Google’s suite of products is vast – it includes email, video, smartphones, shopping… and it also includes tools to help you improve your search engine optimisation and PPC advertising campaigns!
You watch YouTube pretty regularly. Google Maps is a lifesaver when you’re in an unfamiliar part of town. Chances are you’re reading this using either an Android smartphone (an OS owned by Google) or Google Chrome browser.
There are oh-so many different services and products under the Google banner – so it’s little surprise that it also happens to include a number of nifty SEO and digital marketing tools as well!
You won’t find it on the list of services and products we linked above, but Google Keyword Planner is a really powerful tool when it comes to SEO and PPC advertising, and can play a huge role in devising your strategy.
And that’s what we’re here to talk about today!
How does Google Keyword Planner work and how do you get Google keywords using it?
While many of the tools our SEO agency in Melbourne relies upon are high-end tools designed specifically for agency use, there are some that even you can use for yourself.
Case in point: Google Keyword Planner.
If you have a Google Ads account, you’ll have access to Google Keyword Planner, a surprisingly powerful and 100% free tool that you can use to devise a Google Ads campaign (and which can even be used to improve your SEO efforts as well).
Keywords are the foundation of any SEO or PPC strategy – what’s the point of being the number one result for a hyper niche subject that nobody searches for at all?
Choosing the right keywords is an important first step, and that’s what Keyword Planner helps with.
This tool can be accessed from your Google Ads dashboard, and provides all manner of useful information:
- Keywords – in addition to helping discover keywords, this tool also provides related searches
- Search volumes – how many people are searching for a phrase?
- Average bid – how much can you expect to pay for ads on this particular phrase?
- Competition levels – the number of other sites competing for ad visibility on that same search
Needless to say, all of this information can be super helpful in planning out your PPC strategy, and can help you choose potentially thousands of different keywords for your PPC and SEO!
How do I set up Keyword Planner?
Everything you need to know about getting started…
Do you have a Google Ads account? If so, getting set up is easy – all you need to do is:
- Log in to Google Ads
- Click the wrench at the top of the page
- Select an option
- Click “discover new keywords” OR
- Click “get search volume and forecast”
Really, that’s all there is to it!
No complex installation, no linking accounts together, and no syncing – it’s bundled and ready-to-go as part of any Google Ads account.
Using it is intuitive and easy (as with all things Google makes) – just type in what keywords you want to be found for or a general phrase that reflects what it is that you do, and Keyword Planner will do the rest.
How do I find keywords?
When you select “discover new keywords”, you’ll be taken to a textbox that’ll prompt you to “enter products or services closely related to your business”.
Depending on what you type here, Keyword Planner will pick out a range of keywords based on actual Google searches that it feels are relevant.
Simple, right?
Unfortunately, it isn’t that straightforward – if you want to get the most out of this particular tool, we recommend:
- Entering multiple phrases
- Setting your country
- Going local (SEO in Melbourne needs to account for specific suburbs and service areas)
How do I check traffic for keywords?
Finding keywords is one thing – it’s also important that you choose keywords that actually have enough traffic to justify using!
Our general policy when working with small businesses is to start with niche searches, as we find more specific, localised keywords that are easy to gain rank or bid for.
However, it’s entirely possible to narrow things down too much and end up choosing keywords that won’t drive much traffic towards your website or generate much in the way of business.
Selecting the “search volume and forecast” option will give you an insight into which ones are worth pursuing by:
- Telling you how many monthly searches
- Providing historical search trends
- Impressions (total views)
- CTR (clickthrough rate – the number of people who’ll actually click on it)
Just remember not to tunnel vision on the big searches with thousands of monthly searches – in our experience, these tend to be the most competitive, and thus the hardest to rank for (in terms of organic SEO) and the most expensive to bid for.
Why waste time and money there when you could get faster and more affordable results with more specific keywords?
How do you check the price of keywords?
In addition to offering search volumes, the forecast button also gives you a bunch of crucial information surrounding prices for PPC advertising such as average successful bid size.
Not only will this give you an idea of how your Google Ads spend is being spent, but it can also help you prioritise keywords in your PPC advertising.
For example, going for the more expensive ones might not be a great idea, as they can quickly eat up your budget while also generating fewer leads (assuming the same conversion rate).
How do I create keywords?
Okay, so now you know how Google Keyword Planner works. Now it’s time to put all of that together and ask ourselves how to select and create keywords for your SEO and PPC campaigns.
All of this information can help you make the final decision regarding which keywords to use as the main focus of your SEO or PPC campaigns.
What should you look at when making the big decision?
- Competition: less-competitive keywords are easier to rank for – at the same time however, it’s important to consider…
- Volume: it’s important that you choose keywords that have enough volume to actually offer you a solid number of leads in return
- Clickthrough rate: a keyword can have thousands of searches, but if only a handful are actually clicking through, it isn’t much use
- Geography: local SEO and PPC are some of the most powerful tools in a small business’ arsenal
- Trends: it’s possible to use Keyword Planner to identify trends or seasonality which you can use to get ahead of the competition
Luckily, our SEO and PPC agency are here to offer some pointers, and help you choose the keywords that offer the best performance across all of these important areas.
Need to find keywords for your blog? Interested in improving your PPC by changing your keywords?
iformat are experts in SEO
Do you need SEO or PPC for your Melbourne business? If so, you shouldn’t be afraid of getting help.
While tools like Google Keyword Planner can be a big help when doing DIY SEO, PPC and Content Marketing in Melbourne, the fact of the matter is that there are literally hundreds of different moving parts that go into either.
With all your other responsibilities, do you really have time for that?
Our online strategy agency are SEO Specialist Melbourne and PPC experts in Melbourne too.
Each strategy we craft is tailor-made to suit your business’ circumstances, based on a range of information obtained using tools like Google Keyword Planner (as well as some much more powerful ones!)
Find out how we can help your business with its SEO and PPC strategies – get in touch with our digital marketing specialists today on 1300 88 64 50, or click here to get in touch online.