Keywords for local businesses: what customers search and which pages to build

The words your customers type into Google can be found in four free places: your own conversations with customers, Google's autocomplete suggestions, the related questions and searches shown in the results, and the reports in Search Console and your Google Business Profile. Once you have them, the rule is simple: one page per service (and per place, when that makes sense), with those words in the title, the main heading and the first paragraph.

This guide shows how to do each step, with a complete worked example for a hypothetical business, and what a service page needs in order to be found — and then to bring in enquiries.

Why the words matter (and why repeating them isn't enough)

Google understands synonyms and intent — it knows "unblock" and "unblocking" are the same thing. But it can't guess what your site doesn't say. If a plumber's home page talks about "integrated plumbing solutions" and never mentions "blocked drains" or the town it serves, it will struggle to appear for someone searching "blocked drain Braga". The goal isn't to repeat a phrase ten times; it's to use your customers' language naturally instead of your trade's.

Your website is the relevance piece your Google profile can't cover on its own. If you haven't sorted out the profile yet, read how to show up on Google, step by step first.

Where to find the words customers use

1. From your customers

This is the most overlooked source and the most reliable. For two weeks, write down the exact phrases you hear on the phone, read on WhatsApp and receive by email: "the toilet won't drain", "there's a damp patch on the ceiling", "how much is a quote?". A dentist says "periodontics"; the patient types "bleeding gums". Your pages should be written in the second.

2. From Google's autocomplete

Open a private window and start typing your service and your town without pressing Enter. The suggestions come from real searches. Try variations: the service followed by "price", "emergency", "weekend", "near", and the service followed by each letter of the alphabet. Copy everything relevant into a list.

3. From related questions and searches

On the results page, look for the box of questions other people also ask (each one you open reveals more) and, at the bottom of the page, the related searches. The questions are gold for each page's FAQ section.

4. From your Google profile's report

The performance tab of your Google Business Profile lists the searches that showed your profile, month by month. It's the most direct way to see how people in your area describe what you do.

5. From Google Search Console

If you already have a website, add it to Search Console (it's free). In the performance report, the queries tab shows the searches your site appeared for, with impressions, clicks and average position. Look for two things:

• Queries with plenty of impressions and an average position between 8 and 20: Google already links your site to the topic, but the page is weak. Improve it.
• Queries you have no page for: candidates for a new page.

6. From competitors (carefully)

Look at the top three results for your main service. Which services do they give their own pages? Which questions do they answer? This isn't about copying text; it's about seeing which topics customers expect to find.

Google Ads' Keyword Planner is also free, but for small local searches it often shows wide ranges or no data at all. Don't pick topics by volume: a search made a handful of times a month by people ready to hire today is worth more than a popular search by the merely curious.

Sorting the list: what kind of search is each one

With the list made, group the phrases by what the person wants. Each group is answered in a different place on your site:

Type of search	Example	Where to answer it
Service + place	"blocked drains braga"	A dedicated service page
A problem, in the customer's words	"toilet won't drain what to do"	A section or FAQ on the service page; an article, if the topic is big
Urgency or availability	"emergency plumber saturday"	On the service page and the home page: hours, response time, visible phone number
Price	"drain unblocking price"	A prices or price-range section on the service page
Your business name	your name	Home page and Google profile
"Near me"	"plumber near me"	Don't write "near me" on your site: Google uses the searcher's location. What helps is a clear address or service area, and consistent details everywhere (see our guide to local citations and name, address and phone consistency).

One page per service (and when to make pages per place)

A page about everything is the best answer to nothing. Give each main service its own page with one clear purpose. Three rules:

• One main service per page. "Blocked drains" and "bathroom renovation" are different customers, prices and levels of urgency.
• Group what the customer groups. "Taps", "cisterns" and "traps" can share a small-repairs page.
• Pages per town only when there's real content. Copying the same page and swapping "Braga" for "Guimarães", "Barcelos" and twenty other names is what Google treats as spam (doorway pages). A page per town is justified if you have premises there, or something specific to say: jobs done in that area, call-out conditions, different lead times. Otherwise one service-area page listing the towns is enough.

Worked example: a hypothetical plumber in Braga

Imagine a one-person plumbing business in Braga, in northern Portugal, covering the surrounding towns. Over two weeks the plumber notes what customers say and what Google suggests. The list includes "blocked pipe", "blocked drains braga price", "emergency plumber braga", "damp patch on ceiling", "water bill very high", "leak in the wall", "bathroom renovation braga", "replace bath with shower tray".

Grouped by intent, those phrases give this site map:

Page	Address	Title (what shows on Google)	Searches it covers
Home	/	Plumber in Braga – blocked drains and leaks | Name	plumber braga, emergency plumber, business name
Blocked drains	/blocked-drains-braga	Blocked drains in Braga, cleared same day | Name	blocked pipe, toilet won't drain, unblocking price
Water leaks	/water-leaks-braga	Water leak detection and repair in Braga | Name	damp patch, high water bill, leak in the wall
Bathrooms	/bathroom-renovation-braga	Bathroom renovation in Braga | Name	bathroom renovation, bath to shower tray
Service area and contact	/contact	Contact and service area: Braga and nearby | Name	towns covered, hours, how to get a quote

The water-leaks page would get the main heading "Water leaks in Braga: detection and repair", a first paragraph saying what the plumber does, where and how quickly, and sections such as "Signs you have a leak", "How we find the leak without tearing down the wall", "What it costs" and "Frequently asked questions" — each written from real phrases on the list. There are more ideas on what a plumber's website should show in websites for plumbers.

What a service page needs

• A unique page title with the service and place first and the business name last. Google shows about 60 characters and cuts the rest (and it may rewrite titles that don't describe the page well).
• A single main heading (H1) that says the same thing in other words.
• A first paragraph that answers straight away: what you do, where, how fast, how to get in touch.
• What's included and how it works, step by step, with no sentences that could belong to any competitor.
• A price, a price range, or what makes the price vary. It's one of the most searched questions; if you don't answer it, the click goes to someone who does.
• Area served and hours, including emergencies if you take them.
• Photos of real jobs, with alt text that describes the image ("shower tray fitted in a renovated bathroom"), not "IMG_2034".
• Three to five FAQs, taken from your list.
• Reviews from customers that mention this service.
• A contact option visible on a phone screen without scrolling: a call button, WhatsApp or a form. Our practical tips for turning visitors into enquiries go deeper on this.
• Links to related services (from the leaks page to the renovations page, for example).
• A meta description of 120 to 155 characters that says what the reader will find. It doesn't lift your ranking, but it's often the text that earns the click.

Titles and headings: before and after

Weak	Better	Why
Welcome	Plumber in Braga – blocked drains and leaks	States the service and the place
Services	Blocked drains in Braga, cleared same day	One page, one intent, one reason to call
Integrated hydraulic solutions	Water leaks: detection and repair	The customer's words, not the trade's
Plumber Braga cheap plumber Braga plumbing Braga	Bathroom renovation in Braga	Repeating words doesn't help and puts readers off

What about a blog?

Service pages first; they're what people ready to hire land on. An article makes sense when it answers a question customers ask that doesn't fit on a service page — "why did my water bill go up for no obvious reason", "what to do while you wait for the plumber". Avoid topics unrelated to what you sell and "trends" pieces nobody in your area searches for. Every article should link to the service page it relates to.

How to check it's working, in 5 minutes

1. Search site:yourdomain.com on Google. You get a rough list of the pages Google knows about. Is a service page missing?
2. In Search Console, use URL inspection on a new page to confirm it's indexed and, if it isn't, request indexing.
3. In the performance report, filter by page and see which queries bring each one. If your blocked-drains page mostly shows up for something else, the text doesn't say what you think it says.
4. Pages with impressions but almost no clicks need a clearer title and description.

Repeat this monthly. Changes take weeks to show, so change one thing at a time and note the date.

Common mistakes

• Writing for fellow professionals instead of for customers.
• A single "Services" page with a list of twenty items and no detail.
• The same title on every page (often just the business name).
• Town pages copied from one another.
• Hiding prices and hours, which are exactly what people search for.
• Choosing words by search volume instead of by intent to hire.

Next step

This week, write down your customers' exact phrases and Google's suggestions for your three main services, and sketch your page map like the table above. If you want several pages with an editable title and description for each, without touching code, WebGenPro's Professional plan includes a multi-page site and an editor with SEO fields — see plans and pricing.