How do I know which keywords my customers actually search?
Short answer
Start with your own records, not a keyword tool. Google Search Console shows the searches your site appeared for, your Google Business Profile shows searches that led to your profile, Google Ads shows the terms that triggered your ads, and your phones tell you how customers describe the problem. Tool volumes are estimates.
Your own records show which keywords your customers search more reliably than any keyword tool, so look there first: Google Search Console, your Google Business Profile, your Google Ads account if you have one, and what callers say on the phone. Those sources show real searches by real people in your area. Keyword tools show estimates. Use the tools for ideas and your own records for decisions.
Where real search data comes from
Each source shows a different slice, and each has a blind spot.
| Source | What it shows | Its limit |
|---|---|---|
| Google Search Console, Performance report | The searches your website appeared for, with impressions, clicks and average position. This is Google’s own data about your site. | It only covers searches you already appear for, and Google leaves out some rare searches for privacy. |
| Google Business Profile, performance section | Searches that led people to your profile. | A short, grouped list. What is shown changes as Google revises the product. |
| Google Ads, search terms report | The searches that triggered your ads. | Only exists if you run ads, and Google withholds some terms. |
| Your phones and office staff | The words customers use before they know the trade term. | Nobody writes it down unless asked. |
| Third-party keyword tools | Ideas, related phrases, a rough comparison of one phrase with another. | Volumes are estimates, not Google figures, and are least reliable for a single city. |
Listen to how customers describe the problem
Customers search for the symptom as often as the service. A technician says “condensate drain line”. A homeowner in Rancho Bernardo types something closer to “AC leaking water inside house”. Ask whoever answers your phone to keep a running list of how callers describe what is wrong, in the callers’ own words. That list is something no competitor and no tool has.
Google’s own prompts help too. Start typing a service into the search box and read the completions it offers, which Google says reflect real searches. Then read the “People also ask” questions on the results page. Neither tells you how often a phrase is searched, but both show you the phrasing.
How much to trust search volume numbers
Treat monthly search volume as a rough ordering of phrases, not a count. Figures in third-party tools are modeled estimates. Keyword Planner, inside Google Ads, is Google’s own tool, but it’s built for advertisers: its figures are rounded averages, and it groups similar phrases together.
Neither kind is dependable for something as narrow as “tankless water heater repair La Mesa”, where a tool may report nothing at all even though people make that search. A phrase showing zero in a tool can still bring in jobs, and a phrase with a large number can be mostly people who will never hire anyone, which is a matter of search intent.
Which searches are worth a page
Build a page when the search matches a service you really offer and the person searching is likely to hire someone. Rank your list by that, not by volume.
If you run ads, the search terms report is the strongest evidence you can get, because with call tracking in place you can connect searches to phone calls and not only to visits. Without ads, Search Console shows the searches where you already appear some way down the results. Those are usually the first places I’d look, because Google already connects your site with them.
Putting these sources together, sorting by intent, and assigning one main search to one page is what I do as keyword research. It also helps to know what your competitors rank for.