Google Ads Keyword Planner: Finding Keywords and Forecasts

Everything below comes from Google's own help pages: Use Keyword Planner, About Keyword Planner forecasts, Refine your new keywords in Keyword Planner and Best practices for finding new keywords. Menus move from time to time; the ideas behind them change less often.

What you need to use it

Keyword Planner lives in the Tools menu of a Google Ads account. It costs nothing to use, but Google says you must complete your account setup by entering your billing information to access basic features like keyword suggestions. You do not have to run a campaign, so a new account with billing set up is enough to start research before you spend anything. If you are new to the platform, our Google Ads basics guide explains accounts, the auction and Quality Score first.

One quirk if an agency manages your account: Google notes that data can differ depending on how you log in, for example directly into the client account or through a manager account and then into the client account.

Discover new keywords

When you open the tool there are two starting points. The first, Discover new keywords, gives you ideas from one of two inputs:

• Start with keywords. Type words that describe your products or services, separated by a comma and space. You can also enter your domain, and Google will try to exclude keywords not related to what you offer.
• Start with a website. Enter any site, including a competitor's, and Google looks for keywords related to its content. Links on that page are not used.

Google's tip is that a keyword plus a URL usually gives more ideas than a URL alone. Keywords with very low search volume, or those Google treats as sensitive, are not shown at all, and Google says its personalized advertising and data privacy policies often prevent results for sensitive categories like health or finance. If your business is in one of those areas, empty results are expected rather than a fault.

Google's best practices page gives practical rules for the seed words. Describe the product category the way customers think of it (hiking boots) rather than guessing a full question (what are the best hiking boots). Be specific but not too specific: wedding venue works, wedding is too broad, and wedding venues for small weddings is too narrow. Add a well-known brand you sell, start without adjectives, use several phrases about the same topic, and leave locations out of the seed words if you plan to use location targeting instead.

Get search volume and forecasts

The second starting point is for a list you already have. Choose Get search volume and forecasts, then paste keywords or upload a CSV file. A plain list needs one column with the header Keyword; Google also offers a template for a whole plan with campaign, ad group and location columns. Each keyword can have up to 80 characters and 10 words.

This route is useful for checking a list from a brainstorm, from your Search Console Performance report (which shows the queries your site already appears for in organic results) or from an old campaign.

What the columns mean

The keyword ideas table shows historical metrics. Google defines them like this:

• Avg. monthly searches: how often people searched for the keyword and its close variants, for the location, network and months you chose. By default it is averaged over 12 months. Google rounds these figures, so totals across several locations may not add up.
• Competition: low, medium or high, based on the number of advertisers that showed on the keyword compared with all keywords across Google. It measures advertiser competition, not how hard the term is to rank for organically.
• Top of page bid (low range): roughly the 20th percentile of what advertisers have historically paid for a top-of-page position, for your location and network settings.
• Top of page bid (high range): roughly the 80th percentile of the same.
• Organic impression share: how often a listing from your own website appeared in web searches for the keyword.
• Ad impression share: your impressions divided by all searches that matched the keyword exactly in the last calendar month. Google points out that this differs from the impression share columns in your campaigns.

Two details matter. Historical search volume is shown for the exact keyword whatever match type you pick, while forecasts do take the match type into account. And bid ranges use the last 30 days, so keywords with little bidding history may show none. Because a top-of-page position depends on the bid, Quality Score and other factors, read the bid range as a guide to what others paid, not a price list.

How forecasts work

Once keywords are saved to a plan, the Forecasts page estimates daily clicks, cost, impressions, click-through rate and average cost per click. You can switch the main metric to conversions if conversion tracking is set up, change the average daily budget and bid strategy, and pick the date range. Google says Keyword Planner’s forecasts are refreshed daily and based on the last 7–10 days, adjusted for seasonality.

Unlike search volume, forecasts take your bid, budget, seasonality and historical ad quality into account. The page also suggests a default bid, based on your previous plan or the average maximum cost per click in manual bidding ad groups. Move along the chart to see how more or less spend could change the result. For choosing the budget and strategy themselves, see our guide to Google Ads budgets and bidding.

When forecasts and reality differ

Google is open that forecasts are estimates and that bid, budget, ad quality, location targeting and customer behavior all affect real results. It lists common reasons for a gap:

• A new account has no history of its own, so forecasts use averages for all advertisers until your ads build data.
• Forecasts cover the Search Network only, not Display placements.
• Small geographic areas give less data and less accurate predictions.
• Similar keywords in the same plan or in several campaigns compete with each other, which makes the split harder to predict.
• A daily forecast is an average of a week, so single days will vary.

If forecasts look low even when you raise the bid, Google says historical click-through rates for similar ads or simply too few searches can be the cause. During unsettled markets Google recommends planning weekly rather than monthly or quarterly.

Refining a list

Long idea lists need trimming before they are useful. From the Discover results you can filter by keyword text, average monthly searches, either bid range, competition and the two impression share columns, and exclude keywords already in your account. The Refine keywords panel groups ideas into themes, brands or categories; untick the ones that do not fit, such as colours or brands you do not sell.

You can also set the locations, language and network (Google only, or Google and search partners), change the date range to see seasonal patterns, and break searches down by device or location. Google's example is a flower delivery business that sees its keywords peak in February and plans a Valentine's Day campaign around it. For a longer view of seasonal interest, Google Trends helps too, but note that it shows relative interest scaled from 0 to 100, not search counts.

Keyword ideas from a website use only the page you enter unless you add and verify the whole site; Google says it can then take up to a month before ideas from the whole site appear.

From plan to campaign

Ticked keywords can go to Saved keywords, to be organised and forecast later, or straight into an ad group in an existing campaign with the match type you choose. In English, Organize keywords into ad groups can group a list automatically; Google says it makes no changes to your account until you upload the result. Plans can be downloaded or shared.

Match types and negative keywords decide which searches your keywords really reach, and they are covered in our Google Ads basics and search terms and negative keywords guides. After launch, the search terms report shows what people actually typed, which is often the best source of new keywords.

A simple research routine

1. Write five to ten seed phrases the way customers describe what you sell, and add your own website.
2. Set the locations and language you will target and the last 12 months.
3. Remove categories, brands and locations that do not fit, then sort by relevance rather than volume alone.
4. Note the top-of-page bid ranges next to the value of a customer to see which terms are worth bidding on.
5. Save a short list to a plan, set a realistic daily budget and read the forecast as a range of outcomes.
6. After launch, compare with real search terms and costs, and update the plan.

Frequently asked questions

Is Google Keyword Planner free?

Yes. It is part of a Google Ads account and costs nothing to use, but Google requires you to complete account setup, including billing information, before you can get keyword ideas. You do not need a running campaign.

Why does Keyword Planner show no results for my keywords?

Google does not show keywords with very low search volume or keywords it treats as sensitive. Its personalized advertising and data privacy policies often prevent results in categories such as health or finance. Try broader seed words or a website instead.

What does top of page bid mean?

It is a range of what advertisers have historically paid for an ad to show at the top of the page: the low range is roughly the 20th percentile and the high range roughly the 80th, based on the last 30 days and your location and network settings.

How accurate are Keyword Planner forecasts?

They are estimates. Google refreshes them daily from the last 7 to 10 days, adjusted for seasonality, and says real results depend on your bid, budget, ad quality, targeting and customer behavior. New accounts, small areas and overlapping keywords make them less accurate.

Is search volume in Keyword Planner exact?

No. Google rounds the figures, averages them over 12 months by default and counts the keyword with its close variants. Use them to compare keywords and spot seasonality rather than as exact counts.

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