SEO · 6 min read
How to Do Keyword Research: A Step-by-Step Method for Small Businesses
How to do keyword research step by step: find what customers search, judge keyword difficulty and search intent, and pick long-tail keywords that fit.
Keyword research sounds technical, but at heart it is just finding out what your customers type into Google and deciding which of those searches your website should answer. Get it right and every page you write has a clear job. Get it wrong and you can spend months polishing pages nobody is searching for.
This is a practical walk-through of how to do keyword research, aimed at small businesses that do not have a marketing department. We will use a local bakery as the running example, but the method works just as well for a plumber, an accountant or an online shop.
Step 1: Write down what you actually sell
Start away from any tool. Make a plain list of your products or services and the places you serve. For our bakery that might be:
- Sourdough bread
- Celebration cakes
- Wedding cakes
- Gluten-free bakes
- Wholesale bread for cafés
- Areas: Leeds city centre, Headingley, Chapel Allerton
These are your seed topics. Every keyword you find later should tie back to something on this list. If it does not, it probably does not belong on your site.
Step 2: Find the words customers use
Business owners often describe what they do in industry language. Customers rarely do. A bakery might say "bespoke celebration cakes"; a customer types "custom birthday cake near me".
Good free sources of real customer language:
- Google autocomplete: start typing a seed topic and note the suggestions.
- People also ask: the expandable questions in search results show related things people want to know.
- Related searches: the list at the bottom of a results page.
- Google Search Console: if your site is already live, the Performance report shows the actual searches that bring up your pages.
- Your inbox and phone: the questions customers ask before they buy are often the exact questions they type into search.
- Reviews: both yours and competitors'. Note the words people use to describe what they bought.
Put everything into a spreadsheet. Do not filter yet; just collect.
Step 3: Group keywords by search intent
This is the step most people skip, and it is the one that matters most. Search intent is the reason behind a search. Two phrases can look similar and need completely different pages.
Compare these:
| Search | What the person wants | Best page type |
|---|---|---|
| how to keep sourdough fresh | Advice | Guide or blog post |
| best bakery for wedding cakes leeds | To compare options | Service page with examples and reviews |
| order birthday cake headingley | To buy now | Product or order page |
| sourdough starter recipe | A recipe | Guide (and maybe not worth chasing) |
To check intent, search the phrase and look at what ranks. If the top results are all recipe blogs, a bakery's order page will not compete there. If they are all local bakeries, a blog post will not either.
Group your spreadsheet by intent and by topic. Each group usually becomes one page.
Step 4: Weigh up keyword difficulty
Keyword difficulty is an estimate of how hard it would be to rank for a phrase. Paid SEO tools give a score, but every tool calculates it differently, so treat the number as a rough guide rather than a fact.
You can judge difficulty without a tool by looking at the results page:
- Who ranks? National brands, big directories and major publishers are hard to displace. Small local businesses and forum threads suggest an opening.
- How good are the pages? If the top results are thin, outdated or only loosely related, a focused, helpful page has a real chance.
- What features dominate? If ads, a map pack and an AI summary fill the screen, even the first organic result may get limited attention.
For a small business, the sweet spot is usually phrases where the results are a mix of local competitors and pages that only partly answer the question.
Step 5: Lean into long-tail keywords
Long-tail keywords are longer, more specific phrases. "Cakes" is a short, broad term that a local bakery has little hope of ranking for, and many of the people searching it are not looking to buy anyway. "Gluten-free birthday cake delivery Leeds" is searched far less often, but almost everyone searching it is a potential customer.
Long-tail phrases tend to:
- Be easier to rank for.
- Show clearer intent.
- Match the way people speak to voice assistants and AI tools.
A sensible plan for most small sites is a strong page for each core service, supported by content that answers specific long-tail questions.
Step 6: Map keywords to pages
Now turn the spreadsheet into a plan. Create a simple keyword map with columns for:
- Page (existing or planned)
- Primary keyword
- Supporting keywords
- Search intent
- Notes on what the page must include
For the bakery, one row might be: Wedding cakes page / wedding cakes Leeds / wedding cake tasting, rustic wedding cakes, wedding cake prices / commercial / portfolio photos, tasting process, lead times, how to enquire.
Two rules keep the map healthy:
- One main topic per page. If two pages target the same intent, they compete with each other. Merge them.
- Every important keyword has a home. If a valuable group has no page, that is your next piece of work.
Step 7: Write for people, then check
With the map in place, write or rewrite each page. Use the primary keyword naturally in the title, the main heading and early in the copy. Use supporting phrases where they fit. Do not force them in; a page that reads awkwardly helps nobody.
Then cover what the searcher needs. For the wedding cakes page that means real photos, how tastings work, how far ahead to book and how to get in touch. That is what makes the page worth ranking.
For more on turning a good page into a ranking one, see our guide on how to rank on Google. If you are new to the subject altogether, start with what SEO is.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Chasing volume alone. A big number means little if the searcher is not a likely customer.
- Ignoring location. Local businesses should include areas they genuinely serve, not every town on the map.
- Creating near-duplicate pages. Ten pages that differ only by town name rarely help and can cause problems.
- Setting and forgetting. Search habits change. Revisit your research when your services or market change.
- Forgetting AI search. Clear question-and-answer content helps with AI-generated answers too. Our guide to AI search readiness covers this.
Where this fits in a wider SEO plan
Keyword research is the foundation, not the whole building. Technical health, local listings and links all play their part. A keyword and intent map is one of the first things we produce as part of our SEO service, because it tells everyone what each page is for. If you are budgeting for help, our article on how much SEO costs explains how agencies usually charge.
If you would rather have someone build the map with you, talk to us about keyword research and we will start from what your customers actually search for.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need paid tools to do keyword research?
Not to get started. Google's own search suggestions, the People also ask box, Google Search Console and conversations with customers will give a small business plenty to work with. Paid tools add volume and difficulty estimates, which help as you scale.
What is a long-tail keyword?
A long-tail keyword is a longer, more specific search phrase, such as gluten-free birthday cake delivery in Leeds rather than just cakes. Each one is searched less often, but the people searching usually know exactly what they want.
How many keywords should one page target?
Give each page one main topic, with a primary keyword and a handful of closely related phrases that share the same intent. If two keywords need different answers, they usually need different pages.
How often should I redo keyword research?
Review it at least once or twice a year, and whenever you add a new service, move into a new area or notice your Search Console data showing searches you did not expect.
