On-page SEO, off-page SEO, and technical SEO are the few terms that you cannot avoid if you want to enjoy more traffic and sales on your eCommerce website.
With 95% of the search traffic going to the first page of search results who wouldn’t like to rank on top?
There are limitless how-to blogs and articles on the Internet giving away all forms of SEO optimization tips and hacks. However only a few address the pain points, unique needs, or doubts of eCommerce entrepreneurs.
In this blog, we would like to answer the most frequently asked questions of eCommerce SEO. It will help you with all the information to set up a successful SEO strategy and proven SEO practices to grow your business.
Let’s get started.
What is eCommerce Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
eCommerce Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of making an eCommerce website more visible on search engine results pages (SERPs).
Your website will be optimized around specific keywords based on the products or services you sell to rank higher in the search results.
eCommerce SEO is a free method of getting more traffic to your online store. When the users search for a product that your eCommerce store is selling, you want to be visible or rank as highly as possible to be noticed first. A well-ranked page/website receives more traffic.
How to improve my eCommerce SEO traffic?
As mentioned earlier, eCommerce SEO is all about improving the visibility of your website pages in the search engines.
Thus it involves optimizing your website’s headlines, tags, meta title, and product descriptions with the keywords and enhancing the navigation and internal link structure for better search and user experience.
This also includes the optimization of static and non-product-oriented pages on your website such as,
- Homepage
- About Us page
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page
- Blog/Articles
- Help Center Information
- Contact Us page
- Reviews & Testimonials
What are the different types of SEO?
6 types of SEO optimizations that can help your website rank for the targeted keywords.
- On-page SEO
- Off-page SEO
- Technical SEO
- Local SEO
- App store optimization
- YouTube SEO
Even though you won’t be using them all, to get better traffic you’re surely going to need more than just one type.
Moreover, it’s always good to have an overall understanding of what happening around you.
What is on-page SEO?
A well-optimized page helps Google understand the content better. It also helps Google organize the content and rank the page.
Essentially, with on-page SEO you’re helping Google do a better job.
On-page SEO (search engine optimization) is the tactics that you use to optimize your web pages to improve their ranking, user experience, and the search engines’ understanding of it. Elements optimized in on-page SEO are:
- Title tags
- Internal links
- HTML code
- URL optimization
- On-page content (product descriptions, reviews, blogs, articles, etc)
- Images
- User experience (UX)
What are the on-page optimization techniques?
When it comes to a comprehensive on-page optimization strategy, it involves several vital elements that you cannot afford to miss.
Thus, make sure you implement all the optimization techniques mentioned below for better ranking in the search engine results pages (SERPs) and higher conversion rates.
1. Insert your main target keyword in the first paragraph or first 100 words of your content. This makes your content’s topic and purpose clear to search engines and readers.
2. Optimize your webpage’s URL structure by including keywords. Keep your URL, clear, short, precise, and directly related to the content on the page.
3. Title tag and meta description are the ranking factors as well as ones that can increase your click-through rate (CTR). When the title tag aligns with the search query of the user it can get you more clicks and traffic. So, make them eye-catching along with important keywords.
4. Give your content a proper outline and hierarchy with H1 & H2 tags for all titles and subtitles. This signals to Google that your content is organized and focuses on user experience.
5. Include related internal and external links to help Google know what your page is about. It also builds authority and allows Google bot crawl your site with ease.
6. Add helpful images to increase user engagement and retention rates. However, don’t forget to optimize the added images with the following.
- Improve quick loading by implementing Lazy Loading
- Include descriptive Alt Tags with keywords
- Pick titles and names for images with keywords incorporated in them.
7. Focus more on user engagement factors such as faster page speed, clean and crisp layout, easy navigation, clear calls-to-actions (CTAs), including lists, tables, and more.
8. Last but not least, create user-friendly content that is unique, authentic, informative, engaging, and is easy to interact with.
What is off-page SEO?
Off-page Search Engine Optimization (also called “off-site SEO”) on the opposite to on-page SEO refers to the actions taken outside of your website to improve the ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs).
Off-page SEO builds your website’s domain authority. Higher authority websites are to rank better compared to low or no authority websites. This is because search engines consider higher authority websites as more credible and trustworthy.
Thus, to signal Google that users trust your website and improve your ranking off-page SEO is the freeway.
What are the different off-page optimization techniques?
The most common off-page SEO techniques are:
- Link Building
- Brand Building
- Local SEO (GMB and Citations)
- Social Media
- Forums
- Influencer Marketing
- Events
- Content Marketing
- PR
- Guest Posting
- Podcasts
- Reviews
- Content Syndication
How to do SEO keyword research?
In digital marketing, a keyword is the word/term used to describe something on the internet to perform a search in the search engine.
The keyword is the word that best describes your content on your website’s page and the search term commonly used by your users to find your product/service/content.
Let’s say you’ve got a website for coffee mugs: you sell all types and sizes of coffee mugs. To find the keywords or phrases or search terms for your business, ask yourself the following questions.
- What words will people use on search engines when they want to buy coffee mugs?
- What will the search query look like?
- For what kind of search terms should your business be found?
When we say keyword it’s not always just one word. Most of the time one business can have many keywords, consist of multiple words, or can even be a short phrase. That’s why keywords are classified into three types based on their length.
- Short-tail keywords (also called generic, head, or broad keywords
- Mid-tail keywords.
- Long-tail keywords.
Once done, a list of specific and general keywords for every page of the website is created and included. Using keyword research tools makes it easy to find long-tail keywords and search semantic keywords that go well with the content.
What is keyword research?
The process of finding and analyzing the right search terms that users use to search on search engines is called keyword research.
“the most basic signal that information is relevant is when content contains the same keywords as your search query,” says Google.
Keyword research can also help you with information like what queries are your target audience is actually searching on the Internet, the popularity or frequency of those queries, and more.
The 3 key elements to keep in mind while performing keyword research are,
- Relevance: Remember that your content will rank for keywords only if it meets the searcher’s needs. If you want to rank better, provide value than other content that already exists.
- Authority: Earn social signals and backlinks, and adding informative content to your website improves its authority.
- Volume: You may rank on the first page for a keyword but if the search volume for that specific word is not up to the expectations, then all your efforts may go into the drain. Thus, before picking a keyword, check its search volume by measuring the monthly search volume (MSV) – i.e, the number of times the particular word is searched for in a month by the users.
So, here’s how to do SEO keyword research:
1. To start with brainstorm for generic words relevant to your business. Make a list of words and topics that are important to your business.
2. From the genric list, find the ‘seed’ keywords. These seed keywords are to be more specific to your business and the terms that your target audience is using to search.
3. Next, see what keywords your competitors are ranking for. By looking at your competitors you can learn what keywords are driving traffic. You can also compare your keywords list with them to check whether you are in the right direction.
4. Or on reverse, to identify who your core competitors are you can type in one of the seed keywords in the search tab and check who is ranking first for that word.
5. Understand the user intent and how it affects your intent keyword research and proceed accordingly. And again to verify a user’s intent simply enter the keyword into a search engine and see what results come up.
6. If you are struggling with the keywords list, then check out related research terms. You can always guess the right term what people would search for. So, in that case, after you search for a specific term scroll down to the end of the results page to find some additional search suggestions.
7. You can also use the tons of keyword research tools available online to your advantage. These tools can help you find exact keywords and phrases that match your industry and target audience.
8. Narrow down your list of keywords based on the search volume for each keyword.
9. You can also include keywords by season, region, or promotional offers.
10. Finally, study your niche. To find the edge or discover opportunities that your competitor has missed learn more about your target audience, their needs, perspectives, and pain points.
What are the tools used for SEO keyword research?
Some of the most popular tools for SEO keyword research are,
1. Ahrefs
2. SEMrush
3. Ubersuggest
4. Google Keyword Planner
5. SECockpit
6. Keywords Everywhere
7. Moz
8. KeywordTool.io
9. KWFinder
10. Google Trends
11. AnswerThePublic
12. SpyFu Keyword Research Tool
How long will take a website to rank on Google’s first page?
There is no precise answer to this question. Studies reveal that only 5.7% of pages rank in the No.1 spot of Google within a year.
A website’s ranking on the first page of Google is decided by many variables such as website strength, budget, authority, competition, and more. It is said that over 200 SEO factors are taken into account.
However, as per multiple sources, the average time taken for websites or pages to attain a decent rank or receive organic sessions from Google through SEO techniques is around three to six months.
Again, with the ever-changing algorithm of Google, there is no guarantee on the timeline.
What are the top ranking factors of Google?
Though there are countless variables considered to rank on Google, here are the top 10 for you.
1. HTTPS connection
2. Site speed
3. Mobile-friendliness
4. High-quality content
5. Keyword competition
6. High-quality backlinks
7. Image optimization
8. Domain age
9. Schema markup
10. Structured content
In what frequency do new contents need to be added?
You can find answers to this question ranging from one to three times per week to two to four blogs per month on the Internet.
But the answer is “it depends”.
The ultimate aim of posting new content is to increase engagement and sales. As long as you have good traction from your content you can post any number of times.
Nevertheless, Google always appreciates consistent, quality content that helps users.
- Frequently updated websites are a source of new information and fresh content.
- New content gives you more authority and higher indexing,
- And, when you add more content, you also add more keywords which means yet more opportunities.
By posting consistently, you can constantly engage with your target audience. Your visitors also know when to expect the next update.
Do we need to spend time on SEO or focus on PPC?
In general, SEO is the foundation of your online presence and organic traffic. On the other hand, pay-per-click (PPC) is a short-term marketing technique and online advertising model that can boost your products or services to reach the targeted audience.
SEO and PPC have their own pros and cons.
SEO is free of cost, brings in organic traffic, enhances your brand image, credibility, trust, and has longevity.
But, it takes a lot of time and effort to get things going. You cannot expect immediate results.
Contrastingly, paid ads increase your campaigns’ visibility, speed, and agility. It helps your listing stand out more from organic search, and target users by multiple factors such as search keywords, location, time of day, device, day of the week, audience.
But it involves a substantial amount of budget and the results are only for the short term.
Thus, based on your budget, goals, and business objectives, you need to decide between SEO and PPC. The best digital marketing strategy involves the right proportion of both PPC and SEO.
Why does search engine ranking keep changing?
Google’s ranking system is designed to sort through billions and billions of web pages for every search and display the most relevant and useful results. With Google’s algorithm evolving, there are many reasons why the ranking keeps changing.
But, the top one among them is competition. Like you, your competitors all around the world are also sharing content every day. Thus, competition keeps the ranking table in movement.
Other factors that commonly cause a change in the ranking are Google updates, technical issues, geolocation, and personalization.
What is the projection or guarantee on SEO traffic after performing the optimization strategies?
Google’s organic algorithm is unpredictable. It can be complex and difficult to accurately forecast SEO traffic after performing the optimization strategies.
But it’s not impossible.
Or you can follow the step-by-step process mentioned below to project traffic.
1. Identify the set of relevant keywords that you would be ranking for
2. Calculate the total amount of traffic – TAM (total addressable market) you will be getting for the list of keywords if everything works as per plan.
3. Common tools that you can use in forecasting organic traffic to your site are,
- Prophet by Facebook
- Google Data Studio
- SEO Forecasting with seoClarity
- Ahrefs’ Traffic Site Forecasting
- BridgeEdge’s SEO Opportunity Forecasting
- SEO Keyword Forecasting by SEOmonitor
4. Subtract the traffic you already get from the total traffic potential to get the gap between your ranking and position one.
5. Audit and optimize your site and web pages based on available opportunities and SEO recommendations.
6. Estimate the impact of SEO recommendations – Eg. “Ranking of “A” keyword is expected to increase X positions, resulting in Y% of traffic increase.”
7. Finally, monitor and report the baseline traffic and optimally forecast it for the new few months or a year without incremental traffic. (If the baseline is flat, then consider incremental traffic)
Ecommerce SEO best practices
Powerful SEO for your online store can get you more organic traffic making a huge difference in sales. Here are a few best practices when it comes to eCommerce SEO.
- Use keywords and long-tailed keywords in the product information
- Design the website and product pages clean and easy to navigate
- Keep the URL clear and straightforward
- Always include Alt text for images
- Allow customers to post reviews as they may use keywords in it.
- Remove duplicate contents, if any.
- Always create unique content for your website
- Add content for humans and not for the search engines
- Optimize your site for mobile devices
- Keep a check on page speed
- Optimize the title tags and add compelling meta descriptions
- Frequently update your Call to action (CTA)
- Activate an SSL certificate
How to measure an SEO campaign’s success?
1. Look over your keyword rankings: If your ranking has improved for a particular keyword and if you had reached the first page or top result then it means your SEO campaign has performed well. If your rankings decline then it means something is wrong.
2. Keep track of your conversion rate: When you’re ranked on top you will have increased traffic. Increased traffic leads to better conversions. Higher conversion rates clearly state that your SEO & CRO activities are successful.
3. Check backlinks: If you’re consistently getting backlinks from other websites, it means you’re still on the run. Linking other websites build credibility and get you higher rankings.
4. Run through your traffic quality: Dig in deeper than mere numbers to analyze the traffic quality to understand how your SEO campaign is working. The page visit counts, visit duration, and bounce rate are reliable indicators of the campaign’s performance. If the quality traffic is low, you need a change of keywords or strategy.
What are the important SEO metrics that should be tracked?
SEO tracking is all about determining the important metrics for your business and keeping track of them for progress. The few most important SEO metrics that you can’t miss tracking are,
1. Organic traffic
2. Organic conversions
3. Organic landing page metrics
4. Local SEO visibility
5. Mobile traffic and ranking
6. Engagement metrics
7. Crawl errors
8. Organic click-through rate
9. Keyword rankings
10. New backlinks
11. Domain authority
12. Page speed
13. Exit page details
14. Competitor SEO metrics
Wrapping up,
Whether you’re optimizing your current store or building a new one, SEO matters in eCommerce as much as it does for other businesses.
All being said, we would like to remind you that the principal part of all successful SEO strategies is patience. Though SEO doesn’t offer instant results, its impact lasts for long.
All great things take time, relentless effort, and persistent attempts.
To check whether your eCommerce website is making sense and cents, take up our FREE SEO AUDIT today.
