How to Think About Keywords for E-commerce Pages
The question isn't how many keywords to use per page. It's whether your page covers its topic well enough to be genuinely useful to shoppers.
The shift in thinking
“Use your primary keyword 5 times and keep density at 2%”
“Does this page thoroughly cover the topic a shopper cares about?”
“Would someone reading this page find what they need to make a decision?”
RVshareKleinanzeigenWhy Counting Keywords No Longer Matters
Search has changed fundamentally. Counting keyword occurrences made sense when search engines matched strings. Today, they understand meaning.
Search Engines Understand Topics
Google and other search engines now use language models to understand what a page is about. They don't count how many times you say “running shoes” - they understand that cushioning, pronation, and trail vs road are all part of the running shoe topic. A page that covers the topic well will outrank one that repeats the same phrase.
AI Search Changes Everything
People increasingly search by having conversations with AI. They speak whole paragraphs about what they need, and the AI turns that into a set of specific queries. The long tail has exploded - there are far more unique searches than ever, and your pages need to cover topics thoroughly to match all the ways people might ask.
Write for the Person Reading
The best approach has always been the simplest one: write content that's genuinely helpful to the person reading it. If someone lands on your category page for women's running shoes, what would actually help them? Size guides, materials, use cases, price ranges. Those are naturally the words search engines want to see too.
Category Pages: Cover the Topic
A category page should help shoppers understand what's in the category and find what they need. That's also what makes it rank.
Don't Count Keywords - Answer Questions
Instead of thinking “I need 3 primary keywords and 5 secondary keywords,” ask: what would a shopper want to know when they land on this page?
For a “women's running shoes” category page, a shopper might want to know:
- • What types of running shoes are available (trail, road, track)
- • Key features to look for (cushioning, support, weight)
- • How to pick the right size or fit
- • What price ranges are available
- • Which brands are popular in this category
The Words Take Care of Themselves
When you write about cushioning, pronation, trail running, and breathable materials, you're naturally using the words people search for. You don't need a keyword list to tell you that - just write about the topic honestly and thoroughly.
What Good Topic Coverage Looks Like
A well-covered category page naturally includes language from across the topic - not because you placed it deliberately, but because you wrote something useful.
Product Pages: Describe What It Is
A product page that honestly and thoroughly describes the product will naturally contain the words people search for.
What It Is
Describe the product clearly. What is it, what's it made of, what does it look like? This naturally covers the terms someone would use to search for it.
- • Product name and type
- • Materials and construction
- • Colors, sizes, variants
- • Brand and model
Who It's For
Explain who benefits from this product and in what situations. This connects the product to the searches real people make.
- • Use cases and occasions
- • Who it suits best
- • Problems it solves
- • How it compares to alternatives
What Matters to the Buyer
Include the practical details that help someone decide to buy. These are the same details they'd search for.
- • Care instructions and durability
- • Shipping and return details
- • Compatibility or fit guidance
- • Real specifications, not marketing fluff
How the Content Agent Handles This
The Content Agent writes and improves page content by understanding what each page's topic is and covering it naturally - not by hitting keyword targets.
Topic Understanding, Not Keyword Insertion
The Content Agent analyzes what a page is about and ensures it covers the topic thoroughly. It writes in natural language that reads well for shoppers, using the words and phrases that naturally belong on the page.
- • Understands the full topic, not just the head term
- • Writes content that helps shoppers make decisions
- • Covers practical details buyers care about
- • Natural language that reads well to humans
Works Across Your Whole Catalog
When you have thousands of category and product pages, the Content Agent ensures each one covers its specific topic well - without repeating the same generic copy everywhere.
- • Each page covers its own distinct topic
- • No thin, duplicated content across similar categories
- • Useful, specific information on every page
- • Consistent quality across your entire catalog
What the Content Agent Does
Frequently asked questions
Is there a magic number of SEO keywords to target per page?
There is no universally correct number - focusing on a rigid keyword count is an outdated approach that can lead to keyword stuffing and poor user experience. Modern e-commerce SEO focuses on covering a topic thoroughly, so search engines understand the full context of a page rather than just detecting repeated phrases.
How many keywords should I use for e-commerce SEO specifically?
For e-commerce product and category pages, build each page around one core search intent with a small set of related terms woven naturally into headings, descriptions, and metadata. The goal is intent-matched topical depth rather than hitting an arbitrary keyword count, since modern search engines reward relevance over repetition.
How should e-commerce category pages approach keyword targeting?
Category pages should be built around a primary topic and its naturally related subtopics, such as product attributes, use cases, and shopper intent signals, rather than a fixed list of keywords. Similar AI's Topic Sieve identifies which topics genuinely belong on each category page, so content stays focused and relevant to shoppers.
Why is topic-based writing better than keyword counting for product pages?
Shoppers search using many different phrases for the same product, so pages written around a coherent topic naturally capture a wider range of queries. The Enrichment Agent enriches product descriptions with semantically related terms and attributes, making pages more useful to shoppers while improving organic visibility.
How does internal linking support a topic-first SEO strategy?
Strong internal linking connects category and product pages that share topical relevance, helping search engines understand the relationships between pages on your site. The Linking Agent automatically builds these connections across your catalog, reinforcing topical authority without requiring manual link audits.
How does Similar AI decide which new pages to create versus optimizing existing ones?
The New Pages Agent evaluates gaps in your catalog where shopper demand exists but no page currently targets it, while the Content Agent identifies existing pages that need deeper topical coverage. Together they ensure your site addresses the full range of relevant topics rather than duplicating effort or leaving valuable queries unaddressed.
Better Content Across Every Page
The Content Agent writes page content that covers each topic naturally and thoroughly, across your whole catalog. No keyword stuffing, no thin pages - just useful content that ranks.