Mastering SEO Keyword Research with Google Keyword Planner: A Comprehensive Guide

Google Keyword Planner is a free tool that helps you find the right keywords for your online marketing campaigns. 

Whether you want to target search ads, display ads, video ads, or app ads, Google Keyword Planner can help you discover relevant and popular keywords for your niche.

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In this blog post, I will show you how to use Google Keyword Planner for SEO purposes. 

I will explain how to access the tool, how to find keyword ideas, how to analyze keyword metrics, and how to create keyword plans.


Accessing Google Keyword Planner

To access Google Keyword Planner, you need a Google Ads account. If you don't have one, you can create one for free at https://ads.google.com/intl/en_us/home/tools/keyword-planner/.

Once you have an account, you can sign in and click on the Tools icon in the top right corner. Then, select Keyword Planner from the drop-down menu.


Finding Keyword Ideas

Google Keyword Planner offers two ways to find keyword ideas: Discover new keywords and Get search volume and forecasts.

Discover new keywords allows you to enter words or phrases related to your products or services, or a website URL or category that describes your business. Google will then generate a list of keyword suggestions based on your input.

For example, if I enter "SEO tips" as a phrase, I get the following results:


The results show me the average monthly searches, the competition level, and the suggested bid for each keyword. I can also see other related keywords and their metrics by clicking on the tabs at the top.

Get search volume and forecasts allows you to enter a list of keywords that you already have and see how they might perform in terms of clicks and impressions. Google will also provide a forecast of the cost and conversion rate for each keyword.

For example, if I enter "SEO tips", "SEO best practices", and "SEO tutorial" as keywords, I get the following results:


The results show me the historical and projected performance of my keywords based on my budget and targeting settings. I can also see a detailed breakdown of each keyword by clicking on the tabs at the top.


Analyzing Keyword Metrics

If you want to optimize your website for search engines, you need to understand how to analyze keyword metrics. 

Keyword metrics are data points that help you measure the performance and value of your target keywords. In this blog post, we will explain what keyword metrics are, why they are important, and how to use them effectively.

Keyword metrics are based on various factors, such as:

• Search volume: The average number of times a keyword is searched for in a given period.
• Trends: The changes in search volume over time and across regions.
• Difficulty: The level of competition for ranking for a keyword, based on the authority and relevance of the top-ranking pages.
• CPC: The average cost per click for a keyword, which indicates its commercial intent and profitability.
• SERP features: The special elements that appear on the search results page for a keyword, such as ads, snippets, images, videos, etc.

These metrics can help you:

• -Identify high-potential keywords that have a good balance of search volume, difficulty, and CPC.
• Analyze the search intent and behavior of your target audience.
• Evaluate the performance and ranking potential of your web pages.
• Optimize your content and SEO strategy accordingly.

To access these metrics, you need to use keyword research tools, such as Google Keyword Planner, Google Trends, Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, etc. 

These tools can provide you with thousands of keyword ideas and their corresponding metrics. You can also compare different keywords and see how they rank over time.

Google Keyword Planner provides several metrics that can help you evaluate and compare different keywords. Here are some of the most important ones:

1. Average monthly searches: This shows how many times people searched for a keyword on average per month over the past 12 months. This can indicate the popularity and demand of a keyword.
2. Competition: This shows how many advertisers are bidding on a keyword relative to other keywords. This can indicate how difficult or expensive it is to rank for a keyword.
3. Top of page bid (low range): This shows the lower range of what advertisers have historically paid for a click on their ad when it appeared at the top of the search results page for a keyword. This can indicate how valuable a keyword is to advertisers.
4. Top of page bid (high range): This shows the higher range of what advertisers have historically paid for a click on their ad when it appeared at the top of the search results page for a keyword. This can indicate how valuable a keyword is to advertisers.
5. Organic impression share: This shows how often your website appeared in the organic (non-paid) search results for a keyword over the past 30 days. This can indicate how well your website ranks for a keyword.
6. Organic average position: This shows the average position of your website in the organic (non-paid) search results for a keyword over the past 30 days. This can indicate how well your website ranks for a keyword.

You can use these metrics to filter and sort your keywords according to your goals and preferences. For example, you can filter by competition level, bid range, or impression share to find keywords that are relevant, profitable, and attainable.


Creating Keyword Plans

Google Keyword Planner allows you to create keyword plans based on your selected keywords. A keyword plan is a set of ad groups that contain related keywords and their bids.

To create a keyword plan, you need to select one or more keywords from your list and click on Add to plan. You can then choose an existing plan or create a new one.

For example, if I select "SEO tips" and "SEO best practices" from my list and add them to a new plan called "SEO Blog", I get the following result:


The result shows me an overview of my plan, including the estimated clicks, impressions and cost per month for each keyword. 

It also shows me the competition level and the top of page bid range for each keyword. This helps me to prioritize the keywords that have the most potential to drive traffic and conversions to my blog.

But that's not all. I can also see the keyword forecasts for each keyword, which show me how they are expected to perform in the next 12 months. This helps me to plan my content strategy and optimize my blog posts for the future.

To see the keyword forecasts, I just need to click on the "Forecasts" tab at the top of the page. 

Here, I can see a graph that shows me the projected clicks, impressions, cost, and average position for each keyword. 

I can also adjust the date range, the bid, and the device type to see how they affect the forecasts.


The keyword forecasts help me to identify the best time to publish my blog posts and the optimal bid for each keyword. 

For example, I can see that the keyword "SEO tips" has a high seasonality, meaning that it has more demand in certain months than others. 

I can also see that the keyword "SEO best practices" has a low competition level and a high click-through rate, meaning that it is easier to rank for and more likely to attract visitors.

By using the Keyword Planner tool, I can create a comprehensive and effective keyword plan for my SEO blog. 

I can find relevant and profitable keywords, see their performance metrics and forecasts, and optimize my content and budget accordingly. This helps me to achieve my SEO goals and grow my blog audience.

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