Keyword research: find the searches that bring customers

A keyword is whatever someone types into a search box. Despite the name, most keywords are phrases: 'dog groomer near me', 'how to fix a leaking tap', 'best accounting software for freelancers'.

Keyword research is the process of collecting those phrases, learning how often they are searched and how hard they are to win, and deciding which ones deserve a page on your site.

It answers three questions. What do my customers search for? What do they expect to find? Which of those searches can my site realistically win, and in what order?

The result is a plan for your website. Each page gets a purpose. You stop writing pages nobody looks for, and you fill the gaps where customers search and find only your competitors.

Business owners describe their work in trade terms. Customers describe their problem. An HVAC company writes about 'split system installation'. The customer searches 'air conditioning for one room'.

Google matches pages to searches largely through the words on the page. Its SEO Starter Guide advises you to think about the words a user might search for. If the customer's words are missing, your page is hard to match.

Keyword research for SEO also protects your time. One well-chosen page can bring visitors every month for years. A page on a phrase nobody types brings zero visitors, even when it is written beautifully.

Is keyword research still important now that Google understands meaning and AI answers questions? Yes. The tools changed, and the task stayed: know what your customers ask, in their words, and answer it.

Keyword tools use a small set of terms. Learn these eight and every tool makes sense.

One more distinction helps. A keyword is the phrase you target. A search query is what a person actually types. Hundreds of slightly different queries can belong to one keyword and one page.

Search intent is the goal a person has when they search. Google's whole job is to satisfy that goal, so it ranks the type of page that fits. Get intent wrong and even an excellent page stays low.

Most SEO guides sort intent into four groups. Google's own quality guidelines use similar labels, such as Know, Do and Website queries.

For a business, transactional and commercial keywords bring customers soonest. Informational keywords bring readers early in their decision and build trust, links and visibility in AI answers.

A healthy site covers both. Start with the keywords closest to a sale, then add informational pages that link to your service pages.

You can skip the guessing. Google shows you the intent it has learned from billions of searches. Type the keyword in and look at the first page with these four checks.

1. Page typeAre the top results articles, service pages, product pages, category pages or tools? Build the same type.
2. FormatLists, step guides, comparisons, calculators, videos? The dominant format is what searchers prefer.
3. FeaturesA map pack signals local intent. Shopping results signal buying intent. A People also ask box signals questions.
4. Who ranksLocal firms, national brands, directories, forums? This shows whether a site like yours belongs there.

Take 'wedding photographer prices'. The first page shows price guides with ranges and tables. A portfolio page will struggle there. A clear pricing guide with your own packages fits.

Some keywords have mixed intent: the results show both guides and shops. Those are harder to plan. Prefer keywords where the first page agrees on one type.

Here is how to do keyword research in five steps. The first step uses zero tools. Open a spreadsheet and list every service or product you sell, one per row.

Next to each, write the phrases customers use when they call or email. Check your inbox, your contact form entries, your reviews and the questions your team answers every week.

Add the problems behind the service. People search the problem before they know the solution: 'damp patch on ceiling' comes before 'flat roof repair'.

Add modifiers, the words people attach: cost, price, near me, best, how to, vs, for beginners, for small business, and your town or region. Each combination is a possible keyword.

You now have a seed list of 20 to 50 phrases. They come from real customer language, which is the best source there is.

Now let Google and a few free tools multiply your seed list. Collect everything first. You filter in the next steps.

1. Google autocompleteType a seed phrase and read the suggestions. Add a letter or a question word, such as 'roof repair c' or 'how roof repair', for more.
2. People also askThe question box on the results page. Click a question and more appear. Each is a possible subheading or FAQ.
3. Related searchesThe list at the bottom of the results page shows nearby topics.
4. Google Search ConsoleThe Performance report lists searches you already appear for. Sort by impressions and look for phrases with a low position.
5. Google Keyword PlannerFree with a Google Ads account. Enter seeds or a competitor's address and get keyword ideas with volume ranges.
6. Google TrendsCompares interest over time and shows seasonality and rising phrases.
7. Competitor pagesRead the titles and headings of the sites that rank. They show which keywords those pages target.

Paid tools such as Ahrefs, Semrush and Ubersuggest do the same in bulk and add difficulty scores. They are handy, and a small business can start with the free set.

Search volume tells you how often a keyword is searched per month, as an average over a year. Check it per country, since 'solicitor' and 'attorney' behave very differently in the UK and the US.

Treat volume as an estimate. Keyword Planner shows broad ranges such as 100 to 1K unless you run ad campaigns. Third-party tools model their numbers, and two tools often disagree.

Volume also differs from visits. Some searches end on the results page itself, answered by a map, a quick fact or an AI Overview. Ads and other results take their share of clicks.

And one page ranks for many related queries. A page targeting a keyword with 200 monthly searches may collect visits from 150 variations. The page's total potential is larger than one number.

Use volume to compare keywords with each other and to spot seasons. A low figure for a keyword with clear buying intent is still valuable. Ten searches a month for 'commercial solar installer Leeds' can mean real contracts.

Keyword difficulty, often shortened to KD, is a score from 0 to 100 in paid tools. It estimates how hard it is to reach the first page. Each tool calculates it in its own way.

Ahrefs, for example, bases its score on the links pointing to the current top 10 pages. So the score says little about content quality or about your own site's strength. Use it as a first filter.

1. Who ranks nowA first page full of national brands and government sites is hard. Small local firms and forums mean an opening.
2. How good are the pagesThin, outdated or off-topic results can be beaten with a focused, current page.
3. Do they target the keywordIf the top titles lack the phrase, a page built for it has an advantage.
4. How many links do they haveA link tool shows this. Pages with few links from other sites are within reach.
5. Do sites like yours appearOne small business among the results proves it can be done.

Rate each keyword as easy, medium or hard based on these five checks. A new or small site should fill its first months with easy keywords and keep the hard ones as a longer-term goal.

Long tail keywords are specific phrases with modest volume each. The name comes from a graph: a few head terms with huge volume on the left and a very long tail of rare phrases to the right.

That tail is enormous. Ahrefs analyzed its US keyword database and found that 94.74% of all keywords get 10 or fewer searches a month. Most of search is made of specific questions.

Long tail keywords suit small businesses for two reasons. Fewer strong sites target them. And the visitor has told you exactly what they need, so a focused page can answer and convert.

They also match how people talk to AI assistants and voice search: in full sentences. Pages that answer specific questions are well placed for those channels too.

You now have a long list with volume and a difficulty rating. Add one more column: business value. Ask how likely a visitor on this search becomes a customer.

Score each column from 1 to 3 and multiply. The highest totals go first. The example below is for a kitchen fitter in Manchester.

The broad term 'kitchen' has the most searches and the lowest score. The visitors want everything from recipes to furniture, and the competition is national.

The scoring keeps you honest. It stops you from chasing big numbers and points you to phrases that pay. Review the top ten and pick the first five pages to build.

Keyword mapping means assigning each keyword to exactly one page. The rule: keywords with the same intent share a page. Keywords with a different intent get their own page.

How do you know whether two keywords share intent? Search both. If the first pages show mostly the same results, Google sees them as one topic. One page can target both.

If the results differ, build two pages. 'Kitchen fitters Manchester' shows local firms. 'Kitchen fitting cost' shows price guides. Same trade, two intents, two pages.

The map prevents keyword cannibalization: two of your own pages competing for one search, which weakens both. If you find such a pair, merge them and redirect the weaker address.

Keep the map in a shared sheet. It becomes your content plan, your brief for writers and the list you measure against in Search Console.

One main keyword per page, plus the variations and questions that share its intent. In practice that is one main phrase, three to eight supporting phrases and a handful of questions.

Use the main keyword in the title, the main heading, the first paragraph and the page address. Use supporting phrases in subheadings and body text where they read naturally.

You can skip counting repetitions. Google's Starter Guide warns against keyword stuffing, and it understands synonyms and related wording. Write for the reader and cover the topic fully.

Skip the meta keywords tag as well. Google confirms that its search ignores that tag. Your effort belongs in the visible content.

Local keywords follow a simple pattern: service plus place. 'Electrician Bristol', 'emergency electrician Clifton', 'EV charger installation near me'. Google adds the location itself when someone types 'near me'.

Volume tools often show tiny numbers or nothing for town-level keywords. Trust the pattern anyway. If people search 'electrician' in a city of 400,000, they search it in your town of 20,000.

List each service and each area you truly serve. Build one page per service, and add area pages only where you have something specific to say: local projects, travel times, local rules.

Mine your Google Business Profile too. Its performance report shows the searches that displayed your listing. Those are real local keywords, straight from Google. Chapter 9 of this guide goes deeper.

People phrase requests to AI assistants as full questions with context: 'which accountant in Denver is good for a small restaurant?'. Classic keyword tools show little of this, since the questions are long and varied.

Google describes that its AI features may split one question into several related searches, a technique called query fan-out. Each sub-question is a chance for a specific page or section to be cited.

So collect questions with the same care as keywords. Use People also ask, your own inbox and sales calls. Answer each question in a short, direct paragraph under its own subheading.

Then test it. Ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI Mode the questions your customers would ask, and note which businesses and sources appear. Chapter 12 turns this into a routine.

The same errors show up again and again in keyword research. Each one is easy to prevent once you know it.

1. Chasing volume onlyBig numbers attract. Buyers hide in specific phrases with modest volume.
2. Ignoring intentA service page aimed at a keyword where Google shows guides will sit on page three.
3. Trusting one tool blindlyVolumes and difficulty are estimates. Confirm with the results page and your own Search Console data.
4. Using trade jargonTarget the customer's words. Explain the technical term on the page.
5. Several pages for one keywordVariations with the same intent belong on one strong page.
6. Doing it onceSearch behavior shifts. New questions appear, and old ones fade.

Review your keyword map every quarter. Add the new searches from Search Console, check positions for your main keywords and plan the next pages. Thirty minutes keeps the plan current.

At Delta Six, the keyword map comes before the design. It decides which pages a website needs and what each page has to answer. Monthly SEO is included as standard in the websites we build.

We are a Dutch web design agency and build your complete custom website free first. You see it in a 15-minute online showcase, pay nothing upfront and only pay when you're happy.

• List every service or product you sell in a spreadsheet.
• Add the phrases customers use in calls, emails and reviews.
• Add the problems that lead to each service, in customer words.
• Expand each seed with Google autocomplete and People also ask.
• Export your current searches from Google Search Console.
• Look up volume ranges in Google Keyword Planner for your country.
• Search each candidate keyword and note the intent and page type on the first page.
• Rate difficulty as easy, medium or hard using the five first-page checks.
• Score business value, volume and ease from 1 to 3 and multiply.
• Assign each chosen keyword to exactly one page in a keyword map.
• Merge or redirect pages that compete for the same keyword.
• Collect ten customer questions for AI search and FAQ sections.
• Set a quarterly reminder to review the map with fresh Search Console data.