E-commerce SEO is the process of determining how users seek the products or services you offer. It builds and optimizes pages to rank for those searches. However, this may sound simple, but avoiding technical obstacles along the road is difficult.
Let’s have a look at some stats regarding e-commerce shopping pattern.
According to nChannel, 44% of people who shop online start by searching on Google.
SEMrush states 37.5 % of all traffic to e-commerce sites arrives from search engines.
23.6% of online sales are directly linked to organic traffic.
This article shows you how to handle the SEO minefield of e-commerce to attract more traffic to your website.
What Is SEO for E-Commerce?
E-commerce search engine optimization, or SEO, refers to a practice that helps online merchants get higher rankings in the results of online searches. A well-designed, optimized website with high-quality content will rank higher in search engines like Google. Hence, boost the visibility of your store and the amount of traffic it receives.
To put it another way, search engine optimization (SEO) for e-commerce is focused on optimizing your website. This makes it simpler to get leads & create conversions.
However, in contrast to SEO for content-focused websites, search engine optimization (SEO) for e-commerce websites involves more than adding keywords, producing blog posts, and acquiring links. Therefore, it would help if you understand how search engine function and the things they value.
This requires having a solid understanding of SEO for e-commerce. Also, taking into consideration the recommendations provided by Google, analyzing the intent of the buyer, and strategically implementing it.
E-Commerce Search Engine Optimization Best Practices
E-commerce for search engine optimization is a complex topic. With billions of online stores already in existence, making your website stand out from the competition is not always straightforward.
You can get off to a good start with building your SEO rankings, even if it can seem like an impossible task at first. All you have to do is implement specific best practices. This will in due course, boost your chances of availability and the number of organic leads and clients you acquire.
You need to make sure that your website is optimized for search engines to rank better in search engine results pages (SERPs). This includes everything from the keywords you employ to the technical configuration of your online store. In addition, whether or not your online store is optimized for mobile use is another critical factor in SEO optimization.
When developing an SEO strategy for your online store, it is essential to keep the following aspects in mind from a practical perspective:
On-Page SEO Strategy
On-page SEO for eCommerce websites is about placing keywords in the appropriate locations. It’s a method for ensuring that Google understands exactly what your webpage is about.
On-page SEO is crucial since it helps you appear in additional Search Engine Results Pages.
The following are some of the factors that play a vital role in determining the ranking on SERPs:
- Researching keywords for use in eCommerce.
The most crucial initial phase in an eCommerce SEO plan is keyword research.
If you make a mistake in this section, one of two factors will occur:
- You’ll target keywords that are too hard to rank for, preventing you from reaching page one.
- You will rank for terms that do not generate traffic or convert visitors into buyers.
Neither of these scenarios is ideal; that’s the reason eCommerce keyword research is crucial. It ensures that you pick phrases that are simple to rank for, have a sufficient search volume, and have a reasonable conversion rate.
However, there’s more to selecting keywords than considering their ranking difficulty and search volume alone. The following four options will assist you in conducting eCommerce keyword research, determining keyword difficulty and search volume, and determining buyer intent:
- Find out if the keywords you’re using are the right ones.
You probably won’t have relevant keywords for the phrases you chose if you don’t utilize a tool like Ahrefs. To understand which keywords to use, you need to figure out how hard the keyword is, how often it is searched for, and what the buyer wants.
With Google Keyword Planner, you can get a rough idea of how many searches people are doing. Also, you will know how much they are willing to pay per click (CPC). However, it doesn’t show you the spread or keyword difficulty.
If you are concerned about SEO and spreading your keywords, you should make a keyword matrix.
A keyword matrix is a method for browsing through related keywords and organizing your worksheet to quickly find the best keywords to employ on each web page. It is derived from keyword density, search volume, and search intent.
Find keywords by researching competitors.
You can get ideas for new keywords to employ on your site from your competitors’ websites, which currently rank better than you do in search results. First, open Google and search for your phrase. Then, select a competitor and look through their category & product pages for possible keywords.
It is essential to keep in mind that you should not employ a similar keyword as your opponent just because they rank higher than you do. There are other factors to consider, such as domain authority.
eCommerce product pages
The most crucial pages to rank are the product and category pages. If someone discovers them using Google, they can immediately access your items in that field.
You need to include the target phrase in each of the following places for these pages to be successfully optimized:
- In the URL
Including your main keyword in the URL is an easy method for enhancing search engine rankings. This is especially important for websites operating in highly competitive categories. This is because the optimized URLs offer an extra tool to obtain a competitive advantage and increase traffic. You can also modify them to the optimal term for your product/service category page rankings.
- In the title tag (H)
The keyword should be as close to the start of the page title tag or the H1 tag as feasible. This contributes to the promotion of the page’s key ideas and boosts the organic ranking of your title tag.
- In the body copy
The situation becomes more complicated with the body copy. Google does not prefer that most category sites jump directly to the content with no introduction.
Attempt to write a 300-word introduction that includes your keyword at least two or three times.
- In image alt text
Google relies on alt text to identify what an image is & what it contains because it cannot read photos.
Image alt text gives you another chance to put your keyword on the page & improves your chances of appearing in Google’s image search results.
- In the metadata
While having your keyword in the metadata has not been proven to affect ranks directly, it can increase click-through rate, which has been demonstrated to boost rankings.
When you add your primary keywords in the meta description & description tags, Google will emphasize it in the search results.
Repeat this process for each category page, followed by your product pages.
Technical SEO Clean Up
It’s not only about keywords when it comes to the SEO process. A website also has a technical aspect that focuses on the intricacies and niggling elements that make up the site.
When conducting SEO clean-up or eCommerce SEO assessments, it is essential to investigate and get a firm grasp on the following components of your website:
- Content marketing
The role that contents play in today’s marketing strategies is becoming increasingly important. As per a study conducted by Oberlo:
96% of marketing decision-makers believe that their brand has benefited from content marketing.
The success of their content is measured by more than 50% of all marketers through organic traffic.
70% of marketers are actively investing in content marketing.
Creating high-quality content is among the simplest ways for your online business to rank for a wider variety of keywords and to earn backlinks. Consider that the number of keywords that product & category sites can rank for is limited. Once these are exhausted, you can’t cover any additional search real estate.
The addition of content can help to rectify this situation. You can now rank for both long- and short-tail keywords associated with your industry. In addition, content marketing can make it simpler for you to generate links to your website. This can help enhance your domain authority and ultimately raise your sales. It can also increase the number of users that visits your website, which can eventually increase your sales.
- Page speed
Your website’s chance to rank and the quality of the user experience depend on how quickly the site loads. A survey conducted by Radware found that among online customers in the United States, 51% stated that they would not purchase on a website if it were too slow.
You may get an insight into what you can do to increase the speed of your site by going to Google’s PageSpeed Insights Tool & plugging in your URL. This will provide you with an overview of what you can do. Google will give you a score between 1 and 100 for Mobile and Desktop, as well as measures to speed up website load times.
- Internal linking
Internal linking inside product category pages is one of the most ignored aspects of an SEO strategy, but it can help users and searches go from one page to other on your website. This can be accomplished through the use of internal links.
Developing an ecosystem in your site, retaining readers on your pages, and boosting the possibility of interest or conversions are all things that can be accomplished by using internal links you place on your sites.
- HTTPs
Ensure that the keywords are considered while creating each of your website’s URLs.
URLs are frequently generated automatically, and many marketers simply leave them in their current state before going to another page. That is a mistake, which also means a possible chance has been missed. Instead, you may improve your rankings and search engine optimization capabilities by constructing each URL to function as an outgrowth of the page itself.
- Sitemap
A sitemap offers information about your website’s pages, videos, and other resources. Essentially, the sitemap informs Google of the essential pages on your site, helping it crawl more efficiently.
Sitemaps are an essential yet undervalued component of your SEO techniques. You may direct potential viewers and readers to particular sites by instructing search engines where to search. This will boost their rankings and let you control how many people visit your site.
What are the advantages of SEO for e-commerce?
There are numerous advantages to implementing an e-commerce SEO technique. The following are the top three advantages of SEO for e-commerce:
- Enhancing the customer experience
Providing a positive user experience is one of Google’s primary ranking considerations. Suppose your website targets the appropriate keywords for your intended demographic and responds to visitors’ questions. In that case, Google will view this as a positive experience, increasing your ranking.
But if consumers visit your site and immediately leave, Google will view this as a negative impact & lower your ranking accordingly.
- Increasing your reach
E-commerce SEO drives more visitors to your eCommerce marketplace. As a result, there will more users that can engage with your company. After a user has arrived on your website naturally, you may retarget them with paid retargeting advertising. Remarketing using SEO is the most effective strategy.
- Increasing brand recognition
You may optimize your e-commerce website without incurring any advertising expenses. Why not attempt to have your site appear in Google’s answer box if you’re improving your SEO rankings? Being featured in Google’s response box can improve website traffic, clicks, and brand recognition.
Conclusion
Traffic can be generated in a variety of methods. This includes sponsored advertisements, social media, and email. On the other hand, search traffic is the only type that is dependable, cost-free, self-sufficient, and reasonably simple to acquire.
Your company will undergo a complete transformation if you understand the ins & outs of eCommerce SEO tactics. If you want your website to attract a large volume of traffic and the users you expect, then you need to understand these strategies.
A straightforward SEO campaign has the potential to result in sales that are significantly higher. So, what is the most exciting part? Getting there doesn’t have to take you years if you don’t want it to. If you follow this guideline, getting there won’t take as much time as you may think.
