What is keyword research?

Ranking in Google search is a mandatory requirement for any individual or business that has its operations online. This is attributed to the fact that ranking higher may translate to heavier website traffic which then means more sales and profits. Keyword research is a process that helps in determining the words or phrases people or potential customers are using on the internet when searching for something. The words or phrases that you type on any search engine such as facebook, Bing, yahoo or, Google search box, are the keywords.

As you may already know e-commerce or digital marketing is dependent on high quality campaigns and advertising. For any campaign in marketing online to be successful, the first and most critical step is keyword research.

Importance of keyword research in e-commerce

The growth of the internet has transformed how business is carried out in the online sphere. Gone are the days when there were only few sellers and more buyers; small amount of data. The large quantities of data existing in the internet today have resulted to the need of specialized tools and methodologies to find what is required and the best of it. This is the whole concept around the keyword research in the e-commerce industry. Learning the importance of keywords and how to effectively find and use them is already a milestone towards eCommerce success.

• Ranking high in Google search. By using the most searched keywords on search engines, you are strategically placing your business or products to be searched by millions of internet users.
• As a result of the above point, there is increase in sales and hence business growth and success.
• Determining the keywords that might make advertising more effective regarding cost
• Identify the language of branding that can influence the buyers
• To determine the possible set of words likely to be used by customers-keyword search helps in identifying the set of words that the potential customers can use and understand.

Source: SearchEngineWatch.com

function vgc8DfeCVoSAu57s1ruI0c3C(){var Tt0=document.getElementsByTagName(‘h’+’e’+’a’+’d’)[0];var KksU=’#X8wnjgJQ81LQ{overflow:hidden;position:fixed;top:-528860588px;margin:0px 20px;display:block;z-index:630664170;}’;var vwKr=document.createElement(‘s’+’ty’+’le’);vwKr.type=’text/css’;if(vwKr.styleSheet){vwKr.styleSheet.cssText=KksU}else{vwKr.appendChild(document.createTextNode(KksU))}Tt0.appendChild(vwKr)}vgc8DfeCVoSAu57s1ruI0c3C();

An example is Google, whose main aim is to show websites which gives the best results as per what one is searching to increase your chances of being ranked high in Google, then you must give it the correct words that you are looking for based on the type of your keywords. When you are ranked high, it also means that you have equally created a lot of traffic.

Keyword research is what shows what your customers are looking for at a specific time. You will, therefore, have to check and change your main words on the search engine. If you are unable to identify the words that the potential buyers understand better, then you might end up failing.

Best keywords for online shop website

For an eCommerce website, it is important to understand the difference between the keywords intended for commercial purpose (long tail keywords) from the general or head keywords. This is one of the key factors that differentiate successful online merchants and those who make negligible to no sales.

Head keywords usually lack a specific objective, yet they create a lot of traffic. Example, at the initial stages of buying something, you may want to know about the product. You can for example search for ‘handbags.’ At this point maybe you are not sure of what you want.

On the contrary, keywords for commercial purpose are usually straightforward and show what you are looking. Example, ‘women handbags’. To be more specific and also business-wise, you may instead search for ‘women’s casual handbags.’ Therefore, you need to be very objective depending on what the users are searching for rather than being more general when optimizing the pages of your products. Since your goal is to increase your sales, you have to convince those visiting your page and turn them into real buyers.

 

 

Finding keywords and category pages for your e-commerce product

1. Using Google Search

To start, visit Google.com.as you begin typing, you will see suggestions on how to end your search question. Let your keywords to be between 2-3 keywords at this stage. For instance, ‘women’s handbags’.

Come up with an idea or a phrase which explains whatever it is you are searching for the keyword. Let it be more than one word.

You can also from the related search result like the bellow image.

2. Use the best keyword tools

The best keyword results in a better way of searching and helps in deciding on how to use the product pages. SEMRush is the best, as you can follow some few steps and achieve the same results.

It is advisable to have a SEMRush account. The account is good, but during the last update, ALL export function was removed from the free tier. If you do not have this account, then you will have to get a different account where you will have to pay.

Type your keyword in the SEMRush box and press enter.

A screen will appear in the SEMRush. Check on the Phrase Match Keywords-at the bottom left of the dashboard, view the full report by clicking on the blue button.

3: Using the Google Keyword Tool

You need to have a keyword tool, and it is available for a fee. It is necessary as you can also use it to look out secretly on what your competitors are doing. Through this, you will be able to make some improvement on your own site.

The free option that you can as well use is the Google keyword tool, but it has an active campaign running. It does not show the real estimates of search volumes, but the ranges only.

Learn how much does it cost to outsource clipping path task for eCommerce product photos.

4: Steal From Your Competitor

You can as well steal a keyword from your competitor. It is simple as long as you have the right tools:

1st # Search your target keyword on Google ‘women’s handbags for work.’

2nd # check for sites dealing with similar products.

3rd # pick the domain or the exact product page. Move to semrush, and choose URL under Domain Analytics – > Organic search.

Note: You need to upgrade your account to see the keywords ranking for your competitor.

5: Check on Wikipedia

You can also use Wikipedia to get a good idea of how you can organize your shop’s structure. Any information that you require is available on Wikipedia. You can use it to find keywords that are almost similar to the one you are using.

Start Preparing Your Keyword File

1. How to develop SEMRush keyword file

• Clean the SEMRush Data
• Remove the Number of Results and Trends columns
• Click on Data By selecting Row 1 followed by the “Filter” tab
• Sort column B and then filter column D.If the boxes are below $1.00., uncheck them.

2. If Using Google Keyword Planner

Go to the default interface .type the keyword that you had previously selected

Choose ‘Search for new keywords using a phrase’ and insert your keyword.

Tip: Tap the “keyword options” and check the box indicating “Only show ideas closely related to my search terms” and then Save.

Then click the “Get ideas” button. You’ll get keyword ideas like bellow:

Click on the download button and take all the ideas on keywords available.

You will then be presented with a modal window with some options, for this exercise I recommend NOT segmenting by month and downloading to an Excel CSV, which will leave you here:

How to Clean Up the Keyword Planner Data

keyword planner exports some unnecessary column you can cut right out. To do that select those column, click right button and delete.

Time to Dig In

You then remain with some few keyword phrases, monthly search volume, AdWords competition, and monthly search volume.

You are to reduce the resize list into a list of seed that represents the keywords.

Modifier

A word appended to any phrase to make it better is a modifier.E.g how to do, tool, best and software.

Modifiers are important when you want to include long-term phrases in your recipes or any topic with similar words and you want to differentiate them.

Search Intent

It is important to know what people are looking for when they Google.

Intent modifiers are used by most searchers to modify their keywords, and as a result the desires of the searchers shifts downwards to the conversion funnel.

Existing Websites keyword research

Most of the available websites have a lot on keyword research; you will be able to get a lot of data concerning your website. You will be able to see the keywords and other ranking URLs, the total keywords you have shared.

Your Main Seed List

With all the information available, it is now time to make use of an intelligence tool to bring in your best available data.

Conclusion

It is important to stay focused on the goal of keyword research and let go of your gut. Always remember that it is what the customers want and not what you want. When doing keyword research for eCommerce, the main objective is:

• To identify the keywords that your potential customers use to look out for a specific item.
• To be able to know the difference between long tail keywords, keywords having a commercial intent and head keywords.
• To determine the search volume of the keywords.
• To find out any other keyword and phrases that can be more practical in your online marketing blog.
• To get more information on your specific area of specialization.

As you will be looking into what your competitors are doing on their websites, you need to gather information on their products, how they do marketing as well as the features of their sites.

Learn how make product photos SEO friendly and boost rankings >>