So you’ve tackled reverse ASIN, you’ve taken a look at Google Keyword Planner, maybe even splashed out on another keyword tool or subscribed to Helium 10. You’ve got a million keywords, some look completely irrelevant, some you haven’t got a clue on relevance, and you’ve got some indication of search volume. What the hell next?
Well, this is where we probably need to qualify what you’re actually trying to achieve with keyword research. Again, it might seem obvious, but maybe a little overlooked.
The Aim
You’re trying to find keywords that can be used in a product listing (web page) that will appeal to humans (important) but also signal to the search engine that it’s worth showing your listing over another when someone searches for those keywords.
Sounds about right. Probably some finer details that could be expanded upon, but that’s not a bad aim for now.
The dilema
You’ve only got one listing title (page title) with limited characters, so you can’t use every keyword. That’s where search volume comes in, easy. Not so fast…
Just because a search term has high search volume and is highly relevant, it doesn’t mean “that’s the one!”
For example, “table” might be a very relevant keyword for something you sell (especially if it’s a table) and the search volume for table may be pretty damn high. But is table the right word?
Ok, simple fix, add some more words to make it more specific.
“Coffee Table” sounds like a pretty good keyword (again, if you’re selling coffee tables). Then again, there are a billion styles and sizes of coffee table. So it wouldn’t be surprising to find that search volumes for the keyword “Coffee Table” are pretty high. Is this the right keyword?
It’s highly relevant, but:
- There are so many products that “Coffee Table” is relevant for, the competition to rank is huge
- “Coffee Table” is a pretty high level keyword, and people searching for this might just be browsing with little intent to actually buy (They are at the top of the marketing funnel)
So now we start talking about introducing another word that helps make it more specific. Like “Copper Coffee Table” and….the search volumes plummet. But this is a much more specific keyword, with a lot more “buying intent” behind it.
Problem solved? Yes….for THIS keyword, what about the other 1000 you need to sift through?
What about the fact that a Coffee Table is also a “Side Table” or a “Lounge Table”?
With only 1 title, there’s a choice to be made. And we’ve only just talked about the easy bit (really).
Other problem areas
- Is this large, medium, small, mini, micro, XL, big…? and by who’s measure?
- What about tall, short, or long?
Do search volumes really matter in this instance? If you think you have a “Large Copper Coffee Table” but the highest search volume is a for “Medium Copper Coffee Table” do you subscribe to the idea that in many people’s eyes, it could actually be perceived as medium?
A little of a minefield.
Developing an Approach
There are established approaches for using keywords in websites to satisfy the Google search algorithm. Steadily, the science of Amazon Algorithm SEO is emerging and with it is coming an approach.
We’ll be collating the best approaches we find on the web and in practice right here in this post.