Keyword Planner

Before spending, you need to know roughly how many people search for what you sell, and what clicks might cost. Keyword Planner gives both, from Google's own data.

Its numbers are ranges and averages. They help compare ideas and size a plan, not predict exactly what a campaign will get.

1. Open Tools, then Planning, then Keyword Planner.
2. Use Discover new keywords to get ideas from words or a website.
3. Use Get search volume and forecasts for a list you already have.
4. Read average monthly searches, competition and top of page bid ranges.

A new pet grooming business checks dog grooming plus its city in Keyword Planner. It shows a few hundred searches a month and bid ranges of €1 to €3, enough to size a first monthly budget.

• Treating the volume ranges as exact numbers.
• Picking keywords only for their high volume.
• Ignoring that low spending accounts may see wider, less precise ranges.

The audit checks Oppy runs on this, each with its own page.

• Keywords Google rates well that have not spent in months
• Searches that already make money and have no keyword of their own

• Keyword: A word or phrase you bid on, with a match type that decides how closely a search must match it.
• Search term: What someone actually typed when your ad showed.
• Average CPC: The average cost of one click: total cost divided by clicks.