SEO is an essential first step to take if you want your e-commerce website to see an increase in both the number of visitors and the number of sales it generates.
In fact, 75% of marketers believe SEO can help get their objectives met.
However, although SEO is one of the most effective ways to generate traffic, and all websites can benefit from it, e-commerce stores have their own unique set of requirements that need to be taken into account.
In this full e-commerce SEO setup guide, Tech-One will lead you through each step and aspect that you want to pay attention to when uplifting your online store with SEO!
#1 Perform E-Commerce Keyword Research
Keywords, commonly known as “search queries” nowadays, provide insight into the information that customers are trying to find as well as the format in which they expect it to be presented.
This particular type of insight can be helpful in developing both your content strategy and your larger marketing strategy.
Given its importance, conducting e-commerce keyword research is a task that should be done before deciding on product categories or creating product pages.
#2 Create Topical Pillars
In the next step in this e-commerce SEO setup guide, we talk about topical pillars.
It doesn’t take very much time for keyword research before you’re drowning in potential search terms.
It would be a good idea to manage your keywords by product categories and create content in topical clusters.
And if you come across any thought-provoking queries or long-tail keywords concerning particular customer frustrations, jot those down and set them aside for use in your buyers’ guides or blog entries.
#3 Build SEO E-Commerce Website Architecture
In Google’s mobile-first index, mobile friendliness is taken into consideration as a ranking indicator.
#4 Optimize Product Pages
Optimized product pages are simply those designed to be found easily by search engines, and also able to convert visitors into leads.
In order to achieve product page optimization, you will need to pay extra attention to these three aspects: product description, image, and customer reviews.
The product description should contain your targeted keywords, essential functions, and practical use of the product.
Then, you should include high-quality and multi-angle images, best with real-life use photos, so visitors see that your products are practical and visually pleasant.
Finally, add some positive customer reviews to boost reliability.
#5 Make SEO-Friendly URLs
SEO-friendly URLs are those that are tailored to the needs of users and search engines.
They should be brief and contain your targeted keywords, not just a random string of numbers or characters.
Besides the title tag and link anchor text, search engines also look at the URL of your webpage to figure out what the content on it is about.
That is why an URL such as …/product-name at the end will be crawled better than, say, an URL like this: …/53o690hvf.
#6 Make Sure Your Site is User-friendly
Pages that are appealing to the eye are important, but user experience (UX) should also not be overlooked.
UX encompasses all aspects of a website, including its navigation, how easy it is to use, and its general “feel”.
Improving it will result in increased customer engagement as well as conversion rates.
After all, you are building the site for your visitors to use.
#7 Never Forget Responsive Design
You can find this tip in any e-commerce SEO setup guide.
In Google’s mobile-first index, mobile-friendliness is taken into consideration as a ranking indicator.
Therefore, in order for your site to have a good ranking on the search pages and to provide the best possible shopping experience for your site visitors, your site needs to be responsive to a variety of screen sizes.
#8 Reduce Page Loading Time
Page speed is a ranking factor, and several surveys show searchers aren’t willing to wait around for too long.
Some advice to reduce page loading time is:
- Get rid of as many unnecessary site elements as possible
- Compress and optimize photos
- Put JavaScript and CSS in separate files instead of including them in HTML codes
- Cache web pages
#9 On-page Optimization for E-Commerce sites
Keywords don’t need to match exactly what a searcher enters because search engines like Google are adept at understanding natural language.
Make use of shorter, more competitive terms on category pages while using longer-tail queries on your product pages as well as in FAQs, blog posts, and buyer’s guides.
And add keywords where they naturally occur in key areas like headings and content to help readers find what they’re looking for, without making the content sound odd.
#10 Do E-Commerce Link-building
If you have a post on your blog that discusses a topic that is also covered on a product page, you should link the two pages together.
Be sure to link any descriptive terms or phrases that the user might be able to deduce where the link will take them.
Include keywords, but user experience should be your primary concern.
What’s Next For You?
This is the end of our e-commerce SEO setup guide.
With all of this information and advice, we hope that we have shown you that it is now easier for you to understand the SEO strategy that you should adopt in order to boost the sales of your e-commerce site.
Check out our other posts about SEO marketing at Tech-One for the latest updates!
Or, if you want to accelerate your business growth with innovative and result-driven marketing tactics, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today.
