What Is a Keyword and How Do I Know Which Ones MatterUpdated 14 hours ago

A keyword is any word or phrase someone types into a search engine. Every search query is a keyword — from "best ceramic mugs for coffee" to "how to choose a skincare routine for oily skin" to "buy handmade candles online."

Not all keywords are equally worth targeting. The ones that matter for a D2C Shopify store are the ones that bring in buyers — not just traffic.

Here is how I identify which keywords matter for a specific store:

Relevance — the keyword must be genuinely connected to what the store sells or the problem the product solves. Irrelevant traffic that will never buy wastes the effort of ranking for it.

Search volume — a keyword nobody searches for cannot bring organic traffic regardless of how well the content ranks.

Buyer intent — the most important filter:

• Some keywords are searched by buyers ready to purchase immediately
• Some are searched by people learning who may buy later
• Some are searched by people who will never buy
• Only the first two types are worth targeting

Achievability — a new store cannot rank for the most competitive keywords in its category immediately. Keywords that are genuinely valuable but not dominated by established brands with years of SEO authority are where early effort produces visible results and builds the foundation for harder targets later.