How to Use Google Keyword Planner for SEO: A Beginner's Guide
SEO workflow showing Keyword Planner research, choosing a topic, publishing content, analysing Search Console data and improving the article.
If you have a blog idea, one of the first questions you probably have is: are people actually searching for this?
Google Keyword Planner can help you answer that question.
It was built for Google Ads, not specifically for SEO, but you can still use it to find keyword ideas, understand search demand, spot seasonal trends, and decide which topics are worth writing about.
The important part is knowing what its data actually means. The Competition column, for example, refers to advertisers competing for that keyword. It does not tell you how difficult it will be to rank organically on Google.
In this guide, we'll go through how to use Google Keyword Planner for SEO, how to read its main metrics, and how to turn keyword ideas into topics you can realistically write about.
What Is Google Keyword Planner?
Google Keyword Planner is a research tool inside Google Ads.
Google created it to help advertisers find keywords for Search campaigns, but it can also be useful for SEO keyword research.
You can use it to:
Find new keyword ideas
See estimated average monthly searches
Compare search demand between keywords
Check advertiser competition
See top-of-page bid ranges
Look at search trends and seasonality
For SEO, think of Keyword Planner as a starting point for keyword research, not a tool that tells you exactly which keywords will rank.
That's an important distinction.
Can You Use Google Keyword Planner for SEO?
Yes.
You don't have to be running Google Ads to find the tool useful for SEO research.
Keyword Planner can help you understand what people are searching for and discover related ways of phrasing a topic.
For example, if you want to write about SEO for beginners, you could start with a broad idea such as:
SEO
Keyword Planner can then give you related ideas that may be more specific, such as:
SEO for beginners
how to learn SEO
SEO tips for beginners
on-page SEO
keyword research for beginners
You can then take those ideas and do the part Keyword Planner cannot do for you: check the actual Google search results.
Keyword Planner can show search demand.
Google's SERP can show you what you're actually competing against.
How to Access Google Keyword Planner
Keyword Planner is inside Google Ads, so you'll need a Google Ads account.
Google's current setup requires account setup, including billing information, for basic Keyword Planner features such as discovering keyword ideas. You don't need to assume that you have to launch an advertising campaign just to research keywords.
Once you're inside Google Ads, look for:
Tools → Planning → Keyword Planner
You'll generally see two main options:
Discover new keywords
Use this when you want to find new keyword ideas from a topic, seed keyword, or website.
This is the option you'll probably use most often for SEO research.
Get search volume and forecasts
Use this when you already have a list of keywords and want to examine their data.
The forecasting features are designed around advertising, so for SEO research, the historical keyword information is generally more useful than the advertising forecast.
How to Find New Keyword Ideas
Start with Discover new keywords.
You can usually approach it in two ways.
1. Start with keywords
Enter a few broad words related to the topic you're researching.
For example, if you're planning an article about Google Search Console, you could start with:
google search console
Don't try to write an entire question as your seed keyword.
A broad starting point gives Keyword Planner more room to find related ideas.
You can also enter multiple related seed terms if you're researching a broader topic.
2. Start with a website
You can also enter a website URL.
Keyword Planner can use the content associated with the URL to generate related keyword ideas.
This can be useful when researching your own website, a competitor, or a particular topic.
After entering your keywords or URL, make sure your location and language settings match the audience you're researching.
This matters because search behaviour can vary significantly between countries and locations.
If you're targeting people in the United States, for example, researching only Indian search data won't give you the same picture.
How to Read Google Keyword Planner Data
Once you generate keyword ideas, you'll see several different metrics.
Here's what they mean.
Average Monthly Searches
Average monthly searches give you an estimate of how often a keyword and its close variants are searched.
The number can depend on factors such as:
Location
Language
Selected date range
Search network
It's important to treat this as an estimate of search demand, not a promise that your article will receive that many visitors.
A keyword showing 1,000 monthly searches doesn't mean your website will receive 1,000 visits if you rank for it.
You still have to rank, and even the top result won't necessarily receive every search.
Competition
This is where many beginners make a mistake.
Keyword Planner's Competition metric refers to advertiser competition.
It generally appears as:
Low
Medium
High
It tells you how much competition there is among advertisers bidding on that keyword.
It does not mean:
Low = easy to rank
Medium = moderately difficult to rank
High = impossible to rank
Those are completely different things.
A keyword can have Low advertiser competition while the organic search results are dominated by huge websites.
So don't use this column as your SEO difficulty score.
Top-of-Page Bid
Keyword Planner can also show low and high ranges for top-of-page bids.
This information is primarily useful to advertisers because it gives them an idea of the potential cost of showing ads for a keyword.
For SEO, you can use it as a secondary clue about commercial intent.
For example, a keyword with relatively high advertising bids may have commercial value because businesses are willing to pay for clicks.
But that doesn't automatically make it a good SEO keyword.
Your goal might simply be to attract relevant readers rather than people who are ready to buy something.
Search Trends and Seasonality
Search demand doesn't always stay the same throughout the year.
Think about keywords related to:
Christmas gifts
Valentine's Day
school admissions
tax filing
summer holidays
People don't search for these topics at the same level every month.
Looking at trends can help you understand whether a keyword has consistent demand or is heavily seasonal.
This can also affect when you publish an article.
Google Ads Competition Is Not SEO Difficulty
This deserves its own section because it is probably the most important thing to remember from this article.
Keyword Planner Competition = advertiser competition.
SEO difficulty = how challenging it may be to rank organically.
They are not the same measurement.
Imagine you find a keyword with Low competition in Keyword Planner.
That sounds promising.
You search the keyword on Google and discover that the entire first page is dominated by major websites with extremely relevant and detailed content.
That keyword might still be difficult to rank for.
The opposite can also happen.
A keyword with High advertiser competition doesn't automatically mean that the organic results are impossible to compete with.
So before choosing a keyword, actually search it on Google.
Look at:
What type of pages are ranking
How relevant those pages are
Whether the results match the search intent
How useful and up-to-date the existing content is
Whether smaller or newer websites are ranking
Whether you can create something genuinely better or more useful
This manual SERP check is one of the most important parts of keyword research.
How to Choose Keywords for a Blog
Finding hundreds of keyword ideas isn't the difficult part.
Choosing the right ones is.
Before you select a keyword, ask yourself five questions.
1. Is it relevant?
The keyword should make sense for your website.
A keyword with thousands of searches isn't useful if it has nothing to do with what your website offers.
2. What is the search intent?
What does someone actually want when they search this keyword?
They might want to:
Learn something
Find a guide
Compare products or tools
Buy something
Find a particular website
If the search results are mostly product pages and you're planning to write a basic informational article, that may not be the right keyword for your content.
3. Is there enough search demand?
You don't always need a huge search volume.
For a newer website, a specific keyword with relatively modest demand can be more useful than a huge keyword where you're competing against established websites.
The goal isn't to find the biggest number.
The goal is to find relevant demand you can realistically compete for.
4. What does the SERP look like?
Search the keyword yourself.
Look at the first page and ask:
Could my article genuinely compete with these results?
Don't just look at the domain names. Look at the actual content.
5. Can I create something better?
This is the question that matters most.
Can you explain the topic more clearly?
Can you make the process easier to follow?
Can you answer questions existing articles don't answer?
Can you provide a better example?
A keyword tool can help you find an opportunity, but it can't create a good article for you.
A Simple Keyword Research Workflow
Here's a simple process you can repeat whenever you're planning a new article:
Step 1: Start with a broad topic or seed keyword.
Step 2: Open Google Keyword Planner and choose Discover new keywords.
Step 3: Set the correct location and language.
Step 4: Look through the keyword ideas and identify relevant topics.
Step 5: Compare search demand and trends.
Step 6: Group keywords that have the same or very similar search intent.
Step 7: Search your strongest candidates on Google.
Step 8: Study the SERP and the type of content currently ranking.
Step 9: Choose one primary topic and a few natural secondary variations.
Step 10: Write and publish the article.
Step 11: Once the page has been indexed, use Google Search Console to see what queries are actually generating impressions and clicks.
Step 12: Improve the article based on that real data.
That last step is important.
Keyword Planner helps you make an initial decision.
Search Console helps you understand what happened after you published.
Example: Finding a Keyword for a New Digital Marketing Blog
Let's say you're starting a small digital marketing blog.
You want to write about keyword research, but "keyword research" is a very broad topic.
You could enter it into Keyword Planner and look through the related ideas.
You might find topics around:
keyword research for beginners
how to do keyword research
keyword research tools
keyword research for a new blog
Instead of immediately choosing the keyword with the highest search volume, look at the intent behind each one.
Someone searching for keyword research tools might be comparing software.
Someone searching for keyword research for beginners probably wants an explanation or tutorial.
Someone searching for how to do keyword research may want a step-by-step process.
Now search the keywords on Google.
If you find that the first page is dominated by large SEO companies, look at what they're actually covering.
Maybe they're publishing 5,000-word guides that cover everything.
Instead of trying to beat them with an even longer article, you could target a more specific angle, such as:
How to Find Low-Competition Keywords for a New Blog
That gives you a clearer audience and a more focused search intent.
I use a similar approach in my guide on how to find low-competition keywords for a new blog.
The point isn't to find a keyword with a magical combination of numbers.
It's to find a topic where search demand, relevance, intent, and your ability to create useful content overlap.
Google Keyword Planner vs Google Search Console
These two tools can work really well together, but they answer different questions.
Google Keyword Planner asks:
What are people searching for?
Google Search Console asks:
What are people actually finding my website for?
Keyword Planner is useful when you're planning content.
Search Console becomes more useful after you've published and Google has started showing your pages in search.
For example, you might publish an article targeting one keyword.
A few weeks later, Search Console could show that your page is also receiving impressions for several related searches you didn't specifically target.
Those queries can give you ideas for improving the article.
That's why I think of the process like this:
Keyword Planner → Choose topic → Publish → Search Console → Improve
You can see the full process of using Search Console for SEO in my guide on How to Use Google Search Console for SEO: A Real Workflow, Not Just Definitions.
Common Google Keyword Planner Mistakes
Choosing the highest-volume keyword
High volume isn't automatically better.
A keyword can have plenty of searches but be completely unrealistic for your website.
Treating Low competition as easy SEO
This is probably the biggest mistake.
Remember: Keyword Planner's Competition metric is about advertisers, not organic rankings.
Ignoring search intent
You might find a keyword that looks perfect in a spreadsheet but discover that Google is showing a completely different type of content.
Always check the SERP.
Never checking Google itself
Keyword tools are useful, but don't let a tool replace actual search results.
Spend a few minutes looking at the pages already ranking.
Creating separate articles for almost identical keywords
You don't always need a different article for every keyword variation.
If several keywords have the same search intent, one strong article can often target the main topic and naturally cover the variations.
Focusing too much on CPC
CPC can tell you something about advertising value, but it doesn't tell you whether a keyword is right for your SEO strategy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Google Keyword Planner free?
Keyword Planner is available through Google Ads, but account setup requirements apply. Google currently requires billing information for access to basic features such as discovering keyword ideas.
Can I use Google Keyword Planner without running Google Ads?
You don't need to assume that you have to run an active advertising campaign to research keywords. You do need to complete the required Google Ads account setup.
Does Google Keyword Planner show SEO difficulty?
No.
Its Competition metric measures advertiser competition. It does not measure organic SEO difficulty.
For organic competition, you need to examine the actual search results.
What search volume is good for a blog keyword?
There isn't one number that works for every website.
A keyword with lower search demand can still be valuable if it is highly relevant and you have a realistic opportunity to rank for it.
Can I use Keyword Planner for local SEO?
Yes.
You can adjust the location settings when researching keywords, which can help you understand demand for a specific city, region, or country.
Conclusion
Google Keyword Planner can be a useful part of SEO keyword research, even though it was originally built for Google Ads.
Use it to find ideas, understand search demand, compare related topics, and identify seasonal patterns.
But don't let one metric make the decision for you.
Keyword Planner gives you the starting point. The SERP gives you context. Search Console gives you real data after you publish.
A simple process is enough:
Find ideas → check demand → understand intent → study the SERP → choose a realistic topic → publish → use Search Console to improve it.
The goal isn't to find the perfect keyword.
It's to find a topic that people care about, that fits your website, and that you can genuinely make useful.
