According to research, 43% of organic traffic comes from search, and getting more traffic to a site is top of mind for any business owner. To make your online store highly visible for queries, boost your online traffic majorly, and show your products to the right audience, you will need to master eCommerce SEO. SEO for your eCommerce website carries the potential to boost your sales and revenue, making you a dominating figure in your industry.

What Is SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process by which content is created and enhanced for easy tracing on Google, YouTube, Yahoo, and other sites. Search algorithms look at factors such as words of your query, relevance, usability of pages, the expertise of sources, location, and setting. 

So when you type something on the SERP, the first page displays ten unpaid results, and according to research, 90% of users never click past the first page. So the last place to hide from your visitors should be page two.

Ecommerce SEO is all about ensuring your product page appears among those ten organic search results. SEO is an ongoing process you will need to stay on top of keyword trends, especially as you add new products. Managing eCommerce SEO can seem like a daunting task, but the effort is worth it. The more targeted traffic you get, the higher conversions will be!

Let’s look at the basic things you need to know about eCommerce SEO.

1. Keyword Research

The core of any effective eCommerce SEO optimization strategy starts with keyword search. Be aware of long-tail keywords, which are usually three to four words in length. The longer the keyword, the more specific it is. That means lower competition and often higher conversion rates by nature. 

You can measure your keywords against;

Keyword volume: The higher the volume, the more potential traffic you get for your business. Higher volume keywords mean a lot of competition.

Competition: the lesser the competition, the more chance you are to rank for the keyword.

Relevancy: Stick to keywords that your product will genuinely satisfy. Focus on your product page or category page of the search item. 

The Intent: Note that eCommerce websites care about commercial keywords that show buying intent. You can evaluate the intent by looking at a keyword.  

2. ECommerce Site Structure

Once you have the right targeted keywords, the next thing is to put the information into action by having a sound eCommerce site structure. The way you structure and organise the pages on your website will affect your chances of ranking and User Experience.

Site structure is about getting the best, most relevant content in front of users. It also reduces the number of times they have to click to find what they need.  Make your site simple and scalable. Use keyword research to create relevant sub-directions and URLs. Most importantly, every page of your site should be a few clicks from your homepage.  

3. On-Page Ecommerce SEO

Your keyword research and your eCommerce site structure are set. Now is time to look at your product pages and product category pages. On-page eCommerce SEO is vital, as it ensures your keywords are in the right places. It’s a way to ensure that Google knows the exact purpose of your page, and it helps you appear in other Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) features.

Product category pages are one of the vital pages to rank. If a visitor finds them on Google, it would be easier for them to access all the products in that category. Put your targeted keywords in the following places for better pages optimization;

a. In the Uniform Resource Locator (URL): Let your keyword be in your URL. Try to keep it simple and accurate. Keep your URL below 50-60 characters, cause shorter URLs are better than longer URLs.

b. In the Title Tag, heading 1 (H1) should have the keywords.

c. In the body, your keyword should appear in the introduction and at least three (3) times on the page.

d. Keyword in the Meta description can improve click-through rate.

4. Add Unique Content To Each Page

Reduce thin content pages with long product descriptions. Google and other search engines use the content on your page to decide which keywords to rank your page for, and how high your page should rank for each keyword. We recommend focusing on your most important pages first. For category and product pages, you should be looking at writing unique content at least 300-1000 words for each.

Use keywords when writing high-quality content for your products and categories for an effective eCommerce SEO plan. Know that Long Tail Keywords has a higher conversion rate compare to Short Tail Keywords.

Get started with Ecommerce SEO

If you want your website to get hundreds, thousands, and even hundreds of thousands of potential visitors, then you need to learn more about eCommerce SEO. SEO is a vast topic and might be overwhelming for small businesses, but remember it is an ongoing process, not something to be done in one day.

Start by looking at the keywords your competitors are using, and incorporate them into your title tags.

It’s time to get started with your eCommerce SEO and boost your online business traffic.

If you require assistance, then partner with Xanda for our eCommerce SEO services. Get in touch for more information.