The Best Keyword Research Tools for E-commerce Sellers (Free and Paid)

Keyword research means discovering the words shoppers type when they are looking for something like your product, and choosing which ones to target. Search behaviour changes every day, so the best research combines a few free sources with, if your budget allows, one or two paid tools. This page reviews the main options for e-commerce sellers, what each is good for and where their numbers should be treated with care.

What good keyword research tells you

• Demand: roughly how many people search a phrase in a month.
• Competition: how hard it would be to appear near the top.
• Intent: whether the searcher wants to buy, compare or just learn.
• Variations: the alternate names, questions and long-tail phrases around your main term.
• Trend: whether interest is rising, steady, seasonal or falling.

No tool sees every search, and volumes are estimates. Use tools to compare phrases against each other rather than to trust an exact number.

Free tools every seller should use

Google autocomplete, related searches and People Also Ask

Type your product into Google and note the suggestions, the related searches at the bottom of the page and the questions in People Also Ask. They cost nothing and reflect real, current queries. Add a letter after your phrase to reveal more.

Google Trends

Trends shows relative interest over time and by region, and lets you compare phrases. It is excellent for seasonality, for instance when to publish holiday gift listings, and for deciding between two names for the same product.

Google Keyword Planner

Part of Google Ads, Keyword Planner offers keyword ideas and search volume ranges, and requires a Google Ads account though you do not have to run ads. The volumes are grouped into ranges unless you spend on ads, so it is best for spotting relative demand.

Google Search Console

For sellers with their own website, Search Console shows the queries that already bring impressions and clicks, and your average position. Queries where you sit on page two are your quickest wins.

Marketplace search bars

The search suggestions on Etsy, Amazon, eBay and Walmart come from real shopper behaviour on that platform, which makes them the most relevant source for marketplace listings. Check them before any paid tool.

Sold listings and top results

Looking at what sells and what ranks first is free market research. On eBay, filter to sold items. On any platform, study the wording of the top few listings for repeated phrases.

Question sites

Forums, Reddit communities and question sites reveal the exact words buyers use when describing a problem or asking for recommendations. Tools such as AnswerThePublic visualise common questions around a topic.

Paid and freemium tools

General SEO suites: Semrush, Ahrefs, Ubersuggest

These provide keyword ideas, difficulty scores, competitor analysis and rank tracking for Google search. They are most valuable if you run your own website or blog. Each offers limited free use or trials, and full plans are paid, so check current pricing on their sites.

Etsy tools: eRank and Marmalead

These focus on Etsy, offering keyword ideas, estimated demand and competition, and listing audits. They are helpful for larger shops with many listings, and their figures are estimates derived from their own data sources.

Amazon tools: Helium 10 and Jungle Scout

These provide Amazon keyword lists, reverse look-ups showing which keywords a competitor's listing ranks for, and product research features. They suit sellers who are building a serious Amazon business. Amazon sellers with Brand Registry also have Brand Analytics, which is built on Amazon's own data.

eBay: Terapeak in Seller Hub

Terapeak product research is available to eBay sellers in Seller Hub and shows sales trends and average selling prices based on eBay's data, making it a strong source for what actually sells.

Browser extensions

Some extensions show estimated search volume directly on Google or marketplace pages. They can speed up research, but read their privacy terms and remember the numbers are estimates.

Choosing the right tool for your situation

• Just starting out on one marketplace: the platform's search suggestions and top listings, plus Google Trends, are usually enough.
• Growing Etsy shop: add an Etsy-specific tool once you have enough listings that manual research takes too long.
• Amazon private-label seller: a dedicated Amazon tool is generally worth it, because the competition is intense.
• Own store or blog: use Search Console plus one of the general SEO suites.
• Selling on many platforms: use a listing generator such as RankBuddy to produce platform-specific first drafts from live research, then refine.

How to judge a keyword

1. Is it relevant? It must describe your product exactly. A popular phrase that is slightly wrong sends the wrong shoppers.
2. Is there demand? Compare it against similar phrases using suggestions, Trends or a tool.
3. Can you compete? If the top results are all giants with thousands of reviews, add specifics to make a long-tail phrase.
4. Does it show buying intent? Words like buy, gift, custom, set and for women often indicate someone ready to purchase.
5. Can you use it naturally? If it reads awkwardly in a title, rephrase it as a shorter phrase that reads well.

Turn research into a keyword list

For each product, make a short table: one primary phrase, three to five secondary phrases, and a handful of long-tail variants and synonyms. The primary phrase goes at the start of your title. Secondary phrases fill the rest of the title, tags or bullets. Synonyms and alternates go in tags, backend fields or the description. Keep the list with the product so that you can update it when trends change.

Where RankBuddy fits

RankBuddy automates the research-to-draft step: it looks at live results for your product's niche that genuinely match your design, extracts the terms the best-selling ones use, and writes the listing for your platform along with a suggested price. Standard and Premium plans also show a With Keywords list of phrases for the niche. The same research runs whether you start from a photo or paste in a listing you already have live under Optimize an Existing Listing. It does not replace a dedicated volume tool, and it does not access a marketplace's private data. It is designed to give you a strong, current starting point in seconds, which you then fine-tune with the sources above.

Next, page 9 puts these keywords to work: how to write titles, tags and descriptions, and how to analyse competitors properly.