Google Ads Keyword Planner Tool: Use It Without Running Ads

The Google Ads Keyword Planner tool is free. Open Google Ads, click the Tools icon, pick Planning, then Keyword Planner. Google wants billing details on the account first. You do not have to run ads. Pick Discover new keywords for ideas, or Get search volume and forecasts to price a list you already have.

Say you sell soy candles and have not spent a dollar yet. Keyword Planner tells you roughly how many people search "soy candles" and what advertisers pay to sit at the top. That is enough to decide if the keyword is worth a test. It does not tell you if those people buy. More on that at the end.

This post is about the tool itself, screen by screen. For picking keywords, sorting them by intent and building ad groups, read our keyword research guide. Quick note on who is writing: I built Scaley, and I also run ZenoX Media, a Google Ads agency.

How to Open Keyword Planner Without Running Ads

Google gives two answers here, so here are both.

Google's help page asks for one thing: "You must complete your account setup by entering your billing information." Google's product page goes further: "To access Keyword Planner, you first need to complete your Google Ads Account setup and create a campaign."

What both agree on: you need a finished account with billing details. Neither page says the campaign has to spend money.

If you are new to Google Ads:

1. Sign up. Google calls it "3 simple steps: add your business information, select your campaign goals and budget, and enter your payment details."
2. Look for the skip. Google's sign-up page says: "At this stage, you also have the option to create an account without a campaign."
3. Pick your billing country and check the time zone. Google warns that "Your reports, statistics, and billing are all affected by the time zone you select, so choose carefully."
4. Stay in Expert Mode. Google's line: "If your account is using Smart Mode, you'll need to switch it to Expert Mode."

The skip may not show for everyone. On its manager account page, Google limits the same option to "Eligible advertisers who have had more than $1,000 USD in spend". If you do not see it, build one simple campaign and leave it paused. That is our advice, not a Google rule. A paused campaign spends nothing.

If you already have an account: click the Tools icon, pick Planning from the section menu, then Keyword Planner. Older layouts put it under a menu called Tools and settings. Same tool.

Discover New Keywords vs Get Search Volume and Forecasts

Keyword Planner opens with two doors. Pick by what you have in your hand.

Discover new keywords. Type a few words the way a customer says them. "Soy candles", "candle gift set", "lavender candle". You can also paste a website. One catch from Google: "the contents of hyperlinks aren't used to generate keyword ideas." So a menu full of links to your products gives it little to read. Point it at a product page with real text on it.

Get search volume and forecasts. Paste your list, or upload a CSV. Google's format rule: "Your file should have just one column with the header titled "Keyword"." Each keyword can be 80 characters at most and 10 words at most.

Once the ideas load, Google lets you filter by "competition, impression share, and keyword text". The keyword text filter is the useful one for a store. Filter out words like "diy" or "free" before you read a single number.

Why Keyword Planner Shows Ranges Like 1K-10K

You open the tool and every keyword says 1K-10K or 10K-100K. That is not a bug.

Google's own article explains it. New accounts, or accounts without active ad spending, "may see broad data ranges (such as 1K-10K) rather than precise numbers." And: "Exact, granular search volumes become available once your account has an active campaign spend."

So a store that has not spent yet gets ranges. You can still use them:

• Compare two keywords. If "soy candles" shows 10K-100K and "soy wax candle set" shows 100-1K, you know which one is bigger. That is often the only call you need to make.
• Read competition. Google defines it as "The number of advertisers that showed on each keyword relative to all keywords across Google." It works the same with or without exact volumes.
• Read the bid range. The next section is about this. It is the most useful number on the screen for a store with thin margins.

Two more Google notes on volume. The numbers are rounded. And volume counts exact matches only, while forecasts use your real match types. So the two will not line up. The full column list sits in our keyword research guide.

How to Read Top of Page Bid Ranges

Every idea shows two bid numbers: Top of page bid (low range) and Top of page bid (high range).

Google defines the low one as "an approximation of the 20th percentile" of what advertisers paid for a top spot. The high one is "an approximation of the 80th percentile". In plain words: 1 in 5 advertisers paid the low number or less for a top spot. Only 1 in 5 paid more than the high number. Google adds that "Bid range statistics show bid information from the last 30 days."

The range only matters next to your own number. Here is how to get it.

A made-up candle store:

• One candle sells for $38. After product, shipping and fees, the store keeps $24.
• About 1 in 40 clicks buys. That is a 2.5% conversion rate.
• So the most it can pay per click is $24 / 40 = $0.60. That is the ceiling. Pay more than this and every sale loses money. Pay exactly this and every sale makes $0.
• The store wants to keep about 20% of the $24 as profit. That leaves $19.20 for clicks. $19.20 / 40 = $0.48. That is the bid to aim for.

Now say Keyword Planner shows "soy candles" at a low range of $0.45 and a high range of $1.80. These numbers are made up too. The $0.45 low range sits just under the store's $0.48 target. It fits, but only just. The store can get some clicks there, with few top spots. A keyword whose low range starts at $1.20 is a skip for now. That is twice the $0.60 ceiling, so every sale would lose money.

Run your own numbers in the CPC calculator. Not sure what one sale really earns you? Start with the break-even ROAS calculator.

Forecasts are a different number. Under Get search volume and forecasts, Cost is "The average amount you might spend per day for this keyword." Avg. CPC is "The average amount you might pay for a click." Google says forecasts take "your bid, budget, seasonality, and historical ad quality into account". Change your bid and the forecast moves. The search volume does not.

Keyword Planner for Shopping and Performance Max

If your store runs Shopping or Performance Max, neither one uses keywords. Google says: "Shopping ads use your existing Merchant Center product data (not keywords) to decide how and where to show your ads."

So Keyword Planner does a different job here. Use it to learn the words shoppers type, then put those words in your product titles. If people search "soy candle gift set" and your title says "Aroma Jar No. 4", the feed is missing the search.

Once the campaign runs, stop guessing and look at what people typed. Our keyword research guide covers what Shopping and PMax show you. For Performance Max, here is how to see its search terms.

The Google Ads Keyword Planner API

There is no separate Keyword Planner API. The same data sits inside the Google Ads API, in a service called KeywordPlanIdeaService. Google's own docs say of it: "For users familiar with the Google Ads UI, this is similar to Keyword Planner."

It does four jobs:

1. Generate keyword ideas
2. Generate ad group themes
3. Generate historical metrics, for "an existing list of up to 10,000 keywords"
4. Generate forecast metrics

For keyword ideas, a keyword seed takes "at least 1 and up to 20 keywords". You can also seed with a URL, keywords plus a URL, or a whole site. The site seed "generates up to 250,000 keyword ideas". Each request takes up to 10 locations. The bid fields come back with the same 20th and 80th percentile meaning as the screen.

Access is the catch. Google's Explorer access level blocks the Planning features, so you have to apply for Basic or Standard access. Basic allows 15,000 operations a day. Standard has no daily cap. Planning calls also "enforce stricter rate limits than other Google Ads API services". Google suggests you cache results, since search volume refreshes monthly.

For one store, the screen is enough. The API is for tools that check thousands of keywords. If you came here for the AI angle, our Google Ads MCP guide covers what Google's own server can and cannot do.

What Keyword Planner Can't Tell You

Keyword Planner is a guess made before you spend. It knows how often people search. It does not know if your store sells to them.

After launch, the record is your search terms report. It shows what people really typed, what each search cost, and whether it sold. Our search terms report guide shows how to read it. That is where "soy candles" turns into "soy candle making kit", "soy candles bulk wholesale" and a pile of clicks that never buy.

That is the part Scaley helps with. Scaley Media Buyer connects to your Google Ads read-only. Ask it "which searches spent money and sold nothing this month?" and it answers from your live account. It only looks when you ask, and it cannot change anything.

Two other ways in:

• Scaley Consultant connects nothing. Upload a search terms export or a screenshot and ask the same question.
• Scaley Suite writes the negatives and pauses for you, and makes each change only after you say yes to that one change.

A card is required for the trial. Prices for all three are on the pricing page.

Where These Facts Come From

Checked on 2026-11-12.

• Keyword Planner, Google - free tool, the "create a campaign" line, Smart Mode to Expert Mode, and the Tools > Planning > Keyword Planner path.
• Use Keyword Planner, Google Ads Help - billing information, the two starting options, website ideas and hyperlinks, the CSV format, the 80 character and 10 word limits, and filters.
• About Keyword Planner forecasts, Google Ads Help - volume rounding and exact match, competition, the 20th and 80th percentile bid ranges, the 30 day window, and forecast Cost and Avg. CPC.
• Create a Google Ads account, Google Ads Help - the three sign-up steps, the account without a campaign option, billing country and time zone.
• Create new Google Ads accounts from your manager accounts, Google Ads Help - the $1,000 USD spend condition on the account without a campaign option.
• How to find keywords, Google (August 2025) - broad ranges like 1K-10K for new or no-spend accounts, exact volumes with active spend, and the older Tools and settings menu.
• About Shopping ads, Google Ads Help - Shopping ads use product data, not keywords.
• Keyword planning overview, Google Ads API - the four jobs, the 10,000 keyword limit, stricter rate limits, monthly refresh and caching.
• Generate keyword ideas, Google Ads API - seed types, the 20 keyword and 250,000 idea limits, 10 locations, and the returned bid fields.
• Access levels, Google Ads API - Explorer blocks Planning, Basic at 15,000 operations a day, Standard unlimited.