Most Sussex businesses we speak to have a clear idea of the words they want to rank for. Usually it’s their service plus “Sussex”. When we look at the search data, the picture is often different. People search the way they talk, and very few people say “Sussex” when they need a plumber, an accountant or a solicitor.
County, City or Town: Which Searches Have the Volume?
We checked UK search estimates in Ubersuggest for one common service. These are the average monthly searches it reported in October 2026:
- “accountants Brighton”: around 1,000
- “accountants Crawley”: around 260
- “accountants West Sussex”: around 140
- “accountants Sussex”: around 70
- “accountants East Sussex”: around 70
Keyword tools give estimates rather than exact counts, so treat the numbers as a guide to scale. The pattern is still clear. The city and the larger towns attract far more searches than the county, and the East and West Sussex versions are smaller again.
People search for the place they live in, not the county on the map.
That doesn’t mean county searches have no value. Someone searching “accountants West Sussex” may run a business with offices in several towns, or may be happy to travel. The intent is broader, and the competition is often lighter.
What Our Own Search Console Shows
Our own Search Console data tells a similar story. Between July and early October 2026, “seo sussex” brought us around 3,200 impressions and “seo agency sussex” around 2,450. “local seo sussex” brought around 700, and “seo east grinstead” around 560.
We also saw long lists of town variations, such as searches for SEO companies in Crawley and Eastbourne. Some of those look automated, because the same odd phrasings appear again and again with no clicks. It’s a useful reminder to sense-check impressions before you build a strategy around them.
Check What Google Shows Before You Choose
The search results tell you what Google thinks a searcher wants. Search your target phrase and look at what comes up.
- A map with three businesses at the top means Google reads the search as local, so your Google Business Profile will do much of the work.
- Agency or company home pages mean the search is commercial, and a strong service page is the right target.
- Guides and articles mean people want information first, so a blog post is a better fit than a sales page.
When we checked “seo sussex”, Google showed a map pack above the organic results. That told us Google gives the search a strong local reading, even though many people using it want a full SEO service.
How to Do Keyword Research for a Sussex Business
- Start with your customers’ words. Ask new customers what they typed or asked when they found you.
- List the places you serve, then check volumes for the city, the main towns and the county.
- Look for problem searches as well as service searches, such as “why has my website traffic dropped”.
- Check the search results for each phrase to see whether Google wants a map, a service page or a guide.
- Give each important phrase one page on your site, so your pages don’t compete with each other.
The last point is easy to miss. If two of your pages target the same search, Google may struggle to choose between them. We found exactly that on our own site, and we explain what happened later in this series.
Keyword research is where every project starts when we provide SEO for Sussex businesses.
Search behaviour changes through the year as well as from place to place. In the next post, we look at seasonal SEO for Sussex businesses.
Sources
- Ubersuggest keyword estimates for the United Kingdom, checked October 2026
- Mouthy Marketing Google Search Console data, July to October 2026