How to Choose the Keywords for Ecommerce Brand Success

You need to know how to choose the right keywords for ecommerce brand success. It’s not enough to slap any old word on your website and hope for the best. There’s a lot of strategy involved, and, frankly, a little bit of art, but we’re going to make sure you understand how to choose the keywords for ecommerce brand growth. If you need help choosing keywords, you should hire an ecommerce SEO agency. They can help create more than just keywords and help with a national SEO campaign to get your ecommerce store to the next level.

Why Knowing How to Choose the Keywords for Ecommerce Brand is Crucial

Every single day, over 8.5 Billion searches happen on Google. That means 8.5 billion opportunities for your ideal customer to find you… IF you show up. If you want to grab even a tiny slice of that delicious traffic pie for your own store, you’ll need to show Google what you’re about. This is where your ecommerce keywords come into play.

Keywords act like a virtual address, pointing customers to the specific products or information they seek. When you use relevant keywords that match their searches, you increase the chances of them finding you organically. Doing this will help increase your monthly search volume for the terms you want to be found for.

Step 1. Understand Your Customers

Before you even think about plugging anything into keyword tools or spying on the competition, we have to take a moment for your secret weapon; actually understanding your customers better than your competition does.

You know how sometimes you stumble across a brand or piece of content that feels like it was made specifically for you? That’s because somebody out there put in the effort to get really, really clear on their customer persona, their pain points, desires and even fears. This will help with coming up with an initial list of keyword ideas that are specific to your target audience.

Empathy is Your Superpower: Conduct Keyword Research Using Real Conversations

Sure, AI is super useful. But don’t underestimate the power of actual human insights. You’d be shocked at what you’ll find by taking a few extra steps like:

• Listening in on social media conversations and forums.
• Sending out surveys or polls to your audience.
• Checking customer reviews—yours and your competitor’s.

Are you picking up common themes and pain points that aren’t being addressed? That, my friend, is keyword research gold. It will also help you understand things such as the user intent, search terms, and search intent of your potential customers.

Step 2. Identify Relevant Keywords That Speak Your Customers’ Language

This step is where you dive into keyword research, crafting a list of terms that are a blend of what customers type into the search bar AND how they actually speak. We all have those little quirks in how we search for something. Capturing this will allow you to craft copy that truly resonates. For this, you’ll leverage some stellar tools like Google Search Console, SEOApp.io, Ahrefs, Helium 10, Semrush, and even the Google Keyword Planner.

Brainstorm a List of Seed Keywords

This is as simple as jotting down every term or phrase you can think of that relates to your products or niche. Don’t worry about being comprehensive; think of this as your launchpad. These are generally short-tail keywords that serve as a starting point for your keyword strategy.

Dig into Competitor Research

The Semrush keyword tool lets you deep dive into your competition’s strategies—a powerful way to gather keyword intelligence. Let’s face it, spying on the competition, whether in ecommerce, PPC, or, heck, even the schoolyard, gives you an advantage.

While Semrush does offer a free version, it pales in comparison to what you can achieve with their Keyword Magic Tool, which unlocks a database of millions of keyword suggestions. Trust me, I used the free version for too long.

Use SEO Tools to Broaden Your Keyword List

Let’s dive into more details with a couple more keyword tools and techniques.

• Google Keyword Planner: Sure, some might argue that Google Keyword Planner is better for PPC than finding SEO keywords, but there are some tricks to mining that platform, especially when looking for ideas surrounding YouTube. And since we know more and more customers want video shopping options these days, I like to leverage the platform to give my clients that advantage. It’s also great for looking at Google searches related to your niche.
• Ahrefs: Ahrefs gives you in-depth keyword data. This includes search volume, keyword difficulty, and related terms that might’ve flown under the radar. This is super helpful to figure out which keywords will bring in the most traffic with the least amount of effort.

Step 3: Prioritize Keywords With Search Intent

Once you’ve gathered an extensive list, don’t be afraid to group your findings by Search Intent. What are your potential customers really looking for? Are they in the mood to browse and be inspired by inspirational content? Or are they primed to hit that “buy now” button? Targeting the right long-tail keywords, that match search intent, can increase the chances that you’ll convert a reader into a paying customer. You should be looking for long-tail keywords that have a high monthly search volume but low keyword difficulty.

Search Intent Matters for These Common Types of Queries

Search Intent Type	Customer Goal
Navigational	Seeking a specific website or page, such as your homepage.
Informational	Looking for details on a specific topic; how-to guides or blog posts are good examples here.
Commercial	Intending on purchasing but in the research phase comparing pricing or benefits. Think product reviews and best of articles here.
Transactional	Ready to take the plunge and make a purchase (These users are looking for discounted items and have their credit card ready).

Don’t be afraid to niche down and become the leading authority for that highly specific need. While chasing every trending term is tempting, this method might get lost.

Remember Backlinko shared, keyword difficulty listed on platforms may not be completely accurate. And don’t forget, when that perfect visitor finds your product page…it’s crucial they are greeted with relevant information, or they are bouncing right back to that Google search bar for someone else. Your product descriptions should use relevant keywords as well.

Don’t assume just because an SEO platform told you this magical long tail term was “low competition”, that it is accurate. You do need to factor this in when mapping things out. But consider this; even with all the right keyword strategies, a potential buyer could bounce because their search experience was not ideal, negating your efforts.

Step 4: Group Similar Keywords Into Clusters

Keyword clusters are incredibly useful and can boost those coveted organic clicks because they take the stress away from needing a different page on your site for every possible phrase. A keyword cluster will help you group keywords long-tail keywords by search intent. You can then use these keyword clusters to create high-quality content for your ecommerce site.

So instead of hyperfocusing on one phrase on one page— think more topically. This allows your site to cast a much wider net. It also allows you to better target specific topics with your blog content and create high-quality content that ranks well in search engine results pages (SERPs).

Here are a few best practices when mapping out Keyword Clusters for maximum effectiveness:

• Avoid Keyword Cannibalization. Be mindful of creating similar pages targeting similar phrases and cannibalizing traffic, like that awkward Thanksgiving with the in-laws…
• Leverage variations on a core term to enhance relevance for various search phrases. It allows your page to appeal to Google’s desire for relevant content that fully answers searcher intent.
• Create targeted content. Clusters not only boost rankings but give content marketers those golden nuggets that become focused, helpful blog posts or page content that answer your reader’s questions in depth. For example, an online organic dog food store might identify “grain-free,” “best,” “puppy,” “large breed,” and “salmon” as relevant modifiers to the core term “dog food.” By strategically combining these modifiers, you create variations like “best grain-free dog food for large breed puppies” or “salmon-based dog food for sensitive stomachs” targeting various subtopics within their niche. This would be considered your main keyword. Other variations could be “best dog food for puppies” or “dog food for large breed dogs”. These keywords all fall under the general product category of dog food but target different search terms within that category.

Mastering how to choose the keywords for ecommerce brand growth is a game-changer for building your online visibility and growing your audience of loyal customers. It’s how you’ll attract those ideal customers who can’t wait to tell everyone about your amazing product, through organic rankings and traffic. This guide helped lay out all the steps. And now, because you’re armed with these strategies and tips, your ecommerce website will start to dominate Google’s search results. Contact us today if you are looking for a full digital marketing agency to take your ecommerce business to the next level.