Most guides to keyword research start by telling you to open a specialist tool, enter your seed terms, and sort by search volume. That approach is fine once you understand what you are looking at. For a business owner who has never run paid search before, it produces a list of terms that look plausible but do not connect to how your actual customers think and search.
A better starting point is your own customers. The words they use when they call you, the questions they ask before hiring you, the way they describe their problem before they even know you exist: those are your keywords, written in plain language before any tool enters the picture.
Start with the problem your customer is solving
A plumber in Utrecht does not want to bid on "plumber." They want to bid on "burst pipe repair Utrecht" and "hot water not working" and "emergency plumber tonight." These are searches that come with intent baked in. The person is already in problem-solving mode, they know what they need, and they want someone nearby who can help now.
The simplest method: write down the last five enquiries you received. What did those people say they needed? Not what you call it professionally, but how they described their situation. "My heating stopped working" is a keyword. "Central heating repair" is also a keyword. They attract slightly different searchers with slightly different urgency levels.
Look at the questions in your initial customer calls. What information do people want before they commit to booking? Those questions often map to strong mid-funnel keywords: "how much does it cost to repair X" and "how long does Y take" tend to get fewer clicks than pure service terms but convert at higher rates because the searcher is actively comparing options.
Group your keywords by intent, not by subject
Keyword research is not about finding every term related to your business. It is about finding the terms where someone is looking for what you specifically offer, at a moment when they are ready to act.
A useful mental model splits keywords into three buckets. The first bucket is transactional: the person wants to buy or hire now. These include terms like "book appointment," "same-day service," and location-specific phrases paired with your service type. These keywords tend to have higher competition and higher CPC, but they also convert at the highest rate.
The second bucket is comparative: the person is evaluating options. They are searching for pricing, reviews, comparisons, or "best [service] in [location]" type queries. These clicks are valuable but require a landing page that makes a clear case for why you are the right choice.
The third bucket is informational: the person is researching before they are ready to commit. These keywords often start with "how to" or "what is." For most small service businesses, bidding on informational keywords in Google Ads is not efficient. They generate clicks from people who are nowhere near ready to buy. Save your budget for transactional and comparative terms, and let your website's organic content cover the informational side over time.
How to actually find the terms worth bidding on
Once you have your initial list from customer conversations, there are a few free ways to expand it. Type one of your seed terms into Google's search bar and pay attention to the autocomplete suggestions. Those are real queries people have searched recently, and they often reveal variations you would not think of yourself.
Scroll to the bottom of a Google results page and look at the "related searches" section. These are additional queries Google considers semantically related to what you searched. They are a direct window into the terms your potential customers use.
Google's Keyword Planner tool, available inside any Google Ads account, lets you enter a list of terms and see estimated monthly search volumes and suggested bid ranges. The absolute volume numbers are approximate, but they are useful for prioritising: keywords with very low search volume may not be worth building a dedicated ad group around, while those with hundreds of monthly searches in your area justify their own targeting.
The importance of commercial specificity
In our accounts, one of the most consistent patterns we see is small business owners targeting keywords that are too broad for their actual offer. A kitchen renovation company bidding on "kitchen ideas" attracts people browsing Pinterest-style inspiration with no intention to hire a contractor this quarter. Bidding on "kitchen renovation cost Amsterdam" or "fitted kitchen installation" attracts people who are actively planning a project.
Being specific is not just about intent. More specific keywords tend to have lower competition because fewer advertisers bother to target them. This keeps your CPC lower while maintaining or improving click quality. The trade-off is volume: a narrow keyword might only generate ten clicks per month. But if six of those clicks turn into enquiries, it outperforms a broad keyword that sends a hundred clicks with two conversions.
What keyword research alone cannot tell you
Keyword research identifies candidates. It does not tell you which candidates will actually produce results for your specific business, landing page, and offer. That information only comes from running ads and measuring what happens after the click. A keyword that looks ideal on paper might convert poorly because your landing page does not match the searcher's expectation. A keyword with modest search volume might convert at a surprisingly high rate because the intent is a perfect match for what you do.
This is where many business owners get stuck. They invest significant time in research, build what looks like a well-considered keyword list, and then run the same list without revision for months. Keyword selection is not a one-time exercise. The search term report inside Google Ads shows you the actual queries triggering your ads, including ones you did not explicitly target. Reviewing that report regularly reveals both new keywords worth adding and irrelevant terms to exclude as negatives.
How long to spend on initial research
Keyword research is one of those activities that can expand indefinitely if you let it. A focused first pass of two to three hours is enough to get a workable starting list for most small service businesses. Cover your core service types, add location modifiers if you serve a specific area, include some variations on how customers describe their problem, and add obvious negative keywords to prevent irrelevant matches from day one.
After two to four weeks of running, the actual search term data from your campaigns will tell you more than any upfront research exercise. Build the habit of reviewing that data monthly, and your keyword list will improve steadily without requiring you to become a keyword research specialist.
Stop guessing. Start your 14-day free trial and let AI manage your Google Ads while you run your business.