You've probably heard of search engine optimization (SEO) if you're new to the realm of ecommerce or internet marketing in general. In a world where the bulk of web traffic is generated by a string of text placed into a search box, search engine optimization can be a game changer for your company.

SEO includes a variety of strategies, but the core principle is that you are assisting Google and other search engines in better understanding what your ecommerce site is about and what it sells.

This boosts your visibility by raising the likelihood that search engines will list your site in search results when potential buyers search for the things you provide.

Keyword research is a fundamental SEO technique. Keyword research is the easy art of better knowing the vocabulary your potential clients are using to find the things you're offering, and then matching your website and marketing terms to that terminology.

In this essay, we'll go through the fundamentals of ecommerce keyword research. The end goal is to create a meaningful list of keywords that you can refer to and use as you design and optimize your site, write product descriptions, and craft blog entries.

Over time, you'll assist search engines in better understanding what your site is about, allowing them to better match your store as a result for relevant search phrases, resulting in greater traffic and sales.

 Why is keyword research necessary?

Every time someone conducts a search, the search engine must choose which of hundreds of thousands of possible pages to display. The search engine algorithms are responsible for determining the best and most relevant matches for each and every search.

This is why it is critical to properly select your keywords, so that search engines can match and present your site in the search results to the most relevant keyword searches.

It is critical to rank on the first page of a search engine results page for relevant search phrases, but it is also critical to rank towards the top of the first page. Consider the graph below to see how much of a difference position can make.

According to the graph, the first page of search results receives more than 90% of the traffic, and the top three search results receive more than 60% of the traffic. Most notably, the difference between positions ten (first page) and eleven (second page) is amore than 100% decline in traffic from that specific search query.

In other words, the higher you rank on Google for relevant search terms, the more visitors (and potential revenue) you'll receive. Depending on the search term and the volume of searches per month for that search term, a few positions difference can mean considerable revenue loss in the long run.

Understanding the meaning of keywords

Before you begin doing keyword research for your online store, there are a few essential phrases you should be familiar with and comprehend.

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These are some of the terms:

Keywords -In the context of search engine optimization, a keyword(s) is a specific term or phrase that describes the content of a web page or site. Keywords serve as shorthand for summarizing the content of a page or site. Keywords are part of the metadata on a web page that helps search engines match a page to a relevant search query.

Longtail keywords-  are simply keywords that contain three or more words. Longtail keywords are essential (hence their own name) because they account for almost 70% of internet searches, according to Moz, and they also convert better because they capture individuals later in the purchase cycle.

Someone searching for "hair extensions" is generally in the early stages of information gathering; while, someone searching for"20 inch brown hair extensions price" is likely further along the buying cycle and much closer to purchasing.

Search Volume (Average Monthly Searches) - Search volume is typically assessed in terms of average monthly searches. This is the total number of searches for each search phrase (keyword) every month. Ideally, you want to find terms with the largest search volume. Ranking highly for search terms with significant search volumes implies more potential visitors and conversions for you and your business.

Unfortunately, no magic figure exists that indicates the ideal search volume for everyone. What makes the "right" search volume will differ for each site.

Competition- Search traffic is not the only factor to consider. Competition is just as vital, if not more so. It's pointless to try to rank for keywords for which you have no possibility of ranking. The challenge of ranking for each specific keyword is referred to as competition.

In an ideal world, your chosen keywords would have high search traffic and low competition; but, these gold nuggets are tough to discover and would necessitate some hard effort, patience, and possibly a little luck.

Keep in mind that the competition in Google's Keyword Planner Tool refers to paid advertising keyword competitiveness rather than organic search rivalry; nonetheless, this is frequently true of both.

Using the Google Keyword Planner Tool to Conduct Keyword Research

With your initial list of brainstorming keywords in hand, you can use these keywords to uncover new keywords utilizing web tools. There are numerous commercial and free tools available for conducting keyword research; however, one of the most common tools for conducting keyword research is Google's Keyword Planner Tool.

The Google Keyword Planner Tool lets you search for keywords to see how many searches are made every month for that term, how much competition there is for it, and related search terms.

The related search terms are significant because they will expose you to other keywords that are similar but may have more searches, less competition, or a combination of both.

You'll need a Google Ads account to utilize the Google Keyword Planner Tool, which is free and just takes a few minutes to set up.

Once you've created a Google Adwords account, go to the Tools tab at the top of the page and then click Keyword Planner.

Next, add the keywords you brainstormed in the previous section, one at a time or several at a time, separated by a comma. To keep things easy, we recommend starting with one at a time.

Check your Targeting settings to ensure you're only seeing search results that are relevant to you. For example, if you are based in the United States and ship to the United States and Canada, you should look at information results for the United States and Canada.

Turn on Only show suggestions closely connected to my search words under Customize your search and Keyword settings. This will yield far more relevant keywords; but, if you believe the keywords are too closely connected or if you want to broaden your search, feel free to attempt a search with this option disabled.

The Ad Group Ideas tab will be selected by default on the following screen. Change that to the Keyword Ideas tab.

The first column will include the original keyword(s) you searched for as well as terms that are closely connected. The second column displays the number of searches conducted in the selected geographic area per month. The level of competition for each keyword is shown in the third column.

This is the data you'll need to start sorting through to develop your keyword list. You can utilize the Keyword filters on the left side of the screen to reveal just low and medium competitiveness keywords and exclude those that would be too difficult to compete for.

You will then have a list of keywords with low to medium levels of competition that are connected to your first search. As an illustration, we've color-coded one of these queries below, with the green highlighted keywords having low competitiveness and the yellow highlighted keywords having medium competition.

With this list, you should select the best terms to describe your website, pages, and product offering while taking the search traffic and competition into consideration. It would be good to record these terms in a spreadsheet. Repeat this procedure for each of the keywords you came up with while brainstorming.

Improving your keyword list

It's time to double-check your work now that you have a list of pertinent keywords. It's possible that you overdid it and included certain keywords that don't adequately describe your shop and offerings but have low competition or high search volume. You will examine each of your keywords in this phase and:

Do you think the key word is appropriate? Will someone who searches for that term and arrives at the right page on your website discover what they're looking for exactly?

Look up the terms in Google and Bing- You've already looked at the degree of competition in Google Keyword Planner, but as was previously noted, that level of rivalry is for sponsored search, which doesn't always apply to organic search.

Knowing which websites already appear in search results for your keyword can help you gauge how difficult it will be to rank for that term as well as how much competition there is. It will be more challenging to rank highly for your term if the top results are for well-known, well established brands.

Conclusion

The good news is that Google should have a better concept of what your online store is all about after you've finished your keyword research and gradually incorporated your chosen keywords throughout your site, making it easier for it to match you to the right queries.

But keep in mind that keyword research and SEO are ongoing processes. Researching and using your keywords takes time, as does waiting for Google to recognize the changes.

The most important thing to remember is that SEO, search engine algorithms, and the terms your consumers use will all change over time. For this reason, you should regularly review your keyword research to make sure it is correct and up to current.

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