How to Get the Most from Google’s Keyword Planner
The recipe for SEO success includes backlinks, relevant meta descriptions, high-quality content, and keywords. However, keywords will only serve your business well if you do your homework first and gather as much data as you can to make well-informed decisions. Google’s Keyword Planner can offer useful insights about keyword ranking to help you make better decisions. Experts at Saba SEO, a renowned San Diego PPC company, share a few tips on how to get the most from the Keyword Planner tool.
Set Up Your AdWords Account and Choose the Right Options
You’ll need an AdWords account to use Keyword Planner. At the top of the AdWords page, you will find Google’s Keyword Planner and see five options listed. Ignore the ones that help you with your budget for now, since you’re considering keyword research at this point. To plan your keywords, consider these strategies:
• Search for new keywords using a phrase, website, or category
• Get search volume data and trends
• Multiply keyword lists to get new keywords
Gather Initial Keyword Info
After setting up your AdWords account, you can enter any word or phrase related to your products or services. You can also enter your competitor’s URL to see the keywords they are likely using to target the same customers. After clicking the Get Ideas button, Google will show you a few Ad Group ideas based on sets of keywords. Click your way to Keyword Ideas to see details about each of your suggested keywords.
Refine Your Keyword Data
Click Targeting under Keyword Ideas to refine your keyword data to make the results more relevant to your business. With targeting, you can narrow down your keyword focus based on:
• Specific geographic areas
• Languages
• Network
• Negative keywords
Filter Your Search
You can get more detailed by filtering your keywords to the ones that will likely be more productive for your business. For instance, you could filter out keywords with a monthly search volume below 2,000. You can also do the same thing with filters when you start running campaigns to control your bid amounts.
Keep It Simple When Getting Started
After you’ve made your keyword list, you’ll have the option of either directly importing Google’s list to your campaigns or downloading the keywords and adding them to your existing list. As for how many keywords to have in your list, it’s best to limit yourself to the keywords that have the most meaning for what you offer. A good rule of thumb is to start out with your top 50 keywords. You can then:
• Carefully track the results you get with your shorter keyword list to see if you’re on the right track with the terms you’re using
• Make adjustments as necessary to filter out underperforming keywords
• Gradually expand your keyword list once you start seeing the intended results with your shorter list
Google’s Keyword Planner is primarily used to gather keyword data for paid search campaigns. However, you can use the keyword-related information you obtained from this tool to fine-tune your organic SEO efforts.
If you need help with keyword planning, reach out to Saba SEO. From searching for the right keywords to designing a comprehensive digital marketing strategy, we offer a variety of services to help businesses boost their online visibility. For the past ten years, our experts have helped organizations all over the world expand their outreach and acquire more leads by utilizing a variety of effective and targeted digital marketing tactics. To talk to one of our experts on internet marketing in San Diego, give us a call at 858-951-1717 today.