Your customers’ words
SEO Keywords Are Just Your Customers' Words
A keyword is simply the words someone types into Google, or says to their phone, when they need something. That's all SEO keywords are. When a page uses the same words a customer searches for, Google has an easier time matching the two, and the customer has an easier time recognizing that they've found the right place. You don't need to know any jargon to get this right. You need to know how your customers talk.
The trouble is that business owners and customers rarely use the same words. You know your trade from the inside, so you think in terms of services, methods, and industry names. Your customers think in terms of problems, places, and urgency. I touched on this in why a target audience matters, and the keyword section of SEO for new website launches explains why keywords come first when planning a site. This article goes a step further, into how people actually phrase their searches.
How people search
How Real People Search for a Local Business
Search for help with something around your own house and watch what you type. You probably don't type a tidy service name. You type the problem, maybe your town, and sometimes a word that shows how soon you need help. Your customers do the same thing, and once you start noticing the patterns, they're everywhere.
Patterns that show up again and again
The problem, not the service
"Water heater leaking" instead of "plumbing services."
A place
A town or neighborhood name, or simply "near me."
Urgency
Words like "emergency," "same day," or "open now."
A question
"How much does it cost to replace a roof" or "do I need a permit for a fence."
A trust check
"Best," "reviews," "licensed," or "family owned."
Most real searches mix two or three of these at once, like "emergency plumber near me" or "how much does gutter cleaning cost in Lakewood." Those longer, more specific phrases are what people mean by long tail keywords, and they're where small businesses tend to have the best chance. They're also the same phrases your customers would use if they called you instead of searching.
Notice that none of these searches use the words most businesses put at the top of their homepage. Phrases like "comprehensive solutions," "quality service," and "your trusted partner" describe almost every company, so nobody searches for them. The SEO keywords that actually matter are the specific, sometimes messy phrases that show what the customer is going through right now.
Longer searches
Why Longer, Specific Searches Matter
A short search like "roofing" gets a lot of traffic, but the people typing it could want anything from shingles to a job. A longer search like "roof leak repair after storm" gets far fewer searches, and almost everyone typing it needs exactly that, soon. That's why long tail keyword research matters for a small business: fewer searchers, but they're closer to calling, and you're competing with fewer big websites for them.
Picture it
Take a carpet cleaner whose site talks about "residential carpet care solutions." Plenty of their customers are pet owners searching for "pet urine smell removal from carpet" or "carpet stain cleaning near me." Adding a page that speaks to pet stains in plain words, mentioning the towns they serve, gives those searchers a page that matches what they typed. Local keywords like town names work the same way, as long as they're true: list the places you really serve, not every town on the map.
Here's my rule of thumb: write the words your customers say on the phone, not the words on your invoice.
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No special tools
5 Ways to Find Your Customers' Search Words Without Special Tools
Keyword tools are useful, but you can get surprisingly far with what you already have. Each of these takes a few minutes, and together they give you a solid list of the words your customers really use. Keep a running note on your phone and add to it whenever you notice a new phrase.
Places to find the words your customers use
1
The questions people ask you. Jot down the exact words callers and customers use, especially the first thing they say.
2
Google's suggestions as you type. Start typing your service and see what fills in. Google says its autocomplete predictions reflect real searches people have made.
3
"People also ask" and related searches. The questions in the middle of the results page and the suggestions at the bottom are other people's searches.
4
Your reviews and your competitors' reviews. Customers describe the job in their own words there, often better than any tool.
5
Search Console, once you're live. It shows the actual searches that brought people to your site.
This is the same starting point I use for SEO keyword research with clients. A tool can then show roughly how often each phrase is searched and which ones are worth a page of their own, but the list itself starts with the customers. If the words don't sound like something a real person would say, they probably aren't the right ones.
Putting them to work
How to Use the Words Once You Have Them
Once you have a list, group the phrases by topic. Each main group usually deserves its own page, like one page for water heater repair and another for drain cleaning, so each page can answer one kind of search well. My guide to how many pages a website needs explains why more focused pages tend to help. Then use the words where they'd naturally appear: the page title, the headings, and the plain description of the job.
What you shouldn't do is cram the same phrase into every sentence. Google's spam policies call out keyword stuffing, and it reads badly to customers anyway. Write the page for a person first, using their words, and the keywords take care of themselves. If a sentence sounds awkward when you read it out loud, rewrite it.
The honest answer
The Honest Answer: SEO Keywords Start With Your Customers
So how do customers search for a business like yours? They describe their problem, add a place, and sometimes add how soon they need help. Good SEO keywords are simply those phrases, used naturally on the pages that answer them. You can find most of them by listening to your customers, watching what Google suggests, and reading your reviews, long before you open any tool.
If you'd like help turning that list into a plan, keyword research is part of how I start every website project. I'm also happy to talk it through in a free, no-pressure conversation, even if you're not ready to build anything yet. You can get in touch here whenever it suits you.
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