Overview
Google Keyword Planner is the keyword research tool inside Google Ads. It replaced the old public Keyword Tool in 2013 and is still the first-party source for Google search volume, advertiser competition, and top-of-page bid ranges. Cross-border sellers use it in two jobs: sizing Google demand for an independent store or landing page, and building Search campaigns before they spend. It does not score Amazon search terms or FBA listings.
You need a Google Ads account to open it (Tools → Planning → Keyword Planner). You do not have to run ads to enter the tool. In 2026 the well-known catch remains: accounts with little or no active spend usually see volume ranges (for example 1K–10K) instead of exact monthly searches. Active advertisers get tighter numbers. Either way, Planner is an ads product — forecasts assume you might bid, not that you are writing a blog.
Pair it with Google Trends for seasonality shape, and with a SERP overlay (Keywords Everywhere, Keyword Surfer) when you want numbers while you browse. Wordtracker is an independent paid desk if you want KEI and rank lists outside Ads.
Core features and advantages
Discover new keywords
Start from a seed phrase, a product URL, or a category. Planner returns related ideas with average monthly searches (12-month view), competition (advertiser competition, not SEO difficulty), and bid estimates. This is how a seller checks whether “silicone baby plate” demand in the US or UK is large enough to justify a collection page or a Shopping campaign. Filter by location and language so a JP-store query is not mixed into a US plan.
Search volume and forecasts
Paste or upload a list you already have. You get historical volume, trend, and a forecast of clicks, impressions, and cost at a given bid and budget. Google’s help text says forecasts refresh often and use a short recent window adjusted for seasonality — useful for ads planning, easy to misread in January for a November-peak SKU. Use date range and location filters; do not treat one global number as “the” volume.
Bid estimates and campaign handoff
Top-of-page bid ranges are auction estimates, not your invoice. High-competition commercial terms can be cheap or expensive depending on country and Quality Score. When the list is ready, you can save a plan and turn it into a campaign. That closed loop is the point of Planner and the reason it lives in Ads rather than Search Console.
Supported platforms
Keyword Planner covers Google Search demand, sliced by the locations and languages the Ads UI offers. It is not Amazon, eBay, TikTok, or YouTube’s own planners (YouTube has separate Ads tools). Independent-store sellers use it for Google SEO and Google Ads; marketplace sellers use it to sanity-check whether a product category even has Google demand before they build a DTC site.
Who it's for
- Solo and small DTC sellers validating niche demand and first ad groups without paying for Semrush.
- Teams already spending on Google Ads who need exact-enough volume and forecasts.
- Amazon-first sellers exploring an independent site or Google Shopping — not for rewriting an Amazon title.
- Skip it if you refuse to create an Ads account, if you only need Amazon backend terms, or if range-only volume is useless to you and you will not spend.
Concrete use case: before translating a listing into a Shopify store for Germany, run the English and German product names in Planner with location = Germany. If both sit in a 10–100 band and suggested bids are high, you are looking at a thin, expensive search market — maybe stay on Amazon and skip the site.
Pricing and value
The tool is free. There is no Keyword Planner subscription. You pay only if you launch ads. The practical cost is time (account setup, learning the two modes) and, if you want exact volumes, some ad spend. There is no public “spend X dollars to unlock exact numbers” table; community consensus is that active campaigns unlock better granularity.
For most sellers this is the highest-ROI first keyword check on Google. Paid tools add difficulty scores, SERP features, and rank tracking that Planner will not.
Community feedback
SEO and ads communities have argued about Planner since 2013: it is the source, it is ads-biased, and zero-spend accounts get coarse ranges. 2026 how-to guides still repeat that warning. Amazon FBA threads rarely discuss it except when a seller is adding Google Shopping. Google’s own help pages are the documentation; there is no separate vendor support desk for Planner.
Competitive positioning
Planner is free and first-party. Google Trends shows relative interest over time, not monthly volume or CPC. Wordtracker sells independent volume, KEI, and rank lists. Keywords Everywhere and Keyword Surfer overlay estimates on the SERP so you do not have to live in Ads. None of them replace Amazon keyword tools.
FAQ
Is Google Keyword Planner free?
Yes. Opening the tool and running Discover/forecast costs nothing — you only pay if you actually launch a Google Ads campaign. There is no separate Keyword Planner subscription.
Can I use it without running ads?
Yes, but with a catch. You need a Google Ads account to open the tool, and an account with little or no spend usually sees volume as a range (for example 1K–10K) rather than an exact monthly number. You do not have to spend money to see any data, only to see tighter numbers.
Does it show Amazon search volume?
No. Keyword Planner only measures Google Search demand — the queries people type into google.com, filtered by the location and language you pick. It has no visibility into Amazon's, eBay's, or TikTok's own search bars, so it cannot replace an Amazon-specific keyword tool for backend terms or listing titles.
Alternatives
- Google Trends — relative search interest and seasonality, no CPC.
- Wordtracker — paid keyword desk with KEI, competitors, and rank lists.
- Keywords Everywhere — volume and CPC on the SERP as you browse.
Limitations
Not Amazon data. Volume can be ranges. Competition is advertiser competition. Forecasts are short-window and ads-shaped. You must sign in to Google Ads. It will not track rankings, crawl your site, or write listings. Seasonal peaks need Trends (and common sense) on top of Planner.
Verdict
Start here for any Google-facing product keyword work. Create the Ads account, run Discover + forecast on your real locales, and only then pay for a specialist tool if you need difficulty, rank tracking, or a second database. Do not use Planner as your Amazon SEO source of truth.
Next step: open Keyword Planner (or Ads → Tools → Keyword Planner) and run one seed list for your target country.
Data notes
Rechecked 2026-09-06 against Google’s Keyword Planner marketing page, Google Ads Help (“Use Keyword Planner”), and 2026 seller/SEO explainers on volume ranges. published set to 2013-05-20 (official AdWords blog launch). monthlyVisits, domainRating, and authorityScore are catalog placeholders and unverified. Exact spend required for non-range volumes is unverified (not published as a threshold). Website kept as the official product page https://business.google.com/en-all/ad-tools/keyword-planner/.