Google Keyword Research for DTC Brands 101

2022 DTC marketing is all about focusing on strategies that can deliver sustainable and consistent growth.

And one of the top contenders may shock you: blogging. 💥

Hear this… Blog content helps you capture 126% more email addresses. That ain’t all. Blogging influences 6.0% of ecommerce sales, which equates to approximately $60B in the US alone. 💸


The first step to start a successful blog? Nail your keyword strategy.

Today we’re bringing you the exact three strategies that’ll easily help you generate over 100 keywords without a hitch.

🎭 Let's set the stage:

  • We will be referencing a fictional DTC brand called Coffee Unleashed
  • We’ll be using Ahrefs to show you the strategies (but you can use any keyword research tool and arrive at the same results)

Let's spill the tea (or coffee…) 👇


1️⃣ Generate keywords based on “Types”

If you’re a brand in a broad niche (think coffee), this is the strategy for you. You can generate unlimited keywords based on certain themes:

  • Benefits of [X]
  • How to [X]
  • Best/top

These are top of the funnel, informational keywords that can help you generate a ton of traffic every month.

For example, if we want to create a list of “how to make X coffee” 👇

  • Type “how to make coffee” in Keyword Explorer, and
  • Click on “View all >” under Terms match.


You’ll get this:



From here on out, you can pick and choose the keywords that best match the type of coffee you’re selling and start publishing articles around the same topic.


2️⃣ Peek at the competition

If you’ve got a gut feeling that there are some awesome keywords, but you’re unable to find them, take a look at your competition. 👀

Study your competitor’s website and determine the top keywords they’re ranking for. But don’t worry, Ahrefs can help with that.

Let’s take Weaver’s Coffee as one of the top competitors to Coffee Unleashed, our fictional brand.

Here are the three steps to find the top keywords Weaver’s rank for:

  • Plug the domain into Site Explorer
  • Go to “Top pages” on the left panel
  • Start noting down the keywords



You can also see the corresponding blog posts that rank for any keyword. Refer to those articles when writing for your blog, and create better ones to beat out the competition.


3️⃣ Find what else you can rank for

Once you have a list of keywords from strategies 1 and 2, you can use the “also rank for” feature in Ahrefs to find even more keywords.

For instance, you have “decaf coffee benefits” as a keyword. Here are the three steps to look for similar keywords you can rank for as well:

  • Plug the keyword into Ahref’s Keyword Explorer
  • Click on “View all >” under Also rank for



By doing this, you can quickly find several keywords that you wouldn’t have thought of previously. New keywords are also an excellent opportunity to develop new ad angles!


🔥 Brands that are killing it with blogging

While DTC is dominated by paid media, influencer marketing, and giant billboards, content marketing is slowly (but steadily) gaining traction. Don’t take our word for it.

Here are three brands absolutely nailing content.


1. House of Wise

Primarily known for awesome CBD gummies that help your stress, sex, and sleep (they work like magic—seriously, give ‘em a try!). 😌

Their blog, Wise Reads, is built around an ever-growing community and their needs. Since the industry is filled with biases and misinformation, HoW breaks that barrier and educates its audience through in-depth educational articles backed by research. This article on the effectiveness of CBD for helping with insomnia is a prime example.


2. Pique

Pique is a well-known brand among tea lovers. It sells everything from green tea to matcha tea loaded with health benefits.

They write articles for every stage of the buyer’s journey, and all of them are long-form. The best part? They’re fact-checked by experts. Oh, and if you need to do a sugar detox, read this. 🍬


3. Canopy

Canopy is a niche brand that sells a state-of-the-art humidifiers that can help treat the dryness of the skin, nose, throat, and lips.

Since this is a space not many folks know, Canopy spends a lot of effort educating its audience. For instance, this article on treating dry sinuses is a must-read. 🤧

There you have it. Investing in content marketing opens up a completely new channel that can potentially drive revenue by itself and support other key channels like email marketing.

window.lintrk('track', { conversion_id: 10616324 });