Keyword research for small markets such as Lithuania

Lithuania has under 3 million people, and Lithuanian is a heavily inflected language. That combination makes keyword research harder than most English tutorials suggest.

Why tool data is thin

• Fewer searches. Many useful keywords have so few searches that tools cannot estimate them reliably.
• Smaller samples. Third-party tools build their databases from samples. A small market produces a small sample, so long-tail Lithuanian terms often show 0 or are missing entirely.
• Trends shows only popular terms. Google says low-volume terms appear as 0 in Trends.

Inflection, diacritics and mixed languages

Lithuanian words change form by case and number. "Dviratis", "dviračio", "dviračiai" and "dviračių" are forms of one word, and people search with different forms depending on the phrase:

• "dviračių parduotuvė" (bicycle shop)
• "dviračio remontas" (bicycle repair)
• "kaip išsirinkti dviratį" (how to choose a bicycle)

Other common variations:

• No diacritics: many people type "dviraciu parduotuve" or "siauliai".
• Mixed languages: English terms for technology ("gaming pc", "ssd"), and Russian in some regions and audiences.
• Brand and product codes: "iphone 15 ekranas", "rtx 4070".

Keyword Planner averages close variants together, and other tools may treat each form separately. Do not add up the numbers from different forms, because you may count the same searches twice.

Practical method

1. Use your own data first. Search Console shows real queries, including variants without diacritics. For an established site, it is the most reliable keyword source you have.
2. Use Keyword Planner with the right location. Set the country to Lithuania. Treat the numbers as rough sizes, not exact counts.
3. Compare broad terms in Trends. Use Trends for seasonality and for comparing popular terms, not for long-tail phrases.
4. Read the results page. Search the main variants and see whether the same pages rank. If they do, Google treats them as one topic, and one page can cover them.
5. Listen to customers. Emails, calls, reviews and on-site search show the words people actually use.
6. Write naturally. Use correct Lithuanian with diacritics. Google matches close variants, and stuffing in misspelled forms makes the page worse for readers.

Choosing a page language

If you serve customers in more than one language, each language needs its own pages, not a mixed page. The technical side (hreflang) is covered in the technical SEO module.