How do I work out what my ideal clients are searching for online?

Start by putting yourself in the client’s chair.

Not the polished, strategic, boardroom version of the client. The real one. The one sitting at a laptop between meetings, slightly irritated, slightly under pressure, trying to find an answer to a problem that has become too awkward to ignore.

That is the moment you need to write for.

At Bit Famous, people might search for something fairly obvious, such as:

•  “presentation skills training for managers”
•  “media training for business leaders”
• “how to speak confidently at a conference”
•  “help with difficult conversations at work”

Those phrases matter. But they are only the starting point. The more useful question is: what is sitting behind the search?

Someone searching for presentation skills training may not simply want “presentation skills”. They may have noticed that their senior team waffles in meetings. Or their technical experts lose clients in too much detail. Or their future leaders are bright, capable and strangely quiet when the stakes rise.

That is the real gold, because good website content does not just chase the phrase. It understands the pressure behind the phrase.

There are a few practical ways to find that language.

First, listen to the words clients already use.

What do they say on discovery calls? What phrases come up again and again in emails? What worries do they mention before they know what solution they need? Those words are valuable because they are real. They are not marketing language. They are not your internal service labels. They are the words people use when the problem still feels fresh.

Second, look at the questions people ask before they buy.

A potential client may ask:

• “How can our managers sound more confident?”
• “What's the best way to help people be more concise?”
• “Can you help our experts speak to non-specialists?”
•  “How can our leaders communicate change more clearly?”

Each of those questions could become a blog heading, a service page section or a guide.

Next, use keyword tools. Tools like Answer the Public, Google's free Keyword Planner (in Google Ads) and Google Search Console can all help you see what people are searching for. They can show related questions, search volumes, and the phrases already bringing people to your site.

But the biggest search number is not always the best opportunity

A broad phrase might bring lots of visitors and no enquiries. A specific phrase might bring fewer people, but exactly the right people. For a consultant, coach, author or expert, that is often a much better deal.

You are not trying to attract everyone with a keyboard.

You are trying to attract the people who recognise the problem you solve, value your expertise and are using a search term that shows intent to buy.

So instead of only thinking, What gets the most traffic?, ask:

• What would our best client type into Google?
•  What problem would they be trying to describe?
• What words would they use before they know the professional terminology?
• What question would suggest they are serious enough to need help?
• What issue do we genuinely have something useful to say about?

That last question matters because your best content will usually sit at the overlap between what people are searching for and what you can speak about with real authority.

For Bit Famous, that means writing about communication and confidence in the situations our clients actually face: leadership meetings, conferences, presentations, difficult conversations, internal events and senior stakeholder moments to name a few.

For your business, it will be different but the principle is the same.

Find the questions your ideal clients are already asking, then answer them in a way that proves you understand the problem better than a generic search result ever could.