Why is Google Planner not working and how to make it work?

Google has decided to make Google keywords available only to the following users: In order to use Google’s planning keywords, you must have a Google Ads account along with your payment details. Now you need to create an ad.

… all of this is needed for your Keyword Planner to work fully and without restrictions.

When you advertise products in classic ads on Google Search, you need to make sure you target them on the right keywords. Otherwise, your ads will show for irrelevant search queries and will not bring you any customers. No matter how frightening it looks, Google Keyword Planner makes it all way too easy.

Choosing the right keywords is not easy, but fortunately, Google provides extensive help in this area – the Keyword Planner. As we will show further, despite slight disadvantages it is a very valuable and free tool for improving your advertising. But you need to know how to get the most out of it …

Many statistics, but little recommendations

Keyword Planner helps you discover new keywords that are related to your products or services. This will help you find the right phrases for your ads to show for relevant search queries and bring customers to your e-shop.

For each keyword (whether it is recommended or the one you already use), Planner will give you insights that show you trends in the marketing world. They include, for example, how often a keyword is searched, or how that search changes over time.

Another benefit is that Keyword Planner shows you the suggested bids for each keyword. This number will tell you how to set the right bids for your keywords when you are putting your campaign together.

Finally, the tool allows you to create a keywords’ plan. You can save it for future inspiration or use it to compare the keywords you want to use.

A slight disadvantage is that after one of the latest updates, Keyword Planner no longer shows monthly searches for keywords. Now, in addition to the competition and suggested bid, it shows only a range of average search volume per month, which is very vague. At the same time, it offers relatively little recommendations compared to some third-party keyword planners.

However, despite these slight deficiencies, you should not be discouraged. Thanks to the tips and tricks we’ll introduce to you in this blog, you’ll appreciate Planner’s features.

Get started with Keyword Planner

To get started, create a free account here. When you sign up, you’ll be offered the option to create a pilot ad campaign, but you can skip these steps.

Once you’ve created your account, click the wrench in the top bar and select “Keyword Planner” on the far left. And you can start planning!

The tool offers you two options – search for new keywords or see search volumes and forecast. What do these options offer?

  1. Search for new keywords

In this section you may find inspiration and discover new keywords related to your business. You can search for them by entering the products or area of ​​your business or via the URL of youre-shop. If you’re already using some keywords, you can enter up to ten of them and the tool will use them to make recommendations based on these.

Then, Keyword Planner will give you tens to hundreds of keyword recommendations that you may find useful. You’ll also find the average monthly search volume, competition rate, and suggested bid for each keyword.

  1. See search volume and forecast

If you already have keywords to use in your ad campaign, Google Keyword Planner will show you the performance status of your keywords. Instead of seeing new recommendations, you will see individual keyword values ​​for metrics like clicks, impressions, cost, clickthrough rate (CTR), or average cost-per-click (CPC).

In addition to your current status, you can also see historical performance progress for the keyword over the past 12 months.

Tips and tricks to get the most out of Planner

See competitors’ keywords

As mentioned, you can also search for new keywords by entering your e-shop address. Well, it doesn’t have to be just your e-shop! If you’re interested in what keywords your competitors are using, look up the recommendations by their URL address.

At the same time, you can use filters to exclude a competitor’s brand for optimal recommendations that you can use to advertise.

Discover seasonal trends

In many cases, keyword search varies from season to season. For example, users have higher tendency to search for roses around Valentine’s Day. In this case, the planner will show you when people tend to search for the keywords you use. You can then search for other recommendations of popular keywords in selected period.

Target recommendations

When using the “Search for new keywords” you can set up a specific target. If you want to spread the information about your business in other, this is the way to go. Choose a location where you’d like to advertise and the language you’d like to use. A huge advantage (as opposed to other keyword tools) is that this targeting may not only apply to countries but also to small towns. This will help you find perfect keyword recommendations for that area.

By saving the recommended keyword in your plan, you can explore the areas closely, or even compare their performance with others.

Analyze keyword ideas by different factors

In addition to searching for new keywords and performance statistics, you can also see how your keywords behave in different situations. For example, if the mobile impressions are different from other devices, or compare how your keywords behave in different locations you’ve targeted them to.

Find out what questions are users searching for

Among the recommended keywords, you can filter out questions asked by users searching for things related to your business. These can serve as an inspiration for creating the content of your e-shop. For example, if people often search for the origin of your products, include the question and the answer in the “Frequently asked questions” section of your website.

Use filters

As we’ve shown, using filters makes it even easier for you to find the right keywords. Working with them, however, is more about the context of what you want to achieve and the constant testing of different formulations. Therefore, it makes no sense to recommend more specific filters than those mentioned above. Use them and see what the different combinations will bring you. 🙂

To conclude…

From this blog, you may know that Keyword Planner should become your business partner as soon as possible. True, it won’t do all the work for you (probably not even half of it), but it can greatly help you to reach as many people as possible with your business.

You can gain valuable insights about your keywords by filtering and working with your keyword plan. You may find out that the keywords you have used so far have not brought you any new customers, or you may conclude as well the opposite. In both cases, however, this is valuable information for further optimization.

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About the Author:

Account Manager and Content Creator at BlueWinston. I take an interest in online marketing, design, SEO and websites.