A store selling trail running shoes has its collections organised the way the stock arrives: by brand, then by the supplier's range names. The people who buy those shoes search for "waterproof trail running shoes" and "trail shoes for wide feet". Neither phrase appears in a collection title. Google can only match a search to a page that uses the searcher's language, so the list has to begin with how buyers describe what they want. The catalogue comes afterwards.
Buyers describe the thing, your catalogue describes the stock
Google ranks a page for a search when the page's content matches what the searcher meant. It handles synonyms well. It still can't match "wide fit trail shoes" to a collection called "Summit Series" if the page never mentions fit. Your catalogue is organised for buying stock and managing inventory, while the keyword list has to be organised for the person typing.
Store keywords split into two lists that go to different pages. Keep them apart from the start.
Category keywords name a type of thing, often with an attribute: "women's trail running shoes", "waterproof hiking boots", "merino running socks". The searcher wants to see a range, so the page that wins is a collection.
Product keywords name a specific item: a brand plus a model, sometimes with a size, colour or year. The searcher has already chosen and wants that item, so the page that wins is the product page. Which page catches which search covers why mixing the two costs you both.
A third group, the questions people ask before they choose, belongs to guides. Note them as you go for the content chapter. This lesson is about the two lists that sell.
Harvest the words buyers already use
Your seeds should come from buyers. A keyword tool can only expand the language you give it, so start where that language is already written down.
- Your store's on-site search log, if your platform or an app records it. Every phrase typed into your search box is a buyer saying what they wanted in their own words. Searches that returned nothing are the most useful lines.
- Customer questions and reviews. "Does this fit a wide foot" is "wide fit trail shoes" waiting to be written down. Reviews also name the use a product was bought for, which is often a category your store has never named.
- Google Search Console, if the store has been live for a while. Its Performance report lists the queries your pages already appear for, and some will be category phrasings you never targeted.
- Google's own search box. Type a category seed and read the autocomplete suggestions, which Google's explanation of the feature says are drawn from real searches. Then run the search and read the People Also Ask box.
- Competitors' collection menus and the category trees of the large marketplaces. Each is a list of category searches someone else decided were worth a page.
Write each seed in plain words: "trail running shoes", never the supplier's range name.
Expand each seed with the modifiers shoppers add
A seed is a topic and a keyword is a phrasing. "Trail running shoes" becomes a different search, from a different shopper, with every word you add. For stores the modifiers that matter fall into a few families:
- Audience: men's, women's, kids'.
- Use: for racing, for muddy trails, for wide feet.
- Attributes: waterproof, lightweight, vegan.
- Compatibility: "fits" or "compatible with" followed by another product.
- Price and availability: cheap, sale, in stock, or a price ceiling after "under".
- Brand or model names, alone or combined with any of the above.
A suggestion tool returns these expansions at scale. Many will be long-tail keywords: longer, more specific phrases that each get fewer searches but add up, and that are usually easier to win. Expect a long, messy list. The cut comes next.
Score the list, then sort it into product and category
Every candidate gets three readings.
Volume is modelled monthly demand. It's right about scale and wrong about precision, and it differs in every market. Difficulty estimates how strong the current results are, and it only means something when you compare it across your own candidates. Intent says what the searcher wants. The free Keyword checker shows it as a letter: I to learn, C to compare, T to buy, N to find a site. A store wants the C and T phrasings. The I phrasings go to guides.
Cost per click is the reading people skip, and stores should read it first. Advertisers pay for a click when it leads to sales. A category phrase with a healthy cost per click is one the market has already priced as a buyer.
Now sort the survivors. Category phrasings with C or T intent go to the collection list, brand-plus-model phrasings go to the product list, and questions go to the content list. Keep the readings against each line and research each market separately. Treat the whole thing as a draft you'll reorder after the next two lessons.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best keyword research tool?
No single tool wins, because a tool only expands the words you feed it. Your best seeds come from your on-site search log, customer questions, Search Console and Google's own suggestions. Once you have seeds, a suggestion tool and a keyword checker that shows volume, difficulty, intent and cost per click will do the rest.
Is Google keyword research free?
Much of it is. Search Console shows the queries your pages already appear for, and Google's autocomplete and People Also Ask boxes show real searches at no cost. Pair them with the free Keyword suggestions and Keyword checker tools on this site and you can build a full draft list without paying for anything.
Can a beginner do SEO?
Yes, and a store is a good place to start because the job is concrete. You write down how buyers describe what you sell, check each phrasing for demand and intent, and give each one a collection or product page. The steps above are enough for a first pass on your best-selling category.
What to take away
- Google matches searches to pages that use the searcher's words, so a store's keyword list starts with buyer language and is mapped back to the catalogue afterwards.
- Category keywords name a type of thing and belong to collections. Product keywords name a specific item and belong to product pages. Keep the lists separate.
- The best seeds come from your on-site search log, customer questions, Search Console and Google's own suggestions. A tool only multiplies them.
- Read volume, difficulty, intent and cost per click together, and treat cost per click as the market's opinion on whether that searcher buys.
Next
Now sort that list by what each searcher is ready to do in Buying intent for stores.