An In-Depth Guide to Google Adwords Keyword Planner Updates
Google’s Keyword Planner is one of the most valuable tools for paid search marketers and advertisers. With constant updates and improvements, keeping up with its changes is important for optimizing keyword strategies and campaigns. In this in-depth guide, we’ll explore the major Keyword Planner updates introduced in early 2017 and how you can leverage them to better manage your Google Ads business.
Get Keyword Forecasts from Your Account
One of the most significant Keyword Planner changes is that users can now pull existing campaign and keyword performance data directly into the planner for forecasting purposes.
As Google notes on their support page, advertisers can now “Get forecasts for campaigns or keywords from your Google Ads account” with the click of a button. This opens up powerful new opportunities for analysis.
Some key benefits of retrieving live data include:
- Assessing how changes to bids may impact future clicks, impressions, and cost-per-clicks (CPCs) based on historical trends
- Evaluating search volume patterns over time by device and location directly for your keywords
- Predicting the combined effect of modifying existing keywords and adding new ones to your strategy
With live campaign data incorporated, forecasting insights are far more relevant and reliable compared to generic search volume numbers alone. This allows for more informed bidding, budgeting, and optimization decisions.
A Deeper Look at the Performance Forecast
The performance forecast screen provides estimates for how adjusted bids could alter future metrics like average position, cost, and quality for selected campaigns or keywords.
A quality score is shown based on existing data to indicate forecast accuracy. Along with numbers, charts visualize trends over 30 or 90 days into the future.
Advertisers can easily experiment with different bid scenarios to determine their likely outcomes before implementing changes live. This reduces risks and helps maximize results.
Evaluate Search Volume Trends
In addition to forecasts, the search volume trends section breaks down monthly searches by device and location source, if that data is available.
Viewing volume patterns for mobile vs desktop or by country, state, or city region can reveal opportunities. For example, targeting underutilized platforms or localities that show rising interest in specific keywords.
Google also displays competitive domain search trends at the bottom. So marketers gain extra context into how competitor interest levels may be evolving.
Adding & Assessing New Keywords
A new capability within Keyword Planner lets advertisers simulate potential results of supplementing their existing keyword list.
Users simply select keywords to add from the Google Ads interface or external file import. The “New keywords” feature then provides combined forecasts factoring in both current and additional terms.
This serves as a research and testing tool before committing budget or bids. Advertisers avoid wasting funds on poor-performing additions this way. Only keywords with forecasted potential get pursued further.
How An Agency Can Help
Leveraging these powerful Keyword Planner upgrades requires the right strategy and expertise. At IPS our paid search specialists have deeply analyzed how best to take advantage.
We can help customers:
- Optimize their accounts to populate planner with maximum historical data
- Interpret forecasts and trends to refine bidding, budgets and new targeting
- Continuously audit strategies based on updated insights
- Leverage our proprietary keyword research tools for boosted discovery
- Ensure all data is properly segmented and analyzed at campaign level
By outsourcing ongoing management, advertisers gain the highest IPS without the resource investment of doing it alone. Contact us to discuss a custom program.
Key Takeaways
To summarize, some of the biggest benefits from Google’s Keyword Planner updates include:
- Leveraging live campaign performance data for more accurate forecasting
- Assessing potential outcomes of bid, budgetsand new keyword adjustments
- Drilling into search volume patterns over time by device and location
- Simulating combined effects of modifying existing and adding new keywords
- Partnering with an agency maximizes results from these powerful analytics
With the right strategy in place, advertisers can better optimize paid search campaigns and scale IPS through continuous testing and refinement.
FAQs
Here are some frequently asked questions about the Keyword Planner updates:
Q: How far into the future can forecasts project?
A: Currently, forecasts project 30 and 90 days ahead based on historical data pulled from your Google Ads account.
Q: Is forecasting accuracy dependent on account history?
A: Yes, the more data available, the more reliable the forecasts will be. Newer accounts with limited history may have less accurate quality scores.
Q: Can I import keywords from external sources into the planner?
Yes, the “New Keywords” feature supports uploading keyword lists from files to incorporate those additions into your combined forecasts.
Q: Do I need a Google Ads account to use all planner features?
A: To retrieve live campaign data and run combined forecasts including new keywords, you need an existing Google Ads account. Generic keyword research remains open without an account.
Q: How often should strategies be re-evaluated based on planner updates?
A: The best practice is to rerun forecasts and analyses on a monthly basis. Keyword landscapes and user behaviors are always shifting, so continuous monitoring maximizes performance.
Q: Besides bids, what other factors impact forecast accuracy?
Factors like account history volume, competition levels, seasonal trends, and new products and services launching can all influence how closely actuals match projections over time.
I hope this in-depth guide provided a comprehensive overview of Google’s valuable Keyword Planner updates and how to leverage them for optimizing paid search strategies. Let me know if you have any other questions!