Buying Keywords: 9 Reasons They’re Essential For Optimising Your Website

The United Kingdom has the third largest e-commerce market in the world.

If you operate an e-commerce site, you depend on digital traffic to stay afloat. Online visibility is central to your ability to drive conversion rates and manage tight profit margins.

As such, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is quickly becoming every e-commerce marketer’s favourite digital advertising tool.

Given the mere fact that Google processes 40,000 search queries a second, optimised content can profoundly influence lead generation.

An e-commerce SEO campaign that prioritises buying keywords, in particular, is more likely to generate the sales results you crave.

What are buying keywords and how can they help optimise your e-commerce site? Read on for insight.

The Heart of SEO: Keywords

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) harnesses Google’s ever-increasing presence in the digital market.

Search engines give internet users around the world the means to find the information they need at any moment. For e-commerce business owners, taking advantage of search engine power is critical to success.

Effective e-commerce SEO requires an understanding of your target market. It also depends on the right keyword selection.

A typical Google search involves the input of a few words that best approximate a user’s intent, such as “copywriting services in Yorkshire” or “what are buying keywords.”

An SEO campaign identifies keywords a target market is likely to use to discover a certain site or product online.

The keyword selection process is quite nuanced, particularly when optimising multiple pages of content. This is why a lot of e-commerce business owners consult professionals when it comes to implementing SEO.

Becoming more fluent in the world of search engine keywords can help you understand your customers’ needs and, most importantly, how you can meet them.

Buying Keywords

This is where buying keywords enter the scene. Buying keywords are ones that often precede a purchase decision.

They appear in Google searches a user performs with high buying intention. These are often long-tail keywords–more than three words–and highly specified.

Examples include “where to buy women’s Scarpa hiking boots” or “discount on Joss & Main couch.”

Naturally, most e-commerce business owners want their target market to type buying keywords into Google. If their site appears in search results for buying keyword searches, it has a higher likelihood of earning a conversion.

Buying keywords can be essential for optimising your e-commerce website. Here are a few reasons why you should incorporate them into your existing campaign.

1. They Get to the Heart of User Intent

Every business owner covets buying keywords. However, buying keywords don’t necessarily indicate that a purchase is definitively going to happen.

Rather, they help business owners understand user intention and awareness. This can be critical in truly getting inside the minds of your target audience.

More fully understanding your user needs and intentions enables more effective digital marketing strategies in general.

Take the following buying keyword as an example: “hire an SEO specialist in Yorkshire.”

This keyword tells us several things at first glance. One, the user has specific SEO needs in Yorkshire (and no other geographic location). Secondly, the user is considering hiring an SEO specialist rather than an agency.

The word “specialist” is actually quite telling. This long-tail buying keyword could also indicate the searcher’s desire to know more about the process of hiring a specialist.

Your conclusion with this keyword may be that a Yorkshire-based individual (business owner or not) is curious about hiring SEO speciality services. In other words, they have a specific SEO-related need.

Crafting buying keywords and implementing them into online content can help you meet your users’ needs (like this one) on as many levels as possible. This is central to every marketing funnel, which we discuss at the end of this post.

2. Leverage Local SEO

You may have noticed that our example buying keywords include a location: “London” and “Yorkshire.”

Location-based keywords are central to any local optimisation campaign. Local SEO is designed to rank content for location-specific searches. It is critical for brick-and-mortar businesses needing more community traffic.

It can also be valuable for e-commerce sites seeking ways to target certain demographics within specific geographies.

E-commerce SEO that incorporates a local factor can benefit from buying keywords. Buying keywords that integrate a specific location are on the higher end of the “purchase likelihood” scale.

3. Gain Product Visibility

Buying keywords often highlight a particular product or service a user wishes to purchase. In many cases, these keywords are very product-specific.

For this reason, using buying keywords in your SEO strategy can give individual products greater online visibility.

If you are an online retailer distributing hiking boots, for example, you may have already optimised content for “women’s Scarpa hiking boots.”

However, this is not a buying keyword. A user may be interested in learning more about these boots, but this keyword does not display buying intent.

“Discount on women’s Scarpa hiking boots size 41,” however, does. This is a hefty long-tail keyword that shows a narrow purchase focus (the size is specified) and desire (discount needed).

If you have been seeking ways to sell certain products, look beyond mere discounts and promotions. Incorporate buying keywords to boost product visibility and clear inventory.

4. Craft the Right Content

E-commerce optimisation depends on high-value content. This is especially the case when using buying keywords.

Once again, the input of a buying keyword does not guarantee a purchase. Users must also be able to navigate to your site and find a reason to stay there.

Implementing buying keywords into your e-commerce SEO campaign also means crafting the right content. In many cases, this content goes beyond a product description page.

For example, return to the buying keyword example of “hire an SEO specialist in Yorkshire.” This buying keyword could actually identify a user’s desire to learn more about the hiring process.

For this reason, this buying keyword could appear in a blog post on your site detailing the steps for hiring an SEO professional. Providing this educational content can nurture your new lead more effectively towards a purchase decision.

5. Attract More Relevant Organic Traffic

Organic traffic is any traffic a website earns through non-paid sources. This is why a lot of business owners implement SEO in the first place.

High organic traffic, however, does not mean relevant organic traffic. Traffic is relevant when visitors are more likely to linger on your site (and hopefully make a purchase).

Buying keywords can help e-commerce sites acquire more organic traffic. Because they are so tailored to market need, they are also more likely to generate relevant organic traffic.

Using these types of keywords can increase the average time of visitor sessions, a key SEO metric that indicates relevance. This, in turn, can leverage Google credibility and preserve high rankings.

6. Boost a Blog

Blogs are central marketing tools all e-commerce business owners have at their disposal. They provide virtually unlimited content for optimisation.

They also give marketers a chance to give visitors high-value, informative content that can aid in purchase decisions.

Users entering buying keywords into Google may require further nurturing. Blogs can be your solution.

In fact, optimising blog posts for buying keywords can leverage your blog as a whole, providing a pathway to further content likely to help a lead convert. Leveraging your blog in this way can be more successful than other digital means, such as social media promotion.

7. Identify Buying Keywords Yourself

Simply spending time with your inventory and using some helpful online tools can identify high-performing buying keywords.

We recommend KWFinder as an excellent research tool for buying keywords. Other helpful software includes SEMrush and Moz Pro.

Performing organic searches of your own can identify current product and content visibility. If you are currently running a Google AdWords campaign, use Google’s Keyword Planner to identify popular buying keywords.

8. Hone the Marketing Funnel

Most consumers proceed through what is called a “marketing funnel” on their way to making a purchase decision. This funnel usually begins with awareness of a need and progresses to research-gathering, comparing of products or services, and the purchase itself.

Using buying keywords in your e-commerce SEO campaign can help you hone your own marketing funnel.

Because buying keywords can indicate two or three stages of the marketing funnel, they enable marketers to step up their game.

For example, the buying process often involves reflection and risk analysis. You can use a buying keyword to compel visitors to content that helps with the risk analysis process.

9. Elevate Conversion Rates

Honing your marketing funnel, generating high-value content, understanding your users’ needs–all of these benefits lead to one satisfying conclusion.

Buying keywords elevate conversion rates.

Conversion rates are directly influenced by the way you engage with your customers. They are also informed by the extent of your knowledge of customer needs and thought processes.

Buying keywords address all of this and more, generating the sales e-commerce sites require for success.

The Importance of Buying Keywords

Buying keywords are immensely valuable to e-commerce business owners. They offer insight into user intent, enabling you to more effectively address consumer needs.

Furthermore, implementing buying keywords can attract more relevant organic traffic and elevate conversion rates. Many business owners successfully incorporate buying keywords on their own, with the help of online tools.

However, navigating the world of e-commerce SEO can be daunting, and it can be difficult to effectively choose buying keywords. We understand and are here to help.

At DMD Design, we love helping our clients achieve the digital visibility they require. Start a conversation now to learn more.