A whopping 93% of all online experiences begin in Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines. In the United States alone, 71% of consumers use a search engine to discover new brands, products, and services. These figures alone highlight the importance of having a high-ranking page. An eCommerce site that isn’t finding ways to improve e-commerce SEO is essentially missing out on a lot of potential sales since 75% of online users never scroll past the first results page.
This is where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) comes in.
SEO is the key to ranking an eCommerce website higher in search engine results pages (SERPS). Any owner who decides to put up an online business needs to know that the higher their website’s ranking on major search engines, the bigger the opportunity of converting such traffic into sales.
Here are practical ways to improve eCommerce SEO:
Find the Right Keywords
While ranking on the first page of search engines is great, it should be for the right results. Here, the importance of performing keyword research can’t be stressed enough.
Ranking for competitive search terms is a dream come true, but it isn’t an easy feat to achieve. Another strategy to consider is the use of long-tail keywords. Unlike broad keywords, long-tail keyphrases aren’t as competitive and don’t take as long to rank for them. According to statistics, 70 percent of online searches consist of long-tail keywords.
The key to this lies in finding the right set of keywords to help a business rank while helping convert site traffic into sales.
Content is King
Creating content, informational blogs, in particular, is the recipe for SEO success. Doing this will allow content creators to incorporate SEO into the writeups by utilizing keyword research to determine topics that answer customer questions proactively.
Content not only drives traffic to an eCommerce site but also provides potential customers the opportunity to engage with a particular brand, thus establishing a connection in the process.
Content creators shouldn’t stop at incorporating keywords in web content and product descriptions. They should also write these blog posts, preferably around the long-tail keywords they get from performing keyword research.
Finally, it’s also important to create attention-grabbing meta descriptions for each written content. They are short descriptions that show in the search engine under a blog post’s title. Meta descriptions that are engaging enough urge readers to click on the content and read it, which drives additional traffic to the eCommerce site.
Establish Authority
eCommerce sites can do the following to establish authority:
Build backlinks
Backlinks are crucial to every eCommerce SEO effort. Not just for eCommerce sites, they are foundational for any website and have long been regarded as an essential ranking factor in Google. The number of websites that link to a page indicates the level of quality that the content has. Just make sure to steer clear of low-authority websites for these links to contribute to a high ranking on SERPs.
Use Influencer Marketing for Content Promotion
eCommerce site owners can think of influencer marketing as an accelerator to their content marketing strategy. By leveraging influencers to get their content in front of larger audiences, they can effectively boost blog traffic and their online sales at the same time.
It’s a great idea, especially for small and startup companies, since this strategy doesn’t require a substantial email list or their own blog readership to be successful.
Make the Website Faster than Fast
Site performance is a crucial measurement area for a website’s SEO. Google itself confirmed that site speed is a significant ranking influencer. Aside from ranking, site speed also impacts the overall user experience. Slow speed will most likely cause a visitor to leave a website, which results in an increased bounce rate and poor SEO performance.
According to the industry benchmarks for mobile page speed, more than half of the users opt to abandon sites that take longer than three seconds to load.
To prevent this from happening, owners should take the necessary steps to improve their eCommerce site’s speed. There are free tools that are available to test a site’s page load speed. Once this is determined, the necessary steps to improve load speed can be made, such as optimizing images to reduce their size.
Last but not least, it also pays to make the checkout process faster than the rest of the competition as it translates into an 18% increase in revenue.
Encourage Social Traffic to the eCommerce Site
Social media interactions are a surefire way to drive personalized searches to an eCommerce site while expanding its online presence.
An active community of followers who constantly engages in comments, shares, and even likes can drive a significant amount of good traffic.
The three leading social media platforms to focus on are Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. These sites contribute 90% of all social traffic online, including websites and blogs.
The increase in traffic and user engagement through the said social sites improve eCommerce SEO by giving the site’s authenticity a much-needed boost.
Work on On-page SEO
Working on an eCommerce site’s on-page SEO is crucial to its success for numerous reasons, such as:
- It makes the site more user-friendly
- Improves the site’s search ranking
- Makes it easier for search engines to index the site’s pages
- Allows the website manager/owner to focus on optimizing other page elements, such as visuals
The most critical processes that make up a successful on-page SEO include:
- creating unique and descriptive title tags
- writing keyword-optimized alternative texts for site images
- linking site content with internal links for easier indexing and improved navigation
- optimizing headings with relevant keywords and descriptions
- using easy-to-read URLs, among others.
Localized Content
Emphasis on local content is one of the most notable updates to SEO best practices in recent years. Local SEO has become increasingly important as more customers now prefer mobile devices to search for products and services. 70% of those who perform local searches pay a visit to the nearby business.
Therefore, it’s a great idea to focus on local content (including local keywords and landing pages) to increase sales of physical and eCommerce stores alike.
Key Takeaway
Figuring out specific ways to improve eCommerce SEO demands work and a bit of patience since results don’t manifest overnight. However, it’s a sound investment that’s worthy of all the time and effort.
Since it’s a multi-faceted task, there are many aspects to cover when tackling SEO. However, there are a few main points that one may focus on to boost sales, which includes:
- Careful selection and implementation of relevant keywords
- Creation of engaging and informative content
- Using social media to grow and connect with a target audience
- Working on on-page SEO to attract and retain prospective clients
- Focusing on local SEO
- Establish authority and maintain a clean online reputation
Overall, a better eCommerce SEO ensures that company products get discovered online. Also, it helps consumers make the best buying decisions and provide them with the kind of experience they’re likely to share with friends and followers.
