How to Use Google Keyword Planner for Local SEO Research
Google Keyword Planner helps you discover search terms, estimate demand for your local market, and identify seasonal patterns. For retail SEO, the key is to set your location before comparing keywords, separate purchase intent from general interest, and connect each useful keyword group to a relevant website page or Google Business Profile detail.
The important limitation: Keyword Planner is an advertising tool. Its search estimates can inform organic SEO decisions, but its competition ratings describe advertisers, not how difficult it will be to rank in local search. Follow these steps to turn keyword ideas into a practical content and optimization plan.
Step 1: Build a seed list from your inventory and services
Start with what customers can actually buy or arrange at your store. A useful seed list includes business categories, product categories, specific customer needs, and services you provide.
For a shoe retailer in Beverly Hills, starting terms might include:
- Business category: shoe store.
- Product categories: running shoes, walking shoes, women’s boots.
- Customer needs: wide-fit shoes, shoes for standing all day.
- Services: shoe fitting, if the store offers it.
Keep these groups separate initially. Mixing unrelated categories makes it harder to recognize useful patterns in the results. For help developing this starting list, our guide to local keyword research for small business explains how to connect customer language with your retail offering.
Step 2: Set the location, language, and search network
In your Google Ads account, open Tools, then Planning, then Keyword Planner. Choose Discover new keywords and enter a related group of seed terms.
Before interpreting the results, review the targeting settings:
- Location: Remove broad locations that do not match the market you are analyzing. Search for and select your intended city or another supported geographic area.
- Language: Select the language relevant to the search terms and content you are planning.
- Search network: Select Google when you want to keep search-partner data out of the comparison.
- Date range: Use the same period for keyword groups you intend to compare.
For a Beverly Hills store, begin with Beverly Hills rather than treating nationwide search volume as local demand. If nearby markets matter, analyze them separately before combining them. A combined location total does not reveal which selected city contributes the most demand.
Location targeting is different from a city name in a keyword
Searching for “shoe store” with Beverly Hills selected estimates demand under that geographic setting. Searching for “shoe store Beverly Hills” examines a phrase that explicitly names the city.
Both are useful. Customers do not always type their location, while shoppers outside the city may search for a store there before visiting. Keep those different questions separate when comparing results.
Step 3: Discover local keyword variations and remove distractions
Review the suggested terms for language your initial list missed. You can also use the Start with a website option with a relevant page from your own site to generate additional ideas. Treat those suggestions as possibilities, not an inventory of what your business offers.
Explore several types of local phrasing:
- Category plus city: shoe store Beverly Hills.
- Product plus city: running shoes Beverly Hills.
- Service plus city: shoe fitting Beverly Hills.
- Proximity language: shoe store near me.
- Specific needs: wide-fit running shoes.
Use keyword-text filters to narrow the list. Remove irrelevant products, wholesale intent if you sell only retail, and services you do not provide. Keep branded searches separate from generic searches because they answer different questions about customer demand.
A phrase such as “shoe store near me” signals local intent. It does not mean your page title needs to repeat “near me.” Describe the business, location, and offering naturally.
Step 4: Interpret the metrics without confusing ads and SEO
Export the useful keyword ideas into a spreadsheet. Record the location, language, network, and date range alongside them so later comparisons use consistent settings.
| Metric | What it tells you | How to use it for local SEO |
|---|---|---|
| Average monthly searches | Estimated average demand for a keyword and its close variants under the selected settings. | Compare relative demand among relevant keyword groups. |
| Monthly search trends | How estimated demand changes over time. | Identify seasonal planning windows and avoid relying only on averages. |
| Competition | Relative advertiser competition. | Do not treat it as an organic ranking-difficulty score. |
| Top-of-page bid ranges | Historical advertising bid information. | Use as secondary advertising context, not a forecast of organic revenue. |
Handle small-market estimates carefully
If your account displays search-volume ranges, use them as broad demand bands rather than precise counts. Related phrases can share close-variant data, so adding every row together can overstate the size of an opportunity.
Low reported volume also does not automatically make a specific local phrase irrelevant. A service-and-city query can describe your offering more closely than a much larger national category term. Evaluate relevance and intent before volume.
Step 5: Examine seasonality before choosing publication dates
An annual average can hide a concentrated shopping period. Review the monthly trend for each important product group rather than assuming demand stays steady throughout the year.
For example, compare “back to school shoes” with “walking shoes.” The first phrase suggests a seasonal planning question; the second calls for checking whether demand is steadier. Let the displayed trend determine the timing rather than assuming every product follows the same retail calendar.
- Look for when demand begins rising, not only its highest month.
- Compare the same months across available years to look for recurring patterns.
- Check whether planned inventory and store services match the period of interest.
- Schedule page updates before the expected shopping period.
If a city-level trend is sparse, a separate regional analysis can provide seasonal context. Label it as regional data instead of substituting it for your local estimate.
Step 6: Prioritize keyword groups and assign website destinations
Prioritize keywords in this order: fit with your actual offering, search intent, suitability of the destination page, and then estimated demand. This prevents a popular but irrelevant term from displacing a smaller, more useful opportunity.
Search the leading phrases and examine the types of results. Product listings, store pages, buying guides, and local map results represent different needs. Keyword Planner alone does not tell you which content format best answers a query.
| Keyword group | Likely intent | Potential website destination |
|---|---|---|
| Shoe store Beverly Hills | Find a local retailer. | Homepage or genuine store-location page. |
| Running shoes Beverly Hills | Find a local product selection. | Running-shoe category page with useful store information. |
| Shoe fitting Beverly Hills | Understand or arrange a service. | Service page explaining the actual offering. |
| How to choose walking shoes | Learn before purchasing. | Educational buying guide. |
Group phrases that the same page can satisfy. “Running shoe shop” and “running shoe store” rarely justify separate pages just because Keyword Planner lists them separately. Likewise, adding a different city name does not automatically justify another location page.
Your spreadsheet can now include a keyword group, intent, demand estimate, seasonal notes, destination URL, and proposed action: improve an existing page, create a distinct useful page, or set the idea aside.
Step 7: Translate relevant findings into Google Business Profile improvements
Website keywords and profile details serve related but different purposes. At Monetize Talks, based in Beverly Hills, we offer local business SEO and Google Business Profile services. For both, relevance starts with an accurate description of the business, not a longer keyword list.
Use your findings to make the profile clearer:
- Categories: Select available categories that accurately describe the business, rather than trying to represent every keyword.
- Products and services: Use recognizable names for offerings you actually provide.
- Description: Explain the store’s focus and useful distinctions in natural language.
- Business name: Keep the real-world name rather than adding product terms or city keywords for ranking purposes.
Keyword demand can help prioritize which offerings deserve clearer information. It does not justify adding unrelated services or repeating phrases throughout the profile.
Step 8: Measure results outside Keyword Planner
Keyword Planner supports discovery and demand analysis. It does not report your website’s organic rankings or the results of your profile changes.
Record the date and purpose of each meaningful update, then use the appropriate measurement tool:
- Google Search Console: Review queries, impressions, clicks, and performance for the pages you changed.
- Google Business Profile performance: Examine available search and interaction metrics for the profile.
- Website analytics: Track defined actions such as contact-form submissions or purchase completions.
Compare similar periods and account for seasonality. Increased clicks during a seasonal peak do not, by themselves, prove an optimization caused the change. Likewise, direction requests and call clicks are interactions, not confirmed store visits or sales.
Turn keyword ideas into a manageable work plan
The useful output is not the longest keyword list. It is a focused set of relevant search themes, each connected to a real offering, an appropriate page or profile improvement, and a way to measure progress. Keep the geographic settings consistent, separate advertising metrics from organic performance, and revisit demand as your inventory and seasons change.
