A bakery owner might describe their business as "artisan viennoiserie." Their customer just types "croissants near me." That gap between how a business owner talks about their own work and how a customer actually searches for it is where most small business websites quietly lose traffic. Keyword research is the process of closing that gap.
Here's a practical process you can run yourself, with free tools, in an afternoon.
"'Best web designer' has thousands of businesses competing for it. 'Web designer for a Portland dental practice' might have three — and one of them should be you."
The Step-by-Step Process
List your services the way customers describe them, not how you do
Write down every service you offer, then rewrite each one in plain, customer language. A business owner might call it "brand identity development." A customer searches "logo design near me" or "how much does a logo cost." Start every keyword research session by translating your internal vocabulary into search vocabulary — this single step catches most of the gap.
Use Google's autocomplete and "People also ask"
Type your core service into Google and see what autocomplete suggests — those are real, high-frequency searches. Scroll down to the "People also ask" and "Related searches" boxes on the results page for more phrasing variations and adjacent questions your customers have. This is free, fast, and reflects actual current search behavior better than most paid tools.
Add location modifiers for local searches
If you serve a specific city or region, most of your highest-intent keywords will include a location: "wedding photographer Portland," "best bakery near Southeast Portland," "Portland small business web designer." These location-modified, long-tail phrases usually have lower search volume but dramatically higher conversion rates than generic national terms, because the searcher is ready to hire someone nearby right now.
Check a free keyword tool for search volume
Once you have a list of candidate phrases, run them through a free tool like Google Keyword Planner, Ubersuggest, or AnswerThePublic to see rough monthly search volume and difficulty. You're not looking for the highest-volume keyword — you're looking for realistic, specific phrases with decent volume and low competition that a small local business can actually compete for.
Group keywords by page, not by post
Each core service should have one dedicated page targeting a small cluster of closely related keywords — not one page trying to rank for everything. A single "Services" page trying to rank for "web design," "logo design," and "photography" all at once will underperform three focused pages, each targeting its own cluster with depth.
Use long-tail keywords for blog content
Your homepage and service pages should target your core, higher-competition keywords. Your blog is where you win the long-tail — specific questions like "how much does a small business website cost in 2026" or "how to choose brand colors for a small business." These are exactly the kind of searches that convert well and are realistic to rank for, even for a newer site.
Common mistake to avoid: if your target keyword shows up more than 3-4 times in a 600-word page, it's probably stuffed rather than written. Aim for the headline, one subheading, and the first paragraph, then let the rest of the page read like a person wrote it, because a person is going to read it.
Where Keyword Research Meets the Rest of Your SEO
Keyword research tells you what to say — but where and how you say it matters just as much. Once you have your keyword list, pair it with our local SEO guide for Portland businesses to make sure your Google Business Profile and on-page structure are set up to actually rank, and revisit our post on writing website copy that converts to make sure the keywords you add still read naturally and drive action.
Guessing at keywords is still guessing
Every website Joskie Productions builds starts with real keyword research, the step most Portland small businesses skip and then wonder why their site never ranks.
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