Google made a big change recently ending Google Adwords Keyword Tool.
They didn’t leave us out in the cold though…or did they by leaving us with Google Keyword Planner?
Keyword Planner is not as user friendly as keyword tool but not impossible to learn after a few rounds.
Keyword Planner is missing some pretty useful features that we were use to with Keyword Tool.
What Should I Do Now?
Just as many others, I was not pleased and started to look for alternatives.
There are many good keyword tool sites out there but for me they were lacking some of what I personally wanted.
I spent a lot of time looking at the many different options, which can be a hard choice.
The free ones are super limited and the paid ones all offer generally the same thing but at a wide variety of cost.
Then I thought to my self, yes it’s different and yes it is missing some features but let me look more into this Google Keyword Planner.
It is always better to get information straight from the source, right?
In doing so, I found Keyword Planner to still be very useful.
Giving a lot of the same information just in a different way.
Google developed a no pressure way to show you advertising cost associated with your selected keywords with Keyword Planner.
Keyword Planner has grown on me compared to everything else that is out there.
I’m not a big fan of the tutorials Google set in place. So hopefully this step by step guide will get you to maybe forgive Google and give them another shot!
I recommend reading: Google’s Keyword Planner: What’s changed and is it any good?
Google Keyword Planner Guide
Start off by Signing up or logging into your Google Adwords account.
This only takes a couple minutes if you already have a Gmail account.
After you are logged in select “Tools and Analysis” to pull up the drop down. Then select Keyword Planner.
Select Keyword Planner
How To Search For A Keyword
Keyword Planner gives you 3 different options to search for a keyword.
Choose Which Option To Use For Search
1) Search for keyword and ad group ideas– This option is close to what you had with Keyword Tool. With this option you will type in your Keywords and Google will give you the search results for those Keywords and suggested Keywords.
Along with your Keywords you will see suggested Ad Groups and the cost per click for each Keyword. This is not anything you will be obligated to pay.
As mentioned above Google is just trying to show you what it would take to advertise with them.
Place The Keywords You Want To Search For Here
You have 3 options in the “Search for keywords and ad group ideas” section:
Product or Service– Just add your keywords and click “Get Ideas” at the bottom of the form.
Your Landing Page Section– Google will generate some potential keywords from the URL you enter in this section. This will help you target the right traffic you want to go to a specific page on your website.
Your product category– This will help Google narrow down some Keywords that are matched to your product. If your product doesn’t match exactly to an option on the list, I would not use this option for your research.
Customize your results using these sections:
Targeting– This allows you to narrow down which Location, Language and Negative Keywords (Keywords you don’t want shown in results) for your research.
Customize your search– Keyword Filter allows you to specifically set your minimum Keyword search volume, using the average cost per click and ad impressions you may want to view.
This is a very useful section. It will help you see more of what you want instead of weeding through many keywords that are not of any use to you.
Product Keyword Search Results
Your search volume results will be the average for all the Keywords that are in a particular Ad Group.
You can see a list of all Keywords associated with that Ad Group by hovering over the partial Keyword list shown.
The Ad Group will be listed by relevance. All Keywords will be found with Exact Match options (The best option for Keyword research).
If you are happy with your group, you can add it to your Adwords account by clicking on the “Download” button in the top right corner of the list.
Download Results In Top Right Corner
This is pretty important to remember. This is one of the key differences between Keyword Tool and Keyword Planner.
The Exact Match, Broad Match and Phrase Match no longer have anything to do with altering Keyword results. Every search query will be automatically use the Exact Match option.
This now only changes the Click and Cost estimates when you choose Broad match and Phrase match.
Select Drop Down In Top Right Corner Of Results To Choose Match Option
If you want to view a list of Keywords without the Ad Group click on the “Keyword Ideas” button on the top let corner of the list.
Click Here For Keyword Ideas
2) Enter or upload keywords to see how they perform– This option is for users who are more geared toward advertising with Google. After you enter your keywords then you will be able to set your Bid amount and Max daily budget. You will also get more information about cost per click, estimated clicks and other useful data to help you with your campaign.
It is also for users who know exactly what Keywords they want to research without suggestions.
Input Keywords And Select Get Estimates or Get Search Volume
At the bottom of the form you will see two options:
a) Get Estimates– this will pull up a form where you can enter a bid amount and your max daily budget. Then you can see about how many clicks you can get to your website using that Keyword.
b) Get Search Volume– This will pull up the search volume for the specific Keywords of our choice.
Results For Cost Per Click and Average Clicks
The results above were from using the Keyword “Keyword Planner” with a $5.00 Bid with a max budget of $50.00 a day (The recommended minimum).
That would get me about 20 clicks a day for this keyword.
3) Multiple keyword lists– You will get two sections (List 1 and List 2) to fill out and Google will create multiple combinations for you.
For Ex. in the first section you can put Louisiana and Texas.
In the next section you can put Amusement Parks and Aquariums.
Fill in Both List And Google Will Combine Results For You
Google will automatically give you the results for Louisiana Amusement Parks, Louisiana Aquariums, Texas Amusement Parks and Texas Aquariums.
Results By Google On Multiple Keyword List
Google Keyword Planner has grown on me. It still provides some great Keyword research options.
Before you count Keyword Planner out, I think you should do your due diligence and give it a shot.
Will you use or give Google Keyword Planner another try or have you found a better alternative?
