Keyword research in French-speaking Switzerland: the 2026 method

Why keyword research matters so much

Before any writing, technical optimisation or backlink building, you need to know what to rank for. Many SEO agencies and Swiss SMEs skip this step or rush it: “You want to rank for ‘web agency’, right? OK.” What follows is 12 months of effort on keywords that are too competitive or have no real search volume.

Good keyword research identifies 30 to 80 target keywords that meet three criteria:

1. Enough measured volume (> 30 searches/month minimum)
2. Achievable difficulty (< 30 for satellite keywords, < 50 for pillars)
3. A business intent that matches what you sell

This article explains the method we use at Voren, validated on 175 keywords measured in June 2026 for the French-speaking Swiss market.

Tool 1: DataForSEO API (the 2026 standard)

DataForSEO has become the standard for keyword research in Europe in 2026. Its advantages: accurate Google Ads data, very low prices, coverage of all of Switzerland’s languages.

Cost: around CHF 0.05 per 1,000 keywords tested with Search Volume, and around CHF 0.03 per 100 keywords with Bulk Keyword Difficulty. For a campaign of 200 keywords, allow CHF 0.10 to CHF 1 in total.

Workflow:

1. List 150 to 300 candidate keywords (intuition + variations + competitors)
2. Run Search Volume on the list (Google monthly volumes)
3. Run Keyword Difficulty on the keywords with a volume > 30
4. Filter by intent and by fit with your business

Alternative tools if you don’t use DataForSEO: Google Keyword Planner (free with an Ads account, less precise volumes), Ubersuggest (free, with limits), Ahrefs / Semrush (CHF 100 to 200 a month).

Tool 2: Google Keyword Planner

The Google Ads Keyword Planner is free with a Google Ads account (you don’t need to run an active campaign). It gives volumes by month and by geographic area.

2026 limitations: volumes are rounded into ranges (“100 to 1,000” instead of a precise figure) if you have no active campaign. With an active campaign (even CHF 1 a month in spend), the volumes become precise.

Workflow:

1. Create a Google Ads account (CHF 0)
2. Tools → Keyword Planner
3. “Discover new keywords” mode: enter a seed keyword
4. Filter by Switzerland, French language
5. Export to CSV

Useful for discovering adjacent keywords you had not thought of.

Tool 3: Ahrefs (paid, premium)

Ahrefs is the reference tool for competitive SEO analysis. With Ahrefs, you can:

• See all the keywords your competitors rank for
• Identify “content gaps” (keywords they rank for and you don’t)
• Measure the backlink profile (yours and your competitors’)
• Track your positions over time

Cost in 2026: USD 99/month for Lite (with limits), USD 199/month for Standard, USD 449/month for Advanced. A premium tool for an SME, and a paid one.

Typical workflow:

1. Identify 5 to 10 direct competitors
2. Look at their top 100 organic keywords
3. Filter those with a volume > 30 and a difficulty < 30
4. Identify the keywords they have and you don’t
5. Select 30 to 50 candidates

The Voren method in 6 steps

Step 1: define the scope

Before looking for keywords, clarify:

• Target market: French-speaking Switzerland, all of Switzerland or the international market
• Business targets: SMEs, scale-ups, large accounts or B2C
• Services to promote: your whole offer or one specific service
• Languages: FR only, FR + EN, or FR + DE + IT + EN

This framing stops you from searching in every direction and ending up with 500 unmanageable keywords.

Step 2: brainstorm 150 to 300 candidates

Sources:

• Yourself: what does an ideal client type into Google?
• Competitor sites: which keywords do they use in their H1s and meta titles?
• Forums / social networks: Reddit, LinkedIn, Quora, the way your clients phrase their questions
• Google autocomplete: start typing “web agency…” and note the suggestions
• People Also Ask: the “People also ask” box in Google after a search
• Variations: add places (“web agency Lausanne”), modifiers (“price”, “how to”, “comparison”), long tails

Target: 150 to 300 candidates before filtering.

Step 3: measure volumes

Run Search Volume (DataForSEO or an alternative) on the 150 to 300 candidates. You get a file with the monthly volume for each keyword.

First filter: remove keywords with 0 measured volume, often 40 to 60% of the initial list.

Second filter: remove keywords above 1,000 searches/month, unless you are aiming for very strong pillars (with an acceptable difficulty).

Step 4: measure difficulty

Run Keyword Difficulty on the filtered keywords. You get a file with a difficulty from 0 to 100 for each keyword.

First filter: remove keywords with a difficulty above 50. Unless you have 18 to 24 months of SEO runway, they are out of reach.

Second filter: prioritise keywords with a favourable volume / difficulty ratio. On a new site, a keyword with 50 searches and a difficulty of 5 is better than a keyword with 100 searches and a difficulty of 40.

Step 5: classify by intent

For each remaining keyword (typically 30 to 80), define the intent:

• Commercial (transactional): the user is looking for a provider (“SEO agency Geneva”, “SEO consultant Lausanne”). Serve a service landing page.
• Informational: the user wants to learn (“what is SEO”, “how to optimise a WordPress site”). Serve a blog article.
• Navigational: the user is looking for your brand (“Voren”, “voren.ch”). Serve the homepage or the specific page.
• Mixed: can be either, depending on the context. Serve both, linked to each other.

Step 6: map keywords → pages

For each commercial keyword: assign it to a service landing page (existing or to be created).

For each informational keyword: assign it to a blog article (existing or to be created).

For clusters: 1 pillar page + 25 to 30 satellite articles per cluster (see our article on the editorial calendar).

Common mistakes

1. Trying to rank for generic keywords. “Agence web” (web agency) has 590 searches/month but a difficulty of 90, impossible to rank for in under 24 to 36 months. Better to aim for “agence web Lausanne” (880 searches but a difficulty of 72, still hard) or “agence web Vevey” (50 searches, difficulty 0, a quick win).
2. Underestimating the long tail. A site that ranks in the top 10 for 50 long-tail keywords at 20 to 50 searches/month generates 5,000+ visits/month in total, traffic that is more stable and durable than a single top 3 position on a keyword at 500 searches/month (with the risk of an algorithmic drop).
3. Ignoring difficulty. Volume without difficulty is useless: a keyword at 500 searches/month with a difficulty of 85 will cost you 18 months. Always measure both.
4. Not recalibrating. Volume and difficulty change: run a new DataForSEO round every 3 months to adjust the strategy.

A concrete case: Voren’s research in June 2026

For our own SEO strategy, Voren ran a DataForSEO campaign of 175 keywords in June 2026:

• 82 keywords with measurable volume (47%)
• 8 priority gems identified (volume > 100 + difficulty < 25)
• 25 keywords dropped (zero volume or difficulty > 90)
• Target for 2026 to 2027: 120 articles spread across 5 thematic clusters

The full method is detailed in our internal DataForSEO report, and it applies to any SME in French-speaking Switzerland.

Going further

See our SEO plans for Switzerland: keyword research included in every retainer.

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