Here you will find:
- What are keywords?
- keyword types
- Why are keywords important to your business?
- Steps to find the ideal keywords for your e-commerce
- 10 keyword research tools
- Where to place the keywords in your online store
- All ready to find the best keywords?
- Related content
The keywords (keywords) are the words that users use to perform a search on the Internet . Now, from the point of view of the creator of a web page, keywords are those that inform search engines (Google, Bing and other search engines) about what a specific site is about.
So that you can take advantage of the full potential of keywords , we have prepared this article that explains, on the one hand, how to find and choose the keywords that your audience uses, and, on the other, how to use each keyword in your online store so that you have a optimal positioning in Google.
Let's first review some basic concepts about keywords , and then get ready to apply these good practices in your e-commerce . 🙌
What are keywords?
Keyword is the translation of the English word " keyword" and refers to the term that allows the exchange of information between websites and users on the Internet.
A keyword can be made up of one or more words . For example, in the category of sports shoes, three keywords that you can use in the description of a product can be: "sneakers" (one word), "Adidas shoes" (two words) and "Adidas Superstar shoes" (three words) .
On the other hand, keywords also fulfill the role of informing search engines what a website is about . In this way, search engines identify the main topics addressed by each page.
Keyword types
Not all keywords are the same or have the same relevance, it is even possible to classify them according to extension or search intention .
Using the correct type of keyword for each site is part of that strategic vision necessary to position among the main pages.
According to search intent
- Informative : the user searches for the answer to a specific question. Use words like “what is”, “when”, “how”, “why”.
- Navigational : the user searches for a specific site, so the brand name is directly included .
- Commercial : the user seeks information before buying a product or service. These are usually reviews, testimonials or comparisons.
- Transactional : especially important in e-commerce, this type of search is usually associated with conversion , since the user seeks to perform a specific action. They include terms such as “buy”, “sell”, “price”, “reserve”.
According to its extension
- Head keywords or generic keywords: made up of one or two words, they usually have a high volume of searches and, therefore, are the most difficult to position since there is a lot of competition.
- Middle tail: Composed of two or three words, they usually have a considerable volume of searches. Although they are also very competitive, they are essential in any strategy, since in them the user's intention is clearer than in the generic ones.
- Long tail or long tail: made up of more than four words, they are not usually very competitive but they are effective for conversion, since they have a very clear search intention and are easy to position.
- Suppose you sell handmade soaps. A head keyword can be “ handmade soaps ” (the results can range from how to make them to strategies to sell them), a middle keyword can be “where to buy handcrafted soaps” and a long tail “where to buy handcrafted soaps in Buenos Aires” (since provides much more specific information). ## Negative keywords
They are a type of keyword that is mostly used in SEA (Search Engine Advertising) campaigns — often confused with SEM (Search Engine Marketing) — which refers to Google's paid advertising. However, it is a term that is also used in SEO (Search Engine Optimization or optimization for search engines).
In general, negative keywords are those that should not be associated with a business because they have some kind of negative connotation .
Why are keywords important to your business?
Keywords are essential for any business that is present on the internet as they increase the chances of being found by potential customers.
The better the content of a site responds to the concerns of those who use search engines, the more possibilities a website will have to position itself above the competition and appear first , without the need to invest in paid advertising.
The strategy behind content marketing is to attract the largest qualified audience and combine the different words (from multiple audiences and with different search intentions) to solve their needs at different stages of the conversion funnel.
From this brief explanation, we could say that, in order for more customers to find your business on the internet, your sales page has to contain the keywords that they use when searching for your products or services.
Now, you may be wondering right now: how to know what keywords my target audience is using? If I find the winning keywords, do I have to repeat them 100 times on my website for Google to put me on the first page of results? Where can I get new keywords ?
I kept reading and discovered the answers. 🔎
Steps to find the ideal keywords for your e-commerce
To find the best keywords for your e-commerce, you have to:
- meet your ideal client;
- research your competition;
- Analyze the potential of each keyword .
Let's look at each step in detail.
1. Know your ideal client
Defining who your ideal client is is essential in this task of finding the keywords for your business.
If you have a reference of their age, gender, nationality, interests, expertise and motivations , you will be able to make a first list of keywords that fit the searches of those people you want to reach.
For example, if you sell computer products such as keyboards and mice , knowing if your ideal customer is a computer expert or not, will help you define whether to call a certain item a “ gamer mouse ” or “ gamer mouse ”.
You may want to reach both customers, both the gamer and the inexperienced one who just wants to give away that mouse .
In that case, you can toggle both keywords . However, if you have already defined that your ideal client is the expert because you confirmed that this is an interesting niche for your business, then you already know what keyword to use.
Likewise, keep in mind that this is not the only variable that will determine which is the best keyword for your business. There are other elements like search volume, keyword difficulty , and search intent which we'll look at in detail below.
Look at some examples to build your ideal client:
2. Research your competition
Knowing what words your competitors use will allow you to establish trends in terms of search terms .
If, for example, you have an e-commerce to sell online courses on marketing and you are not very clear about how to title your workshop on social networks, you can investigate what keywords your competitors use. If more “social media workshop” is repeated instead of “social media course”, note this trend and keep it in mind during your research.
Analyzing your competition is also an opportunity to discover which keywords related to your field are not being explored . In this way, you will be able to position yourself quickly for that unpublished keyword and set the tone.
To research your competitors, you can do a Google search for a topic related to your industry. Then, look at which websites appear on the first page and go to each one to see what keywords they use.
The keywords that your competitors use as the title of their categories and products , as well as those that are repeated the most in the descriptions, are the most important keywords for them. Take note of these terms and keep them in mind for your site.
Another way to find out what keywords your competition uses is by using the tools that we are going to share below.
3. Analyze the potential of each keyword
After knowing who your ideal client is and what keywords your competitors use, you have to make a list of your products or services and write all the keywords that arise from these three variables.
The preliminary list is going to be very extensive, but don't worry, you will be able to select the best ones if you keep these three elements in mind:
- Volume . It refers to the number of times a user searches for a keyword through search engines, during a given period of time. In general, it seeks to position keywords that are highly sought after, but if you have an online store, your ideal keyword is the one that generates the most purchases.
2.Positioning difficulty . This metric refers to the complexity involved in positioning a keyword in the first places , due to the strong competition that exists from other websites.
3.Search intent . It is a variable referring to why and for what the user carried out a specific search. The objective is to verify if the person is trying to buy something, if he just wants to clarify a conceptual doubt or if he is looking for a specific website.
We recommend you focus on the keywords that respond to a purchase search intention . They are usually punctual keywords, a little longer and, when searching for them in Google, you will notice that the first results are online stores like yours.
In this sense, we recommend that you avoid the use of general keywords in your e-commerce. For example, if you sell jackets for boys, a good practice to title your products is to complement them with certain characteristics of the garment or the brand: “Nike winter jacket for boys” is better than just putting “Jacket”.
10 keyword research tools
There are multiple free and paid tools to do the research. Here are the top 10 keyword search engines:
🛠️ 1. Google Keyword Planner (or Google Keyword Planner ) | Free . It is a tool that allows you to discover and organize terms to create paid campaigns (through Google Ads ) and to improve the organic positioning of a website .
🛠️ 2. Keyword Surfer | Free . It is a Chrome extension with which you will be able to analyze search volumes, cost per click of the main keyword (ideal for paid campaigns) and related terms.
🛠️ 3. Uber suggest | Free . This platform is designed to suggest different combinations of keywords , according to the keyword you want to investigate. You just have to put the keyword in your search engine and the tool will show you volume, difficulty and related words.
Look at this step by step to use the features of Ubersuggest:
1.Access Ubersuggest , write the keyword you want to investigate and select the country where your target audience is located:
2.The tool will then show you the volume and difficulty of that keyword:
3.Likewise, the platform will show you how the volume of that keyword has evolved in recent months. This data allows you to know if the keyword you are researching is more popular in some months of the year than in others:
4.Lastly, Ubersuggest is going to show you some related keyword ideas and content that you can draw inspiration from:
💡 Extra tip : if instead of putting a keyword in the Ubersuggest search engine, you write the domain of your competitors, the tool will tell you which keywords are positioned in Google.
🛠️ 4. Ahrefs | Pay . It is one of the most complete SEO tools on the market. It has information on more than 150 million keywords and its database differentiated by country gives you the opportunity to analyze all your competitors. Prices range from $99 to $999 per month.
🛠️ 5.SEMrush | Pay . Like Ahrefs, this platform is one of the most used today and has endless features: from knowing every detail of the keywords you want to analyze, to deciphering the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors. Plans range from $119.95 to $449.95 per month.
🛠️ 6. Google Trends | Free. This Google Labs tool allows you to view a performance history of the most recently popular search terms, as well as real-time trends.
🛠️ 7. Keyword Shitter | Free. It is a lesser-known but very complete tool. With a very simple interface and very easy to use, it allows you to find long lists of long tail keywords as well as negative words.
🛠️ 8. Answer the public | Free. Especially useful for blog post ideas. This website is a generator of content ideas that works through keywords or specific topics. Starting from a term, the tool shows all related questions, searches and suggestions according to your language and geographical location.
🛠️ 9. Soovle | Free. It is one of the most complete research tools as it collects data from more than 150 search engines, including some niche ones, and suggests related keywords.
🛠️ 10. Keyword tool | Free. It is another tool designed to combine the information obtained from different platforms and search engines, it is also useful for the analysis of the competition and the search for long tail words .
Where to place the keywords in your online store
Now that you have the list of the keywords that you are going to use, you are in a position to strategically place them in your e-commerce.
It is not about meaninglessly repeating keywords in every corner of your online store, as this can be penalized by Google (for example, it could stop showing your website in its search results).
The ideal places to locate your keywords are:
➡️ URL : that is, the address that appears in the browser. It is usually made up of www followed by the domain, the extension and the name of the product.
➡️ Category : in this case, we suggest that you use keywords that represent all the articles that you are going to incorporate in them. Following the example of smartphones , if you only sell smart phones, you can title your categories with the name of the brand: Samsung Smartphones, Huawei Smartphones , etc.
💡 If you use Tiendanube, here we tell you everything so you can configure your categories .
➡️ Product name : this is one of the most important places where you have to locate the keywords that are purchase-oriented, that is, those that provide some specificity of the product.
Here, unlike the categories, it is not enough to write “ Samsung Smartphone ” as the name of the product, it is necessary to put some details such as: “Samsung Galaxy A21s blue” or “Samsung Galaxy A32 128 GB Black cell phone”.
➡️ Product description : take advantage of this space to offer your customers all the information you consider relevant. The more exhaustive the description, the safer the consumer will feel and the more keywords you can write.
We recommend using synonyms of your products so as not to always saturate with the same keywords . Look at this example:
“ The Samsung Galaxy A32 Cell Phone is characterized by its elegant design. It has a 6.4″ screen and has Super AMOLED technology. The Galaxy A32 also has a resolution of 1080 x 2400p. It is one of the most used Samsung smartphones today.
Learn more:
➡️ Alt text or alternative text : Since search engines cannot read images and identify what they are about, it is recommended to add a parameter called alt text (alternative text) that describes what they mean. The alt text becomes visible once you hover over the image.
💡 If you use Tiendanube, you add the alt text by clicking on each product photo every time you load it; it will look like this:
➡️ File name : it is the name with which you save an image on your computer and it can help you with the SEO of your store. Therefore, instead of saving it with the name “photo.jpg”, try to use a keyword. Example: “leather-shoes.jpg”, in case you have an e-commerce dedicated to footwear.
➡️ Meta title and meta description : these are tags that do not appear on your page, but rather in the summary that is shown as a result of a Google search. Check out the featured meta title and meta description in the image below:
💡 If you have a Tiendanube, log in to your administrator , select the product you want to edit and click on the “ More options ” option, below the upload or edit form of your product:
Then, in the SEO option you can edit the meta tags and the URL :
All ready to find the best keywords ?
We hope that these tips will help you discover how users are searching for your products or services on the internet.
Finally, we share 3 final tips:
Keep in mind that users' search intentions can change over time , so keyword research should be a constant task.
After optimizing your online store based on the strategic keywords you identified, it will take time for you to see the first results. It is a long-term job , since Google also takes into consideration the reputation and history of a website when it comes to positioning it.
To find out if your actions are working, be sure to measure the results with Google Analytics .
Optimize your online store and allow everyone to find you!
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