The best source for what to write about isn't a keyword tool. It's data your own website is already generating, for free, that most businesses never open.
Start with Google Search Console's Queries report
If your site is connected to Google Search Console, a free tool from Google, it already records the actual search terms people typed before landing on your site, along with how often your site appeared for each one and whether anyone clicked. The Queries report, under Performance, shows this directly. It's the single most reliable source available, because it's not a guess about what people might search; it's a record of what they actually did search, specifically in connection with your own site.
Two things are worth watching for in that report specifically:
- Queries with high impressions but low clicks. These are searches where you're already showing up, just not compellingly enough to get clicked, often a sign that a dedicated page answering that exact question would help.
- Queries close to, but not quite matching, an existing page. If people are searching a slightly different phrasing of something you already cover, that's a sign to either broaden the existing page or write a more specifically targeted one.
Your own call and estimate history is a second, underused source
Search Console shows what people search on Google. It doesn't show what they ask you directly, on the phone, in an estimate conversation, in a follow-up email. That's a separate, equally valuable list. If you or your team find yourselves explaining the same thing for the third or fourth time in a month, that's a page. Keep a running note, even an informal one, of questions that come up repeatedly, and check it whenever you're deciding what to write next.
Google's own search results show related questions directly
Searching a topic related to your trade often surfaces a "People also ask" box with related questions Google has already identified as commonly searched alongside it. This isn't a perfect list, and it shifts over time, but it's a fast, free way to see what else people wonder about once they've asked the first question.
Don't mistake volume for relevance
A question that gets searched a lot nationally but has nothing to do with what you actually do isn't worth writing about just because it's popular. The goal is the intersection of what people genuinely ask and what you can genuinely answer well, not the highest search volume available. A narrow, specific question you can answer with real expertise beats a broad, popular one you'd have to write generically to cover.
A simple monthly habit
- Check Search Console's Queries report for anything new or high-impression-low-click.
- Ask your team (or yourself) what came up on calls this month that isn't already covered on the site.
- Pick two or three from that combined list to write about next, rather than trying to cover everything at once.
Reviews are a third source worth mining
Your own customer reviews, on Google or anywhere else you collect them, often contain the exact language customers use to describe their problem and what they valued about the fix. A review that says "I had no idea what was wrong with my water heater until they explained it" is pointing directly at a page worth writing: an explanation of common water heater problems, in the same plain terms a real customer just used to describe needing one.
Questions
What if I don't have any Search Console data yet, because the site is brand new?
Start with your call and estimate history, since that doesn't depend on existing search traffic. Add Search Console data once the site has enough history to be useful, usually after a few weeks to months of being live.
Are keyword research tools worth paying for?
They can help once you've exhausted the free sources above, particularly for understanding how competitive a given topic is. They're not necessary to get started, and free sources like Search Console will always be more directly tied to your own actual visitors.
How often should I check for new questions to write about?
Monthly is a reasonable cadence for most small businesses, enough to catch new patterns without turning it into a full-time task.