Keywords for your website without paid tools: how to find them

Keywords are the words a person uses to search for your service. Not what you call it inside the company, but what they type into search. You do not need paid services to get started: much of the work can be done by hand if you know where to look.

Why gather keywords before development?

Keywords define the structure of the website: which pages are needed, what they are called, which questions they answer. If you gather them after launch, it turns out that an important query has no page, and the headings are written in the company's language rather than the client's. Redoing finished work costs more than building it in from the start. For what else promotion includes, see What SEO Services Actually Include.

Where do you find the words clients use to search for your service?

The truest source is your own clients. A client describes the task in their own words - the same words they type into search. Look at:

Enquiries and messages - how a person phrases the problem at the start of the conversation.

Calls - what questions people ask before they ask about the price.

Reviews - which words clients use to praise and criticize, including in reviews of competitors.

Objections - what people clarify before buying: "is there a warranty", "do you charge for a call-out".

Write the phrases down word for word, with mistakes and colloquial words. "Car won't start" and "engine diagnostics" are about the same thing, but people search for them differently.

How do you find queries through the search results themselves?

Type the phrase you found into search and look at what comes up at the top. The results hint at what answer a person is looking for:

Company websites - a query about buying; it needs a service page.

Articles and guides - a query about information; it needs a blog article.

Maps and addresses - a local query, and the district matters for it.

While you are at it, look at the page titles at the top: which words competitors use for the same service. This is not a reason to copy, but a hint for phrasing.

What should you take from competitors' websites?

Open the websites of those who appear in the results for your queries. Look not at the design, but at the structure:

Menu and sections - which services are given separate pages.

Headings - how the services are named and which questions are covered.

Gaps - what competitors have not covered: the question exists, but there is no page for it. This is your chance.

There is no need to copy texts: the client sees a template, and you lose your own voice.

How do you account for language and district?

If you work in Uzbekistan, your client may search in Russian and in Uzbek, in Latin script and in Cyrillic. These are different queries, and they need different versions of the pages. In detail: Does Your Site Need an Uzbek Version. The same goes for the district: "fridge repair" and "fridge repair Chilanzar" are different queries. If you work in a specific part of the city, add the district to headings and texts. More on this: Local SEO: how to rank in your own city.

How do you spread keywords across pages?

Group the collected words by meaning: a group holds the queries that the same page answers. Then the rule is simple:

A group is a page - each group gets its own page, rather than everything on the home page.

The main phrase - in the heading - the query that fits the group best goes into the H1 and title.

The rest - in the text - subheadings and paragraphs cover the neighboring questions.

Client questions - in the FAQ - word-for-word questions from enquiries become a block of questions on the page.

If there are many groups, a landing page will not be enough - for a comparison of formats, see Landing page or multipage website: what your business needs.

What should you not do with keywords?

Do not stuff the text - repeating the query in every sentence. A person reads the text, and text like that pushes them away.

Do not chase general words - "website" or "repair" are too broad: it is hard to break through with them, and not only your clients search for them.

Do not make clone pages - similar pages for close queries compete with each other.

Do not stockpile - words are needed to work in the structure, headings and texts, not to sit in a spreadsheet.

When can you no longer do without paid tools?

Manual gathering gives you the essentials - the client's language and the structure. But it has a limit: it does not show how many people search for each query, and it does not find rare phrasings you did not think of. If you are launching ads or entering a competitive niche, query frequency becomes important - and then it is hard to manage without specialized services. For a small website built around a specific service, manual gathering is enough to lay down the right structure.