If you run a business in Nigeria and want to attract customers through Google Ads, keyword research is one of the most important steps to get right.
Think about it. Someone searching for “affordable wedding photographer in Lagos” is probably looking for a service provider. Someone searching for “how to take wedding photographs” may simply want to learn something.
Both searches relate to photography, but the people behind them have different intentions. If you advertise to both without a clear strategy, you could spend money on clicks that never turn into customers.
That is why effective Google Search Ads keyword research goes beyond finding popular search terms. It involves understanding what potential customers are searching for, identifying the keywords that indicate buying intent, and deciding which searches deserve your advertising budget.
In this guide, you will learn how to research Google Ads keywords step by step, using practical examples relevant to Nigerian businesses.
What Is Keyword Research for Google Search Ads?
Keyword research is the process of identifying and evaluating the search terms you want your Google Ads to target.
For example, a business offering website design services in Nigeria might consider these keywords:
- Website designer in Nigeria
- Affordable website design in Lagos
- WordPress developer in Port Harcourt
- How to build a website for free
- Website design course for beginners
Although these searches concern website design, they do not necessarily represent the same opportunity for an advertiser.
The first three suggest that the person may be looking for a professional service. The last two are more likely to come from people who want to learn how to build websites themselves.
Your goal is to identify keywords that connect your business with people who are most likely to make an enquiry, request a quote, book an appointment, or purchase a product.
Step 1: Define Your Advertising Goal
Before opening any keyword research tool, decide what you want your Google Search Ads campaign to achieve.
Your goal determines which keywords are worth targeting.
For example:
- Generate enquiries: Target searches from people looking for a service provider.
- Sell products: Target searches from people looking to purchase specific products.
- Get bookings: Target searches from people ready to schedule an appointment or reserve a service.
- Attract business clients: Target searches from companies looking for a solution to a specific problem.
Suppose you run a digital agency in Nigeria and want to attract businesses that need websites.
Your goal is not simply to generate traffic to your website. It is to attract business owners who are considering hiring a web developer.
That distinction should guide every keyword you select.
Step 2: Brainstorm Keywords Your Customers Might Search For
Start by putting yourself in your potential customer’s position.
If someone needs what your business offers, what would they type into Google?
Create a list of possible searches based on five categories.
1. Service or product keywords
These describe exactly what you sell.
Examples:
- Website design services
- Event photography
- Air conditioner repair
- Women’s skincare products
- Professional cleaning services
2. Location-based keywords
These include a city, state, or country.
Examples:
- Website designer in Lagos
- Event photographer in Owerri
- AC repair in Abuja
- Skincare products in Nigeria
- Cleaning company in Port Harcourt
Location keywords can help businesses that serve specific areas connect with nearby customers.
However, do not assume that every Nigerian business needs a location keyword. An online store selling nationwide or a company offering remote services may also benefit from broader searches.
3. Price-related keywords
These suggest that someone is comparing costs or preparing to make a decision.
Examples:
- Website design cost in Nigeria
- Wedding photography packages in Lagos
- Affordable office cleaning services
- Website design company price list
These searches can be useful when your landing page clearly explains your pricing, packages, or quotation process.
4. Provider-related keywords
These searches indicate that the person may be looking for a business to hire.
Examples:
- Best web design company in Nigeria
- Hire a WordPress developer
- Professional wedding photographer in Abuja
- Reliable generator repair service
5. Product-specific keywords
If you sell physical products, focus on searches that identify the exact product or category.
For example, an online skincare store could research:
- Buy CeraVe moisturiser in Nigeria
- COSRX snail mucin price in Nigeria
- Niacinamide serum online Nigeria
Product-specific keywords can be more useful than broad terms such as “beauty products” because they describe what the customer actually wants.
At this stage, do not worry about finding the perfect keywords. Build a list of possible search terms first.
Step 3: Use Google Keyword Planner
Google Keyword Planner is one of the most useful tools for researching keywords for Google Ads. It helps you discover related search terms, examine estimated search demand, and review advertising bid estimates.
You can access it through your Google Ads account.
- Visit https://ads.google.com/.
- Sign in to your Google Ads account.
- Open Tools or Tools and settings, depending on your interface.
- Find Planning and select Keyword Planner.
- Choose Discover new keywords.
You will generally have two options: start with keywords or start with a website.
Option A: Start with keywords
Enter the terms you brainstormed in the previous step.
For a web design agency, you might enter:
- Website design Nigeria
- Website designer Lagos
- WordPress developer Nigeria
- Business website design
- Hire website developer
Choose the appropriate location and language settings before reviewing the results.
Option B: Start with a website
You can also enter your website or a relevant competitor’s website to discover keyword ideas related to its content.
Treat competitor website suggestions as research ideas, not proof that the competitor is successfully converting those searches into customers.
Set the location to Nigeria
This is particularly important when researching keywords for a Nigerian business.
If you intend to serve customers throughout Nigeria, select Nigeria as the target location. If you only serve customers in a particular city, consider researching that city or your actual service area.
You can also compare locations to see whether the opportunities differ.
For example, a wedding photography business serving Owerri may not benefit from the same location targeting as a nationwide ecommerce store.
Important: Keyword Planner’s search-volume figures are estimates, not exact counts of future clicks. Depending on your account and available data, search volumes may be shown in ranges. Bid estimates are also not guaranteed click prices.
Use these figures to compare opportunities rather than treating them as promises.
Step 4: Evaluate Search Volume, Competition, and Cost
Once Keyword Planner generates suggestions, assess each keyword using three important indicators.
Search volume
Search volume estimates how frequently people search for a keyword.
A keyword with higher search volume may offer more opportunities to reach customers, but that does not automatically make it the best choice.
For example, “web design” is broad. “Hire a WordPress developer in Lagos” is more specific and may better match the needs of someone ready to hire.
Do not reject a relevant keyword simply because its search volume is relatively low.
Competition
Keyword Planner’s competition indicator describes advertiser competition for that keyword in Google Ads. It is not the same as organic search competition.
High advertiser competition may indicate that other businesses are bidding for the same audience. It does not automatically mean that the keyword is unprofitable.
Similarly, low competition does not guarantee cheap clicks or strong conversion rates.
Top-of-page bid estimates
Keyword Planner may provide low- and high-range estimates for bids that have historically appeared near the top of search results.
These estimates help you understand the potential cost of competing for a keyword.
For instance, if a keyword’s estimated click cost appears high relative to what you earn from a typical customer, you may need to reconsider your approach, improve your conversion rate, or prioritise other keywords.
Do not choose keywords based on the lowest estimated bid alone. A more expensive keyword can still be worthwhile if it attracts customers who are more likely to buy.
Step 5: Identify Keywords With Strong Buying Intent
This is where your research becomes more valuable.
Not everyone searching for information is ready to buy. Your task is to identify the searches most closely aligned with the action you want people to take.
Consider the following examples for a business selling website design services.
| Keyword | Likely intent |
|---|---|
| What is website design? | Informational |
| How to create a website | Informational |
| Website design cost in Nigeria | Commercial research |
| Best website design company in Nigeria | Commercial investigation |
| Hire a WordPress developer in Lagos | Strong service intent |
| Affordable business website design | Potentially strong service intent |
The intent classifications are guides, not guarantees. A person searching for website design costs may be ready to hire, while someone searching for a company may still be researching.
For a campaign focused on generating enquiries, prioritise keywords that describe a service, product, purchase, booking, or hiring decision.
You can still use informational keywords for a separate content or lead-generation strategy. However, avoid mixing every educational search into a campaign designed to generate immediate sales.
Watch out for misleading keywords
A keyword may contain your service name but attract the wrong audience.
For example, if you offer paid website development services, searches such as “free website builder,” “website design jobs,” and “web design course” may be irrelevant to your immediate sales objective.
Review each keyword in context before adding it to your campaign.
Step 6: Understand Keyword Match Types
Google Ads match types help determine which searches can trigger your ads. Understanding them is essential for managing costs and controlling relevance.
There are three primary keyword match types.
Broad match
Example:
website designer Lagos
Broad match can reach searches related to your keyword, including searches that do not contain the exact words you entered.
It offers reach and flexibility, but you should monitor search-term relevance carefully. Google’s systems may use additional context and signals when matching searches.
Phrase match
Example:
"website designer Lagos"
Phrase match can reach searches that include the meaning of your keyword, with additional words before or after it where relevant.
It offers a way to balance reach with a more specific intent.
Exact match
Example:
[website designer Lagos]
Exact match can reach searches with the same meaning or intent as your keyword, including close variants. It is not restricted to identical spelling and word order.
It generally gives you more control over the searches you target, although it does not guarantee that only the exact phrase will trigger your ad.
Which match type should a Nigerian business use?
There is no universal answer.
If you have a small budget and want to keep your campaign closely aligned with a defined service, phrase and exact match can be reasonable starting points.
Broad match may also work well when you have reliable conversion tracking, a clear campaign structure, and sufficient data to evaluate performance.
The important thing is to monitor actual search terms and make decisions based on results rather than assuming a particular match type will always be cheaper or better.
Step 7: Research Negative Keywords
Negative keywords help prevent your ads from appearing for searches you do not want to pay for.
They are especially useful when your campaign attracts people looking for free resources, employment, training, or unrelated products.
Suppose you run a web design agency. Depending on your business model, you might consider excluding terms such as:
- Free
- Jobs
- Vacancy
- Salary
- Internship
- Course
- Tutorial
However, do not add these words blindly.
If you sell website design courses, “course” may be an important keyword rather than a negative keyword. If you offer internships, excluding “internship” could prevent relevant traffic.
Review your business offering and the actual searches triggering your ads before building your negative keyword list.
Also remember that negative keyword matching behaves differently from positive keyword matching. A negative broad-match keyword can exclude searches containing its terms, while phrase and exact negatives have their own matching rules. Close variants are not handled identically to positive keywords.
For this reason, test your negative keyword list carefully to avoid blocking relevant searches.
Step 8: Check Actual Google Search Results
Keyword Planner provides useful numerical estimates, but it cannot replace a manual review of the search results.
Open Google and search for your shortlisted keywords.
For example, search for:
“Website design company in Nigeria”
Look at the results and ask yourself:
- Are businesses advertising website design services?
- Are the results dominated by directories, educational articles, or service providers?
- Do the advertisers offer the same service as your business?
- What promises do their ads make?
- What types of landing pages do they use?
- Does the search indicate a local, national, or international audience?
This process helps you understand the context behind a search term and determine whether your business is a good fit.
You can also use Google’s autocomplete suggestions and related searches to discover additional wording customers may use.
Treat these as keyword ideas, not reliable search-volume data.
If a keyword consistently produces results that have little to do with your offer, investigate further before spending money on it.
Step 9: Organise Keywords Into Tightly Related Ad Groups
Do not put every keyword you discover into one ad group.
Instead, organise your keywords around closely related products, services, or customer needs.
For example, a web design agency might create the following structure.
Campaign: Website Design Leads — Nigeria
| Ad group | Example keywords |
|---|---|
| Business Website Design | business website design, company website design |
| WordPress Development | WordPress developer Nigeria, hire WordPress developer |
| Website Design Pricing | website design cost Nigeria, business website price |
| Local Web Design | website designer Lagos, website design company Abuja |
The exact structure should reflect your services and how much advertising budget you have. You do not need a separate ad group for every individual keyword.
The goal is to make sure that the keywords within an ad group are closely related to the advertisement and landing page.
For example, someone searching for a WordPress developer should ideally see an ad that discusses WordPress development and leads to a page explaining that service.
This improves relevance and makes campaign performance easier to analyse.
Step 10: Estimate Whether the Keywords Can Be Profitable
Before launching your campaign, think about the economics of acquiring a customer.
Suppose you run a web design business and charge ₦250,000 for a website project.
For illustration, assume:
- Your average project revenue is ₦250,000.
- You estimate that 10% of qualified enquiries become paying customers.
- You want to spend no more than ₦25,000 in advertising to acquire a customer.
Under those assumptions, you could spend an average of up to ₦2,500 per qualified enquiry to meet your target acquisition cost.
Here is the calculation:
Target cost per enquiry = target customer acquisition cost × enquiry-to-customer conversion rate
₦25,000 × 10% = ₦2,500 per enquiry.
These figures are hypothetical. Your actual target should account for delivery costs, profit margins, sales expenses, refunds where applicable, and the percentage of enquiries that are genuinely qualified.
You should also distinguish between an enquiry and a customer. A form submission is not necessarily a sale.
If you sell products rather than services, work backwards from your gross profit per order and your acceptable acquisition cost.
This exercise helps you evaluate keyword opportunities in the context of your business instead of chasing clicks simply because they are affordable.
Step 11: Build a Keyword Research Spreadsheet
Before creating your campaign, organise the shortlisted keywords in a spreadsheet.
Useful columns include:
- Keyword
- Search intent
- Target location
- Average monthly searches
- Competition
- Estimated top-of-page bid
- Match type
- Ad group
- Landing page
- Negative keyword considerations
- Priority
You can add a notes column to record why you selected or rejected particular keywords.
A simple scoring system can also help you prioritise your list.
For example, score each keyword from 1 to 5 based on relevance, buying intent, and commercial viability. Give greater weight to relevance and buying intent than to search volume alone.
The scores are your own decision-making framework, not Google Ads metrics.
Once your spreadsheet is complete, you should have a manageable set of keywords that align with your business goals and budget.
Step 12: Launch, Review Search Terms, and Refine Your Keywords
Keyword research does not end when your campaign goes live.
Your initial list is a starting point. Actual campaign data will help you understand which searches are relevant and which are wasting your budget.
After launch, monitor:
Search terms: Check the actual searches that triggered your ads. Add relevant terms to your keyword list and exclude irrelevant ones where appropriate.
Click-through rate: Review how often people click after seeing your ads. A low click-through rate can indicate a mismatch between the keyword, ad, and audience, although it is not a complete measure of campaign success.
Conversion rate: Measure how often ad clicks lead to meaningful actions, such as qualified enquiries or purchases.
Cost per conversion: Compare your acquisition costs with your business targets.
Lead quality: Determine whether enquiries come from people who can afford your services, are within your service area, and genuinely need what you offer.
Avoid making decisions based on a handful of clicks. Allow enough relevant data to accumulate, taking your budget and sales cycle into account.
Use conversion tracking to measure meaningful actions accurately. For lead-generation campaigns, consider tracking qualified leads and sales in addition to form submissions or phone clicks.
Over time, use the results to refine your keywords, match types, ad copy, landing pages, and negative keyword list.
Common Google Ads Keyword Research Mistakes to Avoid
Even a well-researched keyword list can underperform if you make these mistakes.
1. Choosing keywords only because they have high search volume
A popular keyword is not necessarily a profitable one. Prioritise relevance and commercial intent.
2. Targeting keywords that are too broad
A term such as “photography” can attract people searching for courses, jobs, camera equipment, inspiration, and photography services.
If your goal is to book clients, focus on searches that better describe your offer.
3. Ignoring location settings
A business serving customers only in Port Harcourt may waste money reaching people outside its service area if targeting and location options are not configured appropriately.
For businesses serving customers across Nigeria, broader targeting may make sense.
4. Assuming low competition means low advertising costs
Keyword Planner’s competition score and bid estimates measure different things. Neither guarantees what you will pay for a click.
5. Ignoring negative keywords
Without regular search-term reviews, your ads may attract clicks from people looking for unrelated services, jobs, or free alternatives.
6. Sending every visitor to your homepage
A person searching for a specific service should ideally land on a page that explains that service and gives them a clear next step.
For example, an ad targeting “event videography in Owerri” should lead to a relevant event videography page rather than an unrelated general homepage.
7. Failing to track conversions
Clicks and impressions show activity, but they do not tell you whether your advertising is generating profitable business.
Set up appropriate conversion tracking before relying on campaign results to make budget decisions.
Final Thoughts
Google Search Ads keyword research is not about finding as many keywords as possible. It is about identifying the searches that connect your business with the right customers.
For Nigerian businesses, a practical approach is to define a clear advertising goal, brainstorm relevant searches, use Keyword Planner to assess demand and bid estimates, prioritise buying intent, review actual search results, and organise keywords into relevant ad groups.
Once your campaign is running, use search-term reports and conversion data to improve your targeting.
Most importantly, do not measure success by how many people visit your website. Measure it by whether the right people take meaningful actions and whether those actions contribute to your business goals.
Start with a manageable set of relevant keywords, track the results, and expand based on evidence rather than assumptions.
