Nowadays, SEO has become the name of the game when it comes to ecommerce. According to the Search Engine Journal, as much as 93% of all online activity begins with a simple search. Moreover, according to Search Engine People, 75% of clicks go to the first page of search results, meaning, the better you rank on SERPs, the more chance you have of generating traffic. Likewise, more traffic means more sales; and the more you convert, the more money you amass to grow your ecommerce business. For this reason, we’ve compiled a detailed guide to help you scale your ecommerce business with the use of some neat SEO tricks.
Reach the Right Customers with the Right Keywords
1. Snoop around the competition
Every successful SEO strategy begins with a meticulous keyword research. This information is absolutely vital for your SEO efforts as it helps you uncover specific search terms your consumers type into their browsers during their online shopping sessions. Moreover, keywords will also get handy later on once you start working on your meta descriptions, URLs, site layout, and so on. Now, if you have a decent budget you can utilize tools such as SEMrush to find out precisely how certain keywords rank for your close competitors. Otherwise, you need to do this manually by checking other ecommerce websites, for example Amazon, to get an idea of what keywords they’re using for your type of products.
2. Keep an eye out for important metrics
Next, to identify the right keyword for your ecommerce business you need to keep an eye out for that keyword’s search volume. For this you can use tools such as Google Keyword Planner as it has the ability to track important metrics such as average monthly searches and competition levels of relevant keywords. However, not everyone browses the internet with the intent of buying products. For example, the phrase ‘green tea’ could be searched to gather information regarding possible health benefits, whereas the phrase ‘buy green tea’ is used commercially. This is why you need to check the keywords’ competitiveness rating because the higher it is, the higher its commercial-intent will be. Additionally, employing low competition long-tail keywords will help you increase conversion rates by targeting specific semantic phrases people search for on Google. Just be careful that your keyword closely matches your product type, otherwise people will just bounce off if you ‘click-bait’ them.
Work on Your Website
1. On-site SEO maintenance
The thing about SEO is that it’s not a one-off thing. In fact, it requires constant tinkering and on-site maintenance for it to work properly. Meaning, you need a dedicated SEO budget set up to sustain your SEO efforts. Likewise, if you don’t already have one and you find yourself somewhat short on cash, the best way to keep the ball rolling is through some caveat loans, which are suitable for any business purposes. Now, remember the keywords we worked so hard to find? Well, here we find yet another use for them. Always place them in your page’s title tag, add them to your product page content, and make URLs out of them for better CTR. Also, add modifiers such as ‘cheap’ and ‘buy’ to these title tags to maximize your traffic generation. For product page content, ideally you want it to be 1000+ words long, though such a feat is almost impossible to accomplish for every single page. Hence, a more reasonable 50–100 range should do the trick.
2. Adequate site architecture
Today, the internet already contains billions of pages of data and the number just keeps going up with each passing day, making it increasingly difficult to find exactly what you’re looking for. This in particular has an effect on ecommerce sites as on average they consist of a lot more pages than the standard blog or business website. Thus, when it comes down to page layout simplicity is essential. For example, never keep a page more than three clicks away from your homepage. Why? Because page rank resides on your homepage, and with each new layer you add, you stray further away from it. So, if you create a site architecture that’s too deep, you won’t get enough authority all the way down to your product pages. Therefore, create a simple, scalable, structure with enough categories and subcategories to keep your pages neat and organized.
At the end of the day, your keyword research and on-site SEO maintenance won’t mean anything if you post low quality content on to your website. Therefore, don’t just copy-paste default product descriptions from manufacturers but go the extra mile and create custom content for each product page description. Additionally, you can implement product reviews, photos, and videos in these as well for that extra SEO boost.
| About the Guest Author:
Lauren Wiseman is a marketing specialist, contributor to bizzmarkblog.com and an entrepreneur. She helps clients grow their personal and professional brands in the fast-changing and demanding market, strongly believing in a holistic approach to a business.
