You have a fantastic local business. Your products or services are top-notch. But you have a nagging feeling that the right customers aren’t finding you online.
You know they’re out there, searching on their mobile devices for exactly what you offer, but your website just isn’t showing up. The secret sauce is learning how to find keywords for local SEO. It’s about speaking the same language as your potential customers.
Getting this right connects your business with the people in your community who need you the most. We will go through the steps of how to find keywords for local SEO so you can stop being your town’s best-kept secret and improve visibility.
First, Understand What Your Local Customers Search For
Before you can find the right local keywords, you have to get inside your customer’s head. What are they thinking when they pull out their phone to search? They are usually looking for a quick solution to a problem in their local area.
Someone searching for “how to fix a leaky pipe” has a very different search intent than someone searching for “plumber in Springfield.” The first person wants information, while the second has explicit local intent and needs to hire someone right now. Your job is to focus on the searchers who are ready to act, as this is a primary business target.
These action-oriented local searches have high commercial intent. They often include location-based words that reflect the searcher’s location. Think about a search term like “best coffee near me” or “car repair Austin Texas,” which shows the person wants to find a business and likely make a purchase or at least add their phone number to their contacts.
Your goal is to find the relevant keywords these motivated local consumers are typing into the search bar of a search engine. This is the foundation of a strong local SEO strategy. You are not just looking for any SEO keyword; you are looking for the ones that lead to footsteps through your door or calls to your business, helping you appear in the local pack.
Start With Your Own Expertise: Brainstorming Seed Keywords
You know more about your business than anyone, which is why the first step in your digital marketing plan does not involve any fancy keyword tool. It just involves you, a piece of paper, and some quiet time to think. We call these initial ideas “seed keywords” or your “core term.”
Grab a notebook and start by listing all the services you provide or products you sell. Be very specific. If you are a plumber, don’t just write “plumbing.” Write down “drain cleaning,” “water heater repair,” “emergency plumbing,” and “toilet installation.” If you’re an event planner in Los Angeles, you would list “wedding planning,” “corporate event coordination,” and “party rentals.”
Next, think about the questions your customers ask you all the time. These questions are a goldmine for keyword ideas because people often type them directly into search engines. A frequently asked question like “How much does it cost to fix a furnace?” could become a keyword like “furnace repair cost [your city],” which is great for your content marketing.
Think about your main service categories. If you run a restaurant, your categories might be “breakfast,” “lunch,” “dinner,” and “catering.” From there, you can branch out into specific dishes or offerings that people might search for, like “gluten-free brunch options.” This simple brainstorming session will give you a solid list to start building your on-page SEO.
How to Find Keywords for Local SEO with Free Tools
Once you have your list of seed keywords, you can use some powerful and free tools to expand it. These tools show you what real people are searching for. This helps you move beyond guessing what your customers want and helps you improve local SEO with data.
Use Google’s Built-In Features
Google itself is one of the best resources for finding a free keyword, and it costs nothing. The first place to look is Google Autocomplete. Go to Google and start typing one of your seed keywords, like “landscaping in…” but don’t hit enter.
Google will show you a list of suggestions, which are popular local searches people are actually making. Pay close attention to these, as they are direct clues from Google about what is important for organic search. Don’t forget to also try variations of your core term to see what suggestions pop up.
Another feature is the “People Also Ask” box. After you do a search, scroll down the page. You will often see a box with a list of questions related to your search, which can spark ideas for high-quality content. This can help you find new localized keyword ideas and topics for your blog or website pages.
Explore Google Maps and Yelp
Your potential customers are not just using the main Google search page; they are also searching directly within Google Maps. Your Google Business Profile is a critical ranking factor for these searches. Optimizing your Google Business account can significantly improve local visibility.
Search on Google Maps for your primary service and city and look at the top-ranking competitors. Notice their business name, categories, star rating, and the services they list on their business profile. Reading their reviews is also a form of review management, as you can see what words and phrases their happy customers use, giving you ideas for long-tail keywords.
Yelp and other local directories work the same way. The language used in reviews and business descriptions reflects how real people think and talk about your industry. Your online presence on these platforms contributes to your overall SEO strategy, so delivering consistent information across all of them is important.
Look at Your Competitors
Your local competitors can be a source of great information for searching local businesses. Do a quick search for your main services in your city. Who shows up on the first page? Click through to their websites and analyze their content.
Read the titles of their pages, the headings they use, and the text in their service descriptions. Check their meta tags to see how they are positioning themselves. They have likely already done some keyword research, and you can learn from their work to refine your own local SEO efforts.
You’re not looking to copy them exactly; you are looking for patterns and ideas you may have missed. Pay special attention to their service pages. Do they have a separate page for each service? This common and effective strategy lets them target very specific keywords on each page, increasing their chances of ranking.
Use SEO Tools for a Deeper Look
Free tools are a fantastic starting point. But to get a real edge, you may want to use a dedicated SEO tool, which is a key part of many SEO services. These platforms give you data that Google doesn’t share publicly, like specific search volumes, which can help you make smarter decisions about which focus areas to prioritize.
Discover Search Volume and Difficulty
A good keyword tool can show you an estimate of how many people search for a specific keyword each month. They can also tell you how difficult it will be to rank on the first page for that keyword. Some platforms require a credit card for a subscription, but many offer free trials or limited free versions.
You might find a keyword that seems perfect, but if it has a very low search volume, it may not generate much website traffic. Alternatively, a high-volume keyword might be extremely competitive, making it hard for a small business to rank. The sweet spot is often found in keywords with decent search volumes and low competition.
These are the opportunities where you can win. Even Google’s own Keyword Planner, designed for paid ads, can provide useful volume estimates for your organic efforts. Finding these hidden gems that your competitors might be ignoring is a huge win for your local SEO keyword research.
Analyze What Your Competitors Rank For
Advanced SEO tools let you do something very powerful. You can enter a competitor’s website address and see a list of all the keywords they rank for. This takes the guesswork out of competitive analysis and is a feature some AI SEO platforms are working to simplify.
You can see their top-performing keywords and find keywords that bring them a lot of traffic, which helps you identify gaps in your own strategy. If all your top competitors are ranking for “emergency roof repair” and you are not targeting that phrase, you are likely missing out on valuable customers. This is how you improve local performance.
This analysis also helps you find new service areas to expand into. You might discover that a competitor is getting a lot of business from a related service that you also offer but have not been promoting online. It is a way to use data to make smart business decisions and improve your business visibility.
Don’t Forget About Modifiers
Local keywords are all about specifics. “Modifiers” are words you add to your main keywords to make them more specific to a geographic area or a need. Getting these keyword modifiers right is a huge part of learning how to find keywords for local SEO.
The first type of modifier is the geo-modifier, which helps you add location details. These are words that specify a location, like your city name, as in “bakery in Boston.” You can get even more specific by using neighborhoods, zip codes, counties, and even nearby landmarks, as someone might search for “coffee shop near Fenway park.”
The second type of keyword modifier relates to the service itself. These words add important details about what you offer. Examples include “24-hour,” “emergency,” “affordable,” “best,” or “eco-friendly.” Combining your seed keywords with different modifiers is how you build a comprehensive local keyword list, as keyword modifiers add valuable context.
This process helps you show up in a wider variety of searches. Here is a simple table to show you how this works:
| Base Keyword | Geo-Modifier | Service Modifier | Full Local Keyword |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tacos | East Village | Takeout | East Village tacos takeout |
| Yoga Studio | Portland OR | Beginner | Beginner yoga studio Portland OR |
| Bookkeeper | near 78704 | for artists | Bookkeeper for artists near 78704 |
| IT Help | Chicago | Small business | Small business IT help Chicago |
Experiment with different combinations. This process allows you to cast a wide net and capture all the different ways that local customers might be searching for you. It’s a critical piece of the puzzle to improve your local rankings.
Think About How People Talk for Voice Search
More people are using voice assistants like Siri and Alexa to find local businesses. When people speak their searches, they use different language than when they type. Voice searches are often longer and phrased as complete questions.
For example, a typed search might be “best pizza Chicago.” A voice search is more likely to be “Hey Google, what’s the best pizza place near me that delivers?” This is a shift towards natural language that you must account for in your local SEO.
To capture this traffic, you should create content that answers these questions directly, because that content isn’t just for bots; it’s for real people. Think about creating FAQ pages or blog posts that address these conversational queries. Use your list of customer questions from the brainstorming stage as a starting point to capture this traffic from mobile devices.
When you are planning your keywords, start thinking in terms of full sentences and questions. This will help you with voice search and also help you rank for the longer, more specific keywords that people type. It’s a win-win strategy for your content.
Conclusion
You do not need to be a technical genius to get your business to show up in local search results. The process of finding the right local keywords starts with understanding your customer and your community. It is about bridging the gap between what you offer and what they are looking for.
By using your own knowledge and some simple tools, you can build a powerful list of keywords that will drive real results for your business. This is how you make your business more visible and grow your online presence. From your Google Business account to your social media, a cohesive keyword strategy makes a difference.
Mastering how to find keywords for local SEO gives you control over how new customers discover you. This approach can turn your website into a true asset for your business growth. It is a fundamental part of a successful local SEO plan.
