diff --git a/docs/reading.rst b/docs/reading.rst
index c5e814bf..6361280a 100644
--- a/docs/reading.rst
+++ b/docs/reading.rst
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ destination DataFrame as well as a preferred column order as follows:
        'SELECT * FROM `test_dataset.test_table`',
        project_id=projectid,
        index_col='index_column_name',
-       col_order=['col1', 'col2', 'col3'])
+       columns=['col1', 'col2'])
 
 Querying with legacy SQL syntax
 -------------------------------
diff --git a/pandas_gbq/gbq.py b/pandas_gbq/gbq.py
index 3d43884a..d4a8d2b7 100644
--- a/pandas_gbq/gbq.py
+++ b/pandas_gbq/gbq.py
@@ -734,7 +734,7 @@ def read_gbq(
     query_or_table,
     project_id=None,
     index_col=None,
-    col_order=None,
+    columns=None,
     reauth=False,
     auth_local_webserver=True,
     dialect=None,
@@ -750,6 +750,8 @@ def read_gbq(
     auth_redirect_uri=None,
     client_id=None,
     client_secret=None,
+    *,
+    col_order=None,
 ):
     r"""Load data from Google BigQuery using google-cloud-python
 
@@ -773,7 +775,7 @@ def read_gbq(
         the environment.
     index_col : str, optional
         Name of result column to use for index in results DataFrame.
-    col_order : list(str), optional
+    columns : list(str), optional
         List of BigQuery column names in the desired order for results
         DataFrame.
     reauth : boolean, default False
@@ -888,6 +890,8 @@ def read_gbq(
     client_secret : str
         The Client Secret associated with the Client ID for the Google Cloud Project
         the user is attempting to connect to.
+    col_order : list(str), optional
+        Alias for columns, retained for backwards compatibility.
 
     Returns
     -------
@@ -966,10 +970,19 @@ def read_gbq(
                 'Index column "{0}" does not exist in DataFrame.'.format(index_col)
             )
 
+    # Using columns as an alias for col_order, raising an error if both provided
+    if col_order and not columns:
+        columns = col_order
+    elif col_order and columns:
+        raise ValueError(
+            "Must specify either columns (preferred) or col_order, not both"
+        )
+
     # Change the order of columns in the DataFrame based on provided list
-    if col_order is not None:
-        if sorted(col_order) == sorted(final_df.columns):
-            final_df = final_df[col_order]
+    # TODO(kiraksi): allow columns to be a subset of all columns in the table, with follow up PR
+    if columns is not None:
+        if sorted(columns) == sorted(final_df.columns):
+            final_df = final_df[columns]
         else:
             raise InvalidColumnOrder("Column order does not match this DataFrame.")
 
diff --git a/tests/system/test_gbq.py b/tests/system/test_gbq.py
index 9aac2357..bc078264 100644
--- a/tests/system/test_gbq.py
+++ b/tests/system/test_gbq.py
@@ -600,6 +600,40 @@ def test_tokyo(self, tokyo_dataset, tokyo_table, project_id):
         )
         assert df["max_year"][0] >= 2000
 
+    def test_columns_as_alias(self, project_id):
+        query = "SELECT 'a' AS string_1, 'b' AS string_2, 'c' AS string_3"
+        columns = ["string_2", "string_1", "string_3"]
+
+        df = gbq.read_gbq(
+            query,
+            project_id=project_id,
+            columns=columns,
+            credentials=self.credentials,
+            dialect="standard",
+        )
+
+        expected = DataFrame({"string_1": ["a"], "string_2": ["b"], "string_3": ["c"]})[
+            columns
+        ]
+
+        # Verify that the result_frame matches the expected DataFrame
+        tm.assert_frame_equal(df, expected)
+
+    def test_columns_and_col_order_raises_error(self, project_id):
+        query = "SELECT 'a' AS string_1, 'b' AS string_2, 'c' AS string_3"
+        columns = ["string_2", "string_1"]
+        col_order = ["string_3", "string_1", "string_2"]
+
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError):
+            gbq.read_gbq(
+                query,
+                project_id=project_id,
+                columns=columns,
+                col_order=col_order,
+                credentials=self.credentials,
+                dialect="standard",
+            )
+
 
 class TestToGBQIntegration(object):
     @pytest.fixture(autouse=True, scope="function")