The easiest way to put it is that signals are important. They speak a lot more than the actual language on many occasions. And, search engine optimization (SEO) is a signal for Google. So, that makes it imperative that, least of all, eCommerce websites learn how to send the right ones.
Ecommerce SEO gives owners a way to reach their target audience without paying for ads. It usually involves optimizing the headlines, product descriptions, metadata, internal link structure, etc. Each product should ideally have a dedicated page designed to draw traffic from search engines.
Once people are on the website, the site’s content will ensure their stay. But, first, that opportunity must be created.
Here are some of the best eCommerce SEO practices:
Use important keywords:
Keywords are as important as salt in a dish. And should be sprinkled just as equally to make it matter. Don’t overload the product titles and descriptions with the keywords, but include them as per taste.
Mention the primary keyword in the product headline, descriptions, alternate attributes, and subheadlines. And add keywords that are related to the primary keyword so that Google can understand the page better in context.
Take time to understand the search value as well. This indicates the interest a particular keyword inspires in consumers. A high search volume indicates greater popularity, which means the site will get more active searches for that keyword.
Keep observing the user intent, as it describes what people want to find when they type a specific keyword into Google’s search bar. And track progress for all these measures.
Additionally, SEO isn’t just about keywords. There’s a technical side as well, which includes things like site speed, user experience, mobile-friendliness, and working links. An SEO audit tool like Rankwatch can help perform an eCommerce SEO audit and improve technical SEO.
Conduct competitor research:
Choose a competitor. A competitor means they are ahead and so they have already done their research and put in the legwork for better ranking. Read and analyze their works, as that will help guide the work on the site.
Particularly, analyze their use of keywords on their homepages as well as their top product pages and scan their category and product pages for potential keywords. But don’t blindly use their keywords alone.
Site Architecture:
Ecommerce site architecture, or structure, is basically how the navigation, category pages, and product pages are set up on the website. At its core, it’s about getting the best, most relevant content in front of users and reducing the number of times they have to click to find it.
Make the page simple and scalable. Particularly, the site should have a distinct hierarchy of navigation, from the homepage to product categories to the products listed within them. The rule of thumb for search engines and visitors is to make sure people can reach everything within three clicks.
Proper navigation and internal linking should also be ensured. Search engine bots discover pages and products on the website based on a clear internal linking structure that is easy to follow to ensure a better chance of ranking highly in search.
Optimize product images:
A customer is more likely to buy a product that depicts the product from as many angles as possible, rather than from a site that has no image at all. So, images are a very important part of the product page. Use qualitative, compelling, and unique images.
Images have a great SEO. Add keywords in the names of the images on the page and always fill the alt text. It is a line of “alternate” text that can be displayed with the image and is another way to get important keywords on the site. As, when a search engine crawls a website, it has no way of knowing what the images are. But the alt text can provide the search engines with context.
Optimize the URL:
Optimizing URLs mostly skips the mind or seems unnecessary to owners at times. But it is an important part of SEO when it looks to the eye. Optimized URLs can help search engines bots to find and crawl the website and know what it is about.
Putting the primary keyword in the URL and making the URL readable and friendly is simple and improves search rankings. Proper URLs structures then also ease website indexation.
Moreover, URLs can enhance user experience and a good user experience keeps the audience longer on the website. It represents additional chances to convert them into customers.
Allow customer reviews:
Having reviews builds relatable trust between buyers and boosts customer confidence. Reading a review, they feel like a fellow customer chose the product just like them, and then shared their unfiltered experience.
They can help boost conversions on the product pages. And also aid in SEO practices by unknowingly using synonyms or long-tail keywords that can help with site ranking.
Avoid duplicate content:
Nobody likes a copy. Be original, clear, and unique with all the content on the website. Most of the time it is the product description that is copied or slightly manipulated, as it is provided by manufacturers who sell on many websites.
But, due to changes in search engine algorithms, more and more websites are being penalized for duplicating their product copy. So try to create new, and unique descriptions for each item on the website.
Aim for 3-5 concise sentences describing the product, being sure to use the appropriate keywords or phrases that the item should rank for. Add a canonical tag or a 301 redirect for pages to ensure search engines understand which pages may have identical or similar content.
Conclusion:
As competition online grows fierce, and the number of eCommerce stores grows every day, owners must incorporate SEO in their content to remain at the top.
Vaibhav Kakkar by the Founder and CEO of Digital Web Solutions, a globally trusted agency with a full suite of digital marketing services and development solutions. Vaibhav believes in building system over services, and has helped scale up agencies from scratch to niche leaders with million-dollar turnovers.”