Thursday, February 16th, 2023
SEO – Search Engine Optimization is one of the key factors in today’s age for generating website and business traffic. By using search engine optimization (SEO), you make it easier for search engines to recognise the content of your website and index it, so that they can display it on their results pages.
There are many tools these days that help in analysing the content that helps in making better content. There are several features these tools offer, including keyword research tools, competitive analyses, and keyword rankings.
With the advancement of SEO, the number of tools in the market continues to grow – but the question is “which tool should I use?”
The answer to the above question depends upon various factors such as:
Need for SEO tools
SEO tools help in doing research and incorporating data on huge scales. Keyword planners and research tools are important.
There are many free tools available nowadays, one of them being “Google Keyword Planner.”
Keyword research is the foundation of every successful SEO and PPC campaign. After all, if you want to boost Google traffic or run an effective Google Ads campaign, you need to know what your audience is searching for and build your growth strategy on that.
You are working blind if you do not know how searchers find the things you sell, the services you provide, or the information and skills you share. The good news is that keyword research doesn’t have to be a difficult endeavour, and one of the greatest places to start learning about the search phrases you should be optimizing for (or bidding on) is the Google Keyword Planner; a free tool that should be at the top of your list.
Google Keyword Planner is one of the most common and frequently used tools by SEO experts to analyze keywords based and find out the metrics. It focuses on various forms of “keywords” or “search phrases and terms” connected to your company. Keyword Planner calculates the monthly search volume for specific keywords as well as the cost of targeting them with a paid campaign.
While Keyword Planner was designed with paid search campaigns in mind, the tool is useful for more than simply search engine marketing.
There are many keyword research tools out there, but Google Keywords Planner is a good, free keyword tool to start your journey in the world of SEO tools and the like.
Introduction to Google Keyword Planner
Keyword Planner, formerly known as the Google Keyword Product, is a tool that every search marketer should become acquainted with and understand well. It is an excellent tool for discovering and analyzing keywords to target in your campaigns and understanding how search terms have evolved. It is an excellent place to start if you need to locate the perfect keywords for your business.
Google Keyword Planner allows you to search for keyword insights for free.
Many apps require a paid subscription, but Keyword Planner is a free option for conducting keyword research. Keyword Planner has several advantages, including the ability to discover new keywords connected to your goal and the number of times people look for these each month.
It lets you discover what characteristics are vital to you in a keyword research tool so you know what to look for when shopping around later.
How to use Google Keyword Planner
Using Keyword Planner is fairly easy. All the things are present out in the open and the prompts are enough to help you set up or create your account. Still, let’s walk through the steps of using Keyword Planner.
● Creating an Account
First and foremost, before you can access Google Keyword Planner you need to have a Google ads account.
If you don’t have an Adwords account, setting one up is easy! A Google account is all that you need.
Go to Google Ad words Home to start making your ad words account.
Click on Get Started to start making your account. Make sure that you’re logged in with the Google account with which you want to make your Google ads and have Google My Business on.
Sign In if you already have an account.
● Setting up the account
After clicking on the “Get Started” button, you’ll be redirected to the above page. Here you can either click on Yes, use this info from my business profile or select No, don’t use this info and then click on Next.
Alternatively, you can also click on Switch to expert mode at the bottom. The only difference between the two is that the expert mode lets you fill all your data manually, whereas the other option picks up data automatically from the Google account.
For this blog, we’ll use Expert Mode.
After clicking on the Expert Mode option, the above window will open where you can enter your details manually. You can also select the option Create an account without a campaign. Clicking on this will lead you to the Google ads account where you can set up campaigns (if needed) and explore all the tools Google Keyword Planner offers.
After clicking on the Create an account without a campaign the above window will open. Country, time zone and currency will automatically be selected by Google based on your IP and account country. You can change it if you want. Afterwards, click on the Submit button and you’re DONE!
You’re now the owner of a Google Ads Account!
● Exploring Google Ads Account
After clicking on the Submit button, you’ll be redirected to a window as shown below.
Click on the Explore your account button to go into the ads account from where you can access and explore the account.
This is the homepage of your Google Ads account. To the left bar you can see things related to the ad campaigns. In the top bar is where the treasure lies. The third icon titled Tools and Settings is where you can explore all that ads account has to offer.
This is where you’ll find the Google Keywords Planner. Click on this icon and you’ll get a drop down window like below.
Select Keyword Planner from the drop down menu and you’ll be redirected to the page of Google Keyword Planner.
● Google Keyword Planner
Now you’ll see two options – “Discover new Keywords” and “Get search volume and forecast”
● Discover New Keywords
Discover new keywords is an excellent alternative if you want to increase the keywords, phrases, or themes you cover for your site.
You can type some of your keywords, select the country (default country is the one you selected when setting up your account) and see the other related keywords with metrics such as:
There’s also a “Start with a website” option. Here you’ll type in the URL of your website or your competitor to get an idea of the keywords you can use. The metrics are the same.
You can widen your search to include other terms to get more different keyword suggestions. You can also narrow it down by location, language, and time frame preferences.
If you want to be even more specific, depending on your search themes, you also have a choice to narrow by brand or non-brand, new or used.
● Get Search Volumes and Forecasts
One of the most significant differences is that you enter the keyword(s) you want to study, whereas the discover tool suggests other keywords.
Once you’ve entered your terms, you’ll see the search volume, three-month change, year-over-year change, competition rating, and low and high CPC pricing.
For this blog, we’re going to focus on Discover New Keywords.
Setting up the criteria
Now comes the fun part!
One method is to search using keywords, while another is, to begin with, a website URL. If you are a fresh new site with some competitors in the industry, you may want to use their success to assist and guide your strategy.
For this, you can use the “Start with a website” tool. It allows you to drill down to a page, area or the entire site.
We will be using the Start with Keywords option.
You will now be taken to the next window after typing in your desired keyword (Bicycles for this blog).
The 1st box is where you’ll see the keywords you have used. The 2nd box is where you can “broaden” your search by looking at the suggestions automatically suggested by Google. The 3rd Box is where you can select the duration for which you want to see the data.
Now that you have all of this wonderful information, you may want to share it, and we have two possibilities for you.
In the upper right-hand corner, you can download the data as a CSV file or Google Sheets. This gives you more freedom to edit and filter the data to meet your specific requirements.
While this guide focuses on the basic SEO functionalities in Google Keyword Planner, there is a wealth of knowledge accessible on the other services Keyword Planner may offer – whether for SEO, paid marketing, or general learning.
You can always go to the documentation provided by Google.