How to use Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner is a great way for marketers to find terms they can use in search-optimized content and ads. 

This guide shows you how to use Google Keyword Planner to find terms to use on your website and in your ad campaigns. It also explains when an alternative tool might work better.

What is Google Keyword Planner?

Google Keyword Planner is a free keyword research tool available within the Google Ads platform that shows the search terms people enter into Google, an estimate of how often terms are searched, and how much advertisers pay for clicks on ads using those terms.

Although Keyword Planner is designed for PPC keyword research (finding keywords for Google Search ads), you can also use it for SEO keyword research (finding terms to use on your website).

Keyword Planner can also be used as a starting point for identifying queries to focus on for agentic search optimization. Effectively, identifying prompts your audience enters into AI tools lets you optimize your content for AI agents that reference sources and generate answers for users.

Step 1: Access Keyword Planner

You can access Keyword Planner inside your Google Ads account. 

You don’t need to run an ad campaign to use Keyword Planner, but you do need to enter billing details to access the tool. 

After you log in or create a Google Ads account:

• Switch to Expert mode. If you’re currently in Smart Mode, click “Settings” in the top right navigation menu, and select “Switch to Expert Mode.” You’re already in Expert mode if the “Settings” icon is absent from the navigation menu.
• Link your Google Search Console and Google Ads accounts for additional keyword data

To access Keyword Planner, go to “Tools” > “Planning” > “Keyword Planner.”

Step 2: Find new search queries

To find keyword ideas, select “Discover new keywords” in Keyword Planner. 

You can start with: 

1. A website: Enter a URL, and the tool will scan the page or domain for keyword ideas. This works with your own website or competitors’ sites.
2. Keywords: Enter a few terms, and Google will suggest related keywords 

Say you want to know which keywords are most relevant to your main competitor. Click “Start with a website,” enter their URL, select the circle next to “Use the entire site,” and click “Get results.”

Now you can see which keywords Google sees as most associated with your competition. And that means these terms are likely relevant to you as well. 

Alternatively, enter a broad term into Keyword Planner to get more specific keyword ideas. You can also enter your website’s URL to automatically filter out unrelated keywords. Then, click “Get results.”

Keyword Planner will display a list of related keywords along with metrics like average monthly searches, three-month change (to spot declining or growing terms), and competition (to understand how many advertisers are bidding on the term).

Because Keyword Planner gives you terms closely related to the term you first entered, the list of suggestions may be narrower compared to other keyword research tools.

For example, inputting “leather purses” into Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool returns about 26,100 ideas. In Keyword Planner, we only got 2,800 ideas.

The search queries you discover with Keyword Planner can also help you figure out what people are asking LLMs. 

Using Semrush’s Prompt Research, enter one of your newly discovered keywords. You’ll get different topics and prompts that people use related to your entered keywords.

Create content around the various topics and prompts to improve your visibility in AI tools.

Step 3: Filter your terms

Use filters within Keyword Planner to focus on the most relevant terms you’re likely to appear in search for or convert with. 

Click “Add filter” and select which filter you’d like. In Keyword Planner, you can filter by competition level, terms you want to exclude, and more. 

Let’s say you want to use Keyword Planner to find terms to use in content focused on the handbags you sell that are made of real leather. In this case, select the “Keyword” filter, enter the term “faux,” and select the circle next to “Semantic Match” to exclude keywords with a similar meaning to the one you entered.

Click “Refine keywords” for further filtering options. Deselect any terms that aren’t relevant. For the leather purse example, you might deselect certain colors you don’t carry.

Step 4: Analyze search volumes

Analyze the search volumes in Keyword Planner to identify terms that might send you the most traffic via ads or organic content.

Look at the “Avg. monthly searches” column. 

Keyword Planner search volume data is usually shown in broad ranges — like 100-1K — instead of exact numbers. This makes it harder to compare keywords or know which ones will drive more traffic. (You can get accurate search volume numbers if your account has consistent ad spend.)

If you want accurate average search volumes, use Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool.

For example, we took 100 keywords and compared the average monthly search volume between Google and Semrush’s data for the past 12 months.Here’s a snippet of our data:

Across all 100 keywords we compared: 

• Google’s Keyword Planner showed a total of 1,083,650 estimated searches 
• Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool showed a more accurate total of 267,500

If you rely solely only on Google’s search volume ranges, you might prioritize the wrong keywords and miss traffic opportunities. 

Step 5: Compare competition

Compare the competition of keywords to see if they’re ones you can realistically compete with for ads or easily rank for organically. 

If you’re running ads, check the “Competition” and “Top of page bid” columns in Keyword Planner. These help you choose keywords that match your budget. 

Here’s what each column shows:

• Top of bid (low range): The lower end of what advertisers typically pay for a top ad spot. It gives you a rough idea of the minimum cost per click in this ad space.
• Top of page bid (high range): The higher end of what advertisers typically pay for a top ad spot. It gives you a rough idea of the maximum cost per click for this keyword.
• Competition: The level of advertiser interest — rated as “Low,” “Medium,” “High,” or “–” if there’s not enough data. It reflects the number of advertisers bidding on this keyword relative to other keywords.

Combine this competition data with search volume data to understand cost vs. potential reach. 

For example, say you want to run PPC ads for “leather purses.” Which Keyword Planner estimates between 10,000 to 100,000 monthly searches. 

If you estimate a 2% click-through rate (CTR), Google’s range of 10K to 100K searches could mean anywhere from 200 to 2,000 clicks. This large range makes it hard to forecast how much traffic your ad might get or how to budget effectively.

But Semrush shows the real volume for “leather purses” is closer to 6,600 searches, which gives you a clearer baseline for planning. 

To uncover how competitive a keyword is to rank for organically, use the Keyword Magic Tool and input your website along with a keyword. 

You’ll get a Personal Keyword Difficulty (PKD %) metric that measures how hard it is to rank highly in organic search for your specific site. A lower PKD % means you stand a better chance of securing a top organic result. 

Step 6: Forecast PPC keywords

Use Keyword Planner’s forecast feature to estimate how your ads might perform, so you can focus on the most effective terms.

Start by clicking “Get search volumes and forecasts.” Enter or upload your keywords and click “Get started.”

Go to the “Forecast” tab to get estimates for your list of entered keywords. Google uses data like historical performance (if you’ve run ads in the past), seasonality, and your budget to provide estimates for conversions, clicks, and ad costs to help you optimize your conversion rates.

Adjust criteria like your bid strategy or match type to see which adjustments lead to more sales, and ultimately, a better return on investment (ROI). 

If you want to use the terms you entered for ads, click “Create campaign” and follow the instructions to launch your ads. 

Additional insights to refine your query list

Using additional insights helps you refine your keyword list, so you know which keywords to prioritize for content and ads. 

First, open the Keyword Overview tool and enter the list of keywords you want to analyze. Click the number in the “SF” column to see if the keyword triggers SERP features like featured snippets or AI Overviews, which may shape the way you write your content or whether you decide to run ads. 

Use the “Intent” column to understand the searcher’s likely goal and what type of content they want:

• Navigational: The user wants to find a particular website or page
• Informational: The user want to learn more about a topic
• Commercial: The user wants to conduct research prior to making a purchase decision
• Transactional: The user wants to complete an action like a purchase

And the CPC column can help you find keywords that fit your ad budget. 

Want to find the right queries to target? Try Semrush One for free today.