Guide to Keyword Research Strategy for E-Commerce

Keyword research can be the difference between a successful campaign and a poor-performing one.

It is the foundation of every SEO strategy, including e-commerce. Understanding the keywords people are searching for and incorporating them into your marketing campaigns is vital to the success of your e-commerce business.

A targeted keyword research strategy for e-commerce is the foundation of a profitable and successful business. Optimizing your website or e-commerce store for relevant keywords helps search engines better understand your offerings. This results in increased visibility for your products and a website listing for relevant searches.

Keyword research gives you insight into how to grow your business. It helps you understand the competitive landscape and assess how well your offerings may perform in such a competitive environment. With keyword research, you discover the search terms your audiences use to find businesses like yours.

You also uncover new opportunities that you have not considered before. With this information, you decide how to improve user interaction towards your website so that users spend more time on it.

This guide covers the basics of a keyword research strategy for e-commerce.

What Is Keyword Research?

A keyword is a term that sums up the content of a website or page. Keywords are a way search engines match a webpage to a relevant search query.

Keyword research is the basis of every SEO tactic. It is the art of understanding the search terms your audience is using to find products and services like yours. And then optimizing your website and marketing campaigns for this keyword to fulfill the intent of the customers’ searches. 

The goal of keyword research is to build a list of relevant keywords. And then use these keywords to optimize your websites, craft your blog posts and draft your product descriptions.

Keyword research can be exhausting, but it is definitely worth the effort. It is an essential tool to drive targeted traffic to your website, resulting in increased conversions and sales.

Why Is Keyword Research Important for E-Commerce

Whenever a user searches the Internet, the search engine algorithm scans webpages and delivers the most relevant for the search query. Search engines rank web pages according to their relevance to search queries. The web pages with keywords that best matches a search query take higher ranking positions in the results. This is why keyword research is significant in e-commerce. 

By knowing what people are looking for, you create the right content that satisfies their search intent. 

Say your e-commerce business sells sunglasses. Keyword research can help you understand what terms your audience is typing into search engines to find sunglasses stores. This way, you name your landing and category pages with these terms and adjust your On-Page SEO accordingly.

When you optimize your website with search terms relevant to your audience, search engines will match and display your website for relevant queries. 

Ranking on the first page of SERPs is great, but even better is ranking in the top positions of the first page. Most Internet users do not go beyond the first three search results. The top-ranking pages get the most traffic and drive the most conversions and sales. 

Keyword research is vital because it helps you understand the popularity or search demand for keywords you want to target. And enables you to gauge the competitiveness of these terms to determine the most effective keywords to target. 

Keyword research helps you compile and organize keywords relevant to your marketing goals and objectives. Such that you prioritize keywords with high ROI. It also lets you discover the keywords your competitors are ranking for and those that need better targeting. 

The Basics of E-Commerce Keyword Research

Before delving into e-commerce keyword research, it’s vital to understand the criteria for selecting high-ROI keywords. Some key considerations are as follows:

1. Search Volume

Search volume refers to the number of searches for a specific keyword in a month. It is measured as an average value. Keywords with high search volume have lots of monthly searches. This indicates a high demand for the keyword.

You want to target high-search volume keywords with high traffic and conversion potential. However, excessively high search volume keywords typically have higher competition, making it difficult to rank for them. 

2. Keyword Difficulty

Keyword difficulty measures how easy or hard it would be to rank on Google’s search results for a given keyword. A high keyword difficulty score suggests that competing with websites already ranking for that keyword will be challenging.

If you’re an established website with quality content, high domain authority, and several quality backlinks, it is possible to easily rank for these keywords. On the other hand, if your website is new, it’s best to avoid these keywords in the short term.

Instead, focus on high search volume, low-competition keywords that can drive targeted traffic to your website.

3. Search Intent

Search intent is the purpose of a user’s search. Your content must satisfy the user’s intent and cover what the user wants to find. When optimizing your product pages, it’s essential to consider the ‘intent’ of users and not simply pursue high search volume keywords.

Targeting a high-volume, low-competition keyword that doesn’t align with your marketing objective or fulfills the user’s intent is a waste of marketing efforts. Without considering search intent, you will attract the wrong audience, who are most likely not interested in your offering.

For example, if users search for “buy cleaning product,” they most likely have a transactional intent. They’re looking for where to purchase a cleaning product. You miss out on conversions if you produce informational content targeting this keyword.

Your website might rank at No. 1 for the keyword and drive traffic, but your audience will leave immediately after discovering your content doesn’t satisfy their search intent. You can identify search intent by looking for modifier words in the search query.

Google classifies search intent into four types.

– Informational Search Intent

Informational searches focus on finding information on a topic or answers to questions. Blog posts, news articles, FAQ pages, guides, and videos are typical search results for informational queries.

Informational searches do not lead to an instant sale; they represent potential clients at the top of the sales funnel. You can nurture your audience through relevant and insightful blog posts and keep in touch with them via email newsletters. 

Informational searches typically ask the questions: how, what, where, and when. Informative content help position your website as an expert in a topic, which is particularly important if you’re selling online courses and e-books.

– Commercial Search Intent

Commercial searches lie between informational and transactional searches. Searchers of commercial queries are in the middle of the sales funnel. They probably know about your product but are still researching to compare product prices and features. Such users are looking for discounts, free offers, and coupons. 

Words like “compare, alternative, best, review and top” suggest commercial intent. You want to create excellent content that convinces potential customers that your product is a better choice.

SERPs display landing pages, listicles, product reviews, and comparison articles to satisfy this search intent.

– Transactional Search Intent

Transactional searches focus on furthering a purchase. Users are at the bottom of the funnel; they already know what they want and have committed to making a purchase. They’re simply looking for where to buy the product.

Transactional search terms may include specific products and brands and terms like “for sale, buy, or shop.” Product keywords like “buy running shoes” and specific products like “buy Hp Laptop Core i7″ suggest transactional search intent.

– Navigational Search Intent

Navigational searches focus on finding a specific website, brand, geographical location, or company. Users looking for a website are more likely to search Google for the website name rather than type the website URL. SERPs display websites that closely match the search query.

Although navigational search terms are rarely used in e-commerce, ranking for your brand name in SERPs is still essential. Search engine results for navigational searches include product pages and store catalogs.

4. Long-Tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords are specific search terms that contain three or more words and have a narrower search intent. Searchers of these keywords are further down the sales funnel and so tend to convert quickly. Long-tail keywords drive targeted website traffic.

For instance, a user searching for a short-tail keyword like “running shoes” is most likely at the top of the purchase funnel. The searcher probably wants a general overview of all the running shoes available.

On the other hand, a user searching for a more precise query like “black running shoes for teenagers” is further along the purchase funnel. The intent of this user is clearer and very specific.

Keyword Research Strategy for E-Commerce

Keyword research is discovering and selecting words that your target audience uses when searching online. E-commerce keyword research is vital for converting website traffic into sales. 

Here is how to conduct successful keyword research for e-commerce.

1. Check Amazon

Many people looking to buy something online begin their search on Amazon. It is the biggest e-commerce store online, so it only makes sense to search for potential keywords on the platform.

Visit the Amazon platform, access the search box, and begin typing a keyword that describes your business or product. The Amazon Suggest will instantly give you an insight into what people are searching for concerning your keyword.

You’ll see the most popular brands and most popular categories. Select a category to take a look at the results. You’ll find the top categories related to your search term. This method is helpful for product category pages and website structure.

For actual product pages, visit the bestseller page, https://www.amazon.com/bestsellers, and locate the relevant department. Check through the best-selling list and identify products similar to the ones you’re selling. Open the product pages of these products and look at the product title and description. Note down the keywords used in these sections. 

2. Google Search

Google Autocomplete feature is also a great source of e-commerce keyword ideas. Start typing a search query in the Google box, and you’ll get a list of keyword suggestions related to your original keyword. You may follow your seed keyword with letters of the alphabet (from A-Z) to discover more keyword ideas. 

The “People Also Ask” and “Related Searches” sections on SERPs are excellent sources of keyword ideas. Search Google for your seed keyword, scroll to the middle of the SERPs, and see the “People Also Ask” section. The questions here are those related to your searched term.

Scroll to the end of the SERPs, and you’ll see the “Related Searches” section, which contains search terms related to yours. 

3. Refine and Expand Your List With a Keyword Tool

With an extensive keyword list collated from Amazon and Google, you want to narrow down your list to the best keywords.

The best keyword tools give you an insight into keyword search volume and difficulty, helping you target the best keywords. You can also generate more keyword ideas using keyword tools.

Plug your generated keywords into keyword research tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush. You’ll get a result of the search volume, keyword difficulty, search intent, and other SEO metrics. Eliminate keywords with excessively high search volume and high keyword difficulty. Your focus should be on moderate-high search volume keywords with low difficulty. 

4. Spy on the Competition

A great source of keyword ideas is your competitor’s keywords. Check to see what keywords your competitors are ranking for, and determine how much effort you’ll need to outrank them. By spying on your competitors, you can observe keyword gaps and fill them. 

Conducting competitor keyword research is relatively easy. Search Google for your target keywords, e.g., “running shoes.” Check the top-ranking e-commerce stores for these keywords, those similar to your business.

Copy their website URL and plug it into a keyword tool like SEMrush and Ahrefs to see the keywords your competitor ranks for. With Ahref, you can see the number of backlinks your competitor has and the referring domains.

Conclusion

Keyword research is the first step in creating a winning SEO strategy for your e-commerce website. Optimizing your website, product pages, and product descriptions with high-quality keywords is the quickest route to organic visibility and better SEO rankings.

E-commerce keyword research helps you discover the search terms your audience uses to find products like yours. It lets you analyze your keyword search intent, volume, and difficulty. This way, you focus your SEO efforts on the right keywords.

Keyword research also gives you insight into the keywords your competitors are ranking for, the gaps in their content, and opportunities to outrank them. E-commerce keyword research directs your SEO strategy, as it helps you optimize your website for relevant keywords.

There’s no doubt that keyword research is vital for e-commerce – it is the basis for your on-page and off-page optimization. With the information in this guide, you’re sure to kick-start your keyword research strategy for e-commerce on the right note!