Long-tail keywords on OTTO: how to find and use them

What are long-tail keywords?

Long-tail keywords are search queries with relatively few searches per month. Ahrefs defines them by search volume, not word count – but in practice they're usually longer and more specific than the head term. Example: "laufschuhe damen wasserdicht" (waterproof women's running shoes) instead of "laufschuhe".

The advantage on a marketplace: someone searching this precisely usually knows what they want. And for the head term, many sellers compete for a few spots at the top of page one – for specific terms there are often fewer.

Finding long-tail keywords with otto.de search suggestions

When you type into the search bar on otto.de, the site suggests matching search terms. When we checked on 20 October 2026, for example:

• for "sofa": "sofas wohnzimmer", "sofa mit schlaffunktion", "sofa l form", "sofa 3 sitzer",
• for "laufschuhe damen": "laufschuhe damen wasserdicht", "laufschuhe damen weit" and variants with brand names.

How to go about it:

1. Enter your product's head term and note all suggestions.
2. Add a feature (material, size, colour, target group) and note the suggestions again.
3. Keep typing letters too: "sofa a", "sofa b" …
4. Keep only terms your product genuinely matches.

Suggestions can differ by user and search history, so it's best to check them in a private browser window. Which data OTTO uses for its suggestions isn't public. Remember that shoppers on otto.de search in German, so collect German terms.

Other sources of long search terms

• Filters in search results: a category's filters show which features shoppers narrow down by – good building blocks for long-tail terms.
• Competitor products: which features do the products on page one mention in titles and bullet points?
• Reviews and customer questions: shoppers describe products in their own words, such as "for small flats" or "quiet".

How to turn this into a full keyword list is covered in Keyword research for OTTO.

Where do long-tail keywords belong in your listing?

• Title: the most important features, without a list of search terms – see Optimising product titles for otto.de.
• Attributes: fill in material, dimensions, colour and functions completely and correctly. According to the OTTO Market API, attributes are validated against the category's attribute definitions.
• Bullet points: according to the API documentation, 3 to 180 characters each – room for one concrete feature per point.
• Description: according to the documentation, under 2,000 characters and explicitly "relevant for SEO". This is where you can describe use cases in natural language.

OTTO doesn't publish whether or how much individual fields feed into otto.de search. Complete, correct data in every field is the safe route.

What to avoid

• Keyword stuffing: a title full of search terms reads badly and looks untrustworthy.
• False features: only use "wasserdicht" (waterproof) if the product is – otherwise expect returns and bad reviews.
• Other brands' names: don't name brands your product isn't.
• Too many changes at once: don't change everything at the same time, or you won't know what worked.

Measuring positions for long-tail keywords

You only know whether a long-tail term works if you measure the position. Pick the head term and three to five long-tail terms per product and check weekly where the product stands. Distinguish between the organic position and spots from ads – see Overall, organic and ad position.

A rank tracker like MarktRank saves you the manual searching. A common pattern: for the head term a new product sits far back, but for a specific term it's already on page one. Those terms are your way in.

Frequently asked questions