Ecommerce Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is a game-changer for ecommerce sites big and small. With the right strategy in place, your SEO campaign can drive highly targeted traffic and increase your conversion rates without the need for the endless treadmill of paid marketing. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll discuss what ecommerce SEO is and why it’s essential to your online store’s success.
Table of Contents
1. What is E-commerce SEO?
Ecommerce SEO is the practice of optimizing your online store to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). This involves a combination of on-page and off-page optimization techniques designed to help Google and other search engines improve your website’s visibility, organic traffic, and ultimately, sales.
With millions of online stores competing for customer attention and organic listings driving more interactions than paid listings, appearing at the top of search results can give you a significant advantage over your competitors. By investing time and effort into optimizing your website for ecommerce SEO, you can attract more potential buyers to your site who are specifically looking for products like yours.
2. The Importance of Ecommerce SEO
The main goal of ecommerce SEO is to increase organic traffic to pages on your site by optimizing product pages and category pages, along with creating useful blogs that enable users to find your site through search engines like Google rather than paid advertisements or social media. Organic traffic tends to be more valuable because of it:
- Generating better leads: Organic visitors are likely looking for products that match their needs or solve their problems.
- Offering long-term success: Once you’ve established a high ranking on search engines, you’re likely to maintain that position as long as you keep updating your content and following best practices.
- Reducing advertising costs: When done correctly, ecommerce SEO can generate substantial organic traffic without relying on expensive pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns.
3. Ecommerce Keyword Research: The Foundation of a Successful SEO Strategy
Keyword research is an important component for any website looking to establish a strong online presence. When it comes to e-commerce sites, however, the process of researching keywords differs slightly.
While the general process and tools used to research keywords are the same for both e-commerce and non-e-commerce sites, the approach to filtering keywords varies. For e-commerce sites, keywords with buying intent are given more focus, while informational keywords are emphasized for non-e-commerce sites.
One of the primary considerations when conducting keyword research is search volume. This refers to the total number of searches made each month for a specific keyword or search phrase.
For e-commerce sites, targeting high-volume keywords is important since it means more users are searching for those terms. However, high search volume also indicates higher competition for ranking. It is important to strike a balance between relevant keywords and competition.
Some popular tools for keyword research include Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, and SEMrush. You can use these tools to get insights into the search volume, keyword difficulty, and competition levels of various potential target keywords.
The keyword difficulty score estimates how difficult it is to rank on Google for a particular keyword, on a scale of 0 to 100. Higher difficulty scores suggest that it will be challenging to compete with existing search results. E-commerce sites with a strong reputation and quality content can target higher-difficulty keywords, but it may take longer and require more effort.
Determining search relevance is also vital, as it assesses how closely the search query relates to the search results. E-commerce sites that prioritize search intent are more likely to attract their target audience, leading to more qualified leads and conversions.
Aside from these factors, maintaining site architecture, utilizing on-page and off-page optimization techniques, and addressing content duplication issues remain the same for both e-commerce and non-e-commerce sites.
Overall, keyword research remains an integral part of SEO for both e-commerce and non-e-commerce sites. By understanding the search terms customers are using to find their website online, businesses can optimize their online visibility and attract more visitors to their sites. With the right approach and strategy, any website can achieve its goals and establish a strong online presence.
4. On-Page SEO: Optimizing Your Ecommerce Website for SEO Success
On-page SEO refers to optimizing individual elements on your website, including headings, URLs, meta descriptions, title tags, product descriptions, and images. Here are some critical aspects of on-page SEO you need to focus on:
- Title tags: Ensure your title tags accurately describe each web page’s content and incorporate relevant keywords.
- Meta descriptions: Write enticing meta descriptions that summarize your web page’s content while also incorporating target keywords.
- Image optimization: Use descriptive file names and alt tags for your images as well as compress them for faster loading times.
- URL structure: Create clean URLs with hyphens to separate words and avoid using special characters.
5. Ecommerce Site Content Marketing: Creating Valuable Content for Your Audience
Creating high-quality content is essential for successful ecommerce SEO. This includes blog posts, product descriptions, landing pages, videos, infographics, and more. Engaging content not only helps improve organic rankings but also establishes you as an authority in your niche.
To create valuable content:
- Focus on addressing the needs of your target audience.
- Incorporate relevant keywords naturally throughout the text.
- Provide actionable information that solves problems or answers questions.
There is a big difference that e-commerce sites have to keep in mind when they are creating content, SEO content differs from conversion content, often referred to as sales copy.
Where SEO content is more focused on enticing search engines to like your site, the sales copy on your product page is meant to emotionally capture your visitors and bring about a conversion in the form of an email submission, or even more so, a sale.
Striking a fine balance between these two types of content can be daunting, but if you want to run a successful ecommerce store, it’s a necessity.
6. Off-Page SEO for Ecommerce: Building Authority Through Backlinks
Off-page SEO refers to efforts link building made outside of your website to improve its search engine rankings. The main goal is to build high-quality backlinks from reputable websites with industry authority.
Some common off-page SEO tactics include:
- Guest posting on other sites within your niche
- Outreach to influencers and industry publications
- Social media marketing for increased shares and visibility
By building a network of links to your site, while adhering to SEO best practices, you’ll be able to strengthen the value of your site in the eyes of the search engines.
7. Technical SEO for Ecommerce: Ensuring an Excellent User Experience
Technical SEO involves optimizing your website’s performance, architecture, and mobile-friendliness. This ensures a smooth user experience, which can result in higher engagement and search rankings.
Key areas of technical SEO include:
- Site speed: Optimize your website’s loading time by compressing images, using caching, and minimizing code.
- Mobile responsiveness: Ensure your site is easily accessible on all devices, including smartphones and tablets.
- Site architecture: Create a logical site structure with clear navigation paths, this includes internal linking to relevant pages and topics on your site.
Technical SEO for your ecommerce business can be a daunting task… but it’s really a process of trial and error while following the suggestions of some of the tools that are out there to be your SEO guides.
8. Monitoring Your Ecommerce SEO Efforts
It’s essential to track the progress of your ecommerce SEO efforts over time. Use tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and specialized platforms such as Ahrefs or Moz to monitor your performance. Keep an eye on metrics like organic traffic, keyword rankings, bounce rate, and conversion rates.
9. Conclusion: Invest Time in Ecommerce SEO for Long-term Success
Ecommerce SEO is a long-term investment that requires patience and dedication. By focusing on keyword research, on-page optimization, content marketing, off-page SEO tactics, technical improvements, and consistent monitoring of results – you can set your online store up for sustained success that doesn’t rely heavily on paid advertising campaigns.
As you optimize your ecommerce website for search engines – be prepared to adapt to ever-changing algorithms while staying focused on providing value to your customers through high-quality products and information-rich content.
If you want help increasing the visibility of your e-commerce store in search engines, we are always available to chat! Contact us today!
For 15+ years now Adam has helped business brand, plan, and grow.
With a background in media buying and specializing in data-driven marketing he founded the Painted Brick Digital Agency to act as your in-house marketing and advertising department.
“Cookie cutter doesn’t work in a world that is constantly evolving.”