Keyword Research for Local SEO: How To Find Local Keywords

Elmeri Palokangas

Last updated: March 10, 2026 Published: August 5, 2025

Local keyword research is an integral part of local SEO. To outrank your competitors and attract (real) traffic to your local business, you need to find the right keywords to target.

If you’re wondering if local keyword research (or local SEO in general) is worth it in 2025, consider this: According to SOCI, 80% of US consumers use search engines on a weekly basis to find information about local businesses. So effective local keyword research can give you a serious advantage over competitors.

This raises the question: How do you perform local SEO keyword research?

In this guide, we’ll explain the five key steps of keyword research for local SEO. We’ll also show you how Seobility’s free Keyword Research Tool can help you with this.

We’ll begin by looking at the basics of local SEO keyword research.

What is local SEO keyword research?

Local SEO keyword research is the process of finding keywords people use when searching for products, services, and other conveniences in their local area.

When users search for local services, they often use location-specific terms, such as “car repair shops in Berlin” or “affordable photographers in Tokyo.” One example is the Google search result below, where the local keywords consist of the seed keyword (“IT support services”), keyword modifier (“in”), and location (“New York”).

When talking about local search, it’s also important to understand the difference between explicit and implicit search.

Explicit search is when the user consciously gives the search a specific geographic focus with terms like “in New York.”

Implicit search, on the other hand, is when the user doesn’t specify a location, but still intends to find something nearby.

Just as there are explicit and implicit searches, there are also explicit (or local) keywords and implicit (general) keywords that imply a local search intent. When you search for local keywords to target, start by looking for explicit keywords, as they’re easier to identify.

Why local keyword research is important

When local keyword research is done correctly, it can yield incredible results for your small business. The benefits include:

• Better overall search visibility: While your Google Business Profile is important for positioning your business in the Local Pack, local SEO goes beyond that. Local keyword research helps improve your overall search visibility by promoting it in organic local search results.
• Deeper understanding of what people search for locally: Understanding what local search queries your customers are making improves your local SEO and your overall understanding of your customers.
• Higher conversion rates: Local keyword research helps you find the right keywords to target, improving your conversion rate.
• Stronger local authority: Building local authority remains important.

How to do local keyword research

In its simplest form, local keyword research consists of four steps:

1. Make a list of potential keywords. Based on your business’s goals, create a list of potential keywords.
2. Validate local keywords to target. You need to validate the list using keyword research tools, Google’s free tools and resources, or by doing a competitor analysis.
3. Look at local metrics and prioritize keywords. Local keyword metrics, such as the competition level, search volume, cost per click (CPC), and search intent.
4. Add keywords to your website. In SEO, the process of keyword mapping involves adding keywords to the appropriate pages, meta descriptions, URLs, and body content.
5. Add keywords to your Google Business Profile. To improve your Google Business Profile rankings, you can add local keywords to the business description, categories, Q&A sections, and service and product pages.

Step 1: Make a List of Potential Keywords

Your keyword research for local SEO should start with a simple question: What am I trying to optimize for? As a local business owner, you know your goals best.

Discover your seed keywords

Seed keywords are short-tail keywords (a maximum of three words) that are often high-volume and highly competitive.

To identify your seed keywords, you can do the following:

• Brainstorm: Start listing your business’s core themes.
• Talk to customers: Review previous customer conversations to identify keywords.
• Look at Google Search Console data: Analyze your search result data to find seed keywords.
• Read forums and social media: Identify common topics and phrases used to discuss products and services similar to yours.
• Read customer reviews: Find keywords from what customers say about your business.

Add location modifiers to your seed keywords

Once you have identified your seed keywords, you can continue by adding location modifiers.

Step 2: Validate Local Keywords to Target

To validate your keywords, start by entering them into Seobility’s Keyword Research Tool.

Step 3: Look At Local Metrics and Prioritize Keywords

After you have your list of validated local keywords, it’s time to look at the metrics and prioritize them. The key metrics you should look at include:

• Analyze search intent
• Look at the search volume
• Check competition levels
• Consider CPC for paid ads

Step 4: Add Keywords To Your Website

Once you have validated and prioritized your local keywords, it’s time to map them out and create a content plan. This involves:

• Assign keywords to relevant pages.
• Create new pages if necessary.
• Optimize page titles and headings.
• Optimize URLs and meta descriptions.

Step 5: Add Keywords To Your Google Business Profile

There are six primary places to add your keywords in GBP:

1. Business description: Add your local keywords to your business description.
2. Business category: Add one or more additional categories related to your keywords.
3. Product and service page: Add relevant keywords to product pages and service pages.

How to track your local keyword rankings

To track your local keywords, you can use Seobility’s Ranking Monitoring feature.

How to perform local keyword research for multiple locations

If you operate your business in multiple locations, we recommend performing keyword research for each location separately. Start with your seed keywords and use Seobility’s Keyword Research Tool and Google Keyword Planner to find local keywords and search trends.

How is AI search changing local SEO keyword research?

SEO is currently undergoing significant changes. Google’s AI Overviews change the central position of the Local Pack for local searches.

Tips on improving local SEO keyword research for AI results

Ask ChatGPT why your brand is/is not appearing for specific AI searches to fine-tune your local keyword research strategy.

Conclusion

Statistics show that most consumers still use Google to find information about local businesses. This means that local SEO keyword research is more important than ever.

If you’re just starting out, it might feel overwhelming. However, the process gets easier with time.