Keyword Planner in Google Ads – Role in 2025 Campaigns

As of 2025, the Google Ads Keyword Planner remains an essential tool, particularly for research and campaign planning. However, its role in Google Ads has evolved with the introduction of more automated campaign types, such as Performance Max and Smart Campaigns, which heavily rely on machine learning to optimize targeting and bidding.

Let’s break down how the Keyword Planner fits into Google Ads in 2025 and whether you still need to use it for anything other than research.

What Does the Google Ads Keyword Planner Do in 2025?

The Keyword Planner is still an essential tool for keyword research, helping advertisers discover and analyze keywords relevant to their business. While automated campaigns like Performance Max and Smart Campaigns have become more dominant, the Keyword Planner can still be valuable for the following reasons:

1. Keyword Discovery:

   • The Keyword Planner is an excellent starting point for discovering new keywords that are relevant to your business. You can input a specific product, service, or website URL, and the tool will generate a list of related keywords that could help drive traffic to your site.

2. Keyword Performance Estimates:

   • It provides search volume estimates, competition levels, and forecasted clicks or impressions for your selected keywords. This allows you to understand the potential reach and competitiveness of different keywords before you start bidding on them in a campaign.

3. Refining Keyword Lists:

   • For traditional Search Ads campaigns, you can use Keyword Planner to refine your keyword lists. With more automated options available, it’s still useful to handpick keywords for manual campaigns or customizing specific targeting within broader campaign strategies.

4. Trend Analysis:

   • The Keyword Planner can provide insight into seasonal trends or shifts in consumer behavior, helping you align your ads with changes in demand.

How Has the Role of Keyword Planner Changed in 2025?

While the Keyword Planner is still useful for these traditional functions, the rise of machine learning in Google Ads means that many features that once relied heavily on manual keyword input are now optimized automatically by Google’s algorithms.

1. Performance Max Campaigns:

   • Performance Max campaigns focus more on conversions and rely on Google’s AI to target the right audience across various networks, rather than on specific keywords. Here, the Keyword Planner becomes less critical, as Google’s machine learning determines what ads to serve based on user intent and behaviors, rather than a set of predefined keywords.

2. Smart Campaigns:

   • Smart Campaigns target users automatically based on their search behavior and interests. Keywords still play a role, but Google Ads now handles much of the work for you. This means that while you can still use Keyword Planner for initial research, Google handles most keyword targeting automatically.

3. Dynamic Search Ads (DSA):

   • DSAs automatically match your website content to relevant searches, bypassing the need for extensive keyword research. However, you can still use the Keyword Planner to identify any gaps in the coverage of your DSAs and refine them.

4. Audience Signals:

   • Google Ads has become more sophisticated in audience targeting, utilizing first-party data (such as website traffic or customer lists) to serve ads to people who are most likely to convert. This shift has somewhat diminished the reliance on traditional keywords.

Do You Still Need Keyword Planner for Anything Other Than Research?

While the Keyword Planner’s role has shifted, there are still some scenarios where it remains valuable for more than just research:

1. Manual Campaign Setup:

   • If you’re running Search Ads or Display Ads with manual targeting, the Keyword Planner is still one of the best ways to identify relevant keywords, understand search volume, and choose keywords with the right level of competition for your budget.

2. Forecasting:

   • The performance forecasting tool in the Keyword Planner helps predict how a set of keywords will perform based on historical data. This can be valuable if you want to gauge the potential effectiveness of your selected keywords and allocate your budget accordingly.

3. Refining Existing Campaigns:

   • Even if you’re using automated campaigns, the Keyword Planner can still help refine your keyword list by showing related search terms that may have been overlooked. You can use it to find long-tail keywords or specific phrases that have a better conversion rate for your business.

4. SEO Strategy:

   • While Keyword Planner is mainly for Google Ads, you can also use it to complement your SEO strategy. Understanding the search volume and competition for specific keywords can guide your organic content creation and SEO optimization, even if you’re not planning to run a paid campaign.

5. Competitor Analysis:

   • The Keyword Planner can provide insight into your competitors’ keyword strategies. By entering competitor URLs, you can see which keywords they are ranking for, allowing you to refine your ad strategy or content to target gaps in their approach.

Should You Rely on Keyword Planner for Automated Campaigns?

If you’re running campaigns like Performance Max or Smart Campaigns, which are heavily driven by machine learning, you don’t need to focus as much on keywords. These campaigns will automatically select the best keywords based on the assets, audience signals, and goals you provide. However, you can still use the Keyword Planner for general research to help define your overall marketing strategy or determine which products or services to focus on.

For Performance Max campaigns, while keywords aren’t directly required, you can still use the Keyword Planner to refine audience targeting by identifying which keywords are most relevant to your products or services, helping guide Google’s algorithms towards more relevant audiences.

Conclusion: Does Keyword Planner Still Matter?

In 2025, Keyword Planner remains a useful tool, especially for keyword research, but its role is evolving with the advent of automated campaign types and advanced machine learning in Google Ads. For manual campaigns and Search Ads, Keyword Planner is still vital, helping you discover relevant keywords, predict performance, and analyze trends.

For Performance Max and Smart Campaigns, the tool becomes less necessary for day-to-day campaign management, as Google’s AI handles much of the work. That said, it’s still a valuable resource for strategic research, competitor analysis, and refining your audience targeting.

In short, while you might not need to use the Keyword Planner as frequently as before, it’s still an important resource for those looking to optimize their campaigns, especially in more manual settings or to gain additional insights into market trends.