Finding New Keywords in AdWords

Updated January 12, 2023

In Spite of Google’s Throttling of Info

As Google has throttled the keyword planner recently for accounts with ‘low’ budgets, AdWords users now need to be a little bit more ingenious when thinking of ways to find new keywords. There are obviously a number of paid services you can consider. However, there are other free ways to get some new ideas for keywords to integrate into your AdWords campaigns.

Finding New Keywords Without the Keyword Planner

Finding the right keywords — both for SEO and SEM — is critical. With Google’s recent changes to their AdWords interface, businesses with smaller advertising budgets are getting less information. All is not lost. Consider these 4 ways of using a variety of free tools to find new keywords for your advertising campaigns and organic search optimization:

1. Check out Google Trends – Google recently revamped its Trends platform; it now has a few useful features if you want new ideas. One feature allows you to enter a keyword and see related terms that are “rising.” 15% of searches initiated every day have never been seen before.  Keep this in mind as you’re looking for new keywords. Sometimes it’s not just about volume, but about what’s coming up next.
2. Check the search terms report – Another way of easily finding ideas for new keywords is by checking the search terms report inside AdWords. To find the report you need to go to the Keywords tab => select the Search Terms Report. Once there you can see exactly what your leads have typed before clicking on your ads. This allows you to tailor your keywords to what people are searching for, not what you think they are searching for. Note: for this to work, you must have ads running and they must be getting some clicks. Otherwise, the report will be blank.
3. Use your competition’s site in the Keyword Planner – While the Keyword Planner’s functionality has decreased, it isn’t totally useless. One source for new ideas is by putting the competition’s landing pages or website into the Keyword Planner, instead of your own. This can give you different ideas to throw around, whereas running your own pages through the planner often brings up more of the same.
4. Tap into your website’s search data – If your site has a search function, you need to make sure you have turned on the site search tracking function in Google Analytics. This will allow you to track what people search for when they are on your website. Unfortunately, we’ve found that onsite searches are not often used for smaller businesses. However, the information can be telling. If you see one search coming up again and again, then perhaps it’s worth creating an AdGroup for it. And you’ll want to make sure you have a website page dedicated to the subject so you capture organic search traffic as well.

What other sources do you use to find new keywords?