Ecommerce Keywords Are a Different Beast
Blog keyword research: find informational keywords, write articles, get traffic.
Ecommerce keyword research: find buyer keywords, optimise product and category pages, get sales.
Different game. Different rules.
The Ecommerce Keyword Hierarchy
Category Keywords
"Men's running shoes" / "Organic coffee beans" / "Wireless earbuds"
These target your category pages. Medium-to-high volume. Medium difficulty. Commercial intent.
Product Keywords
"Nike Air Max 90 black" / "Blue Yeti microphone USB" / "Patagonia Better Sweater men's large"
These target your product pages. Low volume but high purchase intent. Very specific.
Long-Tail Buyer Keywords
"Best running shoes for flat feet under $100" / "Organic coffee beans for French press"
These can target dedicated landing pages or optimised category pages. Low volume. High conversion. Our long-tail keyword strategy guide covers how to find and prioritise these.
Informational Keywords
"How to choose running shoes" / "French press vs pour over coffee"
These target blog content that supports your product pages. Builds authority and captures top-of-funnel traffic.
The Ecommerce Keyword Research Process
Step 1: Start with your product categories. These are your seed keywords.
Step 2: Expand using Amazon autocomplete (yes, Amazon — it's a search engine for products).
Step 3: Check Google Shopping results. If Google shows Shopping carousels, the keyword has purchase intent.
Step 4: Analyse competitor online stores. What category names do they use? What products are they optimising for?
Step 5: Use filters and modifiers. Size, colour, price range, brand, use case — these create long-tail variations.
Common Ecommerce Mistakes
Ignoring category pages. Category pages are your highest-leverage SEO asset. Optimise them first.
Duplicate content across products. Unique descriptions for every product. No manufacturer copy-paste. Canonical tags help manage product variants without duplicate content issues.
No blog content. Informational content builds the authority that helps your product pages rank. Our ecommerce SEO strategy guide covers this full ecosystem approach.
After 500+ campaigns, ecommerce sites that combine product SEO with content marketing outperform those that do only one. Ahrefs covers ecommerce keyword research as part of their broader keyword methodology.
Optimise Your Ecommerce SEO
SEO Checkup covers ecommerce-specific tasks in its 113-point checklist. Free. No credit card. 30 seconds.