Keyword Research for Ecommerce: How to Find the Keywords That Actually Drive Sales

Keyword research for ecommerce is the process of finding and evaluating the search terms your potential customers use when looking for products like yours - and then using that data to decide which pages to build, what to write on them, and how to structure your entire site.

It differs from general SEO keyword research in one important way: the goal isn't just traffic. It's revenue. An ecommerce store doesn't need visitors who are curious. It needs visitors who are ready to buy, comparing options, or searching for the exact product you sell. That changes which keywords you target, how you prioritize them, and what you do with them once you find them.

Paid ads stop the moment you stop paying. Keyword-driven organic traffic compounds. A product page that ranks well for a commercial search term can drive sales for years without a cent of ad spend.

But there are more specific reasons keyword research matters for online stores:

You're competing for high-intent searches. People who search “best trail running shoes under $100” or “waterproof running jacket women's” aren't browsing - they're about to buy. Getting in front of those searches is worth far more than the same amount of traffic from a vague informational query.

Your competitors already have a keyword strategy. The stores ranking above you on Google aren't there by accident. They've built product pages and category pages around the terms their customers search for. Keyword research shows you exactly what they're targeting - and where the gaps are.

Product pages don't rank by default. Just publishing a product page doesn't get it found. You need to know which keyword to optimize it for, what related terms to include, and how to differentiate it from the ten similar pages already on page one.

Category pages are your highest-leverage assets. A well-optimized category page can rank for dozens of keywords simultaneously. But only if you built it around the right terms. Keyword research for ecommerce starts at the category level, not just the product level.

Before jumping into the workflow, it helps to understand the four signals that determine whether a keyword is worth targeting.

Search volume tells you how many people search for a term per month. A keyword with 10,000 monthly searches represents a bigger opportunity than one with 50 - but volume alone doesn't make a keyword good. A high-volume keyword dominated by major brands might be effectively unreachable for a new store.

Competition level tells you how hard it is to rank. For ecommerce stores, especially newer ones, low-competition keywords are where you start building traffic. Win the easy ones first, build authority, then go after the harder ones.

CPC (cost per click) is what advertisers pay for a click on that keyword in Google Ads. This is a proxy for commercial intent. When businesses pay $2–$5 per click, that keyword drives buyers. When CPC is near zero, people searching that term generally aren't in purchase mode. High CPC + manageable competition = a keyword worth going after.

Trend shows whether interest in a keyword is growing or shrinking. A keyword with 5,000 monthly searches and a strong upward trend is often a better bet than a flat 15,000-search keyword you'll fight harder to rank for.

The sweet spot for ecommerce keyword research: decent volume, low-to-medium competition, meaningful CPC, and a rising or stable trend.

Not all ecommerce keywords work the same way. Understanding the different types tells you which page each keyword belongs on.

Transactional keywords signal that someone is ready to buy. Think “buy running shoes online,” “order trail running sneakers,” “running shoes free shipping.” These belong on product pages and category pages with clear purchase paths.

Commercial investigation keywords are searches by people comparing options before buying. “Best running shoes for flat feet,” “trail running shoes vs road running shoes,” “most durable running shoes 2024.” These are great targets for category pages and buying guides - content that helps people decide.

Product-specific keywords target exact products or variants. “Nike Pegasus 41 men's size 10,” “Brooks Ghost 16 women's wide.” These go on individual product pages.

Long-tail keywords are highly specific, lower-volume searches that are often dramatically easier to rank for. “Lightweight trail running shoes for overpronators” has less volume than “running shoes” but far higher intent and far less competition. For most ecommerce stores, long-tail keywords are where early traction comes from.

Here's a full workflow using rankrankrank's four tools. The example throughout: a mid-sized online store selling running gear - shoes, apparel, and accessories.

Every ecommerce keyword strategy starts with a seed keyword - a broad term that represents your product category. For our running gear store, seed keywords might be “running shoes,” “trail running gear,” or “running accessories.”

Enter “running shoes” into the Keyword Research tool and switch between the three modes:

• Suggestions - autocomplete-style phrases people actually type. Great for finding long-tail product searches.
• Ideas - broader topic variations. Good for discovering category page opportunities.
• Related - semantically related keywords. Useful for understanding the full search landscape around your product.

What jumps out immediately: “running shoes” has 450K searches but high competition - that's Amazon, Nike, and REI territory. “Running shoes for flat feet” (40,500 searches, low competition, $1.20 CPC) is a different story. That's a specific query from someone with a real problem, and the CPC tells you they're looking to buy. “Minimalist running shoes” has a strong upward trend and low competition - a growing niche worth owning early.

These become your priority targets. Use the result slider to pull 100–200 keywords per mode, then export the full list to CSV for a proper review.

Once you have promising keywords, you need to know who you're competing against. This is where most ecommerce stores skip a crucial step - they see “low competition” in the data and assume they can rank, without checking whether the current page-one results are beatable.

Take “running shoes for flat feet” to the SERP Checker. What you're looking for: are the ranking pages from large authority domains (REI, Runner's World, Amazon) or are there niche running blogs and smaller retailers in the mix?

Niche review sites like RunRepeat and TrailRunningReviews ranking on page one is a signal this keyword is winnable for a focused running store. The page type also matters here - most results are “best of” roundups, not product pages. That tells you the right content format: a buying guide or category page with expert recommendations, not a generic collection page.

Click Get Page Keywords on any result to move to step 3.

Click Get Page Keywords on the #1 result from your SERP check - Runner's World's flat feet shoe guide. This shows you every keyword that page ranks for, not just the one you searched.

One page capturing “running shoes for flat feet,” “overpronation running shoes,” and “motion control running shoes” simultaneously. This is the keyword cluster you need to build your page around - not just the seed keyword you started with. Write a guide that addresses all of these related angles and you're not competing for one keyword, you're competing for the whole topic.

Use Check SERPs on any of these discovered keywords to verify competition before adding them to your strategy.

So far you've investigated one keyword and one page. Now zoom out. Enter a competitor's domain into the Domain Analysis tool - say, a mid-sized running specialty retailer like runrepeat.com - to see their full content strategy.

This tells you three things immediately. Their best-running-shoes roundup drives roughly $284K in estimated traffic value - that's the flagship content piece for any running site, and almost certainly too competitive for a new store to attack first. But their minimalist running shoes page ($62K ETV, 41 #1 keywords) and their Hoka vs Brooks comparison ($44K ETV) are far more accessible targets.

The comparison page is particularly interesting. “Hoka vs Brooks,” “best Hoka running shoes,” “Brooks Ghost vs Nike Pegasus” - these are high-intent, brand-specific searches from buyers who are close to a purchase decision. Click Get Page Keywords on that page to pull the full keyword list and find the specific comparison queries worth targeting.

You now have a content roadmap built from real data, not guesswork.

Finding the right keywords is half the job. The other half is putting them in the right places so Google knows what each page is about.

Product pages need the target keyword in the product title, the first paragraph of the description, the URL slug, and the image alt text. Keep it natural - “Women's Lightweight Trail Running Shoes - Low Drop” reads better than “trail running shoes women lightweight low drop buy online.”

Category pages are your highest-leverage SEO assets. A well-optimized category page for “trail running shoes” can rank for dozens of related searches simultaneously. Include the target keyword in the H1, write a 100–200 word category description that naturally uses the main keyword and two or three related terms, and make sure the page URL is clean (e.g. /trail-running-shoes/ not /category/17?type=3).

Title tags and meta descriptions are what people see before clicking in search results. The title tag should lead with the keyword: “Trail Running Shoes for Women | YourStore” performs better than “YourStore | Women's Shoes > Trail Running.” Meta descriptions don't directly affect rankings but do affect click-through rate - use them to differentiate your listing from competitors on the same page.

Blog content and buying guides capture commercial investigation keywords that wouldn't fit a product or category page. “Best trail running shoes for beginners,” “how to choose trail running shoes” - these guide potential customers toward a purchase while building the topical authority that helps your product pages rank too.

With a list of keyword opportunities from the workflow above, you need a way to decide what to build first. A simple framework:

Start with low-competition, commercial-intent keywords with meaningful CPC. These are the fastest wins. You can realistically rank within weeks to months for low-competition keywords on a newer or mid-authority domain, and the CPC signal confirms buyers are searching.

Target your category pages before your product pages. A category page optimized for “lightweight trail running shoes” will rank for dozens of related searches and funnel visitors to your individual products. A single product page optimized for one keyword is a far smaller bet.

Use long-tail keywords to build early momentum. “Minimalist running shoes for wide feet” gets a fraction of the traffic of “running shoes” - but you can actually rank for it, the traffic converts, and ranking for enough long-tail terms builds the domain authority you'll eventually need for harder keywords.

Watch the trend column closely. Seasonal keywords like “running shoes for winter” spike predictably. Rising-trend keywords in a growing niche often have lower competition now but will become more competitive later - getting in early locks in rankings before the market catches up.