6 ways to use the adwords keyword planner for seo & content
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1. Enter a webpage URL to see which keywords you should be optimizing for
• Under Search for new keyword and ad group ideas, plug in the URL of one of the webpages you’re trying to optimize. Fill in the remaining fields to refine the data even further.
• The tool will suggest up to 800 keywords relevant to that page.
• This is a great first step when coming up with a content strategy for a client’s website. Filter keywords by search volume and use a tool like Authority Labs to see how the website is ranking on those terms. High search volume + low organic rankings = great opportunity for content creation.
2. Alter and compare date ranges• Under Search for new keyword and ad group ideas or
Get search volume for a list of keywords or group them into ad groups, click on the “Date range” field to adjust to your liking (default is last 12 months).
• Adjusting the date range to a smaller window of time can give you a better estimate of a keyword’s recent popularity.
• You can also compare two different time periods – either the previous period, last year’s period, or any custom period you define.
Example: iPhone 6
The average search volume for “iphone 6” over the past 12 months is 246,000. But if we narrow the date range to just the last two months, the volume jumps to 550,000.
By turning on the Compare Date Range feature for the previous period, we can see how much search interest in “iphone 6” has increased from April to July.
3. Use filtering and keyword optionsUse filtering and keyword options to further refine your data when you Search for new keyword or ad group ideas.
• Keyword filters: Filter by
average monthly searches to
only see keywords with search
volumes above a certain level.
• Keyword options: Narrow down
your keyword list by only
showing ideas closely related
to your search terms.
• Include/Exclude: Choose to
exclude keywords containing
irrelevant terms.
4. Get search volume for a list of keywords• From the main screen, navigate to Get search volume
for a list of keywords or group them into ad groups.
• You will be given the option to either manually enter the keywords one-per-line or to upload a file containing your list of keywords. Either way, Google will spit out the search volume for each keyword.
• This feature is useful if you’ve already built out a list of keywords (or been provided one by your client) and you want to find out what the search volume is for those keywords.
5. Multiply two separate keyword lists• Under Multiply keyword lists to get new keyword ideas, enter a list of keywords into the first field and a
separate list of keywords into the second field.
• The Keyword Planner will combine the two lists to give you new keyword suggestions.
• Example: You have one list of location-related keywords and one list of product-related keywords. By using the keyword multiplier, you can combine these keywords to discover new opportunities for an SEO or content campaign.
6. Examine search trends, mobile trends, and breakdown by device or location
• When you use the Keyword Planner to Search for new keyword or ad group ideas, you will see a bar graph at the top displaying the average monthly search volume for the entire list of keywords below.
• By clicking on the dropdown menu at the top, you can change Search volume trends to see Mobile trends, Breakdown by device, or Breakdown by location.
Example: Location breakdown for “shoes”
• We can break down searches in the shoes category by Canadian province to see where the majority of searches are taking place.
• Nearly half of shoe searches are taking place in Ontario. Therefore, Ontario-based keywords should be a priority for SEO and content creation.
