You don’t need an expensive SEO tool to figure out what your customers are searching for.
In fact, you can get surprisingly far using Google itself.
1. Start with what your customers ask
Before opening any tool, write down the products or services you offer, problems you solve and questions customers regularly ask.
If you own a residential painting business, you might start with:
- interior house painters
- cost to paint a house
- kitchen cabinet painting
- painter near me
- how often should you repaint a house?
These become your seed keywords.
2. Use Google Search to expand your list
Type a seed keyword into Google and pay attention to the suggestions that appear.
Then run the search and explore:
Autocomplete: What variations does Google suggest?
People Also Ask: What questions are people asking around the topic?
Related Searches: What similar searches appear?
These can quickly turn five ideas into dozens.
3. Check what people actually mean
Search your potential keyword yourself.
If you search “best paint for kitchen cabinets” and almost every result is a how-to article, someone using that phrase probably wants information rather than a painting company.
That’s search intent, and it’s just as important as the keyword itself.
4. Want search-volume data? Use Google Keyword Planner
Once you have a list, Google Keyword Planner can take your research further with keyword ideas, estimated search volumes, competition, and bid information.
You can also use “Start with a website.” Enter your own site and Google will suggest relevant keywords that you can download.
Another useful trick is entering a competitor’s website. Google will suggest keywords based on their site content, helping you uncover search terms and opportunities you may have missed. These are suggestions, not the competitor’s actual advertising keywords.
There’s one hurdle: Keyword Planner is part of Google Ads, so you’ll need to set up a Google Ads account and complete the required account information before accessing it.
If you’re not ready to navigate Google Ads yet, that’s fine. The earlier methods are enough to start building a useful keyword list.
5. Choose keywords you can actually use
Don’t automatically chase the phrase with the biggest number.
Look for keywords that are:
Relevant + specific + connected to something your business can genuinely answer or solve.
Keyword research isn’t only useful for SEO and blog content. It can also help you understand how potential customers search before you build a paid search campaign. If Google Ads is on your radar, see What to Do Before Spending Money on Google Ads before setting up your first campaign.
Your goal isn’t to collect thousands of keywords.
It’s to understand what your customers are looking for and create something useful when they search for it.
