Most Shopify store owners approach keyword research backwards. They build the store, write product descriptions using whatever language feels natural, and then wonder why organic traffic never arrives.
Keyword research isn’t something you do after the store is built. It’s the foundation everything else is built on — your product page copy, your collection page structure, your blog content, your Google Ads campaigns. Get it right early and every other SEO decision you make compounds on top of it. Skip it and you spend months optimising pages for keywords nobody actually searches for.
This guide covers the complete keyword research process for Shopify stores — from finding your seed keywords to mapping them across your store — using both free and paid methods.
Table of Contents
Why Keyword Research for Shopify Is Different
Keyword research for a Shopify store isn’t the same as keyword research for a blog or a service business. You’re dealing with multiple page types — homepage, collection pages, product pages, and blog posts — and each type needs its own keyword strategy.
The most common mistake: putting informational keywords on product pages and transactional keywords on blog posts. A product page targeting “what is a cast iron skillet” will never convert because the searcher isn’t ready to buy. A blog post targeting “buy cast iron skillet online” is fighting against product pages and shopping ads it can’t compete with.
Each page type has its own keyword intent:
- Homepage — brand keywords and your primary category keyword
- Collection pages — broad commercial keywords (“men’s running shoes”, “organic skincare”)
- Product pages — specific transactional keywords (“Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 41”, “vitamin C serum 20%”)
- Blog posts — informational and comparison keywords (“how to choose running shoes”, “retinol vs vitamin C serum”)
Map keywords to page types before you write a single word of content.
Step 1 — Start With Seed Keywords
Seed keywords are the broad, obvious terms that describe your products and categories. They’re the starting point for all your research — not the keywords you’ll actually target, but the input you’ll use to find the keywords you will.
How to find your seed keywords:
Think like your buyer, not like your brand. The words you use internally to describe your products are often different from the words customers use to search for them.
Start with:
- Your main product categories (e.g. “running shoes”, “coffee equipment”, “leather bags”)
- Your main product types within each category
- The problems your products solve (“waterproof hiking boots”, “spill-proof coffee travel mug”)
- Who your products are for (“running shoes for flat feet”, “coffee equipment for beginners”)
Write these down. You should have 10–30 seed keywords before moving to tools.
Step 2 — Use Google Before Any Tool
Google itself is the most underused keyword research tool available — and it’s completely free.
Google Autocomplete
Type your seed keyword into Google’s search bar and stop before pressing enter. The dropdown suggestions are real searches people make, ordered by volume. Each suggestion is a potential keyword for your store.
Work through every variation:
- Type your seed keyword
- Add a letter after it (a, b, c…) and see what autocomplete suggests
- Add words before it (“best”, “cheap”, “buy”, “for women”, “UK”)
People Also Ask
Search your seed keyword and look at the “People also ask” box that appears in results. These are questions real people ask around your topic — each one is a potential blog post or FAQ section for a product page.
Related Searches
Scroll to the bottom of any Google results page and look at the related searches section. These are semantically related terms Google associates with your query — useful for finding secondary keywords and topic variations you hadn’t considered.
What the search results tell you about intent
Before targeting any keyword, Google it yourself and look at what ranks. The results page tells you exactly what Google thinks the intent is:
- Top results are product pages and shopping ads → transactional intent → target with product or collection pages
- Top results are blog posts, how-to guides, or comparison articles → informational/commercial intent → target with blog content
- Mixed results → mixed intent → either page type can work
Never target a keyword with the wrong page type. If Google is ranking product pages for a query, your blog post won’t rank for it — and vice versa.
Step 3 — Google Keyword Planner (Free)
Google Keyword Planner is free with a Google account — you don’t need an active ad campaign to use it, despite what some guides suggest.
Go to Google Ads → Tools → Keyword Planner → Discover new keywords → enter your seed keywords.
What to look at:
- Average monthly searches — gives you a volume range. Note: Keyword Planner shows ranges (100–1K, 1K–10K) not exact numbers unless you’re running active campaigns
- Competition — this refers to advertiser competition (how many advertisers bid on the term), not SEO difficulty. High advertiser competition usually means strong commercial intent — a useful signal
- Year-over-year trends — tells you if a keyword is growing or declining in search volume
What to export:
Download the full list as a CSV and filter for keywords with:
- At least “100–1K” monthly searches
- High commercial intent (either high advertiser competition or clearly transactional phrasing)
- Direct relevance to your products
Step 4 — Ahrefs or SEMrush (Paid — Worth It)
Free tools get you far, but if you’re serious about Shopify SEO, a paid tool subscription unlocks the data that makes keyword research significantly faster and more accurate.
Both Ahrefs and SEMrush offer:
- Exact monthly search volumes — not ranges
- Keyword difficulty scores — a realistic estimate of how hard a keyword is to rank for
- SERP analysis — who’s currently ranking and why
- Competitor keyword gaps — keywords your competitors rank for that you don’t
- Parent topic identification — tells you which broader keyword your target keyword clusters under, helping you avoid creating duplicate content for keywords Google treats as the same topic
How to use them for Shopify specifically:
Enter a competitor’s Shopify store URL into Ahrefs Site Explorer or SEMrush Domain Overview. Look at their top-ranking pages and the keywords driving traffic to those pages. This immediately shows you the keywords that are actually generating results in your niche — no guesswork.
Filter competitor keywords by:
- Keyword difficulty under 30 (for a new store)
- Search volume over 100/month
- Commercial or transactional intent
These are your priority targets.
Step 5 — Google Search Console (For Existing Stores)
If your store has been live for more than a few months, Google Search Console is your most valuable keyword research source — because it shows you keywords real people are already using to find your store, even if you’re not ranking well for them yet.
Go to Search Console → Performance → Search results
Look for:
- High impressions, low clicks — you’re appearing in results but not getting clicks. Usually means your title or meta description needs improving, or you’re ranking on page 2–3 for a keyword worth targeting more aggressively
- Keywords you rank for but haven’t targeted — sometimes Google decides your page is relevant for a keyword you didn’t intend to target. If the keyword is valuable, create dedicated content for it
- Question-based queries — any “how to”, “what is”, or “best X for Y” queries appearing in your data are blog post opportunities
Filter the data by page to see which specific URLs are getting impressions and for which keywords. This tells you where your existing SEO is working and where the gaps are.
Step 6 — Evaluate and Prioritise Your Keywords
After running through the steps above, you’ll have a large list of potential keywords. Now you need to prioritise them.
The three factors that matter:
Search volume — how many people search for this term per month. Higher is better, but volume alone isn’t enough. A keyword with 200 monthly searches and high buying intent is more valuable than one with 5,000 searches and purely informational intent.
Keyword difficulty — how competitive the keyword is. For a new Shopify store with low domain authority, target keywords with a difficulty score under 20–30 (on Ahrefs scale). These are the terms where you can realistically rank within 3–6 months.
Commercial intent — how likely is someone searching this keyword to actually buy something? Transactional keywords (with “buy”, “best”, “for [specific use case]”, pricing language) have the highest buying intent. Informational keywords (with “how to”, “what is”, “why”) have lower immediate buying intent but are valuable for building topical authority and capturing early-stage buyers.
Priority framework:
| Keyword Type | Volume | Difficulty | Use On |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brand + product | Low–Medium | Low | Homepage, product pages |
| Category commercial | Medium–High | Medium | Collection pages |
| Long-tail transactional | Low–Medium | Low | Product pages |
| Informational / comparison | Medium | Low–Medium | Blog posts |
Step 7 — Map Keywords to Pages
Once you have your prioritised keyword list, assign one primary keyword to each page. One page, one primary keyword. Secondary and related keywords support the primary but you never optimise a single page for multiple competing primary keywords.
Your keyword map should look like this:
| Page | Primary Keyword | Secondary Keywords |
|---|---|---|
| Homepage | [your brand] + main category | brand name variations |
| /collections/running-shoes | men’s running shoes | running shoes for men UK |
| /products/nike-pegasus-41 | Nike Pegasus 41 | Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 41 review |
| /blog/how-to-choose-running-shoes | how to choose running shoes | running shoe buying guide |
Build this map in a spreadsheet and update it every time you add a new page or post. It prevents keyword cannibilisation — where two of your own pages compete for the same keyword — and keeps your SEO strategy organised as your store grows.
Step 8 — Where to Place Keywords in Your Shopify Store
Once your keyword map is built, here’s where to place your primary keyword on each page:
- Page/product title — most important placement
- URL handle — keep it clean and keyword-relevant
- Meta title — include primary keyword naturally, ideally near the start
- Meta description — include primary keyword and write it to earn clicks
- First paragraph of description — within the first 100 words of your page content
- At least one image alt text — descriptive, not keyword-stuffed
- H2 or H3 subheadings — where relevant and natural
Secondary keywords should appear naturally throughout the body content — don’t force them. Google’s understanding of semantic context means related terms used naturally carry almost as much weight as exact keyword matches.
What Not to Do
Don’t target keywords your domain can’t compete for yet
A brand new Shopify store competing for “running shoes” or “coffee maker” against established retailers with thousands of backlinks is wasted effort. Start with specific long-tail keywords, rank for those, build domain authority, then work up to more competitive terms.
Don’t target the same keyword on multiple pages
If two pages on your store target the same primary keyword, they compete against each other in Google’s index — and typically neither ranks well. Use your keyword map to ensure every page has a unique primary keyword.
Don’t ignore search intent
A perfectly optimised product page will not rank for an informational query, no matter how well you’ve done everything else. Always check what’s currently ranking for your target keyword before creating content for it.
Don’t do keyword research once and never revisit it
Search behaviour changes. New competitors enter your niche. Seasonal trends shift volume. Google Search Console gives you ongoing keyword data — build a habit of reviewing it monthly to find new opportunities and address declining pages.
Final Thoughts
Keyword research isn’t a one-time task — it’s an ongoing intelligence system for your Shopify store. The store owners who do it properly understand their customers better than those who don’t, because keyword data is customer intent data. Every query tells you something about what people want, what they’re comparing, and what they’re ready to buy.
Get your keyword map built before you write any more product descriptions, collection page content, or blog posts — and every piece of content you create from that point forward will have a clear purpose and a realistic chance of ranking.
If you want help building a keyword strategy for your Shopify store or running a full SEO audit, feel free to connect.
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