When it comes to search engine optimization or SEO it should never be considered one and done or something you can learn in a blog post or a few short hours. SEO is truly a craft that can take a good website and make it great. The opposite is also true that a good website with poorly thought out design and content can create a bad website to the search engines. In this article, we'll go over the core areas for SEO on an eCommerce website.
SEO is different for every type of website and industry. This is part of what makes SEO hard. When it comes to eCommerce websites (all of them) the following is important for everyone. Industry specific tweaks and changes can be done. What we are defining here is what every eCommerce website should do.
Product and Site Keywords
When you are creating keywords for every product you need to think of not only what your company calls a product but what your customers call the product as well. Are nicknames used for your product that you don't refer to but customers do? That should be one of the keywords that you target. When nicknames are being used combine that nickname with the actual product name to give the nickname, and the product, more relevance and linking to each other.
Content
Often on eCommerce websites a product isn't updated as often as other content. When it comes to content you want to answer the questions your customers will have, you want to have details that will explain what the product is, and especially a description that isn't too short but also not too long.
If you have video or pictures make certain that alternate text is used and for video, if you can, have a written transcript of the video to further improve your SEO.
Being people will typically not buy from your eCommerce store on the first visits (there's always exceptions to the rule), you need to build your reputation with your would-be customer. Make certain that you have a clear about page and details of who you are and why someone would want to buy from you.
Links
Like a regular website links are extremely beneficial. You have both internal and external links. An internal link is pages within your eCommerce site that link to other pages. eCommerce sites almost always have the best internal links of any site due to items like linking to other pages with relevant products. External links can be from the press, chamber of commerce, suppliers, vendors, social media mentions, and blog posts.
Engagement
When we're talking engagement, we are talking about when people come to your website and go to a product page without clicking the dreaded BACK button. When the back button is used the search, engines see the page as less relevant to the user. When a user clicks to another page of the site, stays on your site, and even makes a purchase that adds more credibility to your website.
A key way of improving your engagement and helping prevent users from leaving your website are:
- Having an easy to follow navigation at the top of the page
- Having an easy to find search capability
- Having the "cart" visible and easily accessible
- Fine tune and tweak your site using analytics based on how your customers are using your site
- Great visuals that showcase your product
- A "simple" theme that showcases your product rather than just a beautiful design
- Fast and efficient (speed matters)
- Secure and safe (SSL or the more modern term of TLS security)
Freshness
Unlike a regular website where you want to update frequently and often on an eCommerce site that may not always be the necessary case. If your content is already strong for your product you probably won't need to update often. What you will want to do is continually add items that further define what your products are, adding common questions you are receiving on the products, and giving more credibility to the products that you are selling.
Conclusion
When it comes to SEO and eCommerce we often feel that SEO is easier and yet harder than that of a regular website. We feel it's easier as we will treat each page as a mini-website for a product or group of products with a unique set of rules. You can come up with keywords often easier with eCommerce than a regular website as well as when we sit down with clients that can quickly and more easily come up with keywords for each page. Where it gets hard is when you have hundreds, even hundreds of thousands, of products. This takes time to update each one by hand as you do not want to have a computer randomly figure out the best combination.
JM2 Webdesigners from Valparaiso Indiana works with many companies on improving their eCommerce through the search engines and conversions with their customers. To learn more about how our Northwest Indiana marketing company can assist your business online you can contact us at 219-229-1633, email at sales@FawkesDM.com, or through our contact form here.
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