Google keyword planner

As with the entire suite of great tools Google provides, Google Keyword Planner is entirely free and should be sitting at the heart of your SEO and PPC toolsets.

To drive increased, relevant traffic from Google or run a profitable Adwords campaign, you need to know how and what your audience is searching for, and base your keyword strategy around this to effectively align with the search terms they are inputting.

You can discover new keywords to target in campaigns, get search volumes, forecasts, understand how search patterns are changing over time, and see suggested bid estimates to help forecast your paid ad spend.

Why keyword research is fundamental

Keyword research is fundamental for guiding decisions bringing together the three key elements of search engine optimisation (on-page, off-page and technical) Your website could have an emmaculate technical set up, and all your on-page attributes could be in place but in absence of aligning with how your customers are searching, you will still not be visbile on search engines. This will subsequently limit how much your site can grow in authority (the off-page element) as other websites will not be finding and linking to your content.

It provides insight into the ways searchers are using language to find products, services or content on search engines. This will inform new content ideas and inform how your website should be structured.

It helps you understand the ‘demand’ for individual keywords, highlighting the competitiveness and shaping your strategy and optimisation efforts in pursuit of ranking high for the most lucrative search terms.

With effective keyword research you will be able to create targeting webpages that drives qulified traffic and conversions. We recommend a third-party SEO tool such as SEMrush or Ahrefs as well as Google Console for a thorough, multifaceted approach to keyword research and planning, however, Keyword Planner makes a great starting point and is also a very handy forecasting tool.