Long-tail keyword

"Physiotherapist" says little about the person searching. "Physio for runner's knee pain in Leeds" says almost everything: the problem, the service and the town. Phrases like that are questions a local business can answer better than a general site.

Google's SEO Starter Guide makes the same point from the other side: think about the words your readers might use, because people who know a topic search differently from beginners. It also says that writing naturally, with varied wording, gives you more chances to show up, simply because you use more of the words people type.

1. Write down the questions customers ask you on the phone or at the counter. Most of them are long-tail searches already.
2. Type the start of each one into Google and read the suggestions. Google says they reflect real searches and depend on language and location.
3. In Search Console, open the Performance report and look at Queries: long phrases that already show your site are the first ones to answer better.
4. Check what the person wants before you write: a question needs an article, a request to book needs a service page. That is search intent. Our blog post ideas for local businesses turn such questions into topics.

• A separate thin page for every variant, such as physio Leeds, physio in Leeds and Leeds physio. Google says its language matching understands how a page relates to many queries without the exact words.
• Repeating the phrase over and over. Google calls it keyword stuffing, and it is against its spam policies.