How to create an e-commerce SEO strategy, using this simple step-by-step guide
Whether you’re identifying keywords like a pro or can’t distinguish your ecommerce SEO (search engine optimization) from your CEO, there’s one thing that every retailer needs to know about launching or updating their eCommerce website.
“Getting your eCommerce 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 no-brainer. But where to begin? From product pages, meta descriptions, on-page SEO, keyword research and creating an ecommerce SEO checklist, let’s break it down.
Step 1: Get Google-able
Among the first and most basic eCommerce SEO tips is heading to Google My Business as a 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.
One tip? “Make sure you complete each and every field and include keywords,” says Melville.
If you have a brick-and-mortar store, as well as eCommerce capabilities, you’ll do the same – but you have an additional opportunity to capture a local SEO market.
“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.”
“You want to collect data from day zero,” advises Melville. That’s because analytics – using Google Analytics, Google Search Console and any in-house analytics from your CMS, such as the tools that Squarespace offers – will give you instant feedback on what’s working, and what’s not.
“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 like what product pages or category pages are the most popular, which product descriptions resonate the most and if internal linking to other pages or products drives additional sales. From there, you can work on doing keyword research and developing an SEO checklist that includes things like internal linking, using a mix of simple and technical SEO, primary keywords, long-tail keywords and on-page SEO. All of this will help you to further tailor your eCommerce SEO 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 a smaller eCommerce site, you’ll need to get smart with your keywords to get ranked.
Chief among eCommerce SEO tips is to first, brainstorm 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 and what people are searching for, and then give them the answers,” says Melville. This can be done with product descriptions and on product pages.
Next, get realistic about what you can rank for.
“Niche down with specifics so you aren't coming up against mega retailers like Amazon."
“If you sell headphones, and someone searches for '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 for phrases like “water-resistant headphones,” they have likely already decided to buy a pair, 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 canceling?’ The middle of the funnel might be a blog post reviewing ‘What type of noise-canceling headphones are best for you?’ ”
Remember, you have four opportunities to use keywords that will get your eCommerce site ranked: on product pages (for example, Nike Air Max), product category pages (men’s sneakers), the home/about/contact page and your blog page.
Step 4: Get creative with your keywords
A nice-looking website is important, but don’t forget to make sure it’s well-written from both a human and a technical perspective, says e-commerce 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 to 200 words of your website.”
As well as making Google happy with the use of technical SEO, long-tail keywords, meta descriptions and descriptive media assets, prominent placement of relevant keywords will reassure your potential customer that they’re in the right place.
Next, check that you’ve got those keywords in all the SEO-friendly spots: heading one, heading two, meta title, meta description, URL and body text.
It's also worth making sure your contact is easy-to-read, and that your eCommerce site is fast-loading, easy-to-navigate, and mobile-friendly. Without these basic building blocks in place, it's hard to attract high-volume traffic.
Step 5: Inspect your site architecture
In essence, don’t confuse people (or search engine web crawlers) by making it hard to navigate around your website. Too many product pages and people will give up, too few internal links and people will also give up! It's all about ensuring the user experience is seamless.
“People should be able to understand what it is you do instantly.”
“People should be able to jump on your website and, by looking at your menu, be able to understand what it is you do instantly,” says Melville.
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. 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 optimize for SEO; it’s pictures, too.
Google doesn’t have eyes – that’s what the image “alt title” is for (in other words, the title tag and product description attached to the images for your eCommerce store).
“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 task is a must on any SEO Checklist. It’s an overlooked but simple way to improve your product’s visibility: Just 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
When it comes to SEO strategy, it can feel overwhelming to think about all the options for content marketing: paid ads, social media, 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 strategy as links 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 retailer who can link to you from their website?”
Step 10: Check and check again
Congratulations, you’ve set yourself up for eCommerce SEO success. But before you kick back and enjoy, know one thing: eCommerce 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 wrap your mind around learning the analytics and keeping on top of it. I tell my clients once a month is the minimum.”
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