Are you looking for information on how to use Google Keyword Planner without creating an ad? If yes, then this article is for you. Hi, my name is Francisco. I am the owner of a Digital marketing agency called Planet Marketing. We specialize in Google Ads, Facebook Ads and remarketing. One of the tools that I use in my line of work is the Google Keyword Planner. If you have tried to use this tool, you will have noticed that you are required to first create a Campaign in Google Ads before proceeding. Most people do not wish to do this. Hence I have created this article to show you what to do to avoid creating an ad when using Google Keyword Planner. The post is composed of the following sections;
- What is Google Keyword Planner?
- To who is Keyword Planner important and why?ย
- Steps for using Google Keyword Planner free.
What is Google Keyword Planner?
I will be using a lot of examples in this article to help clarify matters. Let’s assume that Janet, a single mom living somewhere in Chula Vista, California, want’s to find the best daycare for her kid in her area?
What does she do? Well, she goes to Google, of course. Here is one interesting bit of information; over 81% of people use the internet to find information about the products and services that they are interested in.
The terms that Janet, John and everyone else use when carrying out these queries on Google and on other search engines are called keywords.
The Google Keyword Planner tool is a tool that is used to find out what these search terms are. But why is this important? And to who is this information important? That’s something that we are going to explore in this article.
To who is Keyword Planner important and why?
It’s important for me to point out here that keywords are not just something that’s out there without value. Keywords are worth real money. As such, keyword planning is an important aspect in several disciplines;
Bloggers use keyword planning to produce relevant content
To begin with, keyword planning is important when blogging. If you don’t know what blogging is, it’s what I am doing right now. Before writing this article, I first went to Google to try and find out what people are asking about the keyword planning tool.
I mean, I had a general idea that I wanted to write something about Google Keyword Planner. But what? Believe me, that topic is rather vast. You can potentially write a thousand articles on the subject. So, how did I zero in on this particular topic on how to use Google Keyword Planner without creating an ad?
How to use Google Keyword Planner without creating an ad
Well, I began by going to Google Ads, from where I opened the Keyword Planner tool. I then typed Keyword Planner into Google as you can see in the above screenshot. You can see that the keyword that I am focusing on in this article appears right at the top of the keyword ideas section.
From there, I started writing this article. So, that’s the general setup. Keyword planning is important to bloggers. If you are one, you will be looking to write articles that are based on what people are searching.
Basically, each one of your articles should be an answer to the questions that people are asking online. You don’t just write content for the sake of it. If you do that, you will have thousands of articles on your site and very few visitors.
In fact, bloggers are some of the biggest culprits looking at how to use Google Keyword Planner without creating an ad. Bloggers are not really looking to create ads. All they want to do is to do some keyword research for their articles.
Under the old format Google Ads (AdWords), it used to be easy to carry out this research. But today, if you try, you will see that you are required to first create a campaign and to add your credit card details before getting started.
Advertiser use Google Keyword Planner for audience targeting
Advertisers are some of the other people who use Google Keyword Planner. Before creating an ad, you also need to be aware of the search volume for the keywords that you are targeting.
Example of keyword research for a freight company
Let’s assume that you own a freight company operating between the United States and Canada. Before creating an ad, you need to be well aware of what people are using to carry out searches.
You can see what I am talking about in the above screenshot. I started with the keyword “freight to Canada.” When I typed in this keyword and hit the enter button, I got a lot of suggestions under the “broaden your search,” section.
Below that are suggested keywords. You can see that one of the suggestions is “freight shipping USA to Canada.” I can then proceed to create ads featuring this keyword.
As you can see, the Keyword Planner helps advertisers plan before creating their ads. That gives their keywords greater relevance, meaning they are likely to appear on relevant search terms.
Steps for using Keyword Planner without creating ads
Keyword planning is clearly important. But I need to mention that there are many keyword planner tools out there. However, most of them are paid. You need to have an account in order to use them.
That’s probably the reason why you are looking for information on how to use Google Keyword Planner without creating an ad. Keyword Planner can be used free of charge.
On top of that, Keyword Planner is probably the best keyword research tool that you will be able to find out there. This applies whether one is talking about either paid or free tools. So, it’s a must have.
The challenge, as noted earlier, is that you are normally required to first launch an advertising Campaign and to input your credit card details before you can use Google Keyword Planner.
That’s what people are trying to avoid. So, how do you do that? How do you use Google Keyword Planner without creating an ad? The following steps should help you get there;
1. Sign into your Google Account
The first thing that you are going to need to do on the way to using Google’s Keyword Planner tool without creating an ad is to sign into your Google Account. That’s assuming that you have a Google account in the first place.
If you don’t, simply open a Gmail account. It’s not difficult to do so. You need to have a phone at hand to be able to verify this account. Creating a Google account takes no more than ten minutes, so that’s not a problem. Once done, you should be able to move to the next steps.
2. Go to the Google Ads website
Go to Google Ads
Next, you need to go to the Google Ads website. You will get a page similar to the one in the above screenshot. Once there, click on the Start now button.
3. Create a new Google Ads account
Create a new Google Ads account
After clicking on the Start now button, you will be taken to a screen where you need to create a new Google Ads account. You can see what I am talking about above. There is also an option to switch your Google Account, but that’s not the option that we are looking for here.
4. Switch to Expert Mode
Switch to expert mode
After clicking on New Google Ads Account, you will be taken to a screen similar to the one above.
Here, you need to scroll to the bottom of the page. As you can see, there is a link called Switch to Expert Mode.
You need to click on this link. By using this link when creating a Google Ads account, it enables you to use Google Keyword Planner without creating an ad. So, this is where you need to go.
5. Confirm your business information
Confirm your business information
On the next page, you need to confirm your business information. Basically, you will be confirming your billing country, your Time zone and your Currency.
Google already has this information from your email account. So, you just need to confirm if everything is in order. If yes, click on the Submit button.
6. Explore your account
Explore your Account
The next step is to explore your account. By this point, your Google Ads account will be up and running. You will have noticed that nowhere along the way were we required to create a Campaign. Click on the Explore your Account button to get into your account.
7. Go to your Google Ads Dashboard
Your Google Ads Dashboard
The above screenshot is of the Google Ads Dashboard. This is where all the magic happens as far as creating ads for Google is concerned.
8. Go to Tools and Settings
Go to Tools and Settings
In your Dashboard, you will see that there is a tab called Tools and Settings to the top right. Click on that and you will see a number of tools that are useful for your Google Ads account.
Under Planning, click on Keyword Planner. You can also see that there are other tools, including Performance Planner, Reach Planner and Audience Manager. But for now, we are interested in Keyword Planner.
9. Discover new keywords
Discover new Keywords
At this point we are interested in discovering new keywords. That’s the option with the yellow light bulb. You also have the option to get search volume and forecasts. But for now, click on Discover new keywords.
10. Type in your keywords
Type in your keywords
Now you can type in your keywords. You can type in as many keywords as you wish. Choose the country that you are targeting. In the above screenshot, we are targeting the United States. You can target any country here. Once done, click on Get Results.
11. Type in your keywords
get your results
Finally, you get your results. You can see what I am talking about above. You can see that for the above example, we got the keyword; “shipping from US to Canada,” which has search volumes of between a thousand and 10 thousand per month. The average CPC is 86 cents.
Competition for this keyword is medium. That’s all very useful information. You may wish to attack low competition low volume keywords, particularly if you are just getting started. Established players won’t have a problem targeting medium volume keywords.
Conclusion
In this article, I showed you how to use Google Keyword Planner without creating an ad. I noted that the normal way of using keyword planner requires that you first create a Campaign and upload your credit card details.
That’s something that a lot of people are looking to avoid. Fortunately, it’s very easy to start using Keyword Planner free. All that you need to do is to follow the steps that are outlined in this article.
I also noted that Keyword planning is very useful, particularly for bloggers and advertisers. It enables you to focus on what people are saying about a particular subject. That increases your chances of success.
Anyway, don’t hesitate to get in touch with me if you want to learn more about Google Ads. You can also sign up for my Google Ads setup plan. Under this plan, I set up everything that you need to get started. From there, you can then start creating your own ads on Google.
