Google Ads Keyword Planner: How to Find the Right Keywords

The Keyword Planner is Google's free tool for researching keywords, estimating search volumes, and forecasting costs. It's the starting point for every Search campaign.

Yet most advertisers use it wrong. They type a keyword, glance at the volume, and launch the campaign. That's missing 80% of the tool's value.

How to Access the Keyword Planner

The Keyword Planner is only accessible from a Google Ads account. No account = no access. But creating an account is free — you don't have to spend money to use the tool.

Step-by-step access:

1. Sign in to ads.google.com
2. Click "Tools" in the top menu
3. Select "Keyword Planner"

You'll see two options:

• Discover new keywords: from a keyword or URL
• Get search volume and forecasts: for a keyword list you already have

Important note: if your account has never spent any ad budget, Google shows volume ranges (1K-10K) instead of precise numbers. To get exact volumes, you need an active account with running campaigns.

Discovering New Keywords

From a Keyword

Enter one or more seed keywords. Google generates a list of suggestions based on real user searches.

Example: typing "digital marketing agency" might suggest:

• "digital marketing agency new york"
• "digital marketing company"
• "online marketing agency"
• "marketing agency freelance"
• "digital marketing agency pricing"

Each suggestion displays the average monthly search volume, competition level, and a CPC range.

From a URL

Enter a website URL (yours or a competitor's) and Google extracts relevant keywords from the page. This is an underused but highly effective method for:

• Analyzing competitors: enter their homepage to see which keywords they're targeting
• Refining your own strategy: enter your landing page to verify you're targeting the right terms
• Discovering niches: enter industry blog pages to find keywords you hadn't considered

Filtering Results

Filters are where the Keyword Planner becomes truly powerful:

• Search volume: filter to only see keywords with minimum volume (e.g., 100+ searches/month)
• Competition: filter by "Low" to find underexploited opportunities
• Bids: filter by CPC range to stay within your budget
• Terms to exclude: remove keywords containing irrelevant terms ("free," "training," etc.)

Combine these filters. The sweet spot is a keyword with decent volume (100-1,000/month), low to medium competition, and a CPC aligned with your profitability target.

Estimating Search Volumes

The Keyword Planner's second function lets you enter an existing keyword list and get volumes and forecasts.

This is the method to use when you already have your keywords and want to prioritize:

1. Paste your keyword list (one per line)
2. Select the geographic area and language
3. Analyze the results

Data displayed for each keyword:

• Average monthly search volume (over 12 months)
• Trend (monthly graph)
• Competition (low, medium, high)
• Low and high bid estimates (CPC range)

How to Read the Volumes

Displayed volumes are 12-month monthly averages. A keyword showing "1,000" might have 2,000 searches in January (sales season) and 500 in August. Seasonality matters.

Look at the trend graph. A growing keyword is worth more than a stable keyword at the same volume. A declining keyword is a red flag.

CPC and Performance Forecasts

The "Forecasts" tab is the Keyword Planner's most underrated feature. It estimates what your keywords will generate in terms of:

• Clicks projected per day/month
• Impressions projected
• Total cost estimated
• Average CPC estimated
• CTR (click-through rate) estimated
• Average position estimated

You can adjust the daily budget and bidding strategy to see how projections change. It's a campaign simulator.

Important caveat: these forecasts are estimates based on historical data. They're useful for planning but aren't guarantees. Actual performance depends on your ad quality, landing pages, and current competition.

Using Forecasts to Set a Budget

Practical method:

1. Enter your keywords into the planner
2. Go to the "Forecasts" tab
3. Adjust the daily budget until you get a click volume aligned with your goals
4. Multiply by 30 for your starting monthly budget

If the forecasts show an average CPC of $3 and you're targeting 100 clicks/day, plan for $300/day or $9,000/month. Adjust based on your expected conversion rate and target CPA.

Using the Keyword Planner for SEO

The Keyword Planner is a Google Ads tool, but it's also useful for organic search. Search volumes and trends are the same whether traffic is paid or organic.

For SEO, the Keyword Planner helps you:

• Identify keywords to target in your content
• Compare volumes between synonyms (e.g., "pricing" vs "rates" vs "cost")
• Spot seasonality to plan your editorial calendar
• Discover long-tail keywords via suggestions

SEO limitation: the Keyword Planner provides no information on organic ranking difficulty. A keyword with "low" competition in Ads can be highly competitive in SEO. For SEO difficulty, tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, or Ubersuggest are complementary.

Keyword Planner Limitations

The tool is powerful but imperfect. Know its limitations so you don't make bad decisions:

Approximate volumes. Even with an active account, volumes are rounded averages. A keyword showing "1,000" might actually have 800 or 1,200 searches. For precise volumes, cross-reference with Google Trends and Google Search Console.

Bias toward commercial keywords. The Keyword Planner favors purchase-intent keywords — it's an advertising tool. Informational or navigational queries are sometimes underrepresented.

Grouping of close variants. Google sometimes groups volumes of close variants. "Plumber NYC" and "plumber in NYC" may show the same volume because Google considers them the same intent.

No competitor-specific data. The Keyword Planner shows overall competition but not which specific advertisers are bidding on a keyword.

Method for Building a Profitable Keyword List

Here's the process we use at IOquery:

Step 1: Initial Brainstorm

List 10-20 seed keywords that describe your business, services, and your clients' problems.

Step 2: Expand via Keyword Planner

Enter each keyword into "Discover new keywords." Export the relevant suggestions. You go from 20 to 200+ keywords.

Step 3: Analyze Competitor URLs

Enter the URLs of 3-5 competitors. Recover the keywords you'd missed.

Step 4: Filter and Prioritize

Rank by potential: volume x purchase intent / CPC. High purchase-intent keywords ("quote," "pricing," "buy") take priority even if their volume is lower.

Step 5: Group by Theme

Group keywords by search intent. Each group will become an ad group in your campaign. One group = one intent = one ad = one landing page.

Going Further

The Keyword Planner is a core part of the Google Ads tool ecosystem. To understand how it fits with other tools, check out our complete guide on Google Ads tools.

To deepen your keyword strategy beyond research, read our guide on Google Ads keywords: match types, negative keywords, and optimization methodology.

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