Whether you’re identifying keywords like a pro or can’t distinguish your SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) from your CEO, there’s one thing that every retailer needs to know when it comes to digital marketing and your eCommerce site.
“Getting your SEO strategy right can elevate you from a nobody to a category leader,” says SEO specialist Brett Melville of Digital Treasury.
“Getting your SEO strategy right can elevate you from a nobody to a category leader”
“Simply put, it’s about increasing your visibility, so when people are looking for a product, you’re well-placed to be the retailer they choose. When you have an effective strategy sorted out, it can increase brand awareness, increase your mailing list and, ultimately, increase your sales. Plus, you can get market research on what products are popular to help with your buying decisions.”
Sounds like a search engine optimisation no-brainer. But where to begin with search engines and creating an eCommerce SEO strategy? Let’s break it down.
Step 1: Get Google-able
If you’re a bricks-and-mortar business, doing SEO research via Google My Business should be your first stop.
“It’s a quick and easy way to increase your visibility,” says Melville.
Google My Business is Google’s online business listing service and ensures that when people type your business name into search engines, your business, its website, phone number and address appear in the search results.
One tip? “Make sure you complete each and every field and include keywords,” says Melvile.
If you have a bricks-and-mortar store as well as eCommerce website capabilities, you can do the same but will also have an additional opportunity to capture a local SEO market through simple ranking and keyword strategies.
“Add in your location, because including a description of the product plus location, like ‘sneakers in Carlton’, will give you an advantage over bigger competitors when people search ‘shoe store near me’.”
Step 2: Set up your analytics
“You want to collect data from day zero,” advises Melville. That’s because analytics – using Google Analytics, Google Search Console and any in-house SEO analytics from your CMS, such as the tools that Squarespace offers – will give you instant feedback on what’s working for your eCommerce business and what’s not from a search engine perspective.
“You want to collect data from day zero”
“You want to know how many people came from the Facebook post that announced the new summer collection was live, versus how many came from the email you sent out to your list.”
Over time, you’ll be able to see trends and start to tailor your eCommerce SEO strategy, and content marketing toward what your potential customers respond best to. So make sure you’re monitoring metrics every month.
Step 3: Do your keyword research
Everyone wants to be on the coveted first page of Google results, but if you’re on the smaller side, you’ll need to get smart with your keyword selections to nab a coveted ranking spot.
First, brainstorm keyword research by thinking about the words and phrases that consumers are likely to be typing into Google to find the type of thing that you sell.
If, for example, you sell stationery, you might come up with ‘notebook’, ‘pens’, ‘journal’, ‘bullet journal’, ‘office supplies’ and ‘diary’.
“Then use keyword research tools like Keyword Sheeter to find out where the demand is, what people are searching for, and then give them the answers,” says Melville.
Next, get realistic about what you can use your search engine optimisation and keywords to rank for.
“If you sell headphones, and someone searches ‘headphones’ you’ll be up against mega-retailers like Amazon. Think about niching down with specifics, like ‘water-resistant headphones’,” suggests Melville.
If people are searching using simple keyword phrases and long-tail keywords like ‘water-resistant headphones’ they have likely already decided to buy a pair and could be influenced by search results returned by search engines. But don’t forget top-of-the-funnel sales opportunities that target people who are browsing, or still deciding whether to purchase.
“The top of the funnel might be creating content that answers more generic questions people search, like ‘What headphones work best for noise-cancelling?’ The middle of the funnel might be a blog post reviewing ‘What type of noise-cancelling headphones are best for you’.”
Remember, you have four opportunities to use a keyword from your SEO list that will get you ranked on search engines: on web pages and product pages (for example, Nike Air Max), product categories (men’s sneakers), the home/about/contact page and your blog page. Utilising all four categories will help you improve results and ranking on search engines and achieve an impressive e-commerce SEO ranking without compromising user experience.
Step 4: Get creative with your keywords
A nice-looking website is important, but don’t forget to make sure your content is well written from both a human and technical perspective, says SEO expert Karlie Plowman of Techno Bird.
“I’ll often see sites going straight to the product – no introduction to the business or person, just straight-up ‘buy my thing’,” she says. “If you think of your online store as a physical store, you’d say hello, engage in conversation. Doing that makes them get that you’re a human being – and it makes them trust you and come back as a repeat customer.
“You can do all that while making sure your keywords are exactly where you need them to be: the first 100-200 words of your website.”
As well as making Google happy through the use of technical SEO and organic SEO, prominent keyword placement will reassure your potential customer that they’re in the right place from both a technical SEO and eCommerce store perspective in search results.
Next, check that you’ve got your keyword or keywords in all of your eCommerce website SEO-friendly spots so search engines can find you easily. This includes: heading one, heading two, meta title, meta description, URL and body text.
Step 5: Inspect your site architecture
Simply put, don’t confuse people (or search engine web crawlers) by making it hard to navigate around your eCommerce website and product pages.
“People should be able to understand what it is you do instantly”
“People should be able to jump on your website and, by looking on your menu, be able to understand what it is you do instantly,” says Melville.
When it comes to web pages and your eCommerce store, keep it simple and make sure everything is three clicks from the home page.
Step 6: Find (and fix) website errors
The last thing you want is the dreaded 404 page putting off a potential customer and impacting your SEO ranking and search results. Use a free tool like Screaming Frog to crawl your website and find any errors, says Melville. “And Google Search Console itself will give you data on any errors or pages being excluded.”
Step 7: Describe your images
It’s not just words that you need to optimise for SEO; pictures also play a huge role in your Google Search ranking and give any eCommerce website the best chance of reaching more eyeballs via search engines.
Google doesn’t have eyes – that’s what the image ‘alt title’ is for (in other words the description of the image).
“Google doesn’t know that you have an image of a cake with pink icing and a balloon, they have to read the image – and if you just have cake2.png you’re missing an opportunity to get ranked,” explains Plowman. This will go a long way in helping you achieve that elusive and all-important eCommerce SEO ranking.
Adding good product descriptions to images is an overlooked but simple way to improve your product’s visibility through search engine results: simply describe the image and add a keyword, your business name, and location. For example, ‘pinkbabyshowercake-mycakeshop-bondi’. “It’s really important that you have unique alt titles for every single image,” says Plowman.
Step 8: Launch a content-marketing strategy
It can feel overwhelming to think about all the options for content marketing and digital marketing: paid ads, social media, and email marketing.
“You don’t have to be doing all the things. Pick one or two, and stick to that for six to 12 months.”
But don’t stress, says Plowman. “You don’t have to be doing all the things. Consider what you think will be the best way to create traffic, pick one or two, and stick to that for six to 12 months. Do it properly, have a strategy, consider hiring someone, and remember it takes on average seven visits to a site for someone to buy.”
Step 9: Create a link-building strategy
The next step is to create a link-building and backlink strategy from other parts of the internet signal to Google that your business is real and worth ranking.
To create a backlink strategy, think about any real-world relationships that can be replicated online. “Are you a part of an association? Has your product been in the community? Do you have a stockist who can link to you from their website?”
Step 10: Check and check again
Congratulations, you’ve set yourself up for retail SEO success. But before you kick back and enjoy, know one thing: e-commerce SEO is never-ending, says Plowman. If you’re not checking and tweaking, you’re not understanding what’s working (and what isn’t) or adjusting to capture your market.
“Make sure you’re monitoring, because if you don’t check your open rates or insights or click rates from your email marketing, you’re doing yourself a huge disservice by guessing or ignoring it,” says Plowman. “You need to get your head around learning the analytics and keeping on top of it. I tell my clients once a month is a minimum.”
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