Google Ads Keyword Planner guide: read the numbers, build the list

The Google Ads Keyword Planner is the research tool inside your Google Ads account. It shows you what people search for, roughly how often, and what advertisers have bid for it. The numbers are useful but easy to misread: search volume is rounded, and the bid columns aren’t a click price. Here’s what the numbers mean, how ideas turn into a clean keyword list, and which export actually matters afterwards.

1. Google Ads Keyword Planner: what the numbers mean

You open Keyword Planner in Google Ads through the Tools icon. There you have two routes:

• Discover new keywords: you start with words about your offer or with a website, and Google suggests related keywords.
• Get search volume and forecasts: you enter keywords or upload a list you already have, and get numbers and forecasts for them.

Google explains the key columns like this:

• Average monthly searches: the average number of searches for a keyword and its close variants, over twelve months by default. Google adds that the figures are rounded and that historical statistics only reflect exact-match searches. Seasonality and current events make traffic fluctuate.
• Competition: the number of advertisers bidding on the keyword relative to all keywords on Google. That’s competition in Google Ads, not in the organic results.
• Top of page bid (low range): according to Google, an approximation of the 20th percentile of what advertisers have historically paid for top-of-page ads, based on the last 30 days.
• Top of page bid (high range): the same for roughly the 80th percentile.

Why the planner CPC isn’t your click price

These two bid columns are almost always read as a click price. They aren’t. They describe the bids advertisers have paid for the top positions, not what an account ends up paying per click on average. In my own data from 19 accounts I manage across the German-speaking market, the cost-weighted click price across 17 industries runs from €0.50 to €6.60. Why that usually sits below the planner ranges is explained in Google Ads CPC benchmarks 2026: a running account never buys only the most expensive keywords, and the actual price only emerges in the auction.

So read the ranges as a guide to whether a keyword sits in a range where your numbers can work at all. How click price and conversion rate turn into a budget is covered in Google Ads costs in Germany.

2. From idea to list: seed, ideas, groups

The planner quickly gives you hundreds of ideas. The work is turning them into a few good ad groups. That takes three steps.

Step 1: seed keywords

Start with three to five terms a customer types when they want to buy or enquire, not your industry jargon. For a bathroom fitter in Cologne, that would be something like “badsanierung köln”, “bad renovieren kosten” and “badsanierung komplett” (bathroom renovation Cologne, renovating a bathroom cost, complete bathroom renovation; in German, because the customers search in German). Google recommends adding your own domain as well, so irrelevant terms get filtered out.

Set location and language correctly before you read any numbers. The figures refer to the locations and networks you’ve chosen. A keyword with lots of searches across Germany may reach almost nobody in your catchment area.

Step 2: filter and sort the ideas

With Add filter you narrow down the idea list, for example by competition or keyword text. The planner also groups ideas into categories such as theme or brand, and you can remove whole categories that don’t fit. Then you sort each remaining idea into one of three buckets:

1. Fits and has buying intent: goes into an ad group.
2. Fits, but vague: leave it out for now or test it later.
3. Doesn’t fit: goes on the negative keyword list.

Step 3: ad groups by intent

Group by what someone wants, not by how similar the words are. “badsanierung kosten” and “was kostet ein neues bad” (bathroom renovation cost / what does a new bathroom cost) belong together even though they sound different, because both ask about price. “badsanierung köln” is a different intent: that person is looking for a provider in their city. Each group gets its own ads and, ideally, its own landing page that answers exactly that question.

A worked example for reading the numbers

The following numbers are made up so the reading is clear. Say the planner shows an average of 300 monthly searches for “badsanierung köln” and a bid range of €2.50 to €7.00. That means:

• About 300 searches a month for exactly this term, rounded and as a twelve-month average. Individual months can be clearly higher or lower.
• Over the last 30 days, advertisers bid roughly between €2.50 and €7.00 for the top positions. What you pay per click only your own account will show.
• At a 5% conversion rate and an assumed click price of €3, an enquiry costs €60. Whether that works is decided by your margin, not by the planner.

3. Negatives from the same list, and the one export that matters

Negative keywords from the idea list

The third bucket from step 2 is real money. Typical candidates are terms with “DIY”, “apprenticeship”, “salary”, “used”, or names of competitors you don’t want to bid on. Add them as negative keywords before the campaign goes live. Remember that, according to Google, negative keywords don’t match close variants: you have to add singular, plural and synonyms yourself.

The one export that matters

The planner shows what could be searched. What was actually searched before someone clicked your ad only shows up in your account’s search terms report. That’s the export that matters. Let the campaign run for two to four weeks, export the report and go through it term by term:

• What cost money and brought not a single conversion?
• Which words only appear in those wasted terms?
• Which terms bring enquiries and deserve an ad group of their own?

Then the cycle starts again: good new terms from the report go back into the planner as seeds, wasted ones go on the negative list. How the first campaign starts with a few clear keywords from day one is covered in How to run Google Ads.

The bottom line

• Keyword Planner has two routes: discover new keywords, and get search volume and forecasts.
• Search volume is a rounded twelve-month average for exact-match searches. Competition means advertisers, not SEO.
• The bid columns are roughly the 20th and 80th percentile of top-of-page bids over the last 30 days, not a click price. Real click prices only show up in your account.
• Seeds become ideas, and ideas go into three buckets: ad group, later, exclude. Group by intent.
• The export that matters is the search terms report after two to four weeks, not the idea list.

Have a keyword list and aren’t sure the advertising will pay? That question is exactly a case for the Clarity Session: from €390, a 60-minute video call with your list or planner export sent beforehand. Afterwards you know which keywords and which budget to start with, and what to leave out. If your account is already running and you want it fully checked, the Google Ads audit from €1,900 covers that. Whether the session fits is something you can check first in a free intro call. Book a free intro call.

FAQ

Do I need a Google Ads account for Keyword Planner?

Yes. You open the planner in Google Ads through the Tools icon. The research itself doesn’t trigger any ads, so it doesn’t cost any clicks.

How accurate is the search volume in Keyword Planner?

It’s a rounded average over twelve months, and the historical statistics only reflect exact-match searches. That’s enough for “a lot or a little”. It isn’t enough for an exact forecast.

Why do I pay less per click than Keyword Planner shows?

Because the bid columns are estimates of bids for top positions, not the average price per click. Your account also buys a mix of expensive and cheaper searches. Only your own account shows the real click price.

What does “competition” mean in Keyword Planner?

According to Google, the number of advertisers bidding on a keyword relative to all keywords. It says nothing about how hard the keyword is in the organic results.