How Accurate Is Google Keyword Planner?

Many marketers start with Google Keyword Planner for search engine optimization (SEO) research. However, Google created the tool for pay-per-click (PPC) ads, so how accurate is Google Keyword Planner for SEO?

The answer matters because good data-driven marketing can increase brand awareness by 50%. Learn whether Google Keyword Planner is accurate and how other tools stack up.

How Accurate Is Google Keyword Planner?

Google Keyword Planner only estimates keyword search volume. Google itself acknowledges that the figures are not exact. 

In fact, a study by Ahrefs discovered that 91% of Google Keyword Planner’s search volumes were overestimations. 54% of results were dramatic overestimations, while 45% were “roughly accurate.”

However, that doesn’t mean the tool is useless. While not precise, the final results are generally correct for determining which topics are getting more attention online.

Therefore, the data provides general guidance for deciding what subjects to focus on in content creation. Also, the date range and forecasting features can show you the popularity of keywords at different times of the year. 

Why Isn’t Google Keyword Planner Completely Accurate?

You might suppose that Google Keyword Planner is more accurate than any other tool, being that it comes directly from the search engine. However, a few factors prevent it from giving you precise numbers.

For one, no tool will be perfectly accurate because of the sheer volume of information going through the web. Updating the data is a monumental task, so all SEO tools with keyword statistics can only provide estimates, albeit very helpful estimates.

Another reason is that Keyword Planner lacks some context. It does not distinguish between search terms with different intent, which is why it ends up with overestimations. For example, its dashboard groups searches for “Bank of America” and “American banks” together. Such queries have different intent and skew the data.