🔍 SEO / GEO

Keyword

keyword · keywords · key phrase · search term · search query · key word

Definition

A keyword is a word or phrase entered into a search engine that serves as the basis for optimising pages in order to attract organic traffic.

How keywords are classified

By search volume

Volume is the average monthly number of searches for a query, taken from Google Keyword Planner or
a third-party tool. The thresholds between categories are conventional and shift by niche:

Type	Approximate volume	Character
Head	Over 10,000 a month	Broad, heavily contested
Mid-tail	1,000–10,000 a month	Moderate competition
Long-tail	Under 1,000 a month	Narrow, specific, often transactional

By search intent

Transactional — the person is ready to act: buy a laptop, order flower delivery. The landing
pages are product and category pages.

Informational — the person is researching: how to choose a laptop, MacBook Pro review. The
landing pages are articles, guides and comparisons.

Navigational — a search for one specific site or brand: Apple official site, Amazon my account.
The landing pages are the homepage or a sign-in section.

Tip: before optimising a page for a query, type it into the search engine and look at what
already occupies the top. If it is full of articles, your category page will not take first
place for that query. Work with the intent rather than against it.

How to choose keywords in e-commerce

Prioritise transactional queries. For an online store the value sits in category and product
pages ranking for queries with an explicit intention to buy.

Analyse on-site search. The queries people type directly into your own site search are the
sharpest signal of real demand. A query typed often with no page behind it is a gap in the
catalogue structure.

Account for the long tail. Long-tail queries such as men’s Nike road running shoes size 43 have
low volume individually, but together they add up to substantial traffic and convert better than
broad queries, because the person already knows what they want.

Do not ignore brand queries. Queries containing your brand name are the cheapest traffic you
will ever get, with high conversion. Make sure your site dominates them and optimise the meta tags
for the brand variations.

Frequently asked questions

How do head keywords differ from long-tail keywords?

Head keywords are broad phrases with high search volume (thousands of searches a month) and heavy competition. Long-tail keywords are narrow, specific phrases with less traffic but higher conversion and a realistic chance of ranking. In e-commerce a long-tail query such as buy Asics running shoes size 42 often converts better than the broad trainers.

What is search intent and why does it outrank volume?

Intent is the purpose behind the search. Transactional (buy, price) means the person is ready to purchase. Informational (how to choose, review) means they are still comparing. Navigational (brand official site) means they want one specific resource. The page has to match the intent of the query, or high traffic simply produces a high bounce rate and low conversion.

How do you collect keywords for e-commerce?

The main tools are Google Keyword Planner for volume, and Ahrefs or Semrush for competition and SERP analysis. In e-commerce it also pays to analyse the queries in your own analytics — Search Console and your on-site search — because they show what the people who already arrived are looking for.

How many keywords should one page target?

One page, one primary keyword plus its semantically close variations. Trying to optimise a single page for ten different queries with different intents leads to cannibalization and lowers relevance for every one of them.