Google is adding a feature to its AdWords platform that lets advertisers see how frequently people use certain search terms in order to more finely tune their ad campaigns.

AdWords, which has been the foundation for Google's great success in online advertising, is the platform that delivers relevant text, image or video ads next to search query results and on Web pages with matching content. (Read Network World's daily look at what is happening with Google.)

Within AdWords is the Keyword Tool, which helps advertisers pick keywords and offers suggestions. The KeyWord Tool will now show "search volume data," or how many times a particular term has been used in a particular month or over the last year.

The new feature provides a more accurate measurement of monthly and average search volumes than the Keyword Tool previously provided, wrote Trevor Claiborne on the Inside AdWords blog.

The search volume data will be specific to the country that an advertiser has targeted for the ad as well as the language, Google said.

The search volume data helps advertisers plan their budgets because they will have a better idea of how frequently a term appears, which determines how much they would have to pay for their ad to be shown when the search term is used.

Advertisers can pay for each individual click on their ad -- cost-per-click, called CPC, or for every 1,000 times the ad is shown, known as CPM.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.