Find High-Volume Keywords for your Shopify Store and Rank #1 on Google

Organic traffic refers to the number of people who click your result on the SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Each eCommerce page has a different form of SEO.

Our previous articles have gone through the topics of Walmart SEO and Amazon SEO. Both involve using each of the company’s internal search bars.

The difference from Shopify SEO comes from them not being an integrated third-party marketplace. Shopify customers own the storefronts they create.

Shopify is not just an eCommerce platform. It is also a website builder.  To discover more about Optimizing Amazon Storefronts instead, check out this article.

• Following keyword traffic
• Finding the most relevant target keywords
• Seeing the most competitive keywords

All three tools include all (or some) of the above information. In many cases, this information is available through free tools.

• Realtime data
• Audience information (if available)
• The behavior of those visiting your site
• Number of sales or goals met
• Attribution data (who you need to give credit to)

The data above is helpful because it enables you to get an idea of your buyer persona. A buyer persona is a complete picture of the type of person your products appeal to.

If conversions are low and visits are high, you might find yourself targeting the wrong group. For example, if you sell boxing gloves and get women aged 70 to 80, you will likely hit some unusual keywords.

You also might have hit an unusual niche of boxing grandmas.

For example, it has sections associated with page experience, web vitals, sitemaps, and security issues. It also includes search performance but doesn’t allow you to break down that traffic by different demographics.

Google Search Console is also incredible if you want selective indexing. For example, you won’t want an incomplete product page showing up on search results.

• The number of people searching in the search bar
• The bid price of paying for a PPC campaign for the topic
• Alternative keywords you can use that are similar.

A keyword’s search volume tells you about the number of people searching. The larger this number is, the more organic traffic potential it has. However, this is speaking from a general sense, as a keyword’s difficulty will impact the actual potential traffic you get.

A keyword’s PPC bid price lets you understand how much people pay to rank for the topic. Higher payments are typically a good indicator of how hard it is to rank for the subject.

If a keyword is too challenging as a target keyword, you can find an alternative from the choices under the “Keyword Ideas” section. This section contains alternative keywords you can target of general similarity.

All of the general features available through this Chrome/Firefox extension are free. However, if you want to write content using Surfer SEO, you’ll need to pay for this feature.

SurferSEO enables you to write content targeting one (or multiple) keywords. Building content using coming phrases and words from the top 20 of a SERP gives you a higher chance to rank.

Other tools offer the same service, but Surfer is one of the better put-together ones.

• Domain Authority
• Page Authority

Domain Authority refers to how much Google loves your domain. It combines backlink data, quality of content, and technical aspects to see how trusted you are in the space.

The closer this number is to 100, the more authority you have. As a small business, shooting for something in the 50s to 70s is a good start. You’ll find it challenging to go any further unless you are globally recognized.

Page Authority refers to how much Google trusts the specific linked page. This is another piece of data that informs you of the competitiveness of the page. The lower these numbers are, the higher chance you have to rank.

DA and PA are not the only ways to tell you of competitiveness. As you can see above, quality content often ranks high if it is more helpful than other options.

Regardless, you’ll need a DA and PA of some size to make ranking high in any category possible.

Pricing varies from $99 to $999+ depending on how many user seats you need and the number of tracked keywords.

The combined tracking tools enable you to understand your current backlinks alongside other technical aspects.

An essential aspect of SEO is backlinks. Backlinks are the number of people who link back to your page. Backlinks from high authority sources enable your website to grow.

The combined resources enable you to have daily alerts without needing to switch between different groups.

The “hidden costs” of paying transactional fees, application fees, and other tools tend to add up over time. So be sure you keep a close eye on your month-to-month cost.

While paying for premium tools are worth it, it’s essential to be aware of your budget.

Below, we will discuss a list of keywords that you will most likely be running into. If you want to find relevant keywords for your eCommerce store, keep reading.

Buyer’s Intent keywords are targeted towards those explicitly wanting to buy something. This group of people has already decided on what they want to buy.

Buyer’s intent keywords are usually found on online marketplace sites like Amazon or Etsy. However, Google Shopping is also known to contain a good deal of them.

Looking up the term “flip flops” typically means you want to buy flip flops. However, this does not include those who are searching for information.

Search Intent keywords happen when the associated keyword is from some information. For example, adding the word “review” to the end of flip-flops means that the person isn’t looking for a product page. Instead, they want a video or blog content reviewing the best flip flops.

If you work in eCommerce, you need to understand that your primary keyword of a product page cannot be based on informative content. Instead, it would be best to focus on targeting keywords where there is a plan to purchase.  For more about how to consistently drive traffic to your Shopify store, check out this article!

That being said, informative keywords are handy when you want to rank well across the board.

There are some cases where businesses try to rank for the word “review” at the end of their product topic. For example, if you were to sell George Foreman grills and attempted to compare your grill with five other grills.

The content writer is going to want to favor its own business. Therefore, astute readers will understand that this isn’t a review. Credibility can take a hit if you try to dress it as anything other than a “here is why our grill is better” piece.

Our example above takes a different perspective on informational content. By targeting how-to information content, you can teach people how to use your product best.

You can frame the answer to any keyword around your product. Even if you don’t do that, establishing yourself as an authority in your target niche is incredibly helpful.

All customers are more likely to buy products from someone with knowledge. Knowledge fills the customer with confidence that you know how to make an effective product.

While many targets among these might be less beneficial for those exclusively on Shopify, you’ll find that most of these have solid potential. For example, the “near me” keyword is essential for ranking for local SEO.

We will discuss the topic in more detail later, but Shopify offers a local POS system that gives you great potential to sell locally.

Other options on this list include electric grills for the patio, smoker combo, chicken breast, and starter. All of these may be potential target keywords describing the capabilities of your product.

Some of those keywords are specific to unique features. It would help if you were as detailed as possible when creating a product description.

Keeping these seed keywords in mind, you have ways to structure your description to include these targets. Those targets are in the next section.

Long-Tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords are the targets that describe your product with the most effectiveness. These keywords must be concise and direct but detailed in proving the exact information your target audience is searching for.

Using our earlier example above, “electric grill with griddle” is excellent if your product has a separate griddle plate. The mention of additional features attracts people who are looking for particular needs.

Long-tail keywords don’t just describe features; they also tell the search what your product is best for. Going back to our earlier example, “electric grill for a family of four” is another target that takes the guesswork out of your target audience.

Your job is to find out everything you can use among longer keywords to describe your product. From those longer keywords, you can generate a wide variety of targets who need their problems solved.

By thinking like your buyer, you can eliminate the hassle of targeting the right keywords in Shopify.

Low Competitiveness and High-Competitiveness Keywords 

Competitiveness refers to the number of people trying to target your desired keyword. Whether by accident (or on purpose), many others are on the top 10 SERPs. To determine their competitiveness, you need to do a bit of research.

Here are some things to look out for:

• Does your keyword show YouTube Results? If the top results of any search terms involve videos, you’ll need to compete with those videos to hit the top spot. Video is the most engaging form of content, so that is incredibly difficult.
• Does your keyword include results from Reddit or Quora? While this used to be a sign of low competitiveness, the latest Google updates have shown that this is not the case. Reddit and Quora results come in a single bunch, and some of those top results are detailed pieces. Given the high natural DA of these sites, they have the best chance to compete well.
• How much do people pay to rank for the keyword? SurferSEO and Google AdWords both contain information on the bidding price of keywords. The higher the bidding, the higher potential competitiveness there is.
• What are the DAs and PAs? Using tools like MozBar enables you to see the authority of the pages there. If the pages are high, it’s going to be challenging to overcome the top slots. However, those with moderate levels of authority are known to overtake the top places with engaging enough content.

Keyword Clusters (or Cluster Topics) 

When developing your SEO strategy, keyword clusters are a (relatively) new area. However, you’ll find that bunching together related topics is nothing new, but it is still an effective way to cover the spectrum.

Using our example of informative keywords, imagine solving all of the problems on the ownership of electric grills. All of the potential questions one might have of electric grills are in a single keyword cluster.

You can create keyword clusters around your product line as well. For example, having a slightly different product made to meet unique needs like a smokeless indoor electric grill (somewhat different from your standard electric grill)

Clusters are often one of the last steps in the keyword research process, as this is simply the process of grouping similar keywords.

Once you have those keywords selected, you have your choice of where to place them. This is where the optimization practice comes up.

The other reason having a custom domain is handy comes from the ability to include a keyword. As you can see above, Shopify enables users to get a custom domain.

One thing that many sellers forget about is that targeting a keyword using your domain is a great way to optimize your site. So if you are looking to sell a variety of electric grills on your site, having the keyword in your URL is one way that Google can see what you do.

If you sell a unique brand of customer grill, you can buy “yourbrandcustomgrills.com.” You’ll also want to buy up the URLs for “yourbrand.com,” as you don’t want anyone to poach your domain. This strategy also enables your company to expand as you start to gain brand recognition.

The H1 tag is arguably the most critical content of your page. It is typically the first (or second) thing that people see when visiting your page. This statement is doubly true if you write blogs.

The H1 tag contains your most crucial long-tail keyword. This keyword is otherwise known as the primary keyword, which is the topic you plan on discussing on that page.

Regarding eCommerce, the H1 tag is typically the title of your product. So unless you already have a ridiculous DA or run your company from social campaigns, you’ll want that title to be descriptive.

For inspiration on a good title, search for your primary keyword on third-party marketplace websites like Amazon. A good title usually follows this formula:

• The Product’s Brand
• What the Product Is
• Its most important feature
• Whether it comes in bulk (if applicable)
• What problems it solves (Can it be used by multiple people? Is it easy to clean? Does it have good wattage? Is it compact?)
• Who can use it
• Other secondary features (color, size, design, etc.)

You can flip these in whatever order you prefer. If you sell clothing, you might want color, size, and design further to the front. However, if you already have that addressed in your product variants, you might not need to worry about it.

The H1 should contain as much engaging information as possible. Shopify enables unlimited characters in this area. However, our next section will tell you why you want it below sixty characters.

While the H1 is the most crucial content you see on the page, the title is the most important thing your customer sees before the page. Arguably, this is the most vital area to focus on, so do not forget it.

The title tag is an HTML code: “<title>.” If you decide to pull up the developer page of your favorite website, it’s likely pretty deep. Still, you’ll likely see it look something like this:

“<title>Grandma’s Favorite Cookies Page</title>”

The forward slash on the second half of this tag indicates the end of the tag. So if you want to find it easily, use CTRL+F.

Meta title tags should not exceed 60 characters. Anything beyond that won’t display correctly and will not rank well. Google emphasizes the customer experience of those visiting its search engines.

The title should also ideally contain the primary keyword. However, it needs to be snappy, so pay attention to what the other top 10 results are doing in your target.

When using Shopify, you’ll find that the H1 and title tags will match. As a result, you’ll want to keep both below 60. However, your next section makes up for the lack of density.

When ranking for SEO, people often forget about the body copy. The body copy is your deeper explanation.

Visitors should ideally already know what you are about based on the product title and H1. However, this doesn’t understate how the body copy has two jobs:

• To address any doubts and answer any questions about your product
• To target secondary keywords and mention the primary keyword with more significant counts.

Because we aren’t providing lessons on marketing copy today, we’ll focus on number two.

You’ll want to be sure that you mention the primary keyword a couple of times throughout the copy. The keyword should look natural, as Google will penalize you otherwise.

You might also be tempted to place the keyword repetitively, but this is known as keyword stuffing. While it was an applicable technique in the 90s, we aren’t in the 90s anymore. Only mention your primary keyword a few times.

Otherwise, secondary keywords should be sprinkled throughout, mentioning them one or two times when appropriate. The body copy should at least be 400 words, giving you ample opportunity to receive a good search ranking.

If you can come up with more, make sure it isn’t repetitive. Each new sentence should contain further information. Every 50 (or so) words should include a new keyword.

While writing, try not to obsess over this, as those who focus more on keywords write nonsense. Keyword placement should ideally come after the first draft.

All major search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.) do this, as the URL is an excellent opportunity to remind google of the page’s topic. You will rank better to make a search engine’s job easier by including keywords in the URL.

Much like title tags and H1 tags, the URL will most likely match what you have in both of the other tags. Shopify typically handles much of this for you, but setting product categories is critical when developing URLs.

Product categories are built into URLs so that Shopify stores might rank better. So when you remember this section, remember to use as many varieties as appropriate.

The IMG ALT tag enables you to describe the underlying image. This tag is an excellent method to rank using secondary keywords and if you want to rank for Google Images.

While Google Images isn’t used as often as the base search engine, there are still some reasons it can be helpful. Regardless, Google knowing that you have an image of the product enables you to affirm to google what your product page is about.

Does a Meta Description Effect SEO?

A meta description is another HTML tag that is located just below the title tag on Google Search. However, it doesn’t impact your potential SERP position.

In 2009, Google announced that a meta description had no impact on your ability to rank. So why do people focus on the meta description so much?

Because while it doesn’t rank, it does provide the user an additional reason to click your page. Take this Lowes search result as an example:

By searching for electric smokers, Lowes reminds you about their free shipping and the ability to shop for other products on its site. The meta description is an excellent opportunity to remind people why they should click on your site.

When writing a meta description, you should keep it below 160 characters. You can find the meta description in the “<head>” tag, so you’ll see it like this:

“<head> <meta name=”description” content=”Get the best electric smokers here”> </head>”

The “name” tag informs google of the type of content to be found in the description. There are other meta tag forms we won’t be getting into here.

Home Page Optimization

Optimizing your home page for a target keyword involves placing the keyword as naturally as possible. You know from our previous section that the title tag and H1 are the two most important areas to insert your primary keyword.

Outside of inserting these keywords, you should also include these topics:

• What products do you sell?
• What makes your business unique?
• Why should they pick you over others?
• How does your product improve your customer’s lives? (does it save them money, time, or solve other problems?)

If you cannot answer all four of the questions above, you need to take a deeper look at your product. Ideally, you should have a call to action asking them to go beyond the home page.

You should display features and reasons keeping your audience around in bullet points. You should avoid long blocks of text at all costs.

Your home page is also your value proposition. If you had thirty seconds to get their attention at the top of your page, what would you say to engage them and keep them around?

If you consider this page similar to an elevator pitch, you are taking steps in the right direction.

However, product pages have just as much chance to rank as home pages. After all, people are less likely to search for your brand. Instead, people are more likely going to search for a product that you offer.

To address this, the title tag, h2, and body text all need to include primary keywords. Just like the home page, these keywords need to be long-tail and naturally fit.

If you have multiple product pages with similar content, you’ll want to avoid duplicate content. Duplicate content is likely to cause Google to penalize you. As a result, there is no chance of you ranking high.

If you can assign at least one long-tail keyword per product page, you are doing well. Secondary keywords are just as important. However, if you have a high number of similar products on various pages, you’ll want to focus on a single keyword per page.

Bear in mind that product-based keywords meet buyer’s intent while blog-based keywords fulfill search intent. When people search for your blog, they are less likely to be interested in buying something right away.

When targetting informative keywords, your best bet is to answer the question on those keywords early on.

For example, if your header is “how to tie a tie,” you’ll want to start answering that question by the first sentence. This strategy enables you to fulfill search intent quickly.

Suppose you answer the question after a lengthy explanation wastes the time of your readers and Google. The longer it takes to get to the point, the lower you are likely to rank.

Over the long term, your blog should be the ultimate resource for answering any questions related to your niche. If you sell electric grills, you should include recipes, cleaning tips, instructions, and common mistakes.

Pay attention to what people are searching in your niche using tools like Google Trends. By being knowledgeable on the subject and displaying that knowledge to your audience, they will see you as a trusted source.

• The About Us Page – This includes details of your business and the company’s story. It typically doesn’t need to rank, but you might have keywords if you want.
• The Contact Us Page – It includes a form and details on your address and phone number. It is effective when ranking locally, which is something we will discuss in the next section.
• The Services Page – If your company also offers services alongside products, they rank the same way that product pages do. You do not need as many pages to explain a service, so you are more likely to stuff this page with keywords. It is also a handy page for local SEO.
• Product Category Pages – These pages have the potential to rank for general long-tail keywords. By providing a short description of an individual product category, it has a chance to rank.

There are other pages we haven’t mentioned in this section, but the point is this:

If a long-tail keyword fits, use it. If it doesn’t work, try not to worry about it. The point is to ensure that your various pages hit the search intent (or buyer’s intent) as closely as possible. If your contact page talks about blue jeans for no reason, it won’t rank well.

If you have any reason to use local POS, you should do it. In this case, it is best to create a new web page for each local keyword.

For example, look at your local HVAC businesses. Many of those businesses have websites straight out of the 90s. Regardless, they seem to be getting business just fine.

This survival comes from their awareness of mentioning all the cities they do business in. If they failed to do that, they wouldn’t understand when people search for the “near me” term.

Google’s algorithm works in such a way that it gathers your zip code and location. Depending on how much data you share, you will receive local recommendations.

If you use Google’s general search system to say “plumbing near my city,” you’ll scroll down low enough to see various web pages that have some variant of “plumbing brand” + “city.”

Most local keywords can be boiled down to product/service + city. Of course, this is only one part of what you need to do.

Google My Business is crucial for businesses that offer local solutions. It enables them to gain more awareness, show up on a maps-based search, and acquire customer reviews.

Google enables local businesses to do this with their page as well. This feature is known as Schema, which is organized by different types and properties, allowing pages to be easily identified.

Example schemas include the following:

• Event
• Organization
• Review
• Product
• Location
• Book
• Movie
• Recipe

Putting a schema on your page enables you to also rank for featured snippets. Below is an example of the Recipe schema in action:

Combining keywords with schemas enables you to take advantage of unique ranking opportunities.

Internal linking enables you to connect various pages. The navigation bar located at the top of each page handles most of this for you.

Thankfully, many of Shopify’s themes include this. Creating a new page automatically builds another page onto the navigation bar.

You can create custom navigation bar elements using Shopify’s website builder. Creating different product categories also enables you to create a more profound internal linking experience.

Other essential aspects of internal linking include linking from blogs to products. If you want to provide your product to solve a question, it’s best to connect to the product.

You should improve the user experience to make it incredibly easy to buy whatever you sell. If you make it even a little bit challenging, you reduce your chances of a sale. Always link internally to keep people growing your page.