No matter what industry your ecommerce store is in, it's vital that you know your target audience before diving in and planning your SEO strategy. You can have the most attractive site on the web with the best products, but none of it will matter if you're not reaching the right audience.
That's where market research comes in. Market research can help you understand your customer's needs and pain points allowing you to create content tailored specifically to them. It can also help you better understand your direct competitors by identifying which keywords and phrases they are focusing on in their SEO campaigns. This can help you avoid keywords where competition is high and take advantage of those they're not using.
The words that make up a query are commonly referred to as “keywords,” a foundational element of SEO. Since the ultimate goal of your SEO strategy is to help people find your business or products, what more logical place to start than optimizing your site to best match their searches? Selecting the right keywords and strategically placing them in key areas of your pages (e.g. product, category, blog) isn't rocket science, but it does take a little time and dedication.
When you're ready, the Guide to Market & Keyword Research will help you uncover your market's keyword demand and develop a keyword strategy that best attracts the right customers. Plus, you'll learn how to track results so you may learn more about your target customers and make improvements.
In the next chapter, we'll put all of your research into action. We'll show you where to place your keywords and how to use them to create keyword-rich content that is also valuable to your readers.
