Get back the Old Google Keyword Planner (July 2018)

“I hate the new keyword planner!” I overheard my co-worker say.

“I wish I could just go back to the old one”.

Can’t You Just Click “Return to Previous AdWords”?

Theoretically, you can revert to the old system by clicking Tools > Return to previous AdWords.

Clicking this should revert to the old Keyword Planner Tool.

But every time my co-workers clicked that button, it just reloaded, and sent them back to the new AdWords.  Very frustrating, seeing as the new interface had some serious drawbacks.

But There Was Hope…

In the past, I’d been able to get to to the old keyword planner with a bookmark.  I wasn’t sure if it still worked, so I tested it.

Ahhhh… retro keyword planner.

Great!  The old AdWords still works!

I copied the URL and sent it to my co-worker.  It worked …as long as he was logged into the same account I was using.  If he was logged into another account, it would send them to a login screen.

Looking For An Exciting Fantasy Adventure?

Meet your newest fandom.

Okay… partial success.  We can work with that!

But I wanted something universal…

I took a closer look at the URL.  I saw that there was a “query string” at the end of the URL (a “query string” is a question mark followed by various letters and numbers, at the end of a URL).

I had a hunch that part of that query string was referencing my account.  Perhaps if I removed it, the link would work for any account.

The part of the URL that was specific to my account.

I tried removing the suspected piece and… PRESTO!  I had a link that worked, regardless of what account you’re using.

Why Go Back To The Old Keyword Planner?

If you’ve read this far, you probably already know.

Yes, the new keyword planner looks slick, but it leaves out critical features and data.

Among other things, the new Google Keyword Planner lumps everything into ranges.  1-10, 10-100, etc.  But it’s helpful to know whether a particular keyword is getting 15 or 95 searches each month (especially when dealing with low-volume searches).

Unfortunately, Google decided that less was more, in this case, and lumped everything into vague ranges.

This means a keyword with 100,000 and another keyword with 900,000 searches will both be lumped into the “100K- 1M” category.  Clearly the 900,000 keyword is more popular but you’d never know it with the new Keyword Planner.

Okay, Here’s The Magic Link…

I can’t promise this will work forever.  But (as of July 2018) if you log into your Google account and then paste this link in the address bar, the old Keyword Planner should load.

https://adwords.google.com/ko/KeywordPlanner/Home?sourceid=awo&authuser=0#start

Or if you’re already logged in, just click this link…

https://adwords.google.com/ko/KeywordPlanner/Home?sourceid=awo&authuser=0#start

What do you think?  Did this solution work for you?  Are we way off-base?  Tell us know your thought in the comments below…