Local keyword research is the process of finding the words and phrases people type into search engines when they’re looking for products or services in a specific area. Rank for those terms and you put your business in front of customers at the exact moment they’re ready to buy — which is why keyword research is the foundation of every successful local SEO campaign.
Why does local keyword research matter?
Local keyword research tells you exactly what customers type into Google when they look for the products or services your company offers.
That may sound obvious, but it’s the crux of the issue.
Most business owners guess at these terms, assuming they already know how consumers search. As a result, they target the wrong keywords or overlook phrases that could genuinely help their bottom line.
If you’re a handyman in London, for example, you’ve probably already decided you want to rank for terms like “handyman in London.” But what about the rest of your services? Is there a page on your website dedicated to drain unblocking? Do you know how people actually search for that service — or whether they search for it at all?
Local keyword research answers all of these questions. Here’s a simple step-by-step process you can follow, whether you run the business yourself or manage SEO for clients.
Step 1: Make a list of the services you provide
Before you start looking for keywords, you need a complete picture of what the business actually offers. This applies whether you’re doing local keyword research for a client or for your own company.
Here’s how to go about it:
a) Brainstorm every service you offer
If you’re doing this for your own firm, you’ve probably already thought about the services you provide. Write them all down in a spreadsheet or text document, then move on to the next stage.
If you’re doing this for a client, ask them for a complete list of their services. This exercise matters more than it seems: many owners never consciously itemize everything they offer, and the “minor” services they forget are often the easiest ones to rank for.
b) Expand the list with a keyword tool
Brainstorming rarely surfaces every service people search for, so it’s worth double-checking for anything you might have overlooked. Run your seed ideas through a keyword research tool such as Ahrefs, Semrush, or Google Keyword Planner:
- Enter your seed terms (for example, “plumber,” “boiler,” “drain”).
- Select the country you operate in.
- Browse the matching terms or related keywords report and note any services you missed.
c) Refine the list
If you’re working with a client, send over the ideas you found and ask which of those services they actually provide. Add every confirmed service to your master list, and strike anything they don’t offer.
Step 2: Determine whether there is local intent
Local SEO is about ranking for keywords with local intent — searches where people want a nearby provider rather than a national brand or a purely informational page.
So the next step is to confirm that people searching for each of your services actually prefer to buy locally.
If you live in the same area as the business you’re researching, the simplest check is to Google each service yourself. Google tailors results based on your location, so look for two signals on the results page:
- A map pack — the block of local business listings shown with a map
- Local companies ranking in the organic search results
If either appears, the keyword has local intent. Move any keywords with no local intent into a separate list — they may still make good blog topics, but they don’t belong on your service pages.
If you’re not based in the same area as the business, use the free Ad Preview and Diagnosis tool inside Google Ads to see location-specific results:
- Open the Ad Preview and Diagnosis tool.
- Enter a keyword (for example, “boiler installation”).
- Set the location to the town or city you’re targeting (for example, Nottingham).
- Run the search and review the results page.
Step 3: Examine the search volume — but don’t obsess over it
Getting precise local search volumes is difficult because most major SEO tools only report country-wide or global numbers. Some tools now offer city- or region-level estimates, but treat them as rough guides rather than hard data.
Here’s the thing, though: when it comes to local SEO, people worry far too much about search volume.
Even if only a handful of people search for a service each month, those searchers are often extremely close to buying — and a dedicated page gives them everything they need to choose you. We’ve covered this in more detail in our guide on when you should target low search volume keywords.
Use volume data to prioritize which pages to build first, not to decide whether a legitimate service deserves a page at all.
Step 4: Sort keywords and map them to URLs
Local keyword research isn’t only about discovering what people search for. You also need to decide how you’ll target those keywords on your site.
In most cases, your homepage won’t rank for every service you provide. That’s why most local businesses create a dedicated page for each core service.
This is where things can get tricky, because it isn’t always obvious which services need their own pages and which can share one. A reliable shortcut is to look at the search results themselves:
- If Google returns clearly different top-ranking pages for two keywords (for example, “boiler repair” vs. “boiler installation”), treat them as separate pages.
- If the same pages rank for both (for example, “boiler repair” and “boiler repairs”), one page can target the whole group.
Map every keyword group to a URL in your spreadsheet before you write a word of content. This becomes the blueprint for your site structure — and a clean, crawlable structure is something a good technical SEO setup will reinforce.
Step 5: Keep an eye out for “things to mention”
Let’s imagine you provide boiler repair as one of your services. How do you create a page that ranks for “boiler repair” and related terms in your area?
Unfortunately, many people fall back on keyword stuffing at this point: compiling a list of the most common ways people search for a service and cramming those exact phrases into the copy. Google has been good at spotting that for years, and it makes for a miserable reading experience.
While you should never stuff keywords into your content, it is worth hunting for relevant subtopics — “things to mention” — for a few reasons:
- It builds topical relevance. If a boiler installation page covers the types of boilers you fit, the prices you charge, and the areas you serve, Google can more confidently understand what the page is about and rank it accordingly.
- It helps you rank for long-tail keywords. Not everyone searches the same way. For every 100 people searching for boiler repair in London, a handful search for boiler repair in North London — and covering your service areas naturally captures those searches.
- It’s genuinely useful for visitors. People comparing boiler installers want to know what you offer, what it costs, and how quickly you can come out. Answering those questions on the page improves both rankings and conversions.
You’ll find these subtopics by scanning the top-ranking pages for your keyword, checking Google’s “People also ask” boxes, and reviewing the related searches at the bottom of the results page.
Bonus: Feed your research into your Google Business Profile
Your website isn’t the only place this research pays off. The primary category, additional categories, and services you select in your Google Business Profile heavily influence which map pack results you appear in.
Use your keyword list to choose the most accurate primary category, add every relevant service to your profile, and mention your key services naturally in your business description. Combined with steady reviews and consistent name, address, and phone details across the web, this is what wins the map pack.
Final thoughts
Local keyword research is one of the most approachable parts of SEO: list your services, confirm local intent, map keywords to pages, and cover the subtopics customers care about.
Keep in mind, though, that it’s just one part of local SEO. You’ll still need well-optimized pages, a healthy Google Business Profile, and authoritative backlinks to outrank established competitors — and if your site is brand new, our guide on how to get backlinks for a new site with no money is a good place to start.
Prefer to hand it off? Our team handles keyword research, on-page optimization, and local link building end to end — get in touch and tell us about your business.