Local keyword research for small businesses

What is local keyword research?

A keyword is the phrase a person types into Google, such as "emergency plumber" or "family dentist". Local keyword research means finding the phrases people use when they want a business like yours near them.

Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and prominence. Relevance is how well your Business Profile matches what someone is searching for. Google's advice for relevance is to give complete and detailed business info. Knowing the words customers use tells you what to put in that info.

Google Business Profile Help: Tips to improve your local ranking on Google

How do I do local keyword research for free?

You need a notepad and a few minutes. This is our suggested method, using only what Google shows you.

1. List what you sell, one service per line, in the words a customer would use. "Blocked drain" beats a trade term the customer has never heard.
2. List the places you serve: your town, nearby neighbourhoods and the cities customers drive from.
3. Combine them. One service plus one place gives you a first draft, as in the table below.
4. Type each draft into Google and read the suggestions that appear. Add any that match what you sell.
5. Open your Business Profile report and read the search terms people used to find you.
6. Cut the list to the five to ten terms that matter most to your business, then check where you rank for each.

How do I use Google autocomplete for keyword ideas?

When you type in Google, it tries to predict what you are looking for. Google calls this autocomplete. Type the start of a service and watch what it suggests.

Google says that if you are signed in and "Search personalization" is on, you get personalized predictions. So your suggestions can differ from what a customer sees. Our suggestion is to treat them as ideas, not as a count of how many people search.

Google Search Help: Manage Google autocomplete predictions

Where do I see the searches that already find my business?

Open your Business Profile and click Performance. Google's performance report has a Searches metric that lists the search terms people used to find your business.

Google says this metric is updated at the start of each month and may take up to 5 days to show up. Performance data is available only for verified profiles, and only metrics that apply to your business appear.

These are searches where your profile already appeared. They show words customers use that you may not have thought of. They do not show searches where you did not appear.

Google Business Profile Help: Understand your Business Profile performance

What does a finished keyword list look like?

Here is a made-up example for a plumber serving one city. Yours will use your own services and places.

Our suggestion is to test the thing a customer needs, not your business name.

How do I see where I rank for each keyword?

Google says distance, meaning how far each business is from the person searching, is one factor in local results. So the rank you see on your own phone is the rank for the spot you are standing in. A rank grid searches the same keyword from several points around your area and shows your position at each.

Reputant's free local rank checker below checks one keyword per run, at your business location and two more points nearby, with no account. It has a daily limit per person, and a link to the report is emailed to you.

Inside Reputant, a grid runs on request at 3 by 3 or 5 by 5 points. Run it for each keyword on your list. A keyword can be re-run after 14 days, and scheduled runs are in development. For reading the results, see what a geo grid shows.

What do I do with the list once I have it?

Check that your category, services and description describe what you do in the words customers use. The Google Business Profile categories guide covers choosing the main one.

Then see which factors you can change in how to rank higher on Google Maps, and re-check the same keywords after you make changes.