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Manual Keyword Strategy

You must be inside the Manager Account — not a regular client account. In the top-right of Google Ads you'll see your Manager account ID. From there: Admin → API Center.

You only do this once. Fill in every field — Google reviews these manually.

• →API Contact Email — your business email
• →Company Name — your agency or business name
• →Company URL — your website
• →Company Type — select "Agency" if you manage client accounts
• →Intended Use — write something like: "Internal keyword research tool for planning local business Google Ads campaigns using the Keyword Planner API"
• →Principal Place of Business — your country

Click "Apply for Basic Access" on the API Center page. This opens a longer form. Here's exactly what to fill in:

• →Company details — same as step 2
• →Business model description — explain how you use Google Ads (e.g. "We manage Google Ads campaigns for local home service businesses — roofing, HVAC, plumbing")
• →"Do you plan to use your Google Ads API token with a tool developed by someone else?" → Select No (keyword-planner.js is your own script)
• →"Do you plan to use your token for App Conversion Tracking and Remarketing API?" → Select No
• →Capabilities — check Reporting (covers Keyword Planner access)

Go to console.cloud.google.com → click the project dropdown at the top → New Project. Name it something clear: "keyword-planner" or "gads-keyword-tool".

Inside your new project: go to APIs & Services → Library → search for "Google Ads API" → click it → click Enable. This takes about 10 seconds.

Go to Google Auth Platform → Clients → click Create Client. Fill in the following:

• →Application type: Web Application
• →Name: anything — e.g. "Keyword Planner OAuth"
• →Authorized JavaScript origins: http://localhost:8080
• →Authorized redirect URIs: https://developers.google.com/oauthplayground

After clicking Create, Google shows you your Client ID and Client Secret. Copy both and store them somewhere safe — you'll need them in the next step. You can also download the JSON file which contains both.

Go to developers.google.com/oauthplayground. Click the gear icon in the top-right → enable "Use your own OAuth credentials" → paste your Client ID and Client Secret → click Close.

In the left panel, scroll down to find "Google Ads API" and select it. Then click "Authorize APIs". Google will ask you to sign in — use the Google account that has access to your Manager (MCC) account. Grant access when prompted.

After granting access, you're redirected back to OAuth Playground. Click "Exchange authorization code for tokens". The Refresh Token appears on the right side of the screen.

You now need three more values from Google Ads:

• →Developer Token — go back to your MCC → Admin → API Center. It's listed there (starts with letters and dashes, ~20 chars).
• →Login Customer ID — the ID in the top-right of your Manager (MCC) account. Digits only, no dashes. This is always the MCC ID.
• →Customer ID — the ID of the specific ad account you want to pull keyword data for. Digits only. If you're doing keyword research for a client, use their account ID.

Create a .env file in the folder where you'll run keyword-planner.js. Paste all five values:

GADS_DEVELOPER_TOKEN=your-developer-token-here
GADS_CLIENT_ID=your-client-id.apps.googleusercontent.com
GADS_CLIENT_SECRET=your-client-secret
GADS_REFRESH_TOKEN=your-refresh-token
GADS_CUSTOMER_ID=1234567890

Move keyword-planner.js into a scripts/ folder alongside your .env. Run this to confirm the whole chain works:

mkdir -p scripts
mv ~/Downloads/keyword-planner.js scripts/keyword-planner.js

node scripts/keyword-planner.js \
  --services "roof repair, storm damage, gutter install" \
  --location "Austin TX" \
  --limit 20

If it works, you'll see JSON output like this:

[
  { "text": "roof repair austin", "avgMonthlySearches": 880, "competition": "HIGH", "avgCpcDollars": 9.20 },
  { "text": "storm damage repair austin tx", "avgMonthlySearches": 390, "competition": "HIGH", "avgCpcDollars": 11.40 },
  ...
]