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How to find the exact words that people actually use when looking for small businesses?

by sconer
12 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Let's say you are a plumber and going to put up a website. How do you find the words and phrases that potential customers actually type into Google when looking for your services?

There are so many different possibilities, so how do you find out what people are actually using?

For example:

plumber Smithtown
plumber in Smithtown
plumber Smithtown, FL
plumber in Smithtown, FL
Smithtown plumber
Smithtown FL plumber
plumbing company Smithtown
plumbing company in Smithtown
plumbing company in smithtown, FL


And that is just a start, there can be hundreds of different ways to type it.

So how do you go about finding out exactly what words/phrases people use when looking for a service like this?
#businesses #exact #find #people #small #words
  • Profile picture of the author rohanjha
    Originally Posted by sconer View Post

    Let's say you are a plumber and going to put up a website. How do you find the words and phrases that potential customers actually type into Google when looking for your services?

    There are so many different possibilities, so how do you find out what people are actually using?

    For example:

    plumber Smithtown
    plumber in Smithtown
    plumber Smithtown, FL
    plumber in Smithtown, FL
    Smithtown plumber
    Smithtown FL plumber
    plumbing company Smithtown
    plumbing company in Smithtown
    plumbing company in smithtown, FL


    And that is just a start, there can be hundreds of different ways to type it.

    So how do you go about finding out exactly what words/phrases people use when looking for a service like this?
    Use Google Keyword Planner, you will get some ideas.
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    • Profile picture of the author sconer
      I don't know how to use that to accomplish what I am asking for in the opening post.
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  • Profile picture of the author befamousb
    Use google my business to set up your local business, with that tool your business can appear on google maps and when people of your area business search for example a plumber, your business will appear at the map and at the top
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    • Profile picture of the author sconer
      Originally Posted by befamousb View Post

      Use google my business to set up your local business, with that tool your business can appear on google maps and when people of your area business search for example a plumber, your business will appear at the map and at the top
      Yes, great advice, but that has nothing to do with my question.
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  • Profile picture of the author Paul Hanney
    Google Keyword Planner is the best place to start for top level information and it's free. There are paid tools out there to help get more detail and speed up the process but it depends on your circumstances and if you're in a position to pay for them.

    PM me and I can flick you over a guide on how to use Google Keyword Planner if you haven't already worked it out.
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  • Profile picture of the author sconer
    What I can't figure out is how to use Keyword Planner to tell what people looking for a plumber type into Google. And it's important that it's only people looking for a plumber for work, not people looking for a plumber to ask for employment, not people looking to go to school for plumbing or how to DIY plumbing.
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    • Profile picture of the author jvzooreviewdotnet
      Ok, I got it. Type your keywords on Google Keyword Planner and get ideas. Look down to tab keyword ideas, you can pick keywords suit your need, for ex: plumping service, discount plumping, plumping repair service...Google don't help you do that, you have to do it yourself. You have to stand at the point of customer and guess what he type on Google to find your business. Keyword planner only a tool for statistic and ideas.
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  • Profile picture of the author chrisjohn93
    Use Google keyword planner or long tail pro this will help you to choose right keywords.

    Hope this will help you?
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    Forget Google Keyword Planner for generating an initial list of keywords that is dumb.

    PM'ing you a better suggestion.
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  • Profile picture of the author AlyLauren
    Banned
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
      Originally Posted by AlyLauren View Post

      Google keyword planner is the answer, just choose the place where you are planning to advertise your product then type-in the keyword that you wanted to choose. There will be a lot of relevant words that you can surely use in creating brand awareness for your product/service that you offer.
      Everyone suggesting Google Keyword Planner, you are wrong. There are plenty of other tools out there that will help you generate a good list of keywords. Then you go to the Google Keyword Planner to check search volumes. If you are relying on the GKP to generate a list of keywords, especially in a local market, you are going to miss a ton of keywords.
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  • Profile picture of the author nettiapina
    Originally Posted by sconer View Post

    And that is just a start, there can be hundreds of different ways to type it.
    You don't need to find the exact phrase. Google hasn't been using those for years. Pages rank all the time when the actual search phrase don't even appear on the page.

    Also, there's "in" in your list. It might be a stop word, or something that Google just drops out because it's not helpful. They might use "in" for semantic parsing in some cases, but in this case it doesn't seem to add anything. Of course Google is much more advanced than most search engines out there, but I just would not bother with these filler words.
    Signature
    Links in signature will not help your SEO. Not on this site, and not on any other forum.
    Who told me this? An ex Google web spam engineer.

    What's your excuse?
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    • Profile picture of the author sconer
      Originally Posted by nettiapina View Post

      You don't need to find the exact phrase. Google hasn't been using those for years. Pages rank all the time when the actual search phrase don't even appear on the page.

      Also, there's "in" in your list. It might be a stop word, or something that Google just drops out because it's not helpful. They might use "in" for semantic parsing in some cases, but in this case it doesn't seem to add anything. Of course Google is much more advanced than most search engines out there, but I just would not bother with these filler words.
      That makes sense, however, in a discussion with Mike yesterday he mentioned using "in" with the keywords.

      I've noticed that in my main town I come up in the same position whether using "in" or not. But in the other towns in my area in which I come up lower in the listings, I come up in different positions whether using "in" or not.

      There's so many variables
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