Figuring out what people are looking for to drive traffic to your website is quite challenging. Luckily, Google provides a unique tool that helps you do precisely that, and it is 100% free. You only have to key in a particular word or phrase, hit the search button, and on your screen appears a vague range of the monthly search volumes.
Notably, it is a powerful, convenient and easy to use the tool. Given that the tool is created with PPC advertisers in mind, plenty features may not be useful when finding keywords for SEO. To gain access to its services, you need to have an Ads account, which you can set up within a few minutes.
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Creating a Google Ads account
- Log on to their website and click create new account
- Provide the required information about you and your business
- If you do not have an active campaign, set up a Google AdWords campaign
- Your account is now set up and ready to use
- Log back in, hit the tools icon at the top of the page, and then click on the ‘Keyword Planner’ button.
Choose your tool
Within the Keyword Planner, you will discover two tools, Discover New Keywords and Get search volume and forecasts. The Discover New Keywords tool helps you generate and find new keywords. There is a field where you enter products and services provides by your company. You want to be as strategic as possible, as the keywords generated will largely depend on what you fill. Then click on ‘Get Results’ to display the keywords results page.
If you to check the search volume of any keyword, copy and paste the words into the search field and click ‘Get Started’. A keyword results page, similar to the one of the previous tool, is generated. Both pages have four targeting options; location, language, search networks and data range. However, in this case, you receive comprehensive data on your keyword, including a prediction on the number of clicks you will get.
Filter, sort and analyze the results
Hitting the ‘Add Filter’ button provides you with a list of options including;-
- Keyword Text – The tool only displays the keywords that include a particular phrase
- Exclude keywords in my account – Does not include keywords already in use by your account
- Exclude adult ideas
- Competition – Only keywords with the low, medium or high competition are displayed
- Average monthly searches – You get to see the keywords with either plenty of low volume searches
- Top page bid – Refers to how much you would pay to have your ad appear top for that keyword. You choose either low or high range bid.
After filtering, you will still be left with a list of keywords that require will require a keen set of eyes for you to pick the best. Consider the relevance of the keyword, searches per month (putting into consideration seasonal searches), competition and page bid.
Final word
There is so much more into finding a keyword than simply hitting buttons on the screen. You will need to consider the word’s search volume, commercial intent and the existing competition. Most importantly, you will need to understand that choosing a keyword is more of an art than science.