Using Google Keyword Planner for the first time is beyond confusing. When it first came out, a surge of SEO articles spouted the benefits of keyword research using this tool, but for the life of me I just couldn’t even figure out where to begin. It’s so full of options that it can easily become overwhelming. Today I’m going show you how to get started with rocking SEO through what I like to call Google Keyword Planner for beginners…aka the course I wish I’d taken months ago.
Sign up with Google Adwords. No, you won’t have to buy or sell advertisements. The keyword tool comes bundled up within Adwords.
When you sign in, choose “tools” along the top row of options. From the dropdown select “keyword planner.”
Your screen should now look like this. Choose the first option to “search for new keyword and ad group ideas.”
In the first box, add your keyword phrase and click “get ideas.”
Data will show up with a graph and two tabs. Click the “keyword ideas” option.
Here I’ve searched the term “lamp shade diy.” You can see how many searches people put into Google with that exact term (110 monthly searches) and a the data for a slew of related terms. Next to each is a column letting you know how high the competition is for each term. We want to choose terms with low competition, so it’s more likely that our posts show up higher in search results and we get more pageviews.
To maximize your posts with Google Keyword Planner, it’s best to select a handful of pertinent low competition terms, especially those containing a long-tail keyword. Make sure you don’t use too many though, Google’s Panda algorithm doesn’t like spammy looking articles, so just add in these terms where it feels natural.
And there you have it, your basic Google Keyword Planner tutorial. It’s not too overwhelming once you know just where to click and how to use search terms, right? Let your blogging confidence soar as you continue to pump out stellar content that Google loves just as much are your loyal readers!
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Hi, Jelli! Great tutorial! I love that you took such a visual approach when explaining each step! Thanks for the fantastic tips 🙂
Thanks so much, Kim! Glad to be a help. It’s not easy keeping up with all the things bloggers have to do to stay “up to date” with the techie side of things. Hope you have a super week!
I didn’t even know this existed! Thanks!
Chelsea, it’s a great way to earn some “Google” juice for your posts. I’d been intimidated about it for at least a year before I learned how to use it. Definitely worth checking out before publishing a post!
WOW! This is super helpful Jelli. Keywords and SEO frighten me like the dickens. I appreciate this advice.
Thanks for sharing (I’m pinning this to my Deliberate Blogging board).
xoxo
Awesome, Jennifer! I really never understood how to pick keywords either until I was doing some articles for another blogger using the tool. Thanks for visiting!
Hi there
when I try and sign up for Google Adwords it asks me to create a campaign and an ad – slightly nervous I am going to get embroiled in paying money for something I don’t want. Is this right?
Thanks
Dawn
Dawn, you should be able to avoid the campaign. I’d definitely never recommend paying for a campaign when all you want to use is the keyword tool. When you log on you should be able to choose tools from the upper menu. It automatically goes to “campaigns” so just look up and click tools. From there you should be able to follow this tutorial and find the best keywords for your post. If you still have trouble, send me an email and I’d be happy to walk you through it!