Keyword Research Explained for Business Owners

By Rickus Jansen, Co-Director at WebConsultants·Published 29 October 2026

Laptop with a keyword research spreadsheet and notes on a desk

Every successful SEO strategy starts with one question: what are your customers actually typing into Google? Keyword research is how you answer it. Get it right and every page on your website has a clear purpose. Get it wrong and you can spend months optimising for searches that never bring in a single enquiry.

Keyword research is the process of finding the search terms people use when looking for what you offer, then deciding which page on your website should target each one.

What Is Keyword Research?

A keyword is any word or phrase someone types into a search engine, from “plumber” to “how to fix a leaking geyser”. Keyword research means discovering those phrases, understanding what the person behind each search wants and judging which ones are worth targeting. It shapes your page titles, content, website structure and blog topics.

Google’s SEO Starter Guide makes the same point from Google’s side: think about the words people are likely to use when looking for your content, and use them naturally on your pages.

Why Keyword Research Matters

Many websites struggle in Google not because of a lack of effort, but because their pages target the wrong words. Common problems include:

Pages built around industry jargon your customers never use
Several pages competing for the same search term, known as keyword cannibalisation
Content aimed at searches with plenty of traffic but no buying intent

Good keyword research prevents all three. It also shows you which pages are missing from your website altogether.

Understanding Search Intent

Every search has a purpose behind it, and matching that purpose matters as much as the words themselves. Searches generally fall into four types:

Informational. The person wants to learn something, such as “what is a geyser blanket”.
Navigational. They’re looking for a specific website or brand.
Commercial. They’re comparing options, such as “best accounting software for small business”.
Transactional. They’re ready to act, such as “emergency plumber Cape Town”.

Service pages should target commercial and transactional searches, while blog posts work best for informational ones. Mixing the two up is one of the most common reasons good pages fail to rank.

How to Do Keyword Research, Step by Step

1. List Your Services in Your Customers’ Language

Start with what you sell and who you sell it to. Then think about how customers describe it. A customer might search for “aircon repairs” when your industry calls it “HVAC maintenance”.

2. Build a List of Seed Keywords

Write down the core terms for each service, plus variations that include the areas you serve. These are your starting points.

3. Expand the List With Google’s Tools

Google Keyword Planner, inside a Google Ads account, shows estimated search volumes and related terms.
Google Search Console shows the searches your website already appears for. Google’s guide to getting started with Search Console explains how to set it up.
Google Trends shows how interest in a topic changes over time and by region. See Google’s introduction to Google Trends.
Google’s own search results show related searches and “People also ask” questions that make good content ideas.

Professional SEO platforms add competitor data, keyword difficulty scores and much larger keyword databases, which is why agencies use them for in-depth research.

4. Check the Search Results Yourself

Search each keyword and look at what ranks. If the top results are mostly blog posts, Google treats the search as informational. If they’re service pages and map listings, the intent is commercial or local.

5. Weigh Relevance Against Volume

A high-volume keyword isn’t automatically valuable. For a local service business, a specific term with modest search volume often brings in better enquiries than a broad term with thousands of searches. Relevance and intent come first.

6. Map One Keyword to One Page

Give each page a single primary keyword, supported by a few closely related secondary terms. No two pages should share the same primary keyword. This gives every page a clear job and stops your pages competing against each other.

What Are Long-Tail Keywords?

Long-tail keywords are longer, more specific searches, such as “roof leak repairs in Somerset West” rather than “roofing”. They usually have lower search volume, but the person searching knows exactly what they want, so these searches often convert better. They’re also easier to rank for, which makes them a smart target for newer websites.

Common Keyword Research Mistakes

Chasing search volume instead of relevance
Ignoring search intent
Targeting the same keyword on several pages
Stuffing keywords into content instead of writing for people. Google’s guidance on creating helpful, people-first content is clear that content should serve readers first.
Treating keyword research as a one-off task instead of revisiting it as your business and market change

How We Approach Keyword Research

At WebConsultants, keyword research is the foundation of every SEO project. We research commercial and transactional keywords for service pages and informational keywords for blog content, then map one unique primary keyword to every page so nothing overlaps. The same research also shapes our Google Ads campaigns and local SEO work.

If you’d like to know which searches your business should be targeting, book a consultation and we’ll review your website with you.