Ecommerce Strategy

Just like physical stores need foot traffic, online shops need online traffic.

So when people search for products related to your business, it shows in the search results.

That’s where ecommerce SEO comes in.

In this article we will learn about:

• Ecommerce SEO
• Why it’s important
• Creating an ecommerce SEO strategy
• Tools that help

Let’s get started.

What is ecommerce SEO?

Ecommerce SEO, helps your online stores show up in search results for people searching for products related to your own.

An optimised online shop will:

• Rank high in SERPs
• Bring organic traffic

And, more than half of people research a brand before buying, that’s why Ecommerce SEO is important.

So, optimising your website helps potential customers find your products in search results.

Then this is more likely to lead to these people making a purchase.

For example, optimising your website for traffic, like writing product descriptions that are:

• High-quality
• Keyword-rich

Ecommerce SEO Strategy

Keyword Research

Start ecommerce SEO by doing keyword research for:

• Your website
• Your product pages

Doing so helps you find words people are using when searching for products related to your business.

Then, use these keywords in the content to help:

• Google know when to show your website in SERPs
• Searchers know what your page is about

Do keywords research on competitors as well, to target keywords they are ranking for.

On-page SEO

Elements of on-page SEO tell search engines what’s on your website, examples of these elements are:

• Content
• HTML elements

Note: These elements also include keywords, so keyword research is done beforehand.

Meta Titles

Meta titles are headings describing the content on your web page.

Use them to summarise the web page’s main topic with a related keyword.

Meta Descriptions

Meta descriptions are text snippets in SERPs describing the specific web pages.

It’s used to help searchers decide if the web page matches what they’re looking for.

Only visible in search results, and should include your target keywords.

For ecommerce shops, adding product reviews and star ratings in your meta descriptions helps build trust.

Do this using review snippet schema markup.

URL Structure

URL structure are the subdirectories and slugs categories your website’s web pages falls under. 

Use best practices like:

• Keeping URLs simple
• Using relevant keywords
• Hyphenating slugs

Also keep URL hierarchy clear so search engines know which web pages are more specific.

Product Descriptions

Product descriptions explain more about your product.

Make sure to include the keywords you’ve researched.

Structured Data

Structured data is your website’s code explaining your web page’s content.

Helping search engines when it comes to indexing your web pages.

So to optimise your product pages, add structured data markups.

For more details on selling your product, check out Google’s product-related structured data database.

This database includes information on:

• Shipping
• Offers
• Pricing
• Product availability

Once you have found what you want:

• Copy and paste it into your site’s schema markup
• Add your unique elements
• Then check if it’s valid using the Rich Results Test

Images and Image Alt Text

If you have an ecommerce website, use high-quality images for your products.

Doing so helps with sales conversion.

And images also help ranking in search results and image packs with:

• The right keywords
• Descriptive alt text

Technical SEO

Technical SEO should be used for ecommerce websites to run faster and make them easy to navigate.

A Lot of features can slow your website down like:

• Text for product descriptions
• Product images
• Product videos

A good solution is to compress all files to make your website load faster.

Because conversion rates drop an average of 4.42% each second it takes a page to load.

Also using the correct structured data makes your code clean and readable for search bots.

Backlinks

Backlinks, part of off-page SEO, help bring traffic to ecommerce websites.

But not any backlinks, they should be from sources with:

• Good reputations
• Authoritative
• Related to what you sell

A few examples of backlink strategies include:

• Reclaiming unlinked business mentions
• Getting listed in listicles
• Using images so websites link back to you

Or partner with influencers or affiliates to promote your products and share website links with their audience.

Optimise For Mobile

Half of the world’s website traffic is from mobile devices so optimise your ecommerce website for mobile.

Responsive mobile design helps your ecommerce website adapt for all visitors devices:

• Mobile buttons resize
• Scalable images and graphics
• Typography and text size

Ecommerce SEO Audit

An ecommerce SEO audit keeps on top of your strategy. 

And performing an SEO audit helps see where your need to improve for better rankings.

So, use the following checklist for your audit:

Keyword Research

• Find if you rank for keywords and which ones
• Go for more keyword opportunities

On-Page SEO

• Make meta descriptions more descriptive
• Make sure meta titles relate to your content
• Make sure product descriptions target keywords
• Make sure product descriptions say what you’re selling
• Make images alt-texts descriptive and keyword-rich
• Make sure you have product-specific structured data
• Make sure to use Google’s standards for structured data

Technical SEO

• Improve page speed
• Compressed images
• Compress videos
• Make sure you have clean schema markup
• Check if Google has indexed your website

Backlinks

• Check your backlinks profile
• Check if backlinks are from authoritative sources
• Find websites to get backlinks from
• Find unlinked mentions you can claim

Mobile Optimisation

• Check if images are scalable
• Check if graphics and vectors are scalable
• Check if text is scalable
• Make sure your website automatically changes for different devices
• Check if website passes Google’s mobile optimization test

Ecommerce SEO Tools

• Keyword Planner: A free tool for keyword research to help write product descriptions
• Google’s Mobile Optimization Test: Check if websites respond to all screen sizes 
• PageSpeed Insights: Check website’s speed and suggests score improvements 
• Rich Result Test: Check valid structured data on desktop and mobile websites for rich results and tests for Google SERP features
• Squoosh: Compresses website’s image files

Conclusion

The best SEO method is to make sure all the information you put out there is quality:

• On your own page
• On directories
• On other publications

Then use the methods mentioned above to get your ecommerce website better SEO results.

Now it’s over to you.

Tell me which ecommerce SEO methods have the best results.

Let me know in the comment section below.