What words do your customers use? Free keyword research
You know your trade so well that you use your own words for it. A florist talks about "funeral tributes", while customers search for "funeral bouquet" or "flowers for a funeral". Keyword research means finding out which words your customers actually use, so your pages answer those questions. You don't need a paid tool for that. This article covers the free sources and what each one does and doesn't tell you.
1. What your customers say themselves
The best source isn't online: it's the questions you get every week, on the phone, in the shop and by email. Write them down for a few weeks, in the customer's own words. "Do you also deliver on Sundays?" is a search query in the making. Also look at reviews, questions on forums and the search function on your own site.
2. Search Console: the real search queries
If your site is in Google Search Console, open the Performance report and choose the Queries tab below the chart. You'll see which searches your site already appeared for in Google (impressions) and which ones got clicks. These are real figures from Google for your site, not estimates. Good to know:
- Google leaves queries made by very few people out of the table to protect searchers' privacy. They are still included in the total at the top. That's why the rows never add up to the total.
- The table shows at most 1,000 rows and the data goes back 16 months.
- Look at the position per query, not just the average for the whole site.
- Queries with lots of impressions where you're just short of the top are your opportunities: Google already considers your page relevant. A better title, description or page can make the difference.
- Filter out your business name ("Queries not containing"), otherwise you won't see how you're doing with people who don't know you yet.
Detailed explanation with screenshots: Reading the Performance and Page indexing reports in the Getting found online guide.
No Search Console yet? Read Submitting your website to search engines (Google and Bing).
3. Google itself: autocomplete and related questions
Type your word into the Google search box and see what appears as suggestions. According to Google, these predictions reflect real searches, although they aren't simply the most popular ones. Add a letter after your word to see more variations. Many results pages also show questions people ask and, at the bottom, related searches. Every question is a possible subheading or a possible article. Search in a private window so your own search history counts less.
4. Google Trends: comparisons and seasons
Google Trends shows no numbers, but a scale from 0 to 100: 100 is the highest point in your chart. Words with too few searches are shown as 0. Trends is useful for comparing two words, seeing when something peaks during the year (so your page is ready in time) and seeing differences between regions.
5. The Google Ads Keyword Planner
The Keyword Planner gives an estimate of the number of searches per month and new ideas. You need a Google Ads account with the account setup completed. You don't have to run an ad. The figures are rounded, and many users without an active campaign only see a range, such as 100 to 1,000. So use the planner to compare words, not to predict visitors.
6. Keyword Research in Bing Webmaster Tools
In Bing Webmaster Tools you'll find the Keyword Research section under SEO. You'll see related keywords, questions containing the word and how often it's searched for on Bing, filterable by country, language and device. The numbers are lower than Google's, but the questions in particular are useful.
Choosing and making a list
A short word like "flowers" gets searched a lot, but you're competing with big online stores and you don't know what the searcher wants. A longer search term like "flower delivery sunday amersfoort" gets searched less, but matches exactly what a local business offers. Ask three questions for each word:
- Does what the searcher wants match what I offer? Search for it and see which results Google shows.
- Can I make the best page for it, with real knowledge or a real offering?
- Which page will it be? Improve an existing one or create a new one, but never two pages for the same question.
| Keyword | Source | Page | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| order funeral bouquet amersfoort | autocomplete, customers | /funeral-flowers | adjust title and text |
| funeral ribbon text | questions box, Bing | new article | write |
| flower delivery sunday | customers | /delivery | mention Sunday |
A search volume is a direction, not a promise. A word that gets few searches but that you have the best answer for often delivers more than a popular word you'll never be visible for.
Putting the words in place
Use the keyword where it fits naturally: in the title, the main heading and the first paragraph. No more often than a reader finds pleasant; stuffing pages with keywords falls under Google's spam policies. In the AI Builder you can adjust the title and description per page under SEO. How to write a page that answers questions is explained in Writing a page that gets found. How to set the title and description is explained in Setting the title, description and alt text per page.
Further reading
- Search Console Help: Performance report
- Google Trends: how the data is calculated
- Google Ads Help: Keyword Planner
- Bing Webmaster Tools: Keyword Research
- Google: SEO Starter Guide
Want to learn more? Take the free Getting found online course, lesson 7.2 Keyword research without paid tools.