Target the Right Customers: Master Keyword Planner for Google Ads & Facebook Ads

How to Research Keywords for Winning Campaigns with Google Keyword Planner

If you run Google Ads or plan to, your keyword strategy will make or break your campaigns.

Google Keyword Planner is one of the most powerful free tools for keyword research, but most marketers barely scratch the surface of what it can do. Used properly, it does more than just spit out keyword ideas. It helps you:

• Understand how your audience actually searches
• Estimate traffic and cost before you spend a cent
• Prioritize high intent, high value keywords
• Spot new opportunities triggered by competitor campaigns

Combined with real time competitor ad monitoring through a platform like AdPeekr, Keyword Planner becomes the engine of a smarter and more profitable paid search strategy.

In this guide, you will learn how to use Google Keyword Planner step by step, and how to connect that keyword research with what your competitors are doing right now in paid search.

What Is Google Keyword Planner & Why It Matters

Google Keyword Planner is a free tool inside Google Ads that helps you:

• Discover new keyword ideas based on topics, URLs or seed keywords
• See average monthly searches and search volume trends
• Understand competition levels for each keyword
• Get suggested bids and budget forecasts
• Build structured plans for future search campaigns

For digital marketers and ecommerce brands, it is the starting point for planning search and Performance Max campaigns, building funnels, and controlling cost per acquisition.

However, the real power comes when you use Keyword Planner together with competitive ad insights. It is not just “What do people search for?” It becomes “What do people search for, and which of those searches are my competitors actively trying to own today?”

Getting Started with Keyword Planner

To access Keyword Planner, you need a Google Ads account. You do not need to be actively running campaigns or spending money, but you do need to set up an account.

Once you are inside Google Ads:

1. Click on the wrench icon labeled “Tools & Settings” in the top navigation bar
2. Under “Planning,” select “Keyword Planner”
3. You will see two main options:

   • Discover new keywords
   • Get search volume and forecasts

These two options cover most of what you will use Keyword Planner for: exploring and evaluating keywords for your campaigns.

Discovering New Keyword Ideas

The “Discover new keywords” feature is where you find opportunities you might not have thought of yet.

You can start in two ways:

• By entering words or phrases related to your product or service
• By entering a website (your own or a competitor’s) so Google can scan it for relevant topics

Method 1: Use Seed Keywords

Suppose you run an ecommerce store that sells premium dog food. You could start with seed keywords like:

• premium dog food
• grain free dog food
• organic dog food

Keyword Planner will return hundreds of related ideas with data such as:

• Average monthly searches
• 3 month and year on year change
• Competition (low / medium / high)
• Top of page bid (low range and high range)

This data lets you quickly see which keywords have meaningful search volume and commercial potential.

Method 2: Use Competitor or Market URLs

You can also enter a URL. This can be:

• Your homepage
• A competitor’s homepage
• A specific category or product page

This is particularly powerful when combined with real time competitor ad monitoring. If you see through AdPeekr that a competitor just launched a new Google Ads campaign for “grain free dog food for puppies,” you can:

1. Paste their landing page URL into Keyword Planner
2. Discover all the keywords Google associates with that page
3. Identify new angles or long tail opportunities they may be targeting
4. Plan a defensive or offensive campaign around those terms

This turns your competitor’s ad strategy into a roadmap for your own research, without guessing which keywords they care about most.

Understanding the Metrics That Actually Matter

Keyword Planner shows a lot of data. Not all of it is equally important when you are making decisions.

Here are the core metrics and how to use them strategically.

Average Monthly Searches

This tells you roughly how many people search for that keyword each month. It is directional, not precise, but it helps you:

• Avoid targeting terms that are too small to matter
• Spot high volume opportunities fast
• Compare relative demand across topics

Do not chase volume blindly. A keyword with 500 highly qualified searches can outperform a keyword with 10,000 broad, low intent searches.

Competition Level

“Competition” in Keyword Planner refers to the number of advertisers bidding on that term.

• Low: Fewer advertisers, often cheaper clicks, but may signal lower commercial intent
• Medium: Balanced, often a good mix of cost and intent
• High: Many advertisers, often higher cost per click, usually stronger buying intent

High competition keywords are not automatically bad. If your margins are strong and your funnel is optimized, those terms can drive a lot of revenue.

Top of Page Bid (Low & High Range)

These are Google’s estimates for the bids needed to appear at the top of the search results page.

• Low range: What conservative advertisers are paying
• High range: What aggressive advertisers are willing to pay

This data helps you:

• Estimate your potential cost per click
• Decide whether a keyword is financially viable
• Prioritize keywords where cost aligns with your average order value or lead value

For example, if your product sells for 40 dollars and the high range top of page bid is 15 dollars, you need excellent conversion rates and strong customer lifetime value to make that work.

Search Volume Trends

Keyword Planner also shows 3 month and year on year changes in search volume. These trend indicators are vital for anticipating demand and identifying seasonal or emerging topics.

For instance:

• If “vet recommended dog food” searches are up 40 percent year on year, that is a clear signal to create campaigns and content that position your product as vet approved
• If a competitor suddenly starts running heavy ads on a keyword that is also trending upward, you can respond quickly using that insight plus Keyword Planner data

Building a Structured Keyword Strategy

Random keyword lists do not build profitable campaigns. You need structure.

Keyword Planner helps you group and prioritize keywords so your ad groups, messaging, and landing pages stay tightly aligned.

Step 1: Separate Brand and Non Brand Keywords

Start by splitting your keywords into:

• Brand terms: Your brand name, misspellings, branded product names
• Non brand terms: Generic keywords like “grain free dog food,” “puppy food online”

Brand campaigns:

• Are usually cheaper per click
• Convert at a higher rate because users already know you
• Protect you from competitors bidding on your name

Non brand campaigns:

• Help you reach new customers who have never heard of you
• Are often more expensive and more competitive
• Require tighter message match and better landing pages

Use Keyword Planner to monitor that you have enough coverage for both categories, especially if you see competitors launching conquest campaigns on your brand terms via an alert from AdPeekr.

Step 2: Group by Intent, Not Just Topic

Keyword intent matters more than pure volume. A simple way to structure your ad groups is by intent:

• Informational: “what is grain free dog food,” “benefits of organic dog food”
• Comparative: “grain free vs regular dog food,” “best dog food for allergies”
• Transactional: “buy grain free dog food,” “grain free dog food coupon,” “dog food delivery near me”

Use Keyword Planner to:

• Find terms across all three types
• Estimate which intent buckets have enough volume to justify their own campaigns
• Align your ad copy and landing pages with what the user is actually trying to achieve

Transactional keywords often have lower volume but far higher revenue potential. A campaign that focuses on “buy,” “order,” or “discount” phrases can deliver strong ROI even with modest traffic.

Step 3: Create Tight Ad Groups

Once you have your intent buckets, build small, focused ad groups:

• Around 5 to 20 closely related keywords per ad group
• Each ad group should map clearly to a specific search theme
• Every ad in the group should reflect the main keyword ideas

Keyword Planner lets you easily export keyword lists into CSV files or directly into Google Ads as a plan. This keeps your structure clear from day one, instead of letting it turn into a messy bucket of unrelated terms.

Using “Get Search Volume and Forecasts” for Budget Planning

The second major feature of Keyword Planner is “Get search volume and forecasts.” This mode is designed for planning future campaigns and budgets.

You can paste in a list of keywords or upload a file, and Google will show you:

• Estimated clicks and impressions
• Average cost per click
• Estimated spend for a given budget
• Projected conversions (if you have conversion history)

Why Forecasting Matters

Forecasts are not perfect, but they are incredibly useful for:

• Comparing keyword groups before you commit budget
• Answering “what if” scenarios for clients or stakeholders
• Aligning your bid strategy with realistic traffic expectations
• Deciding where to apply remarketing and upsell strategies

For example, if you build two keyword plans:

• Plan A: Broad informational and comparison keywords
• Plan B: Highly transactional purchase intent keywords

Keyword Planner can show that Plan B may deliver fewer clicks but higher conversion potential at a cost that makes sense, while Plan A might be better suited for top of funnel and remarketing.

Blending Keyword Planner with Real Time Competitor Monitoring

On its own, Keyword Planner tells you what users search for and roughly what it might cost. It does not tell you how aggressively your competitors are moving on those keywords today.

That is where real time competitor ad monitoring from a SaaS platform like AdPeekr becomes a strategic advantage.

Step 1: Use Alerts as a Trigger for Fresh Keyword Research

When AdPeekr notifies you that a competitor launched a new search or Performance Max campaign, you can:

1. Identify the theme: For example, they might be suddenly pushing “puppy food subscription” or “hypoallergenic dog food”
2. Take their ad URL and run it through Keyword Planner’s “Discover new keywords” using the URL option
3. Uncover the wider keyword cluster that Google associates with that landing page
4. Identify which of those terms you are not yet targeting

Instead of reacting emotionally to competitor activity, you turn each new competitor campaign into structured data that directly improves your own keyword strategy.

Step 2: Prioritize Gaps and Overlaps

Once you have competitor inspired keyword ideas, use Keyword Planner metrics to decide how to respond:

• If a keyword has high volume, strong intent, and realistic CPC, consider building a dedicated ad group or campaign for it
• If CPC is high and competition is intense, you might layer that keyword into remarketing or focus it on high lifetime value segments
• If a keyword is low volume but extremely niche and relevant, it can be a stealth ROI driver that competitors are slow to notice

With continuous alerts from AdPeekr, this becomes an ongoing loop: competitors move, you analyze with Keyword Planner, you refine your coverage, and you maintain or regain your advantage.

Step 3: Align Messaging and Landing Pages with Competitive Positioning

Keyword research is only half the battle. The other half is aligning your message with both user intent and competitive context.

For example, if your competitor is pushing “hypoallergenic dog food for sensitive stomachs” and you spot that phrase and variants in Keyword Planner:

• Build an ad group around those specific terms
• Write ad copy that clearly differentiates your product, such as emphasizing vet approvals, money back guarantees, or subscription flexibility
• Send clicks to a landing page that addresses that exact problem and positions your brand as the safer or smarter choice

This creates a highly relevant path from keyword to click to conversion, while also countering your competitor’s new push directly where the user is searching.

Practical Keyword Planner Workflows for Marketers

To get consistent value from Keyword Planner, treat it as part of a recurring workflow, not a one time setup task.

Here are a few practical workflows you can adopt.

Monthly Keyword Expansion

Once a month:

1. Export your top performing search terms report from Google Ads
2. Feed your best converting queries back into Keyword Planner
3. Use “Discover new keywords” to find related long tail variations
4. Add promising new keywords into existing ad groups or test them in new groups

This keeps your account evolving with actual user behavior and trends.

Competitor Launch Response

Each time AdPeekr alerts you to a competitor’s new campaign:

1. Capture their ad copy and landing page URL
2. Run the URL in Keyword Planner to discover keyword themes
3. Benchmark volume, competition and bid ranges
4. Decide whether to:

   • Enter the same keyword space
   • Find nearby long tail variants
   • Pivot toward a niche they are not addressing

This can turn competitor moves into a predictable input for your keyword roadmap.

New Product or Category Launch

Before launching a new product line:

1. Use “Discover new keywords” with relevant seed terms and competitor URLs
2. Grade each keyword for intent, volume and cost
3. Use “Get search volume and forecasts” to build multiple budget scenarios
4. Create a phased rollout that starts with the highest intent, highest ROI keywords first

This prevents you from launching blindly and gives you data driven expectations for your initial campaigns.

Common Mistakes to Avoid with Keyword Planner

Even experienced marketers fall into a few traps when using Keyword Planner.

Relying Only on Exact Match Data

Search behavior is fluid. Users phrase things differently every day. If you only focus on narrow exact match keywords, you may miss higher intent variations or new phrases emerging in your market.

Use Keyword Planner to identify themes, then run a mix of match types, especially phrase match and smart broad, and refine with search term reports.

Ignoring Long Tail Keywords

Long tail keywords often have lower volume but:

• Higher conversion rates
• Clearer intent
• Less competition

For instance, “grain free dog food” might be very competitive, while “grain free dog food for small dogs with allergies” could be both cheaper and more profitable when you have a tailored landing page.

Keyword Planner will show smaller volume numbers, but those can add up when you build clusters of related long tail terms.

Taking Volume Ranges as Exact Truth

Keyword Planner’s volume is an estimate. Treat it as guidance, not an absolute fact. Your real conversion data and search term reports will always be more accurate than any forecast.

Use Keyword Planner for direction, then let your campaigns validate and refine that direction over time.

Where Keyword Planner Fits in a Modern Paid Media Stack

Keyword Planner is still essential even as Google Ads shifts more toward automation and AI powered bidding. It plays a unique role in your stack:

• Audience understanding: Helps you see how people talk about their problems and solutions
• Strategy design: Gives structure to your campaigns before you turn on automation
• Financial modeling: Helps you align bid strategies and budgets with realistic outcomes
• Competitive response: Becomes even stronger when combined with real time competitor intelligence

A platform like AdPeekr surfaces what your competitors launch in near real time. Keyword Planner then helps you quantify and respond to those competitive shifts with precision.

If you want to understand more about how AdPeekr fits into a competitive ad monitoring workflow, you can explore the platform’s structure on the About page.

Turning Keyword Data into Profitable Action

Keyword research is only as valuable as the campaigns and decisions it influences. To make the most of Google Keyword Planner:

• Use “Discover new keywords” regularly to explore new themes and long tail variants
• Use “Get search volume and forecasts” to set realistic expectations and budgets
• Group keywords by both topic and intent for tighter ad relevance
• Align landing pages with the exact problems and desires behind each keyword cluster
• Tie your research to real time competitor moves by feeding competitor URLs and themes into Keyword Planner

In a competitive search landscape, the brands that win are those that respond quickly, but with data. Keyword Planner gives you the data. Real time competitor monitoring gives you the timing.

Together, they turn every new competitor campaign into an opportunity to refine your keyword strategy, sharpen your positioning, and increase your share of profitable traffic.