With over 20 years of experience, we transform your digital presence. We specialize in website and E-Shop development, SEO and Digital Marketing, ERP software and smart automation that take your business to the next level.
Address:
154 Egnatia Street, Thessaloniki 546 36
Phone:
+30 231 231 4095
E-mail:
hello@twodots.gr
Ready for the next step?;
In e-commerce, the challenge is not only to attract visitors to the eshop, but to find those who are ready to buy. Keyword research for buyer keywords is critical as it reveals purchase intentions. The difference between generic and quality traffic can significantly impact revenue. It is important to understand customer intent and identify keywords that are related to products and categories. Thus, the organic channel becomes a customer acquisition mechanism.
In e-commerce, the problem is not just getting more visitors to your eshop. The real issue is attracting people who are close enough to the market that it's worth investing time, content and advertising budget on them. That's where keyword research for buyer keywords comes in: the process of identifying keywords that reveal purchase intent, comparison, evaluation or direct transaction. Semrush's article on buyer keywords highlights a critical truth for every e-commerce owner: not all searches have the same commercial value. Someone searching “what are running shoes” is at a different stage than someone searching “best running shoes for flat feet” or “buy Nike running shoes online”.
For an online store, the difference between generic traffic and quality traffic can mean a huge difference in revenue, ROAS and organic growth. A blog post can bring thousands of visits but zero sales, while a well-optimized category or comparison page can bring fewer visitors but a much higher conversion rate. That's why keyword research should not be treated as a list of search volumes, but as a strategy to understand the customer's intent. The goal is not just to find high volume SEO keywords, but to map out buyer keywords, commercial intent keywords and transactional keywords that can be directly linked to product pages, category pages, landing pages, buying guides and comparison articles.
Buyer keywords are the keywords that a user uses when they are in the evaluation or purchase stage. They don't always mean that the user will buy in the next five minutes, but they do indicate that they've moved beyond just updating. For example, a search like “best CRM for small business” shows commercial intent because the user is comparing options. A search like “buy CRM software price” shows more pronounced transactional intent because the user is considering cost and potential purchase. Similarly, in e-commerce, keywords like “best wireless headphones under 100”, “Nike Air Max 90 price”, “buy laptop in installments” or “organic face cream for sensitive skin” are much closer to revenue than a generic query like “headphones” or “face cream”.
The commercial value of these searches is linked to keyword intent, i.e. what the user really wants to do behind the keyword. Semrush categorizes search intent into informational, navigational, commercial and transactional. For an eshop, the last two categories are those most directly linked to sales. This doesn't mean that informational content has no value. On the contrary, it can build trust, topical authority and future demand. However, if performance is the goal, keyword research should start with buyer intent keywords and expand to the other stages of the content funnel. In this way, the organic channel not only acts as a source of traffic, but as a customer acquisition mechanism.
The importance of purchase intent is also shown by the available consumer insights. According to Google and Ipsos data, 53% of shoppers say they always do research before buying to ensure they make the best choice. This means that much of the buying decision is formed before the user reaches checkout. The eshop that shows up in comparison, evaluation and product selection searches gains an advantage before the customer even decides which brand to buy from.
As shown in the graph below, pre-purchase research is not a peripheral behaviour but a key part of the customer journey.
A mature keyword research for e-commerce is not limited to keywords with the word “purchase”. Buyer keywords come in many forms, depending on the product, price, level of audience knowledge and the degree of competition in the market. The first category is comparison keywords, such as “Shopify vs WooCommerce”, “iPhone 15 vs Samsung S24” or “best sleep mattress for average”. These are commercial intent keywords because the user is comparing solutions and needs arguments, tables, reviews and clear differences. The second category is review keywords, such as “Semrush review”, “electric bike reviews” or “best reviews for child car seat”. These searches are associated with trust and social proof, so they are ideal for content that combines experience, pros, cons and real use cases.
The third category is transactional keywords, which include words such as “buy”, “purchase”, “price”, “offer”, “coupon”, “installment”, “free shipping”, “near me” or “online”. For example, “buy ergonomic office chair”, “protein powder offer” or “men's sneakers free shipping” indicate a user who is very close to the market. The fourth category is problem-solving keywords, such as “shoes for flat feet”, “cream for dry skin in winter” or “software for small business pricing”. These are great for long tail keywords because they link the product to a specific problem and allow the brand to appear as a solution, not just a product list.
On a practical level, each keyword type should correspond to different content. Keywords for ecommerce that have a strong transactional intent should lead to categories, products or landing pages. Comparison and review queries can be supported with buying guides, comparison articles and “best of” pages. Problem-solution queries are suitable for blog posts, FAQ sections and internal links to products. This connection between keyword intent and page is the core of keyword mapping, the process by which you decide which keyword is served by which page, at which stage of the funnel and with which conversion goal.
Proper keyword research starts with the market, not the tool. Before you open any SEO platform, you need to capture key product categories, best sellers, high margin products, seasonal priorities, and questions your sales or service team receives. If a product has a high margin but low organic visibility, it may be worth more than a general category with huge search volume but weak conversion. The first step, then, is to set commercial priorities: which categories you want to grow, which products have inventory, which bundles you want to promote and which searches can lead to profitable purchase.
In the second step, you create seed keywords. If you sell fitness equipment, seed terms might be “exercise treadmill”, “dumbbells”, “resistance tires”, “exercise bike” and “exercise bench”. From these you generate variations with purchase intent modifiers: “best”, “price”, “buy”, “offer”, “beginners”, “home”, “with warranty”, “installment”, “compare”, “review”. Thus, a generic keyword becomes a more targeted buyer keyword: from “gym treadmill” to “best home gym treadmill” or “gym treadmill price with installments”.
In the third step, you evaluate each keyword on three criteria: search volume, difficulty and commercial value. Volume indicates demand, but volume alone is not enough. Difficulty shows how competitive the SERP is. Commercial value is assessed by intent, CPC, the existence of Google Ads, the type of results that appear and how close the query is to your product. A keyword with moderate volume but high purchase intent can be more valuable than a generic keyword with ten times the traffic. At this point you need competitive keyword analysis: which competitors are showing up, what kind of pages they have, how well they cover the intent and what gaps they leave.
In the fourth step, you analyze the SERP manually. If for a query Google shows mostly product categories, then you probably need a category page. If it shows “best” type listings, you need a buying guide. If it displays reviews, you need evaluative content. If it displays video or rich snippets, you need to consider schema, FAQ, images and multimedia. Search intent is not a theory; it shows up in the results Google already selects. The fifth step is keyword mapping. You create a table with columns for keyword, intent, funnel stage, search volume, difficulty, CPC, suggested URL, content type, main CTA and internal links. This table becomes your SEO growth map for the coming months.
In step six, you write or optimize the content based on the actual purchase decision. For transactional keywords, the page needs to have clear information on price, availability, shipping, returns, filters and trust signals. For commercial intent keywords, comparisons, pros, cons, tables, photos, FAQs and clear recommendations per use case are needed. For product keywords, such as models, brands or specific codes, the page needs to be accurate, fast, complete and technically clear. In step seven, track rankings, CTR, organic revenue, assisted conversions and internal search data. Keyword research is not completed when a page is published; it is completed when the page begins to provide performance data.
One of the most common mistakes in eshops is that they treat all keywords as if they should lead to blog posts. This creates content that informs, but doesn't sell. The right content funnel starts with understanding the stage the user is at. At the top of the funnel are informational searches, such as “how to choose a mattress” or “what is a collagen supplement”. These build awareness and can bring in new users. In the middle are commercial queries, such as “best mattress for back pain” or “collagen supplement reviews”. There the user is comparing options and needs guidance. At the bottom are transactional queries, such as “buy orthopedic mattress online” or “collagen supplement offer”. There you need to reduce friction and drive purchase.
This mapping also affects internal linking. An informational article should lead to a market or category guide. A buying guide must lead to products, bundles or collections. A category must be supported by filters, descriptions, FAQs and links to relevant guides. Thus, long tail keywords do not work in isolation, but feed the sales pages with relevant traffic and authority. For example, an article “how to choose running shoes” can be linked to a guide “best running shoes for beginners” and from there to a category “running shoes” or specific product pages. In this way, keyword research becomes a sales architecture.
Organic search ranking remains critical, especially when it comes to buyer keywords. Based on First Page Sage's analysis of click-through rates per organic position on Google, the first position garners a significantly higher CTR than the next. This means that for keywords of high buyer value, even a small improvement in position can have a disproportionately large impact on revenue.
The graph below shows the drop in CTR from the first to the tenth organic position, which explains why high-intent keywords deserve constant optimization.
| Category | Price |
|---|---|
| Position 1 | 39.8% |
| Position 2 | 18.7% |
| Position 3 | 10.2% |
| Position 4 | 7.2% |
| Position 5 | 5.1% |
| Position 6 | 4.4% |
| Position 7 | 3% |
| Position 8 | 2.1% |
| Position 9 | 1.9% |
| Position 10 | 1.6% |
To avoid the trap of “lots of keywords, little strategy”, you need a simple but rigorous scoring model. You can score each keyword from 1 to 5 on four axes: purchase intent, product relevance, organic opportunity and business value. Purchase intent looks at whether the user is comparing, asking for a price or ready to buy. Relevance shows how directly related the keyword is to your product or category. Organic opportunity looks at whether the SERP has weak results, incomplete content or places for rich results. Business value takes into account margin, availability, average cart and strategic importance.
Let's take an example. If you have an eshop with sleepwear, the keyword “mattress” has huge volume but unclear intent and very high competition. The keyword “best mattress for back pain” has lower volume but much clearer commercial intent. The keyword “buy orthopedic mattress 160×200” has even stronger transactional intent and probably higher value per visit. The point is not to choose just one of these, but to place them correctly in the funnel. The category can target the general product keyword, the purchase guide the commercial query and the product or collection page the transactional query.
In practice, the best results come when you combine tools and real business data. SEO tools show volume, difficulty, CPC and competitors. Google Search Console shows impressions, clicks and CTR for queries where you already appear. Google Analytics or ecommerce tracking shows revenue and conversion paths. In-site search reveals what users are searching for after they enter the eshop. Conversations with customer support reveal objections, questions and customer language. When these are put together, keyword research gains commercial accuracy. You don't write content because it “has volume,” but because it answers a real buying need.
The first mistake is being overly attached to search volume. Many eshops go after generic keywords because they look impressive in a report. But a generic keyword can bring in users who are too far away from the market or don't match your offer at all. The second mistake is mismatching intent and page. If a user searches “best trail running shoes” and you send them to a simple category with no guidance, they probably won't get the answer they want. Similarly, if he searches “buy trail running shoes size 43” and you send him to a blog post, you create unnecessary distance from the marketplace.
The third mistake is the lack of experience and credibility in the content. For buyer intent keywords to deliver, the content must be persuasive. You need real selection criteria, photos, technical features, comparisons, return policies, shipping information, reviews and clarity. This is where E-E-A-T comes in: experience, expertise, authority and credibility. An article “the best laptops for students” that simply lists products without criteria, use cases and documentation does not build trust. On the contrary, a guide that explains RAM, weight, autonomy, warranty, budget and appropriate choices by school can serve as a true buying guide.
The fourth mistake is lack of measurement. If you're not tracking which pages are bringing in organic revenue, which queries have a high CTR, which keywords are going up but not converting, and which pages have low engagement, you can't improve your strategy. Keyword research should be linked to KPIs such as organic sales, assisted conversions, add-to-cart rate, conversion rate per landing page, average order value and revenue per organic session. Only then can you decide if you need to expand content, change CTAs, improve category copy or create new landing pages.
A professional SEO strategy for e-commerce must start with a commercial understanding and end with an actionable plan. In practice, this means an audit of existing pages, category analysis based on revenue potential, keyword research for each stage of the funnel, competitive keyword analysis, technical audit, content plan and a measurable optimization plan. For each major category, there should be a cluster that includes category page, supporting guides, comparison content, FAQs and product-level optimization. Thus, the eshop does not rely on single pages but on thematic coverage that helps both the user and the search engine.
Most importantly, treat buyer keywords as commercial assets. Any keyword with strong purchase intent represents a potential revenue stream. If you ignore it, your competitor will show up the moment the customer is comparing, evaluating or ready to buy. If you cover it properly, with an appropriate page, strong content, technical clarity and a clear value proposition, you turn organic search into a sales channel. Keyword research is not just SEO work; it's a business development tool. And for an eshop that wants to grow sustainably, the difference between simple traffic and traffic with purchase intent is often the difference between traffic and actual profit.
Sources: Semrush - Buyer Keywords: What They Are and How to Find Them, Think with Google - Shoppers research before purchase, First Page Sage - Google CTR by Ranking Position, Google Search Central - Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content, Google Search Central - Structured Data Introduction
Buyer keywords are keywords that indicate purchase or evaluation intent by users. They are important for e-commerce because they help eshops to target visitors who are closer to the market, thus increasing conversion rate and revenue.
Buyer keywords have a specific commercial intent, while general keywords can be merely informational. For example, “best running headphones” indicates purchase intent, while “headphones” is more generic and informative.
The main types of buyer keywords include comparison keywords, review keywords, transactional keywords and problem-solution keywords. Each type helps target different stages of the buying journey.
Keyword research is important because it helps to understand customer intent and select keywords that can lead to increased sales and better return on advertising budget.
To optimise your content, you need to link the right keywords to the right pages, such as products, categories and buying guides. It's also important to offer clear information and guidance that matches the user's intent.
Common mistakes include over-emphasis on search volume, mismatching intent and page, and lack of credibility in content. It's important to measure performance and adjust your strategy accordingly.
You can link the keywords to the content funnel by positioning the pages according to the stage of the buying journey. For example, informational queries lead to articles, while transactional queries lead to product pages.
