Quick answer
Keyword research comes down to three jobs: find the words your customers type into Google, check that you can realistically rank for them, and give each keyword one page on your site. Get those three right and your content starts pulling in people who are ready to buy.
You don't need expensive software to do it. This guide uses free tools from start to finish, walks through a worked example for a local HVAC company, and shows how to map every keyword to the right page on a small site. It also covers how to research the longer, conversational questions people now ask AI tools.
What keyword research is (and why small businesses get it wrong)
Keyword research is the process of finding the search terms your customers use, then choosing which ones to target with which pages. For a small business, the goal is leads and sales, so the best keywords are the ones buyers use.
Google's own SEO Starter Guide, updated December 2025, puts it plainly: "Think about the words that a user might search for to find a piece of your content." It adds that experts and beginners often search for the same thing in different words.
Small businesses tend to make three mistakes:
- Chasing high volume. A keyword like "air conditioning" gets huge traffic, but most of those searchers want general information, and national brands own the results.
- Ignoring intent. Someone searching "how does a heat pump work" is learning. Someone searching "heat pump installation Phoenix" is ready to hire.
- One page for everything. A single "Services" page can't rank for ten different services. Each one needs its own page.
The keyword metrics that count
Four numbers decide whether a keyword deserves your time: search volume, keyword difficulty, search intent and business value. The last one is the one most guides skip, and for a small business it's often the most important.
Search volume
Search volume is the average number of monthly searches for a keyword. Most searches are small: a Backlinko study of 306 million keywords, updated in 2020, found the median keyword gets only 10 searches a month. For a local business, low-volume keywords still pay. "Emergency furnace repair Plano" might get 30 searches a month, but nearly every one of those searchers needs help today.
Watch for seasonality too. Searches for "furnace repair" climb every fall and drop in spring, while "AC repair" does the opposite. Google Trends shows these patterns, so you can publish and update pages a month or two before demand peaks.
Keyword difficulty
Keyword difficulty estimates how hard it is to reach page one, usually on a 0 to 100 scale in paid tools. Without a paid tool, search the keyword yourself and look at who ranks. If page one is full of national brands and big directories, it's hard. If you see small local businesses with thin pages, you have a real chance.
Search intent
Search intent is the reason behind a search. Most keywords fall into one of four types:
- Informational: the searcher wants to learn, such as "why is my AC blowing warm air."
- Commercial: the searcher is comparing options, such as "best heat pump brands."
- Transactional: the searcher is ready to act, such as "book AC repair."
- Local: the searcher wants a nearby business, such as "HVAC company near me."
Business value
Business value asks one question: would this searcher ever buy from you? A keyword with modest volume and clear buying intent for your most profitable service beats a popular keyword that brings visitors who never call.
How to do keyword research in 7 steps
Here's the full process, using free tools. Work through the steps in order, and keep everything in one spreadsheet with columns for the keyword, volume, intent, difficulty notes and the page it belongs to.
- List your services and the problems you solve.
- Mine Google itself for ideas.
- Expand the list with free tools.
- Add local modifiers.
- Check intent by looking at the results page.
- Size up the competition.
- Prioritize with a value and difficulty grid.
1. List your services and the problems you solve
Write down every service you offer, then every problem customers bring to you. A plumber might list "water heater installation" as a service and "no hot water" as a problem. These become your seed keywords, the starting points for everything else. Ask your front-desk staff what callers say, since customers describe problems in their own words.
A quick list for an HVAC company might include: AC repair, furnace repair, heat pump installation, duct cleaning, thermostat installation, "AC not cooling," "furnace making noise" and "high energy bills." Ten to twenty seeds is plenty to start.
2. Mine Google itself
Type each seed keyword into Google and note what it suggests. Four places on the results page give you free keyword ideas:
- Autocomplete: the suggestions that appear as you type.
- People Also Ask: the questions box, which expands as you click.
- Related searches: the list at the bottom of the page.
- The map pack: the categories and terms the top local businesses use.
Search from a private browser window so your own history doesn't shape the suggestions, and check results on your phone too, since most local searches happen on mobile.
3. Expand with free tools
Run your list through free tools to find more ideas and estimate volume:
- Google Keyword Planner: shows keyword ideas and search volume. It's part of Google Ads, and Google's Keyword Planner help page says "You must complete your account setup by entering your billing information to access basic features." You don't need to run ads to use it, but accounts with little or no ad spend often see volume as broad ranges.
- Google Search Console: shows the searches that already bring people to your site, which is the most reliable data you'll get, since it's your own.
- Google Trends: shows whether interest in a term is rising, falling or seasonal.
- AnswerThePublic: turns a seed keyword into the questions people ask around it. The free plan allows a small number of searches per day.
4. Add local modifiers
Add location terms to your service keywords. Try your city, nearby towns, neighborhoods and "near me." For example, "furnace repair" becomes "furnace repair Plano," "furnace repair Frisco" and "furnace repair near me." If you serve a wide area, list the towns you cover and check which ones people search for. Our guide to local SEO for small businesses explains how location pages should use these terms.
5. Check intent by looking at the results page
Search each keyword and look at what's ranking. If the top results are blog posts, Google sees the intent as informational, so a guide is the right page type. If they're service pages and map listings, the intent is local or transactional, so a service page fits. Matching the page type Google already rewards is one of the simplest ways to rank.
Some results pages show a mix, such as a few service pages, a map pack and a guide. That usually means Google sees mixed intent. In that case, a service page with a helpful FAQ section can serve both the people ready to hire and the ones still researching.
6. Size up the competition
Look at who holds the top five spots. Ask three questions: Are these national brands or local businesses? Are their pages detailed or thin? Do they have lots of reviews and links? A keyword where small competitors rank with short pages is a strong opportunity, even if the volume is modest.
Signs a result is beatable include pages under 500 words, outdated dates, no reviews on the business's profile, and directory listings outranking local businesses. When you see two or three of these on page one, that keyword belongs near the top of your list.
7. Prioritize with a value and difficulty grid
Sort your keywords into four groups by business value and difficulty. Start with high-value, lower-difficulty keywords, since they bring leads fastest. Then build toward high-value, harder keywords over time. Low-value keywords can wait, or go to blog posts that support your main pages.
- Do firstHigh value, lower difficultyService and city keywords, such as “AC repair Plano”
- Build towardHigh value, harderCompetitive service terms you grow into over time
- SupportLower value, lower difficultyBlog posts that answer questions and link to service pages
- Skip for nowLower value, harderBroad terms owned by national brands
Worked example: keyword research for a local HVAC company
Here's how the process looks for a fictional HVAC company in Plano, Texas. The numbers below are illustrative examples made up for this guide.
The owner starts with one seed keyword: "AC repair." Google's autocomplete suggests "AC repair near me," "AC repair cost" and "AC repair Plano." People Also Ask adds "Is it worth repairing a 15-year-old AC unit?" Keyword Planner adds "AC not cooling" and "emergency AC repair."
Next, the owner adds local modifiers for Plano and two nearby towns, Frisco and Allen. Then they check intent by searching each term. "AC repair Plano" shows map listings and service pages, so it's transactional. "Is it worth repairing a 15-year-old AC unit" shows blog posts and forums, so it's informational.
After filtering out terms with no buying intent, the shortlist looks like this:
| Keyword | Intent | Page type | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| AC repair Plano | Local and transactional | Main service page | High |
| emergency AC repair Plano | Transactional | Section on service page, plus FAQ | High |
| AC repair Frisco | Local | Frisco location page | Medium |
| AC repair cost | Commercial | Blog post with price ranges | Medium |
| is it worth repairing a 15-year-old AC | Informational | Blog post linking to the service page | Low |
The owner now has a clear plan: strengthen one service page, build one location page and write two supporting blog posts, each targeting a different keyword.
After three months, the owner checks Search Console to see which of these pages earn impressions and clicks, then adds the next location page for the town that shows the most demand.
Map keywords to pages (one page, one job)
Keyword mapping means assigning each keyword to one page on your site, so every page has a single clear job. On a small site, this stops your own pages from competing with each other.
A typical small-business map looks like this:
- Homepage: your brand name plus your main service and city, such as "HVAC company in Plano."
- Service pages: one page per service, such as "AC repair Plano" or "furnace installation Plano."
- Location pages: one page per town you serve, with real local detail.
- Blog posts: informational questions, such as "how often should you service your AC," each linking to the matching service page.
When two pages target the same keyword, search engines may struggle to decide which one to rank, and both can end up lower than one strong page would. This problem is called keyword cannibalization. A simple spreadsheet with one row per page and one main keyword per row prevents it.
Useful columns are: page URL, main keyword, two or three related keywords, intent and the date you last updated the page. Before you write anything new, check the sheet to make sure no existing page already targets that keyword.
Keyword research for AI search (prompts and keywords)
People ask AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity full questions, so keyword research now includes the longer prompts customers use. Where someone types "AC repair Plano" into Google, they might ask an AI tool "Who's a reliable AC repair company in Plano that can come out today?"
To research prompts:
- Turn PAA questions into sections. Each People Also Ask question can become a heading on your page, with a one- or two-sentence answer right underneath.
- Add the details people mention. Prompts often include extras like "open on weekends," "for an older home" or "with financing." Cover those details on your service pages.
- Ask the AI tools yourself. Type your customers' questions into ChatGPT or Perplexity and note which businesses and sources they mention.
Here's how one prompt turns into page content. A customer asks, "Is it cheaper to repair or replace a 15-year-old AC unit in Texas?" Your AC repair page can add a heading with that exact question, then answer it in two sentences: the age where replacement usually makes sense, the cost factors and when you'd recommend each option. That one section now serves Google searchers, People Also Ask and AI tools at once.
Our guide to GEO vs SEO explains how AI search differs from regular search and what to do about it.
The 80/20 rule in keyword research
The 80/20 rule in SEO is a rule of thumb: roughly 20% of your keywords bring in most of your leads. It's a rough guide, and it holds up often enough to show you where to start.
For a small business, that 20% is usually the bottom-of-funnel service and city keywords, such as "water heater installation Tampa." Start there. Strong pages for these terms tend to bring calls fastest, and once they're in place, you can add blog content to support them.
Best free and paid keyword research tools
The right tool depends on your budget and how many keywords you track. Free tools cover the basics for most small businesses, and paid tools add difficulty scores, competitor data and larger databases.
| Tool | Free or paid | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Google Keyword Planner | Free with a Google Ads account | Keyword ideas and volume ranges |
| Google Search Console | Free | Searches already bringing visitors to your site |
| Google Trends | Free | Seasonal and rising topics |
| AnswerThePublic | Free plan with daily limits, plus paid plans | Question-based keyword ideas |
| Ahrefs | Paid, with some free tools | Difficulty scores, competitor keywords and backlinks |
| Semrush | Paid, with a limited free account | Keyword databases, competitor research and tracking |
Start with the free tools, and move to a paid tool once you're tracking dozens of keywords or competing in a crowded market. Most paid tools offer a trial or a limited free version, so test one against your own Search Console data before you commit. If its volume estimates roughly match the searches you already see, you can trust it for new ideas. To see how keyword work fits into an overall budget, read how much SEO costs in 2026.
Keyword research FAQs
Can a beginner do keyword research?
Yes. A beginner can do solid keyword research with free tools like Google autocomplete, Keyword Planner and Search Console. Start with your services and your customers' questions, check what ranks for each term, and give each keyword its own page.
How many keywords should a page target?
Each page should target one main keyword plus a handful of closely related variations. A page about "AC repair Plano" can also cover "air conditioner repair Plano" and "emergency AC repair." Give unrelated keywords their own pages.
How often should I redo keyword research?
Review your keywords every three to six months, and whenever you add a service or a location. Check Search Console each month for new searches that bring visitors, since they often reveal topics worth a new page.
Is keyword research difficult?
The basics are easy to learn, and a small business can do them in an afternoon. The harder parts are judging competition and intent, which take some practice. Following the seven steps above keeps it manageable.
Get help with keyword research
Finding the right keywords is the foundation for every page you build. Our keyword research services map the searches your buyers use to the pages that should win them. Book a free growth review to get started.
Sources
- Google Search Central, "SEO Starter Guide," updated December 10, 2025: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/seo-starter-guide
- Backlinko, "We Analyzed 306M Keywords. Here's What We Learned," updated December 1, 2020: https://backlinko.com/google-keyword-study
- Google Ads Help, "Use Keyword Planner": https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7337243