You find the right keywords for your business by starting with the services you offer and the problems your customers have, then checking which search terms people actually use, how competitive they are and whether they show an intent to buy, book or enquire. The best keywords are relevant, realistic and likely to bring the right visitors.
It is less about finding the most popular phrase and more about finding the phrases that suit your business.
Start With Your Customers
Begin by listing your main products or services. Then think about how a customer would describe their problem before they know your industry’s terms. A homeowner with a leaking roof might search “roof leaking after rain” rather than “roof repair specialist”.
Talk to your team. Staff who answer phones and emails often know the exact questions customers ask. Those questions can make excellent keywords and blog topics.
Reviews, enquiry forms and social media comments are also useful sources of real customer language.
Use Your Own Search Data
If your website has been live for a while, Google Search Console shows the searches that already bring people to your pages. This can reveal useful terms you had not thought of, and pages that appear for good searches but rarely get clicked.
Your website’s internal search, if you have one, can also show what visitors look for once they arrive.
Check Volume, Competition and Intent
Keyword research tools can estimate how often a term is searched and how hard it might be to rank for. These figures are estimates and vary between tools, so treat them as a rough guide rather than exact numbers.
Look at the search results for each keyword. What kind of pages appear? If they are all large national brands, the term may be very competitive. If they are guides and articles, people probably want information rather than a service.
Intent matters a great deal. A term like “how much does a new boiler cost” suits a helpful guide, while “boiler installation in Folkestone” suits a service page.
Choose and Organise Your Keywords
Once you have a list, group similar terms together and match each group to a page on your website. Each important page should have one clear main topic, supported by related phrases.
Prioritise keywords that closely match what you sell and are realistic to compete for. For many local businesses, specific phrases with a town or service detail bring better enquiries than broad terms with huge search volumes.
Review your choices from time to time, as search habits and your services change.
If you would like help finding and organising the right search terms, our keyword research services can do the groundwork and turn it into a clear plan. Please get in touch if you would like to talk it through.
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