Launching a Shopify store is an exciting milestone. With great products and a polished website, you’re ready to drive sales. The real challenge, however, is helping potential customers discover your store. That’s where effective SEO comes in—and Shopify keyword research plays a key role in building a strong foundation for search visibility.
Consider keywords as the link between what people are looking for and what you are offering. You may optimize your store to show up high in search results once you know the precise words and phrases that your target audience uses. From comprehending fundamental ideas to putting sophisticated SEO tactics into practice that increase traffic and sales, this guide will take you step-by-step through the entire process.
We’ll go over how to choose the best terms, research your competitors, and apply the results to draw in ready-to-buy customers.
What is Shopify Keyword Research, and Why Does It Matter?
Shopify keyword research is the process of finding the exact words and phrases customers type into search engines like Google to discover the products you sell. Instead of guessing what people might search for, it relies on data and SEO tools to uncover the real terms your target audience uses.
Why is this so important for your e-commerce store?
- Attracts Qualified Traffic: It helps you connect with users who have a high intent to purchase. Someone searching for “buy handmade leather journal” is much closer to purchasing than someone searching for “what is a journal.”
- Improves Search Engine Rankings: By strategically using the right keywords throughout your store, from your homepage to your product descriptions and blog posts, you signal to search engines what your pages are about. This helps you rank higher on the search engine results page (SERP) for relevant searches.
- Gives You a Competitive Edge: Understanding which keywords your competitors are ranking for, and which ones they are missing, allows you to find gaps in the market and create content that outshines them.
- Informs Your Content Strategy: Keyword research reveals what your target audience is curious about. This information is gold for generating a list of ideas for blog posts, FAQs, and marketing campaigns that address their needs and pain points.
Without solid keyword research, your SEO efforts are essentially a shot in the dark. You might attract some traffic, but it likely will not be the right traffic that converts into sales.
Understanding Key Keyword Concepts
Before we dive into the “how-to,” let’s clarify some essential terms. Grasping these concepts will make your Shopify keyword research process much smoother.
Seed Keywords
A seed keyword is the foundation of your research. These are broad, core terms that define your products or industry. For example, if you run a coffee bean business, seed keywords might be “coffee,” “coffee beans,” or “espresso.” They are usually one or two words and highly competitive. In Shopify keyword research, seed keywords play a key role in uncovering more specific and valuable keywords that help you target the right audience.
Long-Tail Keywords
Long-tail keywords are longer, more specific phrases, usually three or more words. For example, instead of “coffee,” a long-tail variation could be “organic single-origin coffee beans from Ethiopia.”
These keywords are incredibly valuable for Shopify stores for a few key reasons:
- Lower Competition: Far fewer websites are trying to rank for these specific phrases.
- Higher Conversion Rate: The user’s search query is particular, indicating they know exactly what they want and are likely closer to making a purchase.
- Voice Search Optimization: People often use longer, more conversational phrases when using voice search, making long-tail keywords essential.
Keyword Difficulty
Many keyword research tools apply keyword difficulty as a statistic to predict how difficult it will be to rank for a given phrase on Google’s first page. Typically, it receives a score between 0 and 100. You have a better chance of ranking sooner if you target keywords with lower difficulty ratings as a new or expanding store.
Step-by-Step Guide to Shopify Keyword Research
Now, let’s move on to the practical steps. Follow this process to build a powerful list of keywords for your store.
Step 1: Brainstorm Your Seed Keywords
Start by thinking like your customer. What terms would they use to find your products?
- Describe Your Products: Write down the basic names of what you sell. If you sell running shoes, your list might include “running shoes,” “trail running shoes,” “men’s sneakers,” and “women’s athletic shoes.”
- Think About Your Target Audience: Who are your potential customers? What are their problems or needs? If you sell ergonomic office chairs, your audience might be searching for “best chair for back pain” or “home office chair.”
- Check Competitor Sites: Visit the websites of your top competitors. Look at their product titles, categories, and any blog posts they have. Note the language they use; these are often their target keywords.
This initial brainstorming will give you a solid list of seed keywords to expand upon.
Step 2: Use Keyword Research Tools to Expand Your List
A seed keyword is just the beginning. The real magic happens when you use SEO tools to uncover hundreds of related terms and keyword suggestions.
Here are a few popular options:
- Google Keyword Planner: A free tool from Google, Google Keyword Planner is a great starting point. You can enter your seed keywords to see search volume data and discover new ideas. While it is designed for advertisers, its data is invaluable for SEO.
- Ahrefs and SEMrush: These are premium, all-in-one keyword research tools. They provide detailed data on search volume, keyword difficulty, clicks, and what your competitors are ranking for. They are powerful but come with a subscription fee.
- Ubersuggest: A more budget-friendly tool that offers robust keyword data and competitor analysis features.
When you enter a seed keyword into one of these tools, you will get a long list of specific keywords. Your goal is to sift through this list and find the gems.
Step 3: Analyze and Select the Best Keywords
Generating a list is easy; choosing the right keywords is the hard part. You need to analyze each potential target keyword based on three main criteria:
- Relevance: Does this keyword accurately match the product or content on the page you want to rank? Ranking for an irrelevant term will only lead to a high bounce rate, which signals to Google that your page isn’t a good result.
- Search Volume: How many people are searching for this term each month? While high volume seems attractive, it often comes with high competition. Find a balance. A keyword with 200 monthly searches can be more valuable than one with 20,000 if it converts better.
- Commercial Intent: You want to target keywords that indicate the searcher is looking to buy. Look for transactional modifiers like “buy,” “discount,” “deal,” or “for sale.” Informational keywords like “how to” or “what is” are great for blog posts, while transactional keywords are perfect for product and category pages.
Focus on finding a healthy mix of head terms and long-tail keywords with reasonable search volume and clear user intent.
Step 4: Map Keywords to Your Store’s Pages
Once you have your final keyword list, you need to assign it to specific pages on your Shopify store. This is called keyword mapping.
- Homepage: Target broad, brand-level keywords.
- Category Pages: Target “head” or “body” keywords that describe the product group (e.g., “men’s leather wallets”).
- Product Pages: Target very specific long-tail keywords for each product description (e.g., “slim brown bifold leather wallet with RFID blocking”).
- Blog Posts: Target informational, question-based keywords that answer your audience’s questions (e.g., “how to clean a leather wallet”).
This structured approach ensures that you are not competing against yourself and that every page on your site has a clear SEO purpose.
Answering a Common Question: How Many Keywords Should I Use Per Page?
There is no magic number, but a good rule of thumb is to focus on one primary target keyword per page. Additionally, you can include two or three closely related secondary keywords. It will be more difficult to rank for anything if you try to fit too many keywords onto one page, because it will lose focus and confuse search engines.
Putting Your Shopify Keyword Research into Action
Finding your keywords is only half the battle. Now you need to implement them.
- Product and Category Pages: Include your primary keyword in the page title, URL, meta description, and naturally within the product description.
- Blog Content: Write helpful blog posts around the informational keywords you found. This builds authority and attracts customers who are still in the research phase.
- Image SEO: Use your keywords in image file names and alt text. This helps your products appear in Google Image search.
- Internal Linking: Link between your pages using keyword-rich anchor text. For example, in a blog post about coffee brewing methods, you can link to a product page using the anchor text “dark roast coffee beans.”
Effective Shopify keyword research is not a one-time task. It is an ongoing process. You should regularly monitor your rankings, explore new keyword suggestions, and adapt your SEO strategies as market trends and search queries evolve.
By mastering this skill, you move beyond simply having a store to building an e-commerce engine that consistently attracts your ideal potential customers. It is one of the most powerful things you can do to grow your brand and succeed online.
Ready to take your Shopify store to the next level with expert SEO strategies? Visit MacroHype to learn how our tailored services can help you climb the rankings and drive more sales.
