Maximizing Your SEO Potential: Top 12 keyword Research Tools for Ecommerce Businesses

You can have excellent high-quality products and incredible prices, but without brand awareness it is impossible to run a successful eCommerce business. A thriving eCommerce store must be visible online in order to attract customers. You can help potential customers discover your store through organic search by incorporating SEO into your eCommerce marketing strategy. To increase organic search traffic, you must start by researching organic keywords that your potential customers are looking up. This article will discuss the most popular keyword research tools and how you can use them to optimize your SEO strategy.

What are keyword research tools?

Keyword research tools analyze commonly searched words and phrases and generate a list of keywords and their search volume. By incorporating these keywords into your website content and product listings, you can improve your organic search engine ranking. Meaning, you will rank higher on search engines like Google, making it easier for potential customers to discover your store.

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Types of keyword research tools

Keyword research tools can be either free or paid. Free tools typically offer keyword suggestions and search volume data for a limited number of terms. Paid tools often have more features, allow for more queries and provide automated keyword generation based on a starting keyword or phrase. In this article we will discuss both the top free and paid options.

What features do keyword research tools have?

Keyword research tools offer valuable features to generate relevant keywords for a website or eCommerce platform. However, not all tools offer the exact same service. The following are some key functions to keep in mind when determining which tool is best for your eCommerce business.

• ‍Keyword suggestions: A list of keywords and phrases that have high search volumes.‍
• Keyword competition analysis: Analyzes your competitors’ websites and identifies the keywords they use to drive search traffic.‍
• Keyword difficulty rankings: Tells you how easy or difficult it is to rank on the first search result page for that keyword.‍
• Backlink data: Provides information on your competitors’ backlinks to assist you in determining the number of backlinks you need to improve your performance.

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The best free keyword research tools

Using a free tool can serve as a great starting point for conducting keyword research, especially for newly launched ecommerce businesses operating with a tighter budget. The following are 6 of the most popular free keyword research tools:

Google Keyword Planner: Google keyword planner is a free tool that comes with a Google Ads account, which is free to make. It displays the monthly search volume for specific keywords and their trends over time, while also generating phrase match reports to determine if word order impacts search results.

Google Search Console: With Google Search Console you can gain insight into the keywords your website is already ranking for, identify any technical issues negatively impacting your search performance, and discover the websites that backlink to your site.

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AnswerThePublic: AnswerThePublic listens into autocomplete data from search engines like Google. With the free plan you can research up to three queries daily.

Keyword Surfer: This Google Chrome extension shows you recent search volumes and the estimated cost-per-click when you search for terms using Google. Another fun feature it offers is using AI to generate blog or article outlines based on specific keywords.

Question DB: Question DB helps you find the questions most people ask on a certain topic. What sets Question DB apart from most other keyword tools is that it focuses on questions users search, not only keywords. It also searches databases like Reddit and Quora to find commonly searched questions. The free plan provides up to 50 results per search.

Moz: Moz offers user-friendly reports on keyword difficulty, search volumes, and organic clickthrough rates. The free plan provides 10 queries per month for each of its tools.

The best paid keyword research tools

For eCommerce companies with larger budgets or more SEO experience, the comprehensive features available on paid tools will be more beneficial than the free alternatives. The following are 6 of the most popular paid keyword research tools:

SEO Powersuite: SEO Powersuite is an all-in-one solution that includes competitor rankings, sitewide SEO audits, backlink history, and custom-generated SEO reports. Annual plans start at $299. 

Ahrefs: With Ahrefs, you can enter a keyword and get insights into its search volume, difficulty level, and potential traffic. You can also view keyword suggestions, analyze your competitors' keyword strategies, and track your own keyword rankings. The monthly plan starts at $99.

Serpstat: Serpstat helps you discover new keywords, analyze their search volume and competition level, track your own keyword rankings and analyze competitor keywords. Additionally, Serpstat can also generate a custom content plan for implementing high-performing keywords. Plans start at $69 per month.

Semrush: Semrush offers a wide range of features, including keyword research, backlink analysis, site audits, competitor analysis and more. Along with providing the search volume, user intent and difficulty of keywords you enter, Semrush also suggests related terms and phrases. Paid plans start at $120 per month.

Surfer SEO: Surfer SEO focuses on content optimization. It includes a keyword research tool that provides data on search volume, keyword difficulty, and related keywords. Additionally, its content editor tool analyzes the top-ranking pages for your target keyword and provides suggestions for optimizing your content to achieve better rankings.

Long Tail Pro: Long Tail Pro focuses on finding longer keywords and phrases with low competition. It also provides data on the top-ranking pages for each keyword, allowing you to analyze their content and backlink strategies. Annual subscriptions start at $297.

Using Keyword Research Tools 

Whether you opt to use a free tool or a paid tool, keyword research is essential for any eCommerce store looking to improve their online visibility and drive more traffic. These tools can help you gain a competitive edge by providing valuable insights into  the keywords and phrases that potential customers are searching for. By using these insights to optimize your website content, you can improve your search engine rankings and ultimately increase sales and revenue.