Keyword.

A keyword is what someone types into a search bar or says into their cell phone: “Roofing contractor in Brühl,” “cost of replacing a heating system,” or “barrier-free bathroom renovation.” In search engine optimization, a keyword also refers to the term you specifically target when optimizing a page. For a business, this is the bridge between your technical term and the word customers actually use. Surprisingly often, the two are not the same.

How Keywords Work

Behind every keyword lies an intention—the search intent. Someone searching for “how a heat pump works” wants to understand something. Someone searching for “heat pump installer Hürth” wants to hire a company. A single page rarely serves both intents well. In its SEO guide, Google advises anticipating users’ search terms and points out that people with a lot of technical knowledge use different words than beginners.

Broadly speaking, there are short, general terms and what’s known as the “long tail”: longer, more specific search queries consisting of multiple words. Long-tail terms are searched for less frequently on their own, but they reveal much more precisely what someone needs. For a regional business, they’re usually more valuable than a highly competitive generic term. According to Google, you don’t have to include every variation verbatim, because the language-matching systems also understand related phrasing.

What Your Business Should Keep in Mind

Start with your customers’ words, not your technical terms. Take note of how callers describe their problem over the phone. These are often better keywords than the terms listed in your service catalog. Our keyword research using a real-world example shows you how to turn this into a list with search volume data. According to Google, the Keyword Planner in Google Ads provides estimates for search queries.

Assign exactly one page to each important keyword. If two pages compete for the same term, it’s unclear to Google which one is a better fit. Having a separate landing page for each service provides clarity for both search engines and customers.

Check to see what people are already finding you for. According to Google, Google Search Console shows the search queries that bring people to your website, along with clicks and impressions. In our projects, we often find terms there that no one had thought of before. You can learn how to read the report in “How to Use Google Search Console Effectively.”

Write for people, not for search engines. Google explicitly classifies the unnatural accumulation of keywords as spam and cites as an example blocks of text containing cities and regions for which a page is intended to rank.

Frequently Asked Questions About Keywords

How often should a keyword appear in the text? There’s no set number. What’s important is that the term appears where it belongs: in the page title, the main heading, and the body text—just as a person would use it.

Are keywords in Google Ads the same as in SEO? The principle is the same, but the way they’re used is different. According to Google, keywords in Google Ads determine which searches an ad can appear for. In SEO, you choose terms for content that you want people to find without paying.

Do I need expensive tools for research? Not at first. Search Console, Google Search suggestions, and conversations with customers will get you a long way.

Once you've identified the right keywords and want to optimize your pages for them, we'll take care of it with our SEO services—from research to the final text.