A complete guide to local keyword research

Ever been out and about, suddenly needed a coffee, and typed "coffee shop near me" into your phone? Of course you have. We all do it. That simple search is the perfect example of why local SEO is so powerful. Customers are always looking for products and services in their immediate area, and they expect to find relevant businesses instantly.

This is where local keyword research comes into play. It’s the process of figuring out the exact words and phrases people are using to find local businesses just like yours. It’s about getting inside your customer’s head and meeting them right where they’re searching.

This guide will walk you through the entire process, step by step, so you can turn those local searches into actual customers walking through your door. But once you have your list of golden keywords, the real work begins: creating content. It can be a massive time sink, but tools like the eesel AI blog writer are making a huge difference, helping you turn those keywords into perfectly optimized local content at scale.

What is local keyword research?

Let’s get into the details. Local keyword research isn't just about tacking your city's name onto the end of your service. It's about really understanding the language your local audience uses and, more importantly, their intent.

The biggest difference between local and general SEO is that context. General SEO might target a broad, informational keyword like "how to fix a leaky faucet." Someone searching that could be anywhere in the world. But local SEO targets a high-intent, commercial keyword like "emergency plumber in Brooklyn." That person doesn't want a DIY guide; they need a professional, and they need one now.

When it comes to local keywords, they generally fall into two buckets:

• Explicit Keywords: These are the straightforward ones where the user types in a location. Think "car service London" or "best tacos in Austin." The local intent is crystal clear.
• Implicit Keywords: These are a bit sneakier. The user just searches for "car service" or "best tacos," but Google is smart enough to use their physical location to serve up local results. To rank for these, your website needs to send strong signals to Google that you are a legitimate, authoritative business in that specific area.

Understanding both types is key to building a strategy that captures every potential local customer.

The 5-step process for effective local keyword research

Ready to find the keywords that will bring customers to you? Let's break down the process into five simple, actionable steps.

Step 1: Brainstorm seed keywords

Before you even open a research tool, you need to start with what you know best: your own business.

First, make a list of all your core services and products. Don't just stick to broad categories. If you're a plumber, you don't just offer "plumbing." You offer "water heater installation," "drain unclogging," "sewer line repair," and "emergency leak repair." Each of these is a potential seed keyword.

Next, think about the language your customers actually use. The best way to do this? Listen to them. Dig through your customer reviews, read old emails and contact form submissions, and think about the questions people ask on the phone. Are they asking for a "pipe replacement" or a "repipe"? The little differences matter.

Finally, map out your exact geographic scope. List every single city, town, neighborhood, and even ZIP code you serve. These will become your location modifiers that you'll pair with your service keywords.

Step 2: Use tools to expand your list

Once you have your initial list of seed keywords, it's time to expand it. The good news is, you don't have to pay for a fancy tool right away. Google gives you a ton of ideas for free.

• Google Autocomplete: Go to Google and start typing one of your seed keywords, like "plumber in..." and see what Google suggests. These are popular searches that people are actively making.
• "People Also Ask" Boxes: Search for one of your keywords and look for the "People Also Ask" section in the results. This is a goldmine for question-based keywords that are perfect for blog posts or FAQ pages.
• "Related Searches": Scroll to the very bottom of the search results page. Google will show you a list of related searches that can uncover even more keyword variations you might have missed.

These free methods will give you a solid foundation. Later on, we'll talk about dedicated tools that provide more detailed data like search volume and competition, which can help you refine your list even further.

Step 3: Analyze SERPs to find intent

When you search for a potential keyword, you're looking for two main signals that scream "local":

1. The "map pack" (also called the local pack). It's that box with a map and three local business listings that usually appears at the top of the page.
2. The regular organic results are filled with local businesses, not big national brands or informational websites.

For example, if you search for "car brake repairs," you'll almost certainly see a map pack and a list of local auto shops. That's a keyword with strong local intent. But if you search for "how to change a car tire," you'll see YouTube videos and DIY guides. That's informational intent. You need to focus on the keywords that bring up local businesses.

Step 4: Prioritize your keywords

By now, you probably have a pretty long list of keywords. The next step is to figure out which ones are worth your time. For local businesses, raw search volume is not the most important metric. A keyword with only 10 searches a month can be incredibly valuable if those 10 people are ready to buy what you're selling.

Instead, prioritize your list based on three key factors:

• Relevance: How perfectly does this keyword match a service you offer that is actually profitable? This is the most important factor.
• Search Volume: All else being equal, a keyword with more searches is better, but don't obsess over it.
• Competition: How many other established businesses are already ranking for this term? You can find this information by looking at competitor rankings.

You can use a simple matrix to sort your keywords into priority buckets.

Step 5: Map keywords to pages

The final step in the research process is to assign a primary keyword (or a tight group of related keywords) to each page on your site. This is called keyword mapping, and it's crucial for preventing "keyword cannibalization," which is when you have multiple pages competing for the same search term, confusing Google and hurting your rankings.

Here’s a simple structure you can follow:

• Homepage: Target your broadest, most important service term plus your primary location (e.g., "Austin Plumber").
• Service Pages: Create a dedicated page for each core service you offer. Each page should target that specific service keyword (e.g., "Water Heater Repair Austin").
• Location Pages: If you serve multiple distinct cities or neighborhoods, create a unique page for each one (e.g., "Plumber in Round Rock").
• Blog Posts: Use your blog to go after all those question-based and long-tail keywords you found (e.g., "how to fix a running toilet"). This is a great way to attract people who are not quite ready to buy but are looking for expert information.

Using local keywords to attract customers

Research is great, but it's what you do with it that counts. Here’s how to put your keyword list into action to start getting more customers.

Optimize your Google Business Profile

Your Google Business Profile (GBP) is arguably your most important local SEO asset. It's often the first impression a customer has of your business. Make sure you're weaving your keywords in naturally.

• Business Categories: Your primary category should align with your main keyword (e.g., "Plumber"). Then, add as many relevant secondary categories as you can.
• Services List: Add every single specific service you brainstormed in step one. Use the exact language your customers use.
• Business Description: Write a compelling description of your business and naturally include your most important keywords and locations.
• Other Areas: You can also use keywords in the file names of photos you upload, in the questions and answers section, and by encouraging customers to mention the services they used in their reviews.

Implement on-page SEO best practices

Next, it's time to optimize the actual pages on your website. This is where you'll use the keyword map you created. For each page, make sure you place your target keyword in these key spots:

• Page Title (Title Tag): This is the blue link that shows up in Google search results. Put your primary keyword and location near the beginning.
• H1 Heading: This is the main headline on the page. It should clearly state what the page is about and include your keyword.
• Body Content: Mention your keyword naturally in the first paragraph and a few more times throughout the text. Don't force it; it should sound natural.
• Image Alt Text: When you upload an image, the alt text should describe what the image is. It's also a great place to include a relevant keyword.

Scale content creation with eesel AI

Here’s the challenge every small business owner faces: creating unique, high-quality pages for every single service and location is a massive amount of work. It’s a huge bottleneck that stops most local SEO strategies in their tracks.

This is exactly the problem the eesel AI blog writer was built to solve. You can take a local keyword like "emergency HVAC repair Chicago," add a bit of context about your business, and it will generate a complete, SEO-optimized, and genuinely helpful page in minutes.

It’s not just spitting out generic text. It builds a complete page with features designed for local businesses:

• Automatic Assets: It creates pages with AI-generated images, tables, and infographics that make your content more engaging and easier to read.
• Authentic Social Proof: The tool can pull in real Reddit quotes and embed relevant YouTube videos, adding a layer of trust and credibility that generic AI content lacks.
• Deep Research and Citations: It produces deeply researched content, cites external sources, and automatically adds internal links to your other service pages, which is great for SEO.

We used this exact tool to grow our own organic traffic, going from 700 to 750,000 impressions per day in just three months by publishing over 1,000 optimized blogs. It’s a powerful way to scale local content, and it's completely free to try.

Choosing the best local keyword research tools

While you can get started for free, dedicated SEO tools give you the data you need to make smarter decisions. Here’s a quick rundown of some popular options.

For what you’re doing, you honestly do not need Ahrefs or Semrush. You’re not running enterprise SEO. You’re trying to show local businesses whether they are visible when real people search for their services. That is a very different job. If you want one paid tool that is good enough and affordable, *Ubersuggest is your best bet. It gives you keyword ideas, basic ranking data, and competitor insight, which is more than enough to run discovery calls and show opportunity without spending hundreds every month. You can also use Google Keyword Planner* for free, and the data is actually very reliable because it comes straight from Google.

Reddit

For a more visual guide, watching an expert walk through the process can be incredibly helpful. The video below provides a tactical walkthrough of finding profitable local keyword opportunities.

This Semrush video explains the step-by-step process of conducting local keyword research to find profitable opportunities.

Turning research into results

Ultimately, local keyword research is the foundation of any successful local SEO campaign. It’s about taking the time to understand your services, your customers, and your specific location, and then using the right tools to uncover hidden opportunities.

But remember, research without action is just a spreadsheet. The real goal is to take what you've learned and create helpful, optimized content that gets in front of local customers and convinces them to choose you. It's about turning those "near me" searches into real-world revenue.

So, take your shiny new keyword list and start building. If you want to see just how fast you can turn those keywords into fully-built service and location pages, give the eesel AI blog writer a try for free. You might be surprised at how quickly you can start scaling your local presence.