Keyword research without jargon
Start with the words buyers use
Keyword research is customer research with search data attached. Listen to buyer language. Group the intent. Inspect the results. Turn the list into page decisions someone can act on.
Start with one offer and one buyer
Keyword research means finding the words people use to describe a need, then deciding how your site can answer it. A phrase may express a problem, a comparison or a request to buy. The useful output is a page decision.
Choose one service or product first. Write down who needs it, where you can supply it and what the buyer must know before taking the next step.
- Collect real wording. Review sales calls, support emails, reviews and customer questions. Remove personal details from your notes.
- Separate the need from the phrase. Record what the person wants to understand or do.
- Keep the evidence. Note where the wording came from. A customer question, a search suggestion and a tool estimate tell you different things.
Different questions need different answers
Understand a problem
“Why is my sofa sagging?” The reader needs possible causes and help deciding whether to seek a repair assessment. Explain what can be checked and what requires inspection.
Compare options
“Reupholster or replace a sofa?” The reader needs criteria: frame condition, desired fabric, sentiment, transport and the scope of a quote. A sales pitch alone does not answer the comparison.
Find a local service
“Sofa upholstery in Bristol” The reader needs service area, examples, collection arrangements and a clear way to request an assessment. Use your actual location and capabilities.
Request a price
“Sofa reupholstery quote” Show what information the workshop needs, such as photographs, dimensions and fabric preferences. Explain which details may require inspection before a firm price.
Turn related phrases into a page brief
This hypothetical example is for an upholstery workshop. It is a planning exercise, not measured search demand or a description of a Devenia client.
Phrase group: “sofa reupholstery Bristol”, “sofa upholstery Bristol” and “sofa recovering Bristol”. Check the results before treating them as the same need.
Page decision: improve the existing sofa upholstery service page if it already serves that buyer. Do not create three near-identical pages just to change the wording.
- Reader: a local owner deciding whether to ask for an assessment.
- Questions: which furniture is accepted, what the work includes, how fabric is chosen and how collection works.
- Proof: real before-and-after photographs, with a short explanation of the work shown.
- Next step: send photographs and the details needed for a useful reply.
The repair-versus-replacement question may deserve a separate guide if it needs a fuller comparison. Link that guide to the service page where an assessment would help.
Inspect the results before choosing a page
Search a few phrases from each group in the market and language you serve. Record the date and location. Treat the results as a sample of what is visible, not proof that every searcher wants the same thing.
Large brands in the results are a reason to inspect the opportunity carefully. Their presence alone does not establish that a useful page from a smaller business cannot compete.
- Page type: are you seeing guides, product lists, service pages, videos or local listings?
- Repeated questions: which details appear across useful results?
- Missing evidence: could your own examples, specifications or process explanation answer something better?
- Fit: can you serve this buyer, or is the result about a different product, location or task?
- Mixed intent: if the results vary, keep the different needs visible instead of forcing them into one group.
Read the numbers with their limits
Use tools to expand a shortlist and compare demand. Keep the country, language and time period beside each estimate. A seasonal average can hide busy and quiet months; search volume is not a forecast of visits or enquiries.
In Google Keyword Planner, monthly searches include close variants and depend on the selected period, location and network. Numbers are rounded. Its “Competition” measure concerns advertisers; it does not measure the difficulty of earning an organic ranking. See Google’s explanation of Keyword Planner metrics.
If your site has Search Console data, inspect the queries and pages already receiving search visibility. The query table is incomplete: some queries are withheld for privacy and others fall outside the rows shown. An absent phrase does not establish that nobody searches for it. See Search Console’s query limitations.
For any third-party difficulty score, check what that provider measures. Use it to guide inspection, then compare the actual pages and the evidence you can publish.
Choose what to improve, create or leave
Improve an existing page
Use this when a page already addresses the same buyer and task. Record the missing answer or proof, the page URL, the person responsible and the next edit.
Create a new page
Use this when the need is distinct and your business can answer it properly. Define the reader, required questions, evidence and next step before writing.
Leave it for later
Park searches outside your service area, unrelated product queries and topics you cannot support with useful information. Keep a reason so the same idea does not return without new evidence.
Finish with a shortlist you can test
Keep one row per buyer need. Use these columns: phrase examples, evidence source, intended reader, page URL or proposed page, missing answers, priority, owner and next action. Start with a few rows you can actually complete.
Prioritise a topic when it fits your offer, matters to a real buyer and has an answer you can supply. A small demand estimate may still justify a page for a valuable recurring question. A large estimate does not make an unrelated topic useful.
- Save the page’s current search and enquiry data, if available, and record the edit date.
- Publish the missing answers and test the next step on a phone.
- Check which queries and pages receive impressions and visits. Keep brand searches separate when assessing new discovery.
- Review whether enquiries fit the offer and whether buyers still ask questions the page should answer.
- Compare a period that suits the sales cycle and season. Avoid drawing conclusions from a few visits or one position change.
Search visibility and enquiries can change for several reasons. Use the evidence to choose the next improvement, without attributing every change to a keyword edit.