“Just like a physical store, the visibility of an eCommerce site is pivotal. SEO makes your store visible to potential customers and leads.”
– Neil Patel
You might wonder why your eCommerce business needs SEO? Well, why not. There’s a lot of competition; everyone wants to be the first option customers see on search engine results.
You must be corrected if you are following the strategies for the blog or any other normal website. Because eCommerce websites require different sorts of SEO policies to get ranked.
This guide will discuss the best SEO strategy to improve your online presence and increase sales to the next level.
What is eCommerce SEO, and how does it Work for eCommerce?
ECommerce SEO, or Search Engine Optimization for eCommerce, makes online stores more visible in the search engine results pages (SERPs). When people search for products you sell, you want to rank as highly as possible to get more traffic.
This process involves optimizing your headlines, product descriptions, metadata, internal link structure, and navigational structure for search and user experience. Each product you sell should have a dedicated page to draw traffic from search engines.
If we use the keyword “women’s Jeans on sale” on Google, you will see the first page results have the above-mentioned elements perfectly,
For instance, let’s consider an online store selling jeans. In the below SERP, the first website represented their products quite beautifully
Each product would have its own optimized page, complete with a unique title tag, meta description, and product details. They also have a menu bar that will help you choose the right size, color, patterns, and style.
By analyzing this page, we can say SEO for eCommerce is a combined effort of product descriptions, image optimization, linking, user experience, and every other element combined.
There are some elements that work as the foundation for eCommerce SEO.
- Keyword: This is an SEO strategy with terms and phrases.
- On-Page SEO involves optimizing a webpage’s content and HTML source code, like headers and body content.
- Technical SEO: This focuses on the non-content elements of your website, including site speed, mobile-friendliness, XML sitemaps, and site architecture.
- Content Marketing: Regularly updating your website with fresh, valuable content, like blog posts or guides, can help attract customers and improve search rankings.
- Link Building: It’s basically connecting your page with other industry-leading business websites by linking their pages with yours or several of your own pages.
- Product Page Optimization: Each product on your site should have a unique, keyword-optimized page.
- Local SEO includes managing your online reputation, getting listed in local directories, and optimizing your site for local keywords.
8 Best SEO Practices in 2023 for eCommerce
These strategies (along with the Brian Dean “Skyscraper” technique) can help you increase your online shop’s visibility to 90% and ensure more traffic to your website.
1. Build an SEO strategy that will work for your business
The SEO strategy you will build for your business must fulfill your goals. Suppose you own an eCommerce clothing shop and want to increase your viewers by turning them into customers.
Competitor analysis
Firstly, you can study your competitors who rank well in search results. What keywords are they targeting? How are their websites structured? What type of content do they produce? Learn from their successes and look for areas where you can outperform them.
Some great competitor analysis tools are Ahrefs, Moz, BuzzSumo, and SpyFu. Especially, Ahrefs can give you detailed reports about competitors, Ahrefs rank, backlink profile, and organic traffic of the website.
Content creation
Content will be the body structure of your SEO structure. Regularly publish unique, valuable content on your website’s blog. This could be fashion tips, outfit inspiration, interviews with designers, or discussions about the latest trends.
Include your keywords in the content, and use internal links to guide users to relevant products or other blog posts.
Local SEO
You might own a store in a physical location, so make sure your store is listed on Google My Business and other online directories. Optimize your website for local search terms to attract customers in your area.
Social media integration
Finally, social media might not be a direct ranking factor for Google. However, they can amplify the reach of your content and bring more traffic to your site. Sharing your blog posts and product pages on social media platforms can help generate more engagement and reach.
2. Optimize your website for smart devices
Statista said mobile devices generated 54.4% of all website traffic (2021). It is estimated that this percentage will increase dramatically in the future.
In 2023, there will be nearly 5.48 billion mobile users worldwide (GSMA Intelligence), allowing website business promotion, plus people love to shop from their phones.
Google Ipsos states that, in 2019, 50% of mobile users loved to browse from a mobile-optimized site to browse or purchase products because they show less interest in using an app.
So, mobile optimization It’s not mandatory; it’s a must. The best part is optimizing your site for mobile devices is not hard. In 2023, all sites are structured to be mobile optimized but require some manual processes to become more efficient.
You can adopt a responsive design, meaning your site’s layout and content will automatically adjust to fit the screen of any device; also, simplify your site navigation by adding pop-menu bars because it makes mobile users more efficient.
Avoid using complicated drop-down menus or links that are too close together, which could be difficult for users to tap on a smaller screen.
One of the most crucial website speeds. According to Google, as page load time goes from one to ten seconds, the probability of a mobile site visitor bouncing increases by 123%. You can check your website speed via GTMetrix,
You can optimize your images, minify code, leverage browser caching, and reduce redirects to increase your website’s loading speed
You can also read: 5 Plugins for WooCommerce Products to Enhance Your Business
3. Perfect your keyword research tactics
Keyword research plays one of the most crucial parts in your eCommerce business. Regarding keyword research, users’ intent determines which keywords to target and which to avoid.
Navigational intent
Navigational intent keywords are used when trying to find a specific website or page. The goal of your SEO strategy for these keywords should be to ensure that your website is easy to find and navigate.
- Optimize your site structure and ensure your pages are easy to navigate.
- Ensure your brand and product names are prominently mentioned and well-optimized on your site.
- Include clear calls to action that guide users to the most important pages, such as product pages or contact forms.
Informational intent
Informational intent keywords are used when users are searching for answers or more information about a particular topic.
- Create high-quality, informative content that answers common questions your target audience might have.
- Use blog posts, how-to guides, and FAQ pages to provide detailed information.
- Incorporate relevant keywords naturally within your content to improve its visibility on SERPs.
Transactional intent
Transactional intent keywords indicate that a user is ready to purchase or perform a specific action.
- Optimize your product pages and landing pages for specific transactional keywords.
- Include clear and compelling CTA (calls to action).
- Ensure your checkout process is seamless and user-friendly to facilitate transactions.
Commercial intent
Commercial investigation keywords are used when comparing products or services before purchasing.
- Showcase your unique selling proposition (USP) and why users should choose your product or service over others.
- Include detailed product specifications and features to help users make informed decisions.
- Collect and display positive customer reviews, ratings, and testimonials to build trust and credibility. (This one can directly influence a customer to purchase a product)
Executing keyword research with user intent in mind involves identifying the primary purpose of the keywords related to your business and optimizing your content accordingly.
Utilize tools such as Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to help you identify relevant keywords and understand the associated user intent.
4. Does your eCommerce represents “E-A-T”
Nah, we are not talking about eating or tasting something delicious.
EAT, or Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, is a concept that was introduced by Google in its SQEG (Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines). Google considers EAT as an important factor in evaluating the quality of websites, particularly in areas where expertise and trustworthiness are critical, such as health, finance, and legal topics.
Implementing E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) on your website involves several key steps.
High-Quality and Accurate Content
- Ensure your content is well-researched, comprehensive, and accurate. Back your claims with credible sources.
- Provide detailed and valuable information that meets the needs of your target audience.
- Avoid misleading or false information and prioritize fact-checking.
Expertise Demonstration
- Highlight the expertise of your content creators. Showcase their qualifications, credentials, and experience in the relevant field.
- Include author bios or profiles that establish their authority and expertise.
- Encourage contributors to provide their expertise by sharing their unique insights and experiences.
Credible Sources and Citations
- Support your content with reputable and authoritative sources. Link to credible websites, research papers, industry experts, and studies.
- Ensure proper citation and attribution of sources to enhance the credibility of your content.
- Avoid relying solely on user-generated content or unverified sources.
Backlinks and External Validation
- Earn high-quality backlinks from reputable and authoritative websites in your industry.
- Collaborate with influencers, industry experts, or thought leaders who can endorse or link to your content.
- Guest posting on respected websites can help establish your authority and expertise.
5. The Skyscraper technique by Brian Dean
The Skyscraper Technique is a content creation and link-building strategy developed by Brian Dean, the founder of Backlinko. It is a systematic approach to creating exceptional content to attract high-quality backlinks and increase organic search traffic.
A Skyscraper technique is the basis on 3 different steps,
Executing the Skyscraper technique is pretty straightforward; however, it requires time and patience to become fully functional.
Research popular products and content
Identify the most popular and successful products in your eCommerce niche. Look for products with significant sales, positive reviews, and social media engagement.
Create quality product descriptions
Take the existing product descriptions and make them more comprehensive, informative, and persuasive. Highlight unique features, provide detailed specifications, include customer reviews or testimonials, and use high-quality product images or videos.
Optimize category and buying guides
Develop comprehensive guides that provide valuable information related to your products and niche. These guides can include tips, tutorials, comparisons, or how-to content. Make them more detailed, visually appealing, and user-friendly than existing guides in your industry.
Promote and outreach
Once you have enhanced your product descriptions and created valuable guides, promote them and reach out to relevant websites, bloggers, influencers, or industry publications.
Offer your product descriptions or guides as valuable resources that others can link to, share, or feature on their websites.
You can also read: How to Set Featured Products in WooCommerce?
6. Prioritize video SEO
Videos are becoming more and more effective daily, in a recent survey by Business Insider confirms there are 244.4 million video viewers in the USA. Among them, 91% of consumers want to see trustworthy relevant videos from their brands.
Moreover, according to Wzyowl, 33% of people love to see a product video to acquire knowledge. It can be a review, buying guide, or a simple ad. Other statistics suggest that 80% of people trust a product based on a video and will confirm a purchase.
So, watching videos can benefit your business and help you build trust with your audience. It also makes your business legitimate to Google, creating a win-win condition for SEO optimization and rankings.
To start, you need to define the purpose or objective of your video. Are you aiming to introduce a new product, increase brand awareness, or drive more traffic to your website? By having a clear objective from the outset, you can steer the content creation process in the right direction.
Once your objectives are set, the planning phase for your content can begin. This may involve writing a detailed script or designing a storyboard that outlines the flow of your video and the key messages you want to convey.
You can also hire social media influencers or models to make videos with them to get more highlights for your products.
7. Make your site user friendly
Finally, it comes down to being a more user-friendly approach toward your visitors. Creating a user-friendly website is essential in ensuring your audience’s positive experience and, consequently, your online success. Just ensure these 3 things from your website,
Clarity and simplicity in design
A visually appealing website doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, simplicity often enhances usability.
Plus, a streamlined, intuitive design with ample white space contributes to the user’s comfort and allows them to focus on the content, leading to longer website visits and higher conversion rates.
Website Accessibility
An inclusive website is one that everyone, including people with disabilities, can navigate. This involves providing alternative text for images, enabling keyboard navigation, and ensuring all functions are compatible with screen readers.
Readability of content
The ease with which users can consume your content greatly affects their experience. Choose legible fonts and organize your text into digestible chunks using headers, bullets, and short paragraphs.
Maintain a high contrast between the text color and background to boost readability.
8. Always avoid content duplication
One of the worst mistakes in a website can be content duplication, which increases your website size and negatively affects site SEO. This feels like seeing similar content on multiple sites that don’t create different content.
To ensure the content’s uniqueness, you can,
- Implement canonical tags to indicate the preferred version of a webpage.
- Use a consistent and logical URL structure, avoiding parameters and tracking codes.
- Utilize 301 redirects to consolidate link equity and redirect duplicate URLs to the preferred version.
- Ensure each webpage has a unique meta title and meta description.
How Much Paid SEO Helps Organic SEO or Not?
Even though you can have great SEO, we can’t deny that paid search results will always be top of a SERP. However, how much do they affect the organic search results? Do they help in any way?
Paid SEO, often called Search Engine Marketing (SEM) or Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising, doesn’t directly boost organic SEO rankings. Google’s algorithms determine organic search rankings based on hundreds of factors, but paid advertising isn’t one of them.
The search engines have distinct systems for organic search results and paid advertisements, ensuring that purchasing ads doesn’t affect your rankings.
From a different viewpoint, paid SEO can help When you run paid ads, your website gets more reach in search results, especially for competitive keywords.
This increased exposure can lead to extensive brand recognition, indirectly improving your organic SEO. Users are likelier to click on a website they recognize from previous encounters.
Moreover, when your paid ads and organic results appear together in search results, you essentially “double” your presence in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). This can make your brand more noticeable and authoritative, potentially leading to higher click-through rates.
5 FAQs on Best SEO Strategy for eCommerce Website
Which eCommerce tool is best for SEO?
In terms of reliability, Woocommerce is the best eCommerce tool for SEO. WooCommerce, as a popular WordPress plugin for eCommerce, provides a solid foundation for implementing SEO best practices for online stores.
This tool can give you full control over your product descriptions, meta tags, headings, and other on-page elements and use relevant headings to enhance the reach of customers.
Does Google prefer .com domains than any other domains?
Nope, Google ranking doesn’t depend on the domain. However, old or aged websites with .com domains might get recognized by Google crawlers, resulting in a higher ranking than other new websites.
What is CTR?
CTR, or Click-Through Rate, is a metric that measures the percentage of people who click on a specific link or ad after seeing it. It is calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the number of impressions and multiplying it by 100.
Does your website name affect SEO?
Yes, your domain name can positively or negatively affect your website SEO. A relevant domain name that aligns with your content or industry can benefit SEO by conveying purpose and relevance to search engines.
Which country is in the top position for eCommerce?
In 2023, China will remain the no-1 country in the eCommerce marketplace. A report from Statista indicates that the Chinese market volume will be US$2,075.00bn by 2027.
Are These Tactics Enough to Rank Your eCommerce Site?
If you can execute all the above tactics synchronously, you can easily rank your website and improve your SEO. Another thing to consider is, using different tools and platforms that offer SEO features and integrations can further enhance your strategy in the long run.
You can focus on customer experience because that’s really crucial for effective SEO for eCommerce. Some outer works, responding to customers, valuing their time, exchanging any faulty item, and building a customer service portal, may not be part of SEO but will eventually affect your site’s SEO because people love good behavior.
Finally, you can target backlinks, and easily skyrocket your business because effective link-building is a pretty SEO-beneficial technique.
So, was our content helpful? Did we cover all the crucial tactics for eCommerce SEO? Tell us in the comments.
Happy ranking your site on Google!