7 Essential SEO Tips for Your eCommerce Site

If your business is planning on selling any products or services via the World Wide Web, ranking higher than your competitors on Google is an absolute necessity for potential customers to find you. The truth is there is no point of crafting a fancy website with amazing products at the best prices if your site cannot be found on the page of search results on Google. After all, studies have shown that websites ranked number one receive an average click-through rate of 36.4%, which is more than double the rate for the number two spot. In order to ensure that you are not missing out on this valuable traffic that can turn into sales, read on to learn the top seven tips for stepping up your eCommerce SEO game for a stronger online retail presence.

eCommerce SEO Tips #1 :: Research the Most Effective Keywords

As with everything else in life, investing the time in doing your homework and researching the most effective keywords for your web pages will greatly enhance your chance for success. When it comes to optimizing your website for eCommerce SEO, it is essential that you do some in-depth keyword research in Google’s free AdWords tool to discover the key phrases that will heighten your site’s visibility in search results.

For having the highest conversion rate possible, be sure to choose specific long-tail keywords that aren’t too general so that you can effectively compete for them in Google. Look for words or phrases with high local monthly searches that are directly related to your company. As a general rule of thumb, it is wise to consider relevancy, search volume, and ranking difficulty when choosing your keywords to ensure they are neither too broad nor too competitive.

eCommerce SEO Tips #2 :: Include Keywords Strategically in Anchor Text

Naturally incorporating relevant keywords in a variety of anchor text on links leading to specific products or services on your website can tremendously boost your eCommerce SEO for improved visibility in Google search results. Instead of falling back on the ever-popular “click here” or “check this out,” focus on including keyword-rich anchor text that will appeal to the search engines as well as your potential customers.

That being said, it is important that you avoid using the same anchor text throughout your website and committing keyword cannibalism. When you use the same keywords in multiple pages of your site, you will confuse Google, compete for rankings with yourself, and be penalized with weaker traffic. To make certain you are not doubling exact keywords, you may want to create a spreadsheet with all relevant keywords and upping your variety.

eCommerce SEO Tips #3 :: Create Snazzy Product Descriptions

If you are planning to simply add in product descriptions distributed by manufacturers, you are headed straight for doom and will most likely be banned from every search engine. Google is getting increasingly more talented at kicking websites to the curb who are scraping content in its original form from other sources. To keep your eCommerce SEO in good standing and avoid scaring away customers with spam-like content, it is essential that you write unique, catchy descriptions for each of your products.

One of the best ways to enhance your search engine optimization is to compose original high-quality descriptive content that not only helps your customers choose their purchases wisely, but also garners attention from Google. It is also smart to count the number of words that are used on a blank product page to estimate how much unique content you will need.

eCommerce SEO Tips #4 :: Make Proper Use of Product Images

Humans are naturally visual creatures, so prospective customers will want to see pictures of what they are considering forking over their hard-earned money for. It is particularly critical for eCommerce companies to utilize the highest quality images to persuade consumers to take a leap of faith and make a purchase. Further, properly optimizing these photographs can also bring about a valuable opportunity for you to boost your site’s ranking in Google.

Since the search engine spiders crawling through your website don’t have the brainpower to instantly recognize images like the human eye, you will need to optimize them using alt text with keywords. Make sure that each tag you create for each image is as relevant as possible so that the alt text associated with each image is unique. Another helpful hint is to make the image file size as small as possible without sacrificing quality to guarantee fast page load times.

eCommerce SEO Tips #5 :: Build Strong URL Structures

For an eCommerce website with a large quantity of products and descriptions, you should never underestimate the power of having good URL structure. When your site is well-organized with proper URL structures, Google will have a much easier time crawling through your content and understanding your web pages to get indexed properly in search results. All of your website’s URLs should be unique and use the name of the product right in the address with keywords.

Another equally important benefit of building strong URL structures is enhancing the overall usability of your website so that customers have a more pleasant experience searching through your products or services. Whenever customers are able to easier find what they are looking for in your well-designed website architecture, you will have the highest chance of converting clicks into sales and boosting your site’s ranking.

eCommerce SEO Tips #6 :: Keep Track of Your Website’s Traffic

All business owners have the goal of seeing a dramatic climb in the amount of foot traffic making its way onto their website, but many remain unaware of the actual numbers. It is highly recommended that you make good use of Google Analytics to keep track of your website’s traffic frequently to find out where your customers are coming from and how your SEO marketing efforts are working.

Also, it is important that you looking beyond the traffic statistics to actually identify how many of your site’s visitors are actually opening their wallet to make a purchase. When you are more aware of your profit increases, you will have the best chances of identifying exactly where your site is going wrong, improving your overall eCommerce SEO strategy, and generating more paying customers.

eCommerce SEO Tips #7 :: Ask for Honest Customer Reviews

Did you know that around 79% of online buyers look through product reviews before making a decision on their purchase? This means that you can easily enhance your company’s eCommerce conversion rate by adding real customer reviews for each of your products. To ask for more customer reviews for your online store, you can use a reward-based system for discounts or send a quick email to customers after they receive the product.

In addition to enhancing your sales, honest customer reviews also positively impact your search engine optimization. Since reviews create fresh content and keep the website active frequently, it will be easier for your website to reach the top of Google’s search results. Simple tricks like this are what really help to improve your overall eCommerce SEO!

This article is written by Shane Barker. He is a digital marketing consultant, named the #1 social media consultant in the nation by PROskore Power Rankings. He has expertise in business development, online marketing and is an SEO specialist who has consulted with Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and a number of A-list celebrities.

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