If you’re new to the world of eCommerce or digital marketing in general, you’ve probably heard of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). In a world where most online traffic comes from a string of text typed into a search box, SEO can be a deciding factor in the fate of your eCommerce site.
SEO encompasses many tactics, but the underlying principle is to help Google and other search engines better understand what your e-commerce site is about and what it sells. This, in turn, increases your visibility by increasing the chances that search engines will include your site in results when potential customers search for the products you sell.
One of the fundamental SEO tactics is Keyword Research. Keyword research in SEO is the art of better understanding the terminology your potential customers use to find the products you offer and adapting your website and marketing terminology accordingly. Let’s find out more:
Keyword Research Basics for E-commerce
Before you start researching keywords for your online store, there are some basic terms that are important to know and understand.
These terms include:
Keywords:
In the context of SEO, a keyword is a specific word or phrase that acts as a shortcut to summarise the content of a page or site. Keywords are part of a web page’s metadata and help search engines match a page to an appropriate search query.
Long-tail keywords:
Long-tail keywords are those that contain three or more words. They are important because they attract people who are further along in the buying cycle and therefore tend to have higher conversion rates.
For example, someone searching for “hair extensions” is likely in the early stages of information gathering. However, someone searching for “brown 20-inch hair extensions price” is likely closer to making a purchase. These keywords are often referred to as “high purchase intent” or “high commercial intent” keywords.
SEO often classifies keywords into three types of search intent:
- Navigational: When users are searching for a specific website.
- Informational: When users want to know or do something, such as creating a homemade recipe.
- Transactional: when users want to buy something.
Search volume (average monthly searches):
Search volume is usually measured in average monthly searches, meaning the total number of monthly searches for a specific search phrase (keyword). Ideally, you want to target keywords with the highest search volume possible, as ranking well for terms with high volumes can attract more traffic and increase conversion potential.
However, there is no magic number that represents the perfect search volume for everyone. What constitutes a good volume will depend on each site.
Competence:
Search volume isn’t the only factor to consider. Competition is equally, if not more, important. There’s no point in trying to rank for specific keywords that you have no chance of reaching. Competition refers to the difficulty of ranking for a particular keyword.
In an ideal scenario, your strategy will include keywords with high search volume and low competition. However, finding these “gems” requires effort, patience, and maybe a little luck.
How to choose the right keywords for e-commerce?
Relevance:
Ask yourself if this keyword is relevant to your brand and the products you currently offer on your website. This will help you determine if you should focus on that keyword.
If your e-commerce site does not sell gold necklaces, do not choose “gold necklaces” as a target keyword.
Targeting too many keywords that aren’t relevant to your site’s topic can confuse search engines like Google about the nature of your business, which could negatively affect your site’s ranking in search engine results (SERPs). Additionally, choosing keywords that don’t reflect the products you sell won’t build trust with customers.
On the contrary, selecting keywords relevant to your site can help establish your page as an expert and authoritative on the topic, which builds trust and makes your brand a go-to source for products and information.
When you cover a topic comprehensively, you can establish topical authority, which helps your e-commerce site rank higher in the SERP for keywords related to the topic, driving more organic traffic and sales.
Therefore, it is important to choose keywords that are relevant to your e-commerce business.
Search intent and user journey:
It’s crucial to understand the search intent (or user intent) behind a keyword to decide whether you should target it with a website.
This involves understanding that a user’s search intent changes based on the user’s journey. Below are the four main types of search intent:
- Informational: The user is searching for information on a topic (e.g., how to wash gold necklaces).
- Navigational: The user is searching for a specific brand or page (e.g., Facebook login).
- Commercial: User researches products before purchasing (e.g., best boxing gloves).
- Transactional: The user is looking to perform a specific action, such as purchasing a product (e.g., buying gold necklaces).
For example, if your e-commerce store sells gold necklaces, you would create a blog post for informational keywords like “how to wash gold necklaces” since the user is looking for information, rather than a product page that is more suited to commercial intent terms like “gold necklaces.”
Search volume and keyword difficulty
You also need to know the search volume of a keyword, i.e. the number of monthly searches. The higher the number, the more popular the keyword is because users search for it more frequently.
Knowing search volume is important because it tells you which keywords have the best return on investment (ROI), which helps you attract more organic traffic and generate more sales. However, there is a downside: keywords with higher search volume are often associated with greater difficulty in ranking.
Keyword difficulty is a metric that estimates how difficult it is to rank organically for a specific keyword. Higher difficulty indicates higher competition, making it harder to rank organically.
For example, the keyword “how to clean gold jewelry” has a difficulty of 63%, which is quite competitive and difficult to rank for unless you combine keyword research with other SEO strategies.
Keyword cannibalization
Keyword cannibalization occurs when multiple pages on your website compete to rank for the same keyword, negatively affecting the rankings of all of those pages.
Therefore, it is crucial to take a proactive approach to avoid keyword cannibalization. This can be achieved by grouping keywords to determine whether a keyword deserves its own page or can be integrated into the same page as another keyword.
For example, the SERP results for the keywords “vegan protein” and “plant-based protein” are virtually the same. Therefore, you would create a single landing page that targets both keywords, avoiding keyword cannibalization.
The same goes for the keywords “how to wash gold jewelry” and “how to clean gold jewelry.” The SERP results are the same for both keywords, so you would create a single blog targeting both rather than two separate posts. This would prevent cannibalization and allow you to rank more efficiently.
Local SEO
Local SEO is about optimizing your business’s online presence to increase local visibility, traffic, and brand recognition in local search results on Google. Any e-commerce store with a physical location that serves a geographic area can benefit from local SEO.
Local SEO analysis begins by identifying your local keywords and your local competitors to understand what you can learn from them.
Local keyword research sets the foundation for an effective local SEO strategy and is the only way to ensure your efforts are targeted at the right customers interested in purchasing from your physical store.
Therefore, it is worth choosing keywords that are relevant to your local area.
Mistakes to avoid in Keyword Research for Ecommerce
Here is a list of common mistakes to avoid when conducting keyword research for your e-commerce store:
- Let customers choose the keywords.
- Not analyzing SERP results.
- Target only one keyword per page.
- Focus only on keywords with high search volume.
- Avoid long-tail keywords.
- Not engaging with your customers to get more information.
- Modifying existing pages just to include keywords, rather than integrating them naturally when creating them.
- Not taking into account the different search channels that customers use.
- Choosing exact keywords without adjusting the language to make it more natural.
- Ignore keyword localization.
- Do not conduct thematic research.
- Not analyzing the keywords your competitors are ranking for in the SERP.
- Ignore keyword difficulty.
- Ignore keywords with higher conversion rates.
- Do keyword research only once.
- Ignore search intent.
- Do not consider keyword cannibalization.
