google Ads account. If you don't have one, you can create one for free in a few minutes. Just follow the prompts and enter some information about you and your business.
Once you have a Google Ads account, log in and click on the wrench icon in the toolbar at the top of the page. Then, choose "Keyword Planner" from the menu.
Step 2: Choose Your Tool
There are two main tools inside Google Keyword Planner: "Discover New Keywords" and "Get Search Volume and Forecasts". For SEO purposes, we will focus on the first one, which helps you find new keyword ideas for your content.
There are two ways to discover new keywords: by entering words or phrases that describe your business, or by entering a website URL related to your business.
For example, if you run a website that offers tutorials on various topics, you could enter words like "how to", "tutorial", "guide", etc. Or, you could enter a URL of a popular website in your niche, such as https://www.wikihow.com/.
Step 3: Filter and Sort the Results
After you enter your keywords or URL, Google Keyword Planner will generate a list of keyword ideas for you. You can see the average monthly searches, competition and cost for each keyword.
You can also use filters and sorting options to narrow down your results and find the most relevant keywords for your SEO goals.
For example, you can filter by location, language, search network, date range, etc. You can also sort by keyword relevance, average monthly searches, competition or cost.
Step 4: Analyze the Keyword Ideas Section
The keyword ideas section shows you all the keywords that Google Keyword Planner suggests for you based on your input. You can see how many people search for each keyword every month, how competitive it is and how much it costs to advertise on it.
You can also see how each keyword fits into different categories related to your business. This can help you group your keywords into themes and topics for your content.
To analyze the keyword ideas section, you should look for keywords that have:
- High monthly searches: This indicates that there is a lot of demand and interest for this topic.
- Low competition: This indicates that there are not many other websites ranking for this keyword.
- Low cost: This indicates that there is not much competition from advertisers for this keyword.
These are the keywords that have the most potential to drive organic traffic to your website.
Step 5: Choose a Keyword
Once you have analyzed the keyword ideas section and found some promising keywords, you can choose one or more keywords to target in your content.
To choose a keyword, you should consider:
- Your audience: Who are they? What are they looking for? What are their problems and needs?
- Your content: What type of content can you create around this keyword? How can you provide value and solve their problems?
- Your goals: What do you want to achieve with this content? How do you measure success?
You should match your content type and tone with the search intent of your keyword. For example, if your keyword has an informational intent, you should create an informative article or guide. If your keyword has a transactional intent, you should create a product page or landing page.
Bonus Step: Get Exact Keyword Search Volume Data
One limitation of Google Keyword Planner is that it only shows ranges of monthly searches for each keyword, not exact numbers. This can make it hard to compare keywords and estimate traffic potential.
However, there is a workaround to get exact search volume data for any keyword. Here's how:
- Create a new campaign in Google Ads.
- Choose "Search Network Only" as your campaign type.
- Enter any budget and bid amount.
- Enter your chosen keyword as your only ad group.
- Save and continue to create an ad.
- Enter any headline and description for your ad. It doesn't matter what you write, as long as it meets the Google Ads guidelines.
- Save and continue to the next step.
- On the "Campaign Settings" page, scroll down to the "Keywords" section and click on the pencil icon next to your keyword.
- You will see a pop-up window with the keyword planner tool. Here you can see the exact search volume data for your keyword, as well as other related keywords and their metrics.
- You can also adjust the date range, location, language and other settings to get more accurate data.
However, be aware that this method may not be free, as Google may charge you for running a campaign. To avoid this, you can pause or delete your campaign after getting the data you need. Alternatively, you can use other tools that provide similar data, such as Bing Ads or SEMrush.
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