What is a money keyword, and how do I find mine?

Researching and hiring are different searches

Somebody typing how does probate work in Kentucky is reading. Somebody typing probate attorney Louisville is hiring. Both are worth having eventually, but only the second one pays this month, and it is the one to win first.

The pattern for a local business is almost always the same shape: what you do, plus where you are. Service plus town. Then the same phrase again in the plural, because people type both.

Find yours in about ten minutes

1. Write down the phrase you would type if you needed your own service and did not know your own name.
2. Write the plural of it. Attorney and attorneys often have quite different volumes.
3. Write the version with your state initials on the end, because plenty of people add them.
4. Put all of them into Google's keyword planner, which is free, and set the location to your town. This step is the one people get wrong, and setting it to the whole country produces a number that means nothing.

Do not be put off by a small number

Volume is only half the picture. In Louisville, every probate phrase sits between one hundred and one thousand searches a month, which reads small until you notice that firms are paying up to thirteen dollars and thirteen cents per click to be in front of those same people. Low volume and very high value is a good market to be in, not a bad one.

Also watch for misspellings. They are unglamorous and occasionally one of them is a genuine pocket of traffic nobody is competing for.