Prioritizing keywords – how to decide which products are worth positioning?

This article was created in collaboration with the iCEA Group.

Selection and analysis of keywords for an ongoing SEO campaign is a tedious and complicated process. Surprisingly, it is not enough just to run tools and see which phrases are most searched by Internet users. Prioritization, that is, determining the importance of individual words or entire groups of key phrases is important. Based only on this, you should decide which products in your online store are worth positioning. How to do this? Here is an explanation!

What is the prioritization of keywords?

Prioritizing keywords involves analyzing all the phrases selected for a campaign and then determining which ones are most relevant to SEO and overall online success.

Why are prioritizing keywords important?

Some phrases are essential to your store’s SEO, while others are just casually related words. Determining the most important ones is the key to success. Why should you do this? Simply so that when optimizing, you can focus on words that can actually positively affect your website traffic statistics.

The main phrase for a subpage should be in the URL, meta title, meta description, and H1 header. Placing fewer SEO-relevant phrases in these places will not bring as good results. However, the most important phrases for the entire business are most often placed on the homepage.

Besides, of course, it’s about generating traffic and attracting users. Suppose a bicycle store that specializes in selling unicycles additionally has bidon basket fixing screws in its product range. Which phrase for SEO in the case of this store will be more relevant – women’s city bike or bidon basket fixing bolt? Definitely the first one, right?

Also, the number of keywords placed on the page is important. Main phrases should be repeated several times, while side phrases can appear only once.

Keyword cannibalization – what is it?

Keyword cannibalization occurs when several subpages of the same site are optimized for a single keyword phrase. It results in their alternating display in the search engine. This is a mistake that prevents stable positioning.

Determining the importance of individual words or groups of words will allow you to organize them and then assign them to a specific section on the website. This will help avoid cannibalization.

Which products are worth positioning?

How to choose which products are worth focusing on when building an SEO strategy? An in-depth keyword analysis is the basis, of course, but also defining your business goals.

Prioritizing phrases will allow you not only to plan an effective SEO strategy that generates a lot of traffic but also to create a logical structure for your site (division into categories and product groups).

Keyword analysis using SEO tools

Note that following your intuition when it comes to SEO is not necessarily a good idea. If a phrase is most relevant in your opinion, it doesn’t mean that it will be the case in reality. Perhaps users are most likely to type something completely different into a search engine.

The most effective way to prioritize is, of course, professional analysis using SEO tools. You have a starting point if you’ve already prepared a list of key phrases for your store. Now you need to make a selection. The Keyword Planner from Google, which you can find in the Google Ads tool, will help you with this.

Google Keyword Planner

To perform an analysis of your pre-selected words, choose the option on the right, i.e. Get search volume and forecasts.

Type the keywords in the indicated place and click Get Started. After a while, you will get statistics about the entered phrases.

Based on the report, you can determine which keywords are most frequently searched by users. This will help you select the products for which the investment in SEO will be most profitable. For example, you will be able to use them later in blog articles.

Other tools for analyzing key phrases are:

• Ubersuggest,
• Ahrefs,
• KeywordTool,
• Senuto.

But remember that effective keyword selection is not about choosing those with the highest average number of searches. You also need to pay attention to search engine competition. If a great number of high-authority sites fight for position on a particular phrase, it will be either impossible or very expensive to achieve success. Therefore, it is important to strike a balance between competition and search volume.

Google Search Console is also worth using. This free analytics tool will tell you which phrases on your site are generating the most traffic. It is another valuable tip for prioritizing phrases and products in your online store.

Determination of users’ intentions

When analyzing and prioritizing key phrases, don’t forget about user intent. So what if you pick out the most important products in an online store if their subpages are optimized for phrases that are poorly matched to the intentions of Internet users?

Long tail phrases, i.e. phrases consisting of several words, e.g. women’s bicycle helmet blue, are important in e-commerce. Such phrases offer the greatest chance of increasing conversions, as they are used by consumers who are ready to buy.

Keyword selection and analysis is a long and complicated process. Remember to focus especially on search volume, competitiveness and user intent. You can also choose which products to position based on your own business goals. Ask yourself what product range you care most about promoting.