How to Do Keyword Research for Shopify Stores (Free Methods)

You don't need Ahrefs, SEMrush, or any paid tool to find profitable keywords for your Shopify store. Google Autocomplete, Google Keyword Planner, Shopify's built-in search analytics, and Google Search Console will get you 90% of the way there. The other 10% is just knowing where to look.

This guide walks through every free method worth using, in the order you should use them. By the end you'll have a prioritized keyword list you can map directly to product pages, collection pages, and blog posts.

Before you start: keywords are only half the picture. AI systems like ChatGPT and Perplexity are now answering product queries directly, and they don't care about your keyword density. If you want to understand how AI discovery works alongside traditional SEO, run a free scan with our AI Authority Checker to see where your store stands.

Why Free Keyword Research Works for Shopify

Paid keyword tools are nice. They are not necessary. The gap between free and paid has narrowed dramatically since Google started exposing more data through Keyword Planner, Search Console, and Autocomplete. Here's what you actually get at each tier:

The only thing you genuinely miss without paid tools is keyword difficulty scoring and comprehensive competitor backlink data. For a new or growing Shopify store, those are nice-to-haves, not essentials. You should be targeting long-tail keywords anyway, where difficulty scores matter less because competition is inherently lower.

I'd argue that Shopify's built-in search analytics is actually more valuable than anything Ahrefs offers for product keyword research. It tells you what real customers on your site are searching for. No paid tool gives you that data.

Step 1: Mine Google Autocomplete for Long-Tail Keywords

Start here. Google Autocomplete is the fastest way to find long-tail keywords that real people actually type. It's based on real search behavior, updated regularly, and completely free.

How to do it:

1. Open Google in an incognito window (to avoid personalized results).
2. Type your seed keyword followed by a space. For example: "organic dog treats "
3. Note every suggestion Google shows. These are real, high-volume search queries.
4. Now type your seed keyword followed by each letter of the alphabet: "organic dog treats a", "organic dog treats b", etc.
5. Repeat with question modifiers: "best organic dog treats", "cheapest organic dog treats", "organic dog treats for"

This alphabet soup method generates dozens of keyword ideas in minutes. Each suggestion represents a query with meaningful search volume. Google wouldn't autocomplete it otherwise.

Pro tip: Pay attention to suggestions that include specific modifiers like "for puppies," "with sweet potato," or "grain free." These are buying-intent long-tail keywords that convert well and are much easier to rank for than the head term.

Step 2: Pull Real Data from Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner is free with a Google Ads account (you don't need to run ads). It gives you search volume ranges and keyword ideas based on seed terms or competitor URLs.

Two approaches:

• "Start with keywords" — Enter your seed terms from Step 1. Keyword Planner returns related keywords with monthly search volume ranges (e.g., 1K-10K, 100-1K).
• "Start with a website" — Enter a competitor's URL. Keyword Planner analyzes their content and suggests keywords they're targeting. This is free competitor keyword analysis.

The volume ranges aren't exact, but they're directionally accurate. A keyword showing 1K-10K monthly searches is worth more of your time than one showing 10-100. That level of precision is enough for keyword prioritization.

Step 3: Use Shopify Search Analytics (Your Secret Weapon)

Most Shopify store owners don't know this exists. Under Analytics > Reports > Searches in your Shopify admin, you can see every search term customers type into your site's search bar.

This data is gold because it represents purchase-intent queries from people already on your site. These aren't random searchers. They're visitors looking for something specific enough to use your search bar.

What to look for:

• High-volume searches with no results. These are products or categories people expect you to carry but can't find. Either add the product or create a collection page targeting that term.
• Searches that don't match your product titles. If customers search "moisturizer" but your products say "hydrating cream," update your copy to match the language customers actually use.
• Repeated misspellings. These tell you how customers think about your products. Consider adding the misspelled variant to your product tags or descriptions.

In my opinion, this is the single most underused data source in Shopify SEO. External tools tell you what the internet searches for. Shopify search analytics tells you what your customers search for. That distinction matters.

Step 4: Extract Keywords from Google Search Console

If your store is already indexed in Google (and if it isn't, fix that first), Google Search Console shows you the exact queries that triggered your pages in search results. This is real performance data, not estimates.

Navigate to Performance > Search Results. Look at the Queries tab. For each query you'll see:

The highest-value keywords in Search Console are "striking distance" terms — queries where you rank between position 5 and 15. These are keywords Google already associates with your site. A small optimization push (better title tag, more on-page content, internal links) can move them onto page one.

This is different from finding brand-new keywords. It's finding keywords you're already close to winning. For new stores, this data takes a few weeks to accumulate, but once it does, it's your most actionable keyword source.

Step 5: Check Google Trends for Seasonal and Trending Keywords

Google Trends won't give you search volume numbers. What it will give you is something more important for ecommerce: timing.

Enter your core product keywords and look at the 12-month trend. Are searches rising, falling, or seasonal? This tells you when to publish content, when to push certain products, and which keywords are worth long-term investment versus which are temporary spikes.

Ecommerce-specific tips for Google Trends:

• Compare your product terms against each other to see which has more sustained interest.
• Check "Related queries" at the bottom of each Trends page. Queries marked "Breakout" are growing fast and represent early-mover opportunities.
• Filter by geography if you sell to specific regions. National trends can mask strong regional demand.
• Use "Past 5 years" to distinguish genuine growth from seasonal cycles.

Step 6: Map Keywords to Shopify Page Types

You've got a list of keywords. Now you need to know where each one goes. Different keyword types belong on different pages. Getting this wrong means creating content that competes with itself.

The biggest mistake I see: Shopify stores putting informational keywords on product pages and product keywords on blog posts. A product page should target buying-intent keywords. A blog post should target informational and comparison keywords. Mixing them up confuses Google about the page's purpose and tanks your rankings for both.

Step 7: Prioritize by Intent, Not Volume

This is where most free keyword research guides get it wrong. They tell you to chase volume. Don't. Chase intent.

A keyword with 50 monthly searches and clear buying intent ("buy organic dog treats grain free delivery") will generate more revenue than a keyword with 10,000 monthly searches and vague intent ("dog treats"). The first searcher has a credit card in hand. The second might be looking for a recipe.

How to assess intent for free:

1. Google the keyword. If the top results are product pages and shopping ads, it's buying intent.
2. If the top results are blog posts and how-to guides, it's informational intent.
3. If the top results are comparison pages and review sites, it's consideration intent.

Match your page type to the dominant intent Google is already serving. Trying to rank a product page for an informational keyword is fighting Google's understanding of what searchers want.

For new stores with limited domain authority, informational keywords are actually your fastest path to traffic. Blog content targeting "how to choose [product type]" queries builds topical authority that eventually lifts your product and collection pages in rankings too.

Where to Place Keywords on Shopify Pages

Finding keywords is useless if you put them in the wrong places. Here's the hierarchy for on-page keyword placement in Shopify, ranked by SEO weight:

1. Title tag (the <title> in your page head, editable in Shopify under "Search engine listing preview")
2. H1 heading (your product or page title)
3. URL / handle (the slug in your page URL)
4. First 100 words of your page content
5. Meta description (doesn't directly affect rankings but affects click-through rate)
6. Image alt text (helps with Google Image search traffic)
7. Product description body (natural usage, not stuffing)

One primary keyword per page. Include it in the title tag, H1, URL, and first paragraph. Your secondary keywords should appear naturally in the body copy. If you're forcing a keyword in, it doesn't belong there.

Keyword Research for AI Visibility (The Part Nobody Talks About)

Traditional keyword research targets Google's search results. But an increasing share of product discovery now happens through AI systems. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Claude all answer shopping questions directly, and they don't use keywords the same way Google does.

AI systems favor natural-language queries and cite content that's specific, structured, and backed by third-party validation. The keywords that rank you #1 on Google might not be the same keywords that get you cited by ChatGPT. For a full breakdown of how these two systems differ, read our GEO vs SEO comparison.

What this means practically: when you do keyword research, also think about the questions behind those keywords. "Best organic dog treats" is a keyword. "What are the healthiest dog treats for a puppy with a sensitive stomach?" is the question an AI system is actually answering. Structure your content to address both.

If you want to see how visible your store is to AI right now, our AI Authority Checker will score your brand across the signals AI systems actually use. It's free and takes about 30 seconds.

For more on how AI scores work, see our guide on AI Visibility Scores for Shopify.

Common Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)

Free keyword research works. But it stops working the moment you apply the data incorrectly. These are the mistakes I see most often from Shopify store owners:

• Targeting head terms too early. A brand-new Shopify store going after "running shoes" is going to wait months with zero traffic. Start with "best running shoes for plantar fasciitis women's" and build authority from there.
• Keyword stuffing product descriptions. Google's algorithms penalize unnatural keyword repetition. Write for humans first. Your primary keyword should appear 2-4 times on a product page. More than that is counterproductive.
• Ignoring collection page SEO. Collection pages are the most powerful SEO asset on a Shopify store. They target category-level keywords ("organic face serums") and aggregate the authority of every product page within them. Most store owners leave the collection description blank. Fill it.
• Creating blog posts without keyword targets. Every blog post should target a specific keyword cluster. If you can't name the primary keyword a blog post targets, don't publish it.
• Forgetting about GEO. Keywords get you ranked on Google. They don't get you cited by AI. Both channels matter, and optimizing for one doesn't automatically optimize for the other.

The 30-Minute Keyword Research Workflow

Here's the exact workflow. Set a timer. You don't need a full day for this.

1. Minutes 1-5: Google Autocomplete with your 3-5 seed keywords. Alphabet soup method. Write down every suggestion.
2. Minutes 6-12: Google Keyword Planner. Enter your seed terms and top autocomplete results. Note volume ranges. Use the URL feature on 2-3 competitor sites.
3. Minutes 13-18: Shopify search analytics. Pull the top 20 on-site searches. Flag any that don't match current product titles.
4. Minutes 19-24: Google Search Console. Filter by "position 5-15" to find striking-distance keywords. These are your quick wins.
5. Minutes 25-28: Google Trends. Check your top 10 keywords for seasonality and trajectory.
6. Minutes 29-30: Map each keyword to a page type (product, collection, blog). Prioritize by intent.

That's it. You now have a keyword list that's better than what most store owners get from a $200/month Ahrefs subscription, because it's grounded in your actual customer data and your actual search performance.

For stores looking to go beyond SEO and start capturing AI-driven traffic too, check your store's conversion rate benchmarks to understand how AI-referred visitors compare to organic search traffic.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I do keyword research for Shopify without paying for tools?

Yes. Google Autocomplete, Google Keyword Planner, Shopify search analytics, Google Search Console, and Google Trends are all free. Together they cover search volume estimates, real customer search terms, trending topics, and long-tail keyword discovery. You don't need Ahrefs, SEMrush, or any paid tool to build a strong keyword list for a Shopify store.

What is the best free keyword research tool for Shopify?

Google Keyword Planner for volume estimates and keyword ideas. Pair it with Google Search Console for real performance data and Shopify search analytics for on-site customer intent. No single tool covers everything, but these three together give you a complete picture.

How many keywords should a Shopify product page target?

One primary keyword and two to three secondary keywords. The primary goes in your title tag, H1, URL, and first paragraph. Secondaries appear naturally in the product description. Targeting too many keywords dilutes the page's relevance for all of them.

Should I target high-volume or low-volume keywords for a new Shopify store?

Low-volume, high-intent. New stores lack the domain authority to rank for competitive head terms. Long-tail keywords with 50 to 500 monthly searches are easier to rank for and often convert better because the search intent is more specific. Expand to higher-volume terms as your authority grows.

How do I find what keywords my competitors rank for without paid tools?

Search your product category on Google and study the top results. Read their page titles, meta descriptions, and product copy to identify target keywords. Then use Google Keyword Planner's "Start with a website" feature to enter competitor URLs and get keyword suggestions based on their content.

Does AI search change how I should do keyword research for Shopify?

Yes. AI systems answer queries conversationally and favor specific, structured content over keyword-optimized pages. You should still do traditional keyword research, but also think about the questions behind those keywords and structure your content to answer them directly. For the full picture, check your AI visibility score alongside your keyword rankings.