Search engine optimization can go a long way for eCommerce websites. It is a general belief that paid ads, promotion, and marketing is enough to create a successful eCommerce business. It is true that marketing is an essential part of a website but sometimes in pursuit of promotion, sites forget to pay attention to basic optimization. This can negatively affect user experience if you put it off for too long. Luckily we have comprised a straightforward list of tips and tricks that will boost your search engine rankings. Let’s dive straight into it!
1. Keyword Researching
Most websites suggest you work on keyword research. Why is it so important?
Researching keywords is a way to discover the most searched phrases and terms, specifically focusing on your niche. It is the primary step taken to improve search ranking organically.
The information you gather from your research will help you understand your target audience and pick popular keywords that can be included on your website. This is how optimization starts, and understanding how your audience thinks or knowing what they want will automatically help you to reach out to more people.
It is smart to focus on including more long-tail keywords, as they are more likely to drive in organic visitors to your eCommerce store. It filters out traffic that is not looking for your specific webpage and minimizes competition as long-tail keywords are relatively uncommon. The longer and more accurate it is, the better.
There are numerous keyword research tools out there which have more or less similar functioning. However, using the Keywords Everywhere research tool is something we highly recommend. All you need to use it is have it as a chrome extension on your browser and perform searches on Google with it. You’ll receive a comprehensive list of keywords on the SERP itself after performing the search.
2. Link to other websites with relevant content
It is a common belief that linking websites with relevant content and high authority pages are wrong as it could drain out traffic from your page. But actually, it is something highly recommended by all SEO professionals. Why? Because linking out to other relevant blogs is crucial to your website’s growth. You will be able to get trackable traffic, and your website will be considered authentic because you’re presenting extra information, references, or resources that don’t just revolve in your website. Visitors are more likely to think of you as an essential source of information, and even the search engines reward practices like this. It pays to be a business that appreciates other blogs, instead of selfishly promoting themselves.
Linking out promotes linking to your website! It gives others a thumbs up that you’re willing to help each other. You can always opt for blogging strategies like getting bloggers to review your products and creating content in your niche. This will generate links back to your site. It’s also a great way to promote brand awareness. Link building is a critical component of search engine optimization, and these link building services will be of great help to your eCommerce website.
How to make sure whether the link you are adding to your site is of good quality? Get a Moz Bar for your browser and head over to the site you are linking to. Check the domain authority of the site displayed on the bar and try to keep it near or above your site’s domain authority.
3. Creative Product Description
Since the customer can only see the product and not touch and feel it, all the power lies in the description you provide them with. Brilliant product description will prove valuable if you are selling something commonly available on other websites. It is the consumer’s right to know everything about your product, and you must do justice to their expectations.
Try using persuasive words in your description, and describing the feel and specification of the products. Keep them informative but concise. If you have similar products, avoid having duplicate descriptions for them. Also, remember including long-tail keywords to attract google crawlers and optimize your site. You can even boost conversion rates by adding a convenient live chat option to your webpage. Suggesting similar products is also recommended.
4. Resolve 404 Errors and Warnings
If the first thing a visitor sees when they visit your website is an error, it will negatively impact the user experience. Make it a point that you get rid of any errors or warnings lurking around on your website. Error 404 occurs whenever you alter your permalink, remove something from your web page, or if any link leading to another website is incorrect or misspelled.
You just have to add 301 redirects to fix this error. That way if a visitor types in the old URL, they will automatically be redirected to your web page’s new URL. Try moving your website permanently to avoid any problems later.
You can easily find the crawl errors on your site by heading over to Google search console and finding the ‘not found’ option in the crawl errors of the diagnostics section.
5. Avoid “Keyword Stuffing”
We’ve discussed how relevant keywords are, but there is always a limit to how many you can stuff. After you cross this limit, the search engines will now penalize you for trying to outsmart the system. It used to be a standard method used to boost ranking, but now it is heavily discouraged.
Remember that you are not creating content for bots, it’s for an audience that will read your work and buy your products. So, keep things as natural as you can, use words only relevant to your website content, capitalize on long-tail keywords, and you will automatically be rewarded.
6. Target Keywords in Your URLs
One factor that often goes unnoticed when you’re trying to optimize your site is the URL. You might not pay attention to it, but it is the first thing Google and your users might notice. Including keywords in URLs can significantly help your eCommerce site, if not overused. URLs are supposed to be signals that help web crawlers understand the content of your page and the more readable your URL, the better your search rankings.
Make sure the content of the page is in the URL. Don’t use words like ‘the’ and like because shorter URLs are shown to rank higher. Remember to use hyphens instead of underscores and avoid capital letters.
7. Using keywords in images
Using the right keywords in your images can take you a long way. Images are a vital component in eCommerce websites. Even Google has a page entirely dedicated to pictures and reverse image searching, so it’s relatively apparent how important optimization of images is. That is why you should always use relevant keywords when naming your images, but remember not to stuff keywords. For example, if you are posting a picture of a sunset in New York, your file should be named sunset-in-new-york.jpg, not D27391.jpg. Small steps count big when it’s optimization.
8. Improve Site Speed
In SEO terms, the speed at which your website loads is directly proportional to the user experience. What this means is that having a fast website will very positively affect your ranking and user feedback. It is all part of the experience. The page load time depends on many factors like the site’s server, page file size, and image compression.
Page speed is a significant factor affecting rankings, so be sure you take every step to optimize it. Compress images and your codes, including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and others. Using a Content Delivery Network and upgrading your hosting are also useful techniques to consider investing efforts in if you want to decrease your page load time. A fast and smoothly working website is what you should aim for to reach the top of search engine rankings.
You can check your site speed at Google’s Page Speed Insights by simply pasting the URL and hitting the analyze button.
9. Promote Customer Reviews & Engagement
According to research, customers are more likely to keep coming back to shop from your site if you promote customer engagement through incentives. Having honest reviews on your website is also going to work your way because it gives the visitors a sense of authenticity. What better way to get more reviews than to offer incentives for user engagement. You can work on a program that encourages people to leave reviews on your site. Investing time in getting your customer engages not only brings analysis, but it also brings a sense of brand attachment. Customers will grow fond of your site since they know they will be rewarded for engagement. This will create traffic for loyal customers.
Also, when a product is out of stock, instead of removing the page, ask the customers to leave their email to let them know when it is back in stock. Small details like these are what creates a successful eCommerce site.
10. Activate an SSL certificate.
There has always been an ongoing scepticism revolving around moving your web page to HTTPS. Many people are wondering if they should invest time and effort into an encrypted certificate or not. According to us, it is worth it. Google offers authority to sites with enhanced security and updated SSL. So, if you wish to be on the top of the game, don’t leave out on this. It is not only beneficial for you but also for your users. HTTPS offers a secure connection to visitors when they share personal data on your site. It protects user data when they share important information like card details. An SSL certificate is a key to protect yourself from hackers.
11. Optimization for Mobile Devices
As an eCommerce website, mobile experience should be high on your priority list. Mobile optimization makes sure you are not turning away mobile users because of your site design, or page speed. This means your website should smoothly work according to the kind of device accessing it. Even Google is giving priority to mobile experience by opting for a mobile-first index. Don’t let your eCommerce store fall behind. Since the global population is slowly shifting from computers to mobiles, you should change your focus on making your website faster and smoother on smaller devices.
Conclusion
Before moving onto more prominent aspects like increasing conversions, you have to get the basics right for a smoother website. It’s essential to get people to your website, and practising proper SEO practices will eventually work as a perfect stepping ladder toward success. Link building, keyword research, resolving errors, all these are methods that will optimize your site and will help you attract more viewers, plus retain the ones you already have. The tips and tricks in this blog are for both beginners and pros to follow. Remember that not everything comes immediately, and it takes time for your hard work to pay off. Developing these techniques will give you a positive change on your eCommerce website. Happy optimising!
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