German adult keyword research: compounds, loanwords, umlauts and the words that stay public

1Four ways German differs

2Start from buyers, not a dictionary

Translating an English keyword list gives you the dictionary's German, not the customer's. Start instead with German sources: your own site search, German Search Console data if you have it, German competitors' category names, and the words customers use in reviews and emails. Native speakers will spot quickly which terms sound natural and which sound translated.

3Read intent before volume

• Informational: Welches Material, wie reinigen; answer with guides.
• Comparative: Test, Vergleich, Erfahrungen; answer with honest comparisons.
• Transactional: product or brand names, kaufen, bestellen; answer with the right category or product.

4Sort into three piles

Only the first pile belongs on pages meant for search. The second belongs inside the closed user group, where it cannot rank publicly anyway.

5Turn the list into a map

Group terms by the page that should answer them, one main term per page with close variants alongside. A keyword map like this prevents two pages competing for the same search. The service view is on adult SEO for Germany, and choosing between English and German terms is the subject of the next note, on search intent.

6German queries by intent

Illustrative examples to show the pattern; real terms come from German search data for your range.

7English words inside German searches

German adult searches mix in English words freely. Shoppers type "Toys", "Sextoys", "Lube" or "Cockring" alongside German terms such as "Gleitgel" or "Liebeskugeln". Which form wins varies by product and by audience, often with younger buyers using more English. Do not force a German translation where Germans search in English, and do not leave an English term where Germans clearly prefer their own word. Test both in your research and check which one Search Console shows bringing visitors.

8Umlauts, ß and spelling variants

Searchers do not always type umlauts or ß. "Gleitgel fuer" and "Großpackung" written as "Grosspackung" appear in real queries, especially on phones and on keyboards without German layouts. Google usually connects the forms, but research should include the variants, and page text should always use correct German spelling. Switzerland writes "ss" instead of "ß" as standard, which matters if you plan a Swiss version.

9The German shopping calendar

10Where to get German data

Set keyword tools to Germany and German, and check Austria and Switzerland separately if you serve them. Use Google autocomplete in a German browser profile, read the titles and categories of German shops that rank, and look at German marketplaces for product naming. Once German pages are live, Search Console becomes the best source: it shows the exact German queries already bringing impressions to your pages.

11From the map to the briefs

Each group in the keyword map becomes one page brief: the main German term, two or three related terms, the questions buyers ask and the claims the page may make. Writers work from the brief, not from the raw list. When a page is published, note which group it answers, and review the map each quarter against the queries Search Console reports. Our note on German content writing covers the briefs.

12Austria and Switzerland in the research

Austrian and Swiss searchers share most German terms but not all. Austria has its own words for some everyday things, and Switzerland writes "ss" instead of "ß". For adult products, the core terms are usually the same, but search volumes and competitors differ by country. Run research separately for each country you serve, compare the top terms, and decide whether one German version can rank for all three or whether country-specific titles and pages are justified.

13Explicit terms and the public layer

German research will surface explicit terms with large volumes. Those belong only inside a closed user group under the JMStV, never on public pages meant to rank. Map each explicit term to a safe-for-work equivalent that can carry a public page, or leave it out of the public plan entirely. Public German pages written with frank but non-explicit language rank better anyway, because search engines filter explicit results for many users.

14Small volumes, real buyers

Many German product searches show small volumes in keyword tools, especially for specific materials or models. Small does not mean worthless: these searches often come from buyers close to deciding. A product or comparison page that answers a precise German query well can bring steady sales without competing for the biggest terms. Look at Search Console after launch to find these long, specific searches and improve the pages that already appear for them.

15A quarterly research routine

1. Export the German queries from Search Console for the last three months.
2. Group new queries by intent and assign each group to a page.
3. Note queries with impressions but few clicks, and improve those titles.
4. Add new groups to the map, and brief pages for the most valuable ones.

Our note on English versus German search intent explains how intent differs by language.

16In short

Start from how German buyers describe what they want, group searches by intent, keep explicit terms out of public pages, and let Search Console refine the map every quarter.

17Questions people type in full

More German searchers now type whole questions, such as "welches Gleitgel für Silikon" or "wie reinige ich ein Toy richtig", especially on phones and in voice search. These questions are gifts for a content plan: each one can become a section of a guide or a short answer on a product page. Collect them from autocomplete, from "People also ask" boxes and from your own support emails, and answer them in plain German.

18Next steps in the guides

Briefs built from the map are covered in our writing note, and the wider launch in the localisation guide.

19Sources

• Search Central (Google)

Primary publishers for this guide's facts, linked for checking.

?Questions