You don’t need a $129-a-month SEO platform to find good keywords for your Shopify store. The truth most agencies won’t tell you is that free Shopify keyword research tools cover the vast majority of what a small or mid-size store actually needs — especially for blog content, where the goal is finding specific, buyer-intent searches your product pages can’t rank for.
The expensive tools are faster and have bigger databases. But the free ones tap the same underlying source — Google’s own search data — and for a store building out a blog, the gap is smaller than it looks. This guide walks through the best free keyword research tools for Shopify in 2026 and, more importantly, how to use them to find keywords worth writing about.
Start With the Keywords You Already Rank For
Before hunting for new keywords, look at the ones you’re already showing up for. This is the highest-leverage free data you have, and most store owners never check it.
Google Search Console (free) shows the exact queries that bring people to your store, your average position for each, and your click-through rate. Open the Performance report and look for:
- Keywords ranking on page two (positions 11-20) — you’re close. A focused blog post or an update to an existing one can push these onto page one.
- Keywords with high impressions but low clicks — Google shows you for these searches, but your title or meta description isn’t earning the click. Easy wins.
- Question-style queries — “how to,” “best,” “vs,” “for” — these are blog post ideas handed to you directly.
This is keyword research in reverse: instead of guessing what to write, you start with searches Google already associates with your store. No paid tool gives you this; it’s unique to your own site and completely free.
The Best Free Keyword Research Tools for Shopify
Once you’ve mined your existing data, expand outward with these free tools. Each one fills a different gap.
Google Keyword Planner
Keyword Planner comes free with any Google Ads account — you have to create the account, but you don’t have to spend a cent on ads to use the research tool. It shows monthly search volume ranges, how searches trend over time, and related keyword suggestions.
The one quirk: without an active ad spend, volumes show as broad ranges (like “1K-10K”) rather than exact numbers. For blog research that’s usually fine — you’re looking for relative demand and topic ideas, not precision.
Google Search itself (free, underrated)
Google’s own search page is a keyword research tool if you know where to look:
- Autocomplete — start typing a seed phrase and note the suggestions. These are real, popular queries.
- “People also ask” — every question in this box is a blog post angle and a likely AI Overview query.
- “Related searches” at the bottom of the results — more variations and long-tail ideas.
This costs nothing and reflects exactly what real users type.
AnswerThePublic
AnswerThePublic’s free plan lets you run a few queries per day. Enter a seed keyword and it maps out the questions, prepositions, and comparisons people search around it — “questions about running shoes,” “running shoes for flat feet,” “running shoes vs trainers.” It’s especially good for generating blog topic clusters.
Keyword Surfer
A free Chrome extension from Surfer SEO that overlays estimated search volumes directly onto your Google search results. Search a term, and you see volume estimates for it and related terms without leaving the page. Lightweight and frictionless for quick checks.
Moz (free tier)
Moz’s free tools give you a limited number of queries per month with data on keyword difficulty, search volume, and organic click-through rate. The free quota is small, so save it for evaluating your most promising keywords — specifically to check difficulty before you commit to writing.
How to Pick Keywords Worth Writing About
Finding keywords is easy. Picking the right ones is where stores win or waste their effort. For a Shopify blog, evaluate every candidate against three filters:
1. Intent. Does the search suggest someone who might eventually buy? “Best waterproof hiking boots” signals a future buyer. “History of hiking boots” doesn’t. Favor commercial and high-intent informational queries — “best,” “how to choose,” “vs,” “for [use case].”
2. Difficulty vs. your store’s authority. A new store can’t outrank established retailers for “running shoes.” But it can rank for “best running shoes for plantar fasciitis under $100.” Long-tail keywords are longer, more specific, lower in volume — and far more winnable. Use Moz’s free difficulty check to avoid keywords that are out of reach.
3. Product fit. The keyword should connect to something you sell. A blog post is only valuable to your store if it can guide readers toward a product or collection. If you can’t naturally link to a product, the keyword probably belongs to a different business.
The sweet spot for most Shopify blogs is long-tail, buyer-intent keywords with modest volume. Our guide to long-tail keywords by niche breaks down how to find these for specific store types.
Build Keyword Clusters, Not One-Off Posts
Once you have a list of keywords, don’t treat each as a standalone post. Group related keywords into clusters around a core topic. A skincare store might cluster:
- Pillar topic: choosing a moisturizer
- Supporting keywords: “best moisturizer for dry skin,” “moisturizer vs serum,” “how often to moisturize,” “moisturizer for sensitive skin”
Each keyword becomes a post, the posts link to each other, and Google reads the cluster as a signal of genuine topical authority. This compounds far better than a scattering of unrelated posts, and it’s the same structure that earns AI Overview citations.
The work, of course, is turning a keyword list into a steady stream of actual published posts. Research is the easy 10%; writing and publishing consistently is the hard 90%. If that’s where your store stalls, BlogneticAI takes your store’s niche and generates SEO-structured blog content around the right keyword clusters on autopilot — so the research turns into published, ranking content instead of sitting in a spreadsheet.
A Free Keyword Research Workflow You Can Run Today
Here’s a repeatable process using only free tools:
- Mine Search Console for page-two keywords and high-impression, low-click queries
- Expand seed keywords in Keyword Planner and AnswerThePublic to find related searches
- Scrape Google autocomplete and “People also ask” for long-tail questions
- Check difficulty on your top candidates with Moz’s free tier
- Filter by intent and product fit — keep only keywords that could lead to a sale
- Cluster the survivors into topics and map each to a planned post
Run this once and you’ll have months of blog topics, all validated against real search data, at zero cost.
FAQ
Can I do Shopify keyword research without paying for tools?
Yes. Google Search Console, Google Keyword Planner, Google autocomplete, “People also ask,” AnswerThePublic, Keyword Surfer, and Moz’s free tier together cover everything a small or mid-size Shopify store needs. They tap the same Google search data that paid tools rely on.
What’s the best free keyword research tool for a Shopify blog?
Google Search Console is the most valuable because it shows the exact queries your store already ranks for — data no other tool has. Pair it with Google Keyword Planner for volume and AnswerThePublic for question-based blog topics.
How do I find buyer-intent keywords?
Look for commercial modifiers like “best,” “top,” “review,” “vs,” “for [use case],” and “under [price].” These signal someone comparing or about to buy. Avoid purely informational queries that don’t connect to a product you sell, since they bring traffic that rarely converts.
Should I target high-volume or long-tail keywords?
For most Shopify stores, long-tail keywords win. They’re more specific, less competitive, and carry higher intent. A new store can realistically rank for “best running shoes for flat feet under $100” but not for “running shoes.” Build up authority on long-tail terms first.
How many keywords should one blog post target?
One primary keyword per post, plus a handful of closely related variations and questions that fit naturally. Trying to target many unrelated keywords in a single post dilutes its focus. Instead, build clusters of posts that each own one keyword and link to each other.
Research Costs Nothing — Start Now
Good keyword research isn’t a budget problem; it’s a process problem. The free tools give you real search data, your own Search Console hands you proven opportunities, and a simple workflow turns both into a months-long content plan.
The harder part is turning that plan into a consistent stream of published posts. Start your Shopify blog on autopilot with BlogneticAI.
