How To Use Google Keyword Planner for SEO

There are a lot of free SEO tools on the market, but Google Keyword Planner remains one of the most underrated. 

Despite being designed for PPC, it’s a powerful and free tool that every SEO should leverage for keyword discovery and strategy. The usefulness and versatility of this tool from an SEO perspective shouldn’t be understated. It rivals many premium tools and should be a key part of your keyword research process—even if you use platforms like Ubersuggest. In fact, you can unlock even more value by combining the Keyword Planner with Ubersuggest. I’ll show you how to do exactly that at the end of this article. 

So, if you’re ready to learn how to use Google Keyword Planner for SEO, read on!

Key Takeaways

• Google Keyword Planner is a free SEO and PPC tool that uses Google’s proprietary data to suggest relevant keywords based on a seed phrase or website URL.
• Even if you pay for a premium keyword research tool, Google Keyword Planner is still an excellent addition to your arsenal because it’s the only tool powered by Google Search data. 
• Google Keyword Planner provides keyword suggestions from a seed keyword or from a URL. In both cases, you get a list of hundreds of keywords you can sort by search volume and filter using a range of characteristics.
• GoogleKeyword Planner isn’t perfect. Search estimates are incredibly broad (e.g. 1k – 10k), and you’ll need to use an additional keyword research tool like Ubersuggest to get more accurate search volumes.
• Use Ubersuggest alongside the Keyword Planner for additional functionality like finding common questions, brainstorming topics, and writing a first draft using the AI Writer. 

Table of Contents

• Key Takeaways
• What Is Google Keyword Planner?
  • How Is It Useful for SEO?
• How to Use Google Keyword Planner for SEO Step-by-Step
  • Step 1: Access Google Keyword Planner
  • Step 2: Choose “Discover New Keywords”
  • Step 3: Find New Keywords
    • Start with keywords
    • Start with a website
  • Step 4: Refine Results
  • Step 5: Compare Search Volume
  • Step 6: Analyze Opportunities
    • Sort by competition
    • Change your location to see local search volume
    • Assess seasonality and trending terms
  • Step 7: Generate Content Ideas
    • Brainstorm angles
    • Find engaging content ideas
    • Write content quickly
• FAQs
• Conclusion

What Is Google Keyword Planner?

Google Keyword Planner is a free tool that helps marketers find keywords for both PPC and SEO. It uses Google’s data to provide keyword suggestions, monthly search volume, trend insights, and PPC costs.

How Is It Useful for SEO?

Google built the Planner to help PPC marketers find keywords for their search campaigns. However, SEOs have been using Google Keyword Planner for SEO for years as a free alternative or complement to premium keyword research tools like Ubersuggest.

Even if you pay for premium tools, the Keyword Planner is a great place to start your keyword research because it’s the only SEO tool on the market that provides recommendations based on Google’s data.

You can even download your research as a Google Sheet or CSV file, meaning you can upload it to a premium tool for further research. 

How to Use Google Keyword Planner for SEO Step-by-Step

Now, let’s look at how to actually use the Google Keyword Planner for SEO. Follow the steps below to start finding keywords immediately. 

Step 1: Access Google Keyword Planner

You need a Google Ads account to access Google Keyword Planner. Don’t worry—you won’t have to launch a campaign or spend money.

Just sign up for one here. 

Once you’re signed in, navigate to the Keyword Planner.

You’ll find it under Tools > Planning in the left-hand sidebar. 

Step 2: Choose “Discover New Keywords”

You get a choice of two options when you open the Keyword Planner: 

• Discover new keywords
• Get search volume and forecasts

The second option is a great way to get search volumes for an existing keyword list. But we want to find new keywords, so let’s click the first option: Discover new keywords. 

Step 3: Find New Keywords

There are two ways to find new keywords in Keyword Planner:

1. Start with keywords. Google suggests keywords based on one or more seed phrases.
2. Start with a website. Google will use the content on this website to suggest relevant keywords. 

We’ll walk through both options below.

Start with keywords

Google recommends adding words or phrases closely related to your business without being too broad or too specific. 

If I wanted to find keywords for my agency, NP Digital, for example, I would enter “SEO agency” rather than “SEO” or “SEO agency San Diego”.

I can also add a website to filter out keywords that don’t match my offering. This isn’t necessary, but it will mean you don’t have to spend time combing through the results and removing keywords that you already rank for and ones that are completely irrelevant to your offering. 

Note: Google will default the search location to your country. You can change countries (if you only want to target Canadian users, for example) or narrow down your search to a specific state or city. 

Once you’re happy with the keyword and location, click Get results.

Keyword Planner will display:

• Keyword suggestions sorted by relevance
• Average monthly searches
• Other keyword data
• Suggestions for broadening your search

As you can see, Google has suggested quite a few keywords I should target. These include obvious terms like SEO company and SEO services, as well as terms I may not have considered, like “SEO companies for small businesses.”

Start with a website

Now, let’s look at how to find keywords starting with a website. 

In this case, I’ll enter my agency’s URL into the search bar. You can also enter a specific page or subdomain.

In this case, Google has provided a much broader range of keywords. That’s because SEO is just one of the services my agency offers. 

If you have a well-established website and want to find gaps in your keyword targeting, I recommend using the “Start with a website” method. Otherwise, start with a seed keyword for best results.

Step 4: Refine Results

Now, let’s look at how to refine our results. From now on, I’ll use the SEO-focused keywords I generated using my seed keyword. 

On the right-hand side of the results, the Refine keywords bar provides a range of filters. 

In my case, I can filter by:

• Brand or non-brand
• Service
• Aspect
• Industry
• Other

If I only choose the “platforms” filter under Brand or Non-Brand, for example, the Keyword Planner only shows me keywords that contain the names of e-commerce platforms.

I can use the “Industry” filter to drill down into sector-specific keywords and do the same with the “Services” filter to uncover service-specific keywords related to link building and local SEO.  

Step 5: Compare Search Volume

The “Average monthly searches” column in Keyword Planner allows you to gauge search volume. However, it displays volume as a broad range, making it tricky to compare specific keywords and find the best opportunities. 

For example, Keyword Planner estimates “local SEO services” gets between 1,000 and 10,000 searches per month. That’s a pretty wide range, making it hard to determine how competitive it really is.

The good news is you can get precise estimates for free using Ubersuggest. Simply head over to Ubersuggest’s Keyword Research tool and enter one of your terms. 

Ubersuggest provides much more data than the Keyword Planner. For starters, you get a much more specific monthly search volume estimate (3,600 in this case), as well as an estimate of search volume in other popular markets. 

You also get an SEO difficulty score and a bunch more keyword ideas further down the page:

Ubersuggest allows you to make three free searches daily, but you can generate hundreds of keyword ideas at a time. 

If I click “View All” under the “Suggestions” box, I get data on 30 more related keywords. 

As you can see, combining Keyword Planner and Ubersuggest gives you detailed information on hundreds of keywords for free and lets you get a much better idea of potential traffic. 

Step 6: Analyze Opportunities

Estimated search volume isn’t the only way to analyze keywords in the Keyword Planner. Take your research further using the following tactics.

Sort by competition

Unlike Ubersuggest, the Keyword Planner doesn’t assign a competitiveness score to each keyword. But you can use info from two PPC-focused columns to get an idea of how hard it will be to rank for each term:

• Competition shows how competitive an ad placement is for a keyword
• Top of page bid (high range) shows the high-end of what advertisers have historically bid on the keyword

The more competition a keyword has, the higher the average bid range will be. What’s more, it stands to reason that if there’s a lot of competition to secure a PPC keyword, there will be higher competition to rank organically too. 

If your website doesn’t have many backlinks, I recommend looking for keywords with low top-of-page bid prices. These will most likely be long-tail keywords that only a handful of sites target, and you’ll have more chance of success. 

Change your location to see local search volume

The Keyword Planner is arguably the best keyword research tool in the market for finding local keywords. While most premium tools can segregate search volume by country, the Keyword Planner can show keyword volume by state and even city. 

Let’s take my “SEO agency” search as an example. 

I can change the location setting to only see Californian searches:

Assess seasonality and trending terms

Some search terms are more popular at certain times of the year than others. Searches for “discount codes” are more popular during November than the summer, for example. Searches for the Olympics spike every four years. 

Use the “three month change” or “YoY change” columns to find and assess the seasonality of relevant terms. 

You can also use this column to find opportunities to capitalize on trending terms. In my keyword list, for instance, I see that “SaaS SEO agency” has a 900% increase in searches over three months and the past year:

As you can see, the search volumes are suddenly a lot lower.

However, it also highlights hyperlocal results in the form of specific SEO companies such as Primelis and Rankstar. 

If you see significant changes in keywords or search volumes between different locations, creating dedicated local service pages on your site may be a good idea to target the various locations where you offer services. 

Step 7: Generate Content Ideas

Now that you’ve created a list of keywords using Keyword Planner and Ubersuggest, let’s examine how you can use my platform’s functionality to develop a content strategy. 

Brainstorm angles

The Questions tab is one of my favorite parts of Ubersuggest’s keyword report page. It automatically filters keywords for questions, leaving you with a list of ready-to-write blog topics.

If I want to write about local SEO, for example, any of the following questions would make a great blog post title:

You can also use this feature to find the most common questions on a topic. Use them as subheadings or add them to an FAQ section at your article’s end to ensure you fulfill search intent.  

Find engaging content ideas

Coming up with great content ideas can be challenging. That’s why we’ve made it easy to find the best-performing content on any given topic with Ubersuggest’s Content Ideas feature. 

You can find it at the bottom of any keyword report. It automatically highlights the top-performing content for that keyword. 

Here’s what I get when I search for “local SEO”:

While you want to avoid copying competing content, Content Ideas helps you see which topics get the most traction on sites like Facebook, Reddit, and Pinterest. You can even see how many visits each page receives and how many backlinks they’ve earned. 

Write content quickly

Did you know Ubersuggest now has an AI Writer feature that helps marketers create quality content quickly?

It’s incredibly easy to use. Just enter one of the keywords you got from the Keyword Planner:

Then select a title:

Choose an opening paragraph:

Pick the headings that best fit your content:

And let the AI Writer do the rest. 

With Ubersuggest, you can go from keyword research to the first draft in just a couple of minutes. You’ll still need to review and refine the content AI Writer puts out, but it’s an awesome jumping-off point. 

FAQs

Is Google Keyword Planner still free?

Yes, it is still free. All you need is a Google Ads account. If you don’t have one, sign up and follow the on-screen prompts.

Can you use Google Keyword Planner for SEO?

Yes, under “Discover new keywords,” you can start finding keywords that closely relate to your product or service. You can even enter a domain you want Google to generate keywords from. You will then be able to filter and sort through the data you need to analyze which keyword ideas will benefit you. 

Conclusion

Google Keyword Planner is a fantastic tool, and it only gets better the more you master it. Don’t just rely on a single tool for your keyword research, though.

Take your research to the next level by combining the Keyword Planner with Ubersuggest. You can find detailed search volumes and competition scores for hundreds of keywords for free. From there, use the platform’s content idea and AI writer features to brainstorm angles and quickly write drafts. You’ll still need a human to review and refine the work, of course, but it’s a great way to scale your content marketing efforts.