Businesses selling products and services online must ensure that consumers can easily find them. Otherwise, what is the point of having a great website with a fantastic design you paid thousands of dollars for?
Today, online shopping has increased to $26.7 trillion. This shows the vast amount customers are willing to spend on luxury items and necessities. It is no surprise that digital marketers all over the globe have started to utilize search engine optimization (SEO) for their eCommerce sites.
SEO allows businesses to rank higher, which means that when an individual searches for a keyword and finds your website on the front page of Google, they are ten times more likely to shop from it. Did you know that the rate for website clicks found on the second page of Google is lower than 1%? This shows how important SEO is for a business.
As a business, you need to rank higher so that a wider audience can find you. The more traffic you get, the higher the revenue is from sales.
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SEO Tips To Boost Your Ecommerce Sales And Revenue
Here are 5 SEO tips for eCommerce websites:
Focus on Keywords
Keyword research is essential for eCommerce SEO. The reason is that long-tail keywords have proven far more successful in helping websites attain higher search ranking and conversion rates. Instead of choosing one-word keywords, select keyphrases with three or more words.
Long-tail keywords can help consumers find exactly what they are searching for. Just because you are selling a product that is in high demand does not mean that your eCommerce website receives traffic by default.
Since long-tail keywords have less competition, it’s easier to rank them on Google. The more specific your keywords are, the higher the chances of customers finding them.
Find the Right Keywords
- Begin with what you are aware of
List down everything you offer customers and note all the relevant terms.
For example, if you sell baby toys, your list should include terms like “educational toys” and “toys for newborns.” You do not have to get very specific with these terms.
- Pay Attention to the Data
Look through recent analytics and available data to determine competitors’ keywords. You can use Google Analytics for this.
- Be Specific
Instead of using terms like “baby food,” opt for alternatives like “lactose-free baby food” or “baby food for diabetic babies.” Being specific helps your brand to stand out from the competition and make it easier for clients to find you.
- Consider Competition with Search Volume
Although it is good to use popular keywords, they must also be achievable. It means using relevant terms that have a high search volume so that they can rank easily. Of course, you can still use vague terms, but it is vital to use relevant phrases for the most part.
- Consider User Intent
Think about what goes through a consumer’s mind when looking for a product online. For eCommerce sites, this would mean making a purchase. Follow the keywords to get an idea of consumer intention.
For example, someone searching “foot doctor near me” probably wants to visit a reputable doctor near them. By keeping track of keyword searches, you can determine trends among your target audience and when a customer makes a purchase.
Identify Where You are Going Wrong
Before spending resources on an SEO strategy, you are unsure of, delve into your existing strategies to determine where your business currently ranks. Are you using specific keywords? What leverage do you have that allows organic traffic to reach your eCommerce website?
If you find your business ranking on the third or fourth page of Google, here are some quick SEO tricks that you can incorporate:
- Optimize images
- Improve EAT (expertise, authority, and trust)
- Add a higher number of semantically-related keywords
- Write short content into long-form content
- Add scheme and video markup
Work on Product Pages
Do not copy descriptions from the original manufacturer’s company page or website. Duplicate content does not help, as search engines can recognize it immediately and may impose penalties or, worse, a ban on your business.
Since a retailer already uses the description to rank their products, the same description won’t add value to your website.
Although you might find crafting product descriptions tedious and monotonous, they are the key to helping customers find your product. You must use long-tail keywords and exciting language to appeal to consumers’ needs and attract them to your product.
If you find yourself struggling, contact a digital marketing service that can help you optimize your product page by writing catchy product descriptions. Remember, product pages need to be unique.
Focus on Category Pages As Well
Just because you have worked on the product descriptions available on your webpage does not mean you can neglect category pages.
Category pages are vital for eCommerce SEO as they can target consumers in their early stages of buying. Usually, these customers are not sure what they really want, which is why it is easier to manipulate them.
When searching for a product or service, your audience is, in fact, looking to resolve a need. Your category page should give a brief overview of how you can help rather than focusing on the specifics of products.
You can also include a category page on your website to lower traffic from finding its way to an unavailable product. This allows customers to log onto your eCommerce site using the category page. This way, you can guide them to an alternative even if the product they want is not in stock. This allows them to stick around for longer, and by the end of this process, they are most likely to end up buying something.
Moreover, visitors can sign up for your email list to check back to find the product they want.
Narrow Search Results
In traditional stores, there are many categories and products that allow people to take their time and browse through every shelf. However, in an eCommerce store, consumers are impatient – they want what they are looking for, and if they do not find it quickly, they leave and look elsewhere.
To allow customer conversions and retentions, your website needs to be specific so that consumers stay on it instead of moving to competitor sites.
However, we do not recommend narrowing your search so much that each page only contains one or two products. Instead, you can try to produce a taxonomy for your eCommerce website to get the attention it deserves while ensuring that the eCommerce site continues to grow.
When making subcategories for products on the product page, consider the consumer’s point of view. Do not layer subcategories, as search engines do not like this.
Track Your Performance
You can choose a paid SEO analytics tool or a free tool such as Google Analytics to track your performance. It allows you to determine where changes need to be made and whether your ranking needs to be boosted so that KPIs (key performance indicators) can be met.
There are three things you need to focus on:
- Revenues
- Conversion rates
- Average order value
Look at the metrics across every product category so that you can understand where most of your money is coming from. Understand what makes these products stand out, and apply the same method to other inventory items on your website based on what you learn.
Use Interlinks
Links can help boost the overall customer experience by ensuring that valuable resources are easier to find and navigate. When you link to relevant information or products, eCommerce SEO becomes more effective. If you link to a suitable product, it provides a better user experience (UX) and can also help with the product’s sales.
The key is to be strategic when linking products. You can use catchy key phrases like “customers also bought” to show users what goes well with a particular product. As long as you are relevant, you can boost your company’s average order value and overall profits.
Keep Your Content Original
If you want your linking strategy to be successful, you must ensure that all the content on your website is original. When you provide links, more links are generated from alternate websites. By using interlinks, you can benefit from other incoming links.
A few questions you need to ask yourself are:
- Is this information adding value to consumers?
- Is this what users are searching for?
- Does this information help consumers with their decision-making process without directly telling them to purchase an item?
When making content, always think about whether it will be of any interest to customers. Establish a dialogue with the individual rather than trying to constantly market to them. Think like a consumer, not a producer.
Your goal should be to educate consumers about the different options available in your eCommerce store. If you sell similar products, you might think about copy-pasting one product’s description and using it for another product, but this is a bad idea as it affects the ranking of the pages.
Instead, take some time out to make the content for every product as unique as you can. Do not spend too many resources at the top of the funnel when consumers are still learning about your product. Customer retention is higher for brands that make each consumer feel special and involve them in decision-making processes.
Even though a customer knows that there are a thousand more customers that a brand may have, he is likely to become a loyal consumer if he feels that his needs are catered to.
Look Out for Broken Links
Have you ever come across an error like “404 Pages Not Found?”
This is one of the worst errors that affect user experience. They leave consumers frustrated and annoyed, reducing the chances of them coming back to your website to shop for a product they had initially wanted.
After all, if a customer is looking for a specific product and does not find it on your page after being on it for half an hour, what do you think they would do? Rather than revisiting the page tomorrow, they will likely find a competitor site and buy the product they want. This means you lose a loyal customer as well as a line of revenue.
To ensure that your customers do not go through this, opt for paid or free tools that take a deep dive into your website and ensure that these errors do not exist. If they do, here is how you can fix them and ensure that they do not show up in the long run:
- Change the link so that it links to another relevant page. If you can’t find the right page, remove the link completely
- If you have decided to delete the page, make a 301 redirect so that links can be forwarded to a relevant category. This ensures that your keywords still rank
- Use a naming structure that lowers the possibility of deleting, renaming or moving pages around in the long run
Conclusion
Increasing organic traffic to your website is not easy, especially when there are thousands of eCommerce brands selling similar products. However, this does not mean that getting consumers to find your website is impossible.
All you have to do is follow these SEO tips for eCommerce sites to help your website rank higher and focus on the quality of content to ensure the ultimate user experience.
It may take some time and patience, but it should not deter you from trying different strategies till you figure out what is driving your business’s success and use that trick for your eCommerce site.
The good news is that Google and other search engines want to provide the best results for searchers who use them. So, as long as you take the time to focus on creating a stellar customer experience and facilitating your audience, you are already on your way to excelling at search engine optimization.
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