Local keywords: what customers search for in your city

You search Google for “plumber Giżycko” and see a few businesses. But do your customers type exactly that? Maybe they search for a “plumbing emergency”, “faucet replacement” or “emergency plumber”. A website built around the wrong words won’t bring in phone calls, even if it looks nice.

The good news: you can check this without paid tools. All you need is a browser, an hour and access to Google Search Console. I’ll show you how to collect keywords, how to organize them and how to assign them to subpages.

Step 1: start with your customers’ own words

Before you open any tool, write down how customers describe your service over the phone. These are often different words from the ones used in your industry. A plumber says “fixture installation”, a customer types “bathroom faucet replacement”.

Prepare three lists:

1. Services: what exactly you sell (e.g., drain cleaning, boiler installation, a stay in a cottage).
2. Places: the city, nearby towns, neighborhoods, the region (Giżycko, Masuria, Wilkasy, Ryn).
3. Situations: breakdown, renovation, urgent, on the weekend, for a family with children.

Most local keywords come from combining these lists. Don’t look for numbers yet. First, organize your ideas.

Step 2: Google suggestions

Suggestions are the simplest source. Google shows them based on what people actually type.

How to do it:

1. Open Google in a private window, so that your own history has less influence on the results.
2. Type the beginning of a keyword, e.g., plumber Giżycko, and don’t press Enter. Write down the suggestions.
3. Add a space and then successive letters of the alphabet: “plumber Giżycko a”, “plumber Giżycko b” and so on. Write down the new suggestions each time.
4. Change the word order: “emergency plumber Giżycko”, “plumbing emergency Giżycko”.

An example for accommodation: type accommodation Masuria and check the suggestions with additions such as “with a dog”, “by the lake”, “cottage”, “May long weekend”. Each of them is a separate customer need and a potential subpage.

Suggestions don’t tell you how many people search for a given keyword. They only tell you that people use it. For a list of ideas, that’s enough.

Step 3: “People also ask” and related searches

Type in the main keyword and scroll through the results. Look for two places:

• People also ask: expandable questions, e.g., “How much does a plumber call-out cost?”. These are ready-made ideas for an FAQ section or a short guide on the website.
• The list of related searches at the bottom of the results page: alternative wordings of the same need.

Click a few questions: Google will add more. Write down the ones that relate to your offer. Questions about price, arrival time and weekend work are usually the keywords with the best chance of a phone call, because the person is already looking for someone to do the job.

Step 4: Search Console, or data about your website

If your website is already submitted to Google, you have the best source: the words people actually use to find you.

1. Go to Google Search Console and open the Performance report.
2. Leave the default date range (last 3 months) and go to the Queries tab.
3. Add a filter for queries containing the name of your city.
4. Review queries with many impressions and a low CTR, as well as positions around 8–20.

The latter are keywords for which the website already appears but doesn’t attract clicks yet. Often it’s enough to improve the title or heading, or to add a separate section. I write more about the reports worth reviewing every month in the guide on Google Search Console.

If your website is new and there is almost no data, go back to steps 2 and 3.

Step 5: Google Ads Keyword Planner (optional)

Keyword Planner is part of Google Ads and requires an account. It helps you check how keywords compare with each other and suggests more. Without an active campaign, Google often shows wide ranges rather than exact numbers, so don’t treat them as hard data.

How to use it sensibly:

• paste in the keywords from steps 1–3 and compare them with each other: which one comes out higher and which lower,
• set the location to your city or region,
• don’t copy the numbers into your offers or into conversations with customers as fact.

If you’re planning a campaign, the same keyword list will serve you for ads. I describe how the budget works and what you pay for in the guide on Google Ads for a small business.

Step 6: build the list and assign keywords to subpages

You now have several dozen ideas. Next, organize them in a spreadsheet with these columns:

Rules for assigning keywords:

• One subpage means one main need. Keywords with the same meaning (e.g., “plumber Giżycko” and “plumbing services Giżycko”) go on one page.
• Different services get separate subpages. Drain cleaning and boiler installation are different customers.
• Questions about price, travel and dates go into an FAQ section or onto a separate pricing page.
• Add towns only where you really work. I describe whether a separate subpage for a city makes sense in the guide on city subpages.

On each subpage, put the main keyword in the title, the H1 heading and the first paragraph, and fill in photos and contact details with specifics. Don’t repeat the keyword in every sentence.

Step 7: carry your keywords over to your Business Profile

Local keywords don’t work only on the website. In your Google Business Profile, use them in service descriptions and in posts. Choose a primary category that matches your main service, and add the others as additional categories. Fill in prices, hours and photos so that they match reality.

Also check who is visible for your keywords in Maps. You can do this in the free competitor audit: you enter a service and a city, and after a minute you see the ranking, ratings and reviews of businesses in the area.

What to avoid

• Guessing numbers. Don’t write “this keyword gets a thousand searches” in your plan if you don’t have that from a tool.
• A list not split into subpages. All keywords on the home page usually means chaos.
• Copying competitors’ keywords. Look at their titles, but write your own content.
• Keywords not backed by your offer. If you don’t provide a service, don’t add it just for the traffic.

Summary

A list of local keywords comes from three sources: Google suggestions, the “People also ask” section and the Queries tab in Search Console. Keyword Planner rounds out the picture, but it isn’t necessary. The most important thing is to assign keywords to specific subpages.

Write to me, and I’ll do it for you. As part of the SEO and search rankings service, I’ll prepare a keyword list, a subpage plan and content for your area. I reply within 24 hours, and new clients get a 20% discount on their first order.