Find the terms your Japanese customers actually search for — not just translated English keywords.
Keyword research is where a Japanese SEO programme is won or lost. Choose the wrong terms and every downstream decision — which pages to build, what to write, where to link — inherits the mistake. We start from Japanese search data and work outward to intent, competition and page mapping.
The usual approach is to take the English keyword list, translate it, and target the results. It fails quietly: the translated terms are grammatically correct but commercially wrong. They may be terms Japanese buyers never type, terms that belong to a different stage of the buying process, or terms that mean something narrower in Japanese than they do in English.
Japanese mixes four writing systems, and the same concept can be written in kanji, katakana or Latin script — each with different search volume and often a different audience. English loanwords compete with native Japanese terms. Industry jargon differs from what buyers actually type. One English term routinely maps to five or six Japanese candidates that are not interchangeable.
We build the initial term set from Japanese sources — competitor sites, industry publications, autocomplete and related searches — rather than from a translation of your English list.
Every candidate term is classified by search intent and funnel stage, so informational, comparison and commercial queries are not treated as one undifferentiated pile.
We look at what actually ranks for each term in Japan: who holds the positions, what format Google is rewarding and whether the result is realistically contestable for you.
We assign terms to existing or new pages so that each page has one clear job, avoiding the internal competition that comes from several pages chasing the same query.
A structured approach designed to turn Japanese search demand into sustainable organic growth.
We start by understanding your business, customers, existing website, competitors and objectives in Japan.
We analyse keywords, demand, competitors and Japanese search results to identify realistic opportunities.
We prioritise technical improvements, landing pages, content opportunities and other SEO activities based on expected business value.
Depending on the engagement, we provide recommendations, collaborate with your development team or support implementation directly.
We create or optimise Japanese content based on search intent, local expectations and your positioning.
We monitor performance and continuously refine priorities based on rankings, traffic, leads, conversions and changes in the market.
Other parts of the same programme that often run alongside this one.
Create Japanese content that matches local search intent and helps potential customers understand, trust and choose your business.
Build organic visibility in Japan with SEO strategies designed around Japanese search behaviour, language and competition.
Use Japanese search data as market intelligence before you commit budget — then turn it into an acquisition channel.
We report the data our tools provide, along with its limitations. Volume figures for Japanese terms are estimates and can be unreliable for niche B2B queries, so we treat them as one signal among several rather than as the answer, and we say so when a number is weak.
It depends on the breadth of your category. A focused B2B product may have a few dozen commercially meaningful terms; a broad e-commerce catalogue can have thousands. We size the research to your category rather than to a fixed count.
Yahoo! Japan search is powered by Google’s index, so work that improves your Google Japan visibility generally carries across. We account for differences in the surrounding interface and user base where they affect strategy.
Tell us about your business, current website and goals in Japan. We'll discuss your current situation, identify the areas worth investigating and explore how Japanese SEO could support your growth.