Every successful search engine optimization campaign begins with thorough keyword research, for optimization can only take place once the target keywords are known. For marketplaces, which frequently have multiple categories to target, there are many places to glean keyword ideas from.
The Marketplace’s Name.
For new marketplaces, branding can be approached through the perspective of keyword research. Marketplaces that choose a unique name will easily rank for their name, while those that adopt a highly competitive term as a name will need to invest a lot before they rank for their name.
Ranking for a marketplace’s name is, of course, of paramount importance. Current users are apt to search for the marketplace by name, and prospective users might if the marketplace grows. If any of these searchers can’t find the marketplace, they might move onto a competing marketplace that’s more easily discovered.
Many successful marketplaces have adopted uniquely spelled names that they can easily rank for. Lyft, Airbnb and Etsy are just a few.
(Amazon is an exception, as the Amazon River is a major competing phrase. Amazon.com, however, was started when directories — which list sites alphabetically — were at least as important as search engines. Obviously, Amazon would rank among the first sites in most directories.)
High-Volume Keywords.
High-volume keywords are typically the most general keywords that a marketplace targets. They tend to be short terms, consisting of one to three words in most cases.
For most marketplace owners, coming up with high-volume keywords isn’t difficult. They’re whatever the marketplace broadly offers. For a kayak rental platform, the terms are going to be phrases like “kayak rentals.” For a platform where baby clothes are exchanged, “baby clothes” is likely one of the main keywords.
While it may not be necessary to look up ideas for a platform’s primary keywords, it is helpful to see what kind of volume these phrases get. Marketplace owners will want monthly search volume estimates to determine what kind of demand there is.
Sometimes, owners also discover that a particular variant is searched for much more than the others. For instance, a plural version on the keywords may be searched for more than the singular version. Similarly, searchers might use an abbreviation more than the actual keyword.
Owners, naturally, will want to target whatever versions of their high-volume keywords get the most monthly searches. Google’s Keyword Planner and SEM Rush’s Keyword Research are two useful tools that show search volumes.
Long-Tail Keywords.
Long-tail keywords are generally recognized as keyword phrases of four words or more. These keywords normally have lower search volumes, but they can be much easier to rank for.
Google’s Keyword Planner can be used for long-tail ideation, as is Neil Patel’s Ubersuggest.
While long-tail keywords are used by many websites, they’re especially important to many marketplaces. Every listing on a marketplace is an opportunity to target another long-tail keyword.
Competitors’ Targeted Keywords.
In addition to conducting original research, marketplace owners can also simply copy the keywords that their competitors are targeting. Ranking well for these keywords will require outdoing competitors’ SEO efforts, but the terms are likely worth investing resources into if they’re bringing competitors traffic.
A review of competitors’ websites will provide a cursory overview of keywords that they’re trying to rank for. Terms in the H1 and H2 headers are likely being targeted.
For more a more in-depth report, marketplace owners can turn to Ahrefs. The tool can (among other things) find keywords that competitors rank well for but a given marketplace isn’t ranking for at all. These are untapped opportunities.
New Trends.
Google Trends doesn’t help with keyword ideation in the same way as the above-mentioned tools, but it can be used to find up-and-coming keywords. The tool may be used to find or verify a growing interest in a topic. Any term that’s discovered can be plugged into Keyword Planner, UberSuggest and other tools to find more detailed phrases.
Local Keywords.
For some marketplaces, local long-tail keywords are natural targets. Simply adding “in [state]” or “in [city]” is an easy way to mimic the phrases being used by prospective customers, and these phrases are often much easier to rank for than their non-geographic counterparts.
Craigslist, Uber, Lyft and Airbnb are just a few of the many platforms that target local keywords. Any platform where vendors list services or products that are available in a particular location should be employing these terms.
(Since these phrases are primarily used by customers, local keywords are mainly used for customer-focused SEO efforts and not vendor-focused efforts.)
Google Analytics And Webmasters Tools.
Google Analytics and Search Console both provide information on where website visitors come from, and that information can be leveraged for keyword research.
In Google Analytics, marketplace owners can look up where their platform’s visitors are coming from (e.g. organic search, pay per click, direct, referral, social, etc.). Within the Organic Search section, the phrases used are sometimes detailed. In the vast majority of cases, the report simply shows “not provided” for the search term that visitors used. Occasionally, however, the exact term that a visitor used will be revealed.
Any term that someone used to find a platform is a potential keyword to consider. At least one person used it, and the platform is already ranking for it.
In Search Console, marketplace owners can look up much more search-related information. This reporting tool will show:
- How high a site is ranking for different terms
- How many impressions a site gets for each term
- How many clicks a site gets for each term
- What a site’s click-through-rate is for each term
Sometimes, this information is helpful in finding new keywords to target. More often, it’s used to determine which of the keywords that have already been discovered should be focused on. More resources should be devoted to the best-performing terms.
Going through all of this research take time, but it’s time well spent. Thorough keyword research provides a strong foundation for the rest of a marketplace’s SEO efforts.