In the dynamic world of ecommerce, standing out on Google isn’t just an advantage; it’s a necessity. Tailored for both newcomers and seasoned pros in the ecommerce landscape, this guide will help you redefine your SEO strategy and get your ecommerce ranking on Google.
Chapter 1: Understanding ecommerce SEO
Before diving in, it’s important to understand what ecommerce SEO is, how it differs from standard SEO and how to measure its success. Think of this chapter as your starting point to success.
What is ecommerce SEO?
Ecommerce SEO makes your online store more visible on search engine results pages (SERPs). Unlike paid search ads, you can’t pay search engines to get higher organic search rankings, making SEO a crucial practice for any ecommerce business.
Important elements of ecommerce SEO include:
- Keyword research to understand the types of terms your customers are searching for
- On-page SEO to ensure your site and its content are optimised for these keywords
- Technical SEO to improve the site’s foundation. This can include resolving page errors, site speed, redirects, duplicate content, etc.
Ecommerce SEO also involves off-page SEO, which focuses on building your site’s authority through backlinks from other reputable sites; this can be achieved through digital PR, content marketing and link building tactics.
What’s the difference between ecommerce SEO and traditional SEO?
Understanding the distinction between ecommerce SEO and traditional SEO is really important. While both share the fundamental goal of improving website visibility in search engine results, there are specific approaches that set them apart. This is important especially when collaborating with a WordPress development company to optimise website performance and visibility.
- Ecommerce SEO includes strategies specifically tailored to enhance product-related pages and address customer intent that is often transactional.
- Traditional SEO applies to a broader range of websites, which tends to be more centred around content relevance and authority.
Let’s take a deeper look at these differences…
📝 Content
Whilst content is king for each type of SEO, your focus may differ depending on your niche. Ecommerce SEO focuses more on descriptive content, YMYL (your money, your life), and product review content. While these are important for traditional SEO, there is usually a stronger focus on E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness), structure, and authority regarding content. Consider hiring an experienced content writer to help you achieve your SEO goals and make sure to use prehire testing to ensure their compatibility with your company.
🤖 Structured data
Another aspect of ecommerce SEO that differs slightly from traditional SEO is structured data and schema markup. Ecommerce SEO craves reviews, product images, price, stock status, and more to provide users insights on search engine pages. Traditional SEO relies heavily on structured data to appear on featured snippets such as table snippets, listicles, and frequently asked.
🔑 Keywords
For traditional SEO, keywords are more informational and broad in nature, focusing on topics, questions, and terms that users might search for when seeking information or solutions. Ecommerce keywords are more likely to be transactional, relating to specific products, brands, or categories users search for when they’re ready to buy. Although you treat these keywords the same when it comes to onsite, link building and content strategies, there does need to be a different approach to how you find these keywords.
The main goals of ecommerce SEO
SEO plays a pivotal role in steering online stores towards success. The main objectives of ecommerce SEO are designed to boost visibility on search engines and enhance the overall shopping experience for customers. Here are some key goals you’ll want to measure when giving your ecommerce SEO a boost:
Organic traffic
The primary aim of ecommerce B2B SEO is to attract more organic (non-paid) traffic to your websi. By ranking higher in search engine results for relevant keywords, your store becomes more visible to potential customers actively searching for your products.
🔧 Track this using: Google Analytics or your CMS analytics
Organic conversion rate
A well-optimised ecommerce site provides a seamless and enjoyable shopping experience. This includes fast loading times, easy navigation, and mobile-friendly design, all of which encourage visitors to stay longer and explore more on your site. Additionally, utilising graphic design services can help create an attractive layout and enhance the overall user experience.
As much as your user experience plays a part here, ranking for high user-intent keywords will drive organic conversions. Your conversion rate may drop as you drive more informative traffic to your site, but this is still a great metric to keep an eye on.
🔧 Track this using: Google Analytics or your CMS analytics
Keywords ranking
Targeting the correct keywords is crucial. These are not just high-volume search terms but terms that match potential customers’ intent. Understanding and implementing an intelligent keyword strategy with a help of keyword rank tracker is foundational in driving relevant traffic to your site.. As you do this, you’ll need to monitor keyword ranking, including a breakdown of page one keywords, top three ranking keywords and keywords ranked on the top spot.
🔧 Track this using: SEOmonitor, Ahrefs or Semrush
Organic revenue
Last, but by no means the least important, is organic revenue, a key metric to measure the growth of your ecommerce SEO efforts. Organic revenue directly reflects the success of your SEO efforts. By tracking how much revenue is generated from organic traffic (users who find your website through unpaid search engine results), you can gauge the effectiveness of your SEO tactics. This includes understanding which keywords and content drive the most valuable traffic to your site.
🔧 Track this using: Google Analytics or your CMS analytics
💡 Sounds like a lot of information, right? Don’t worry! The rest of this guide will take you through the exact steps needed to rank well on Google. You’ll be an ecommerce SEO pro in no time.
Chapter 2: Identify technical concerns with an SEO audit
What is an SEO audit?
SEO audits are at the heart of any successful SEO strategy. But what makes them so vital? In our experience, an SEO audit is more than a diagnostic tool; it’s a strategic compass highlighting key areas that need attention.
Example: When we embarked on a project with TFH Gazebos, our audit revealed numerous untapped potentials. Each component played a crucial role in their digital growth, from on-page elements like onsite optimisation to identifying pages with thin content, opportunities with existing and new blog content, and weak points with the link profile.
Our audit process is designed to uncover these hidden gems, ensuring that every aspect of a site is aligned with SEO best practices – but the results speak for themselves:
Tools needed for an SEO audit
You’ll find a blend of industry standard and bespoke tools in our SEO audit toolbox. Each tool serves a purpose, from uncovering technical issues and mapping user engagement patterns to highlighting link profiles and content gaps with keywords.
Below is the list of current everyday tools we recommend for an SEO audit:
Screaming Frog
This tool crawls your website, identifying technical SEO issues like broken links, redirect chains, duplicate content, and much more.
Google Analytics 4
Vital for understanding website traffic, user behaviour, and conversion data.
Search Console
Offers insights into how Google views your website, including search queries, site performance, and indexing issues.
Ahrefs & SEMrush
These tools are great for backlink analysis, keyword research, competitor analysis, and tracking your rankings.
How to perform an SEO audit
When it comes to performing an SEO audit, the exact steps to take will entirely depend on how much detail is on your website. However, as a general rule of thumb, here are the foundational tasks we look at before a campaign begins?
1. Technical SEO assessment
This includes checking for crawl errors using Google Search Console and Screaming Frog, analysing site speed through tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, ensuring mobile-friendliness, and confirming the site’s security with HTTPS.
2. On-page audit
Assess title tags, meta descriptions, and headers for keyword optimisation and relevance. Analyse content quality for uniqueness, relevance, and keyword distribution. Check for internal linking strategies.
3. Backlink audit
Our backlink audit will review the current profile, comparing this to a select number of competitors. With this, we can evaluate the health of a website’s current link profile, but also identify and highlight opportunities to bridge the gap to be competitive.
4. User experience (UX) review
Conduct an analysis of the site’s design, navigation, and content layout to ensure a positive user experience. Using our checklist of items, you can quickly identify where a site is winning or losing, with a clear action plan.
5. Competitor analysis
Compare SEO strategies with competitors to identify what they do differently or better. Use this information to adjust your SEO strategy accordingly.
What to do after the SEO audit
Regular SEO audits are essential for any website aiming to maintain and improve its online presence and search rankings. Below are some of the regular activities we carry out to ensure progression:
- Resolving Technical Issues: Address site speed issues by optimising images, leveraging browser caching, and improving server response time. Ensure the website is mobile-friendly and fix any crawl errors identified.
- Content Audit: Content audits allow you to update content regularly to keep it fresh and relevant. Remove or revise duplicate content and ensure that all content is high-quality, informative, and optimised with the right keywords.
- Enhancing Backlink Profile: Disavow harmful backlinks that could negatively impact SEO. Focus on building high-quality backlinks says Uppercut SEO – through link building via guest blogs and Digital PR activities.
- Improving User Experience: Simplify navigation, reduce page loading times, and ensure the website is visually appealing and engaging to reduce bounce rates and improve user engagement.
Chapter 3: Keyword research for ecommerce
Keyword research acts as the foundation of SEO. It involves the process of understanding the language your target customers use when searching for your products, services, and content. From here, you can analyse, compare and scrape Google, and prioritise the best keyword opportunities for your website. After all, if nobody is searching for what you’re writing about, you won’t get traffic from Google – no matter how hard you try.
💡 Fact: According to Similarweb, over 90% of searches online happen on Google.
Keyword research also helps us answer questions like:
- How hard will it be to rank for this keyword?
- How much traffic am I likely to get if I rank for this keyword?
- What kind of content should I create to rank for this keyword?
- Are people searching for this keyword likely to become my customers?
- Are there any seasonality changes with keywords?
Why is understanding keyword intent so important?
As mentioned above, keyword research helps find opportunities, prioritise keywords and drive relevant users to your website.
Keyword intent dives even deeper – it represents the user’s purpose for the search. It helps us understand the type of page the user needs to land on to fulfil what they’re searching for. To help understand what type of page the user needs, we assign an intent to the keyword. The intent is broken down into informational and transactional.
- Informational: These keywords are searched by users who are looking for information, answers and guidance. It happens when someone wants to find out the what, why and how of a product or service, leading them to search for a transactional keyword.
- Transactional: These keywords are searched by users who have the intention to buy a product or service. It happens when someone has already searched for information and know what they need.
Understanding the above helps to tailor your website to meet these needs, increasing the likelihood of your site ranking well and attracting the right kind of traffic.
Tools needed for keyword research
With over 170,000 words (and counting!) in the English language, it’s safe to say that keyword research can get pretty overwhelming. Luckily, there are many wonderful tools out there that make keyword research as easy as can be. Our personal favourites include:
- Google Keyword Planner: Ideal for getting search volume data and trends.
- SEMrush: Offers detailed keyword analysis and competitive insights.
- Ahrefs: Great for exploring keyword ideas and content gap analysis.
Here at Bulldog, we like to use a mix of the above tools to get the best results. We also recommend compiling the data into Google Sheets to keep it in one place.
How to perform keyword research
The time it takes to complete keyword research will entirely depend on the size of your business and the industry you’re in. In some instances, keyword research can be never-ending, so it’s really important to know what area you wish to focus on.
Here’s a quick run-down on how to carry out basic keyword research:
1. Identify your core topics
Start by defining the broad topics that are relevant to your business and audience. These are typically the products or services you offer. For an ecommerce site, this could range from “women’s footwear” to “organic skincare products”. These topics will guide your initial keyword search.
2. Use keyword research tools
Next, leverage keyword research tools to generate a list of keyword ideas. Tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Ahrefs can provide insights into search volumes, keyword difficulty, and related queries. Don’t forget to also explore ‘People Also Ask’ and ‘Related Searches’ on Google for additional ideas.
3. Analyse search volume and competition
Evaluate the search volume (how often a term is searched) and the competition level for each keyword. High-volume keywords are attractive but often have high competition, making it hard to rank well. Balance high-volume keywords with those that have lower competition but are still relevant.
💡 Fact: According to Google, 15% of searches are brand new searches that have never been searched before!
4. Consider long-tail keywords
Long-tail keywords, which are longer and more specific phrases, tend to have lower competition and can attract more qualified traffic. For example, instead of just “running shoes”, consider “women’s trail running shoes for flat feet”. Terms like these are also really helpful when deciding on informative blog content.
5. Understand keyword intent
Categorise your keywords based on the searcher’s intent: informational (seeking information), navigational (looking for a specific website or page), or transactional (ready to buy). Align your content and product pages with the appropriate intent to satisfy user needs and improve your chances of ranking.
6. Prioritise your keywords
Not all keywords are equally valuable. Prioritise based on a balance of search volume, competition, relevance to your products, and alignment with user intent. Focus on keywords that are most likely to drive relevant traffic and conversions.
7. Keyword mapping
Map your prioritised keywords to specific pages on your website. This ensures that each page targets the right set of keywords, enhancing your site’s relevance and authority for those topics.
Utilising keyword data
Once you’ve identified your keywords, the next step is to integrate them into your website. This includes:
- Product titles: Title your products based on transactional terms.
- Product listing pages: Use your keywords naturally in product descriptions, titles, and meta descriptions.
- URLs: Incorporate your target keyword into the URL slug.
- Headings: Include keywords in URLs and headings (H1, H2, etc.) where appropriate.
- Content creation: Create blog posts or articles that target your chosen keywords, especially for informational intent keywords. Pay attention to blog readability & uniqueness as well. For this, write information using simple words while following a unique writing style. If you are facing any difficulty in doing so, then consider using a rewording tool. It will quickly reword your blog content in a 100% unique & simple way while keeping the original meaning intact.
- FAQs: Similarly to content creation, focus on FAQs that your audience are actually asking.
- Internal linking: Keywords highlight internal linking opportunities, helping to direct strength to chosen pages.
- PPC campaigns: Fuel your PPC campaigns with data-led targeting.
- Image Alt texts: Use keywords in the alt text of images to improve your website’s accessibility.
Remember, the key is to use keywords naturally and avoid overstuffing, as this can negatively impact your SEO.
Monitoring keyword performance
Keyword trends can change, so regularly review your keyword performance. Use tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console to track how well your keywords are performing. Pay attention to:
- Search Engine Rankings: How high do your pages rank for your targeted keywords?
- Traffic Trends: Is your organic traffic increasing for your targeted keywords?
- Conversion Rates: Are the keywords attracting visitors who convert into customers?
Adapt your strategy as needed, considering new trends or changes in consumer behaviour.
💡 Read more here: How to complete keyword research for ecommerce.
Chapter 4: Optimise on-page elements
How do you ensure your site not only catches the eye of Google but also entices your potential customers? The answer lies in optimising your on-page elements. Let’s delve into the key areas that need your attention.
Meta tags: Titles, descriptions, and headers
Titles are the first handshake with search engines and users. They should be concise, relevant, and include primary keywords. For instance, a title like “Handcrafted Leather Boots | Brand Name” is both informative and keyword-rich.
Descriptions offer a sneak peek into your page’s content. A compelling description with a call-to-action can significantly improve click-through rates. Remember, it’s about enticing the searcher to click, not just stuffing it with keywords.
Headers structure your content, making it digestible for both search engines and readers. Use H1 for your main title and H2s and H3s for subheadings, integrating keywords naturally.
URL structure
A well-crafted URL should be clear, structured, and keyword-rich. The trick here is to avoid overthinking them. What do you think is most effective out of:
- www.yourstore.com/women/handbags/leather-totes
- www.yourstore.com/item12345
The first is user-friendly and tells Google exactly what the page is about.
Product page optimisation
Realistically, every page needs to be perfectly optimised, but as an ecommerce, product pages are a good place to start. Each product page is an opportunity to rank for specific search terms! Remember to include:
- Product Titles: Clear, concise, and include main keywords.
- Product Descriptions: Detailed, keyword-rich, highlighting key features and benefits.
- Images and Videos: High-quality, with descriptive, keyword-rich file names and alt tags.
- URL Structure: Simple and descriptive, including relevant keywords.
- Meta Tags: Optimised title tags and meta descriptions specific to the product.
- Customer Reviews: Display user-generated content to build trust and provide additional context.
- Call-to-Action (CTA): Clear and compelling, encouraging purchases or other desired actions.
- Price and Availability: Clearly displayed, including any special offers or discounts.
- Related Products: Suggestions for similar or complementary items to encourage further browsing.
Category page optimisation
Consider category pages as your virtual aisles. Category pages provide the perfect chance to rank for broader search terms. They should include:
- Category Titles: Descriptive and include relevant keywords for the category.
- Category Descriptions: A brief overview of the category, utilising relevant keywords and phrases.
- URL Structure: Clean and logical, reflecting the site’s hierarchy.
- Meta Tags: Specifically tailored title tags and meta descriptions for the category.
- Product Listings: Well-organised display of products with clear images and concise descriptions.
- Filtering and Sorting Options: Facilitate easy navigation and user-friendly experience.
- Breadcrumb Navigation: This helps users understand their location within the site and navigate easily.
- Internal Linking: Links to related categories or popular products within the category.
- Visual Elements: Attractive and relevant images or banners that represent the category.
Optimising images and videos
Optimising images and videos on your ecommerce site is essential for both improving user experience and enhancing SEO performance. Here’s how to effectively optimise these visual elements:
- Descriptive File Names: Name your image and video files with descriptive, relevant keywords. For instance, use vintage-leather-backpack.jpg instead of a generic name like image1.jpg. This helps search engines understand and index your visual content more effectively.
- Alt Text for Images: Alt text (alternative text) describes what’s in the image, which is crucial for SEO and accessibility. For example, alt=”handcrafted silver necklace with pendant” gives search engines and screen readers accurate information about the image content.
- Optimise File Size and Format: Large images and videos can slow down your site. Compress them to reduce file size without compromising quality. Use formats like JPEG for images and MP4 for videos for optimal balance between quality and file size.
- Captions and Transcripts: For videos, provide captions and transcripts. This not only makes your content accessible to a wider audience but also allows search engines to better understand and index the content. Make sure to write concise captions and transcriptions that are short, coherent, and grabby. For this, you can pass your captions and transcription through an online summarizer. It will automatically condense them concisely and coherently.
Internal linking strategies
Internal links are the pathways that connect your content, guiding both Google and users. Here’s how to develop a robust internal linking strategy:
- Logical Structure: Link related content in a way that feels natural and logical. For instance, link to related product pages, blog posts discussing the products, or to the parent category page.
- Anchor Text: Use descriptive and relevant anchor text for your links. This helps users and search engines understand what the linked page is about. Avoid overusing exact-match keywords; keep it varied and natural.
- Link to High-Priority Pages: Boost the visibility of your most important pages (like bestsellers or high-margin products) by linking to them more frequently from other relevant pages on your site.
- Regularly Update Internal Links: Check and update your internal links regularly, especially when adding new content or discontinuing products. This helps prevent broken links and ensures the smooth navigation of your site.
🔧 We recommend: Using Link Whisper to keep up to date with internal linking efforts.
💡 Read more here: On-Page SEO: What Do You Need To Focus On?
Chapter 5: Keep user experience and conversion rate optimisation in mind
The success of your website hinges not just on attracting visitors but also on delivering frictionless user experience (UX) to maximise conversion rates. This chapter explores the principles of UX and how to get your site ready for customers, ensuring your site not only ranks well in search engine results but resonates with your audience. By prioritising these aspects, you can improve customer satisfaction and drive sustainable growth for your online business.
What users need for a good user experience
Meeting and exceeding user expectations is vital to fostering engagement and driving sales. Here, we explore the core aspects that users seek in an online shopping experience.
Speed
In our fast-paced digital age, users value quick load times and a streamlined browsing experience. Delays in page loading can lead to frustration and a higher likelihood of users abandoning their shopping journey. Ensuring your site is optimised for speed is crucial.
🔧 Tools for site speed: GTmetrix and Google PageSpeed.
Navigation
Users expect intuitive and straightforward navigation. This includes a well-organised menu, precise categorisation of products, and an efficient search function. The ability to quickly find desired items without confusion is a cornerstone of a satisfying user experience.
Responsiveness
With a significant portion of online shopping occurring on mobile devices, users expect a mobile-friendly experience. Your site should be fully responsive, ensuring a seamless experience across all device types and screen sizes. Don’t discount other devices, such as different-sized tablets, desktops and even TVs.
Descriptive content
Detailed and accurate product descriptions, high-resolution images, and customer reviews are highly valued. Users want to feel confident in their purchase decisions, and comprehensive product information is vital.
Security
A secure site that shouts about trust signals is one a user will shop with. Ensuring you’ve got SSL, legitimate customer reviews, and a secure checkout process is essential. Also, the benefits of MDR can further enhance this security framework, offering real-time threat detection, and protecting the overall integrity of your online platform. Users appreciate a simple checkout, with minimal steps, and offer various secure payment options. Additionally, transparent communication about shipping costs and return policies is essential.
Personalisation
Shoppers are increasingly looking for personalised experiences. This could include product recommendations based on previous purchases or browsing history and tailored offers or discounts. Don’t ever put off the effort that goes into personalising your user’s experience. It can lead to high order values and return customers.
Navigation and search
The following checklist will help to ensure your site has effective navigation and search functionalities across desktop, mobile, and tablet devices:
- Show a consolidated menu.
- Keep menu options within the fold.
- Order categories alphabetically or in order of popularity.
- Include after-sales services in the menu.
- Ensure the search bar is prominent.
- Use auto-suggestions for the search.
- Implement spelling corrections on results pages.
- Always return results, and use ‘popular items’ as a backup.
- Include previous or top searches.
- Set up tracking for search queries.
Product listing pages
Use the following checklist to ensure your product listing (category) pages are perfectly optimised:
- Make sure the category header is clear.
- Include visible value propositions.
- Enable users to sort products quickly.
- Give the user multiple filter options.
- Show the amount of products listed.
- Try to show the first product listed above the fold.
- Allow quick view or quick add features.
- Show the price for every product listed.
- Consider pagination to avoid slow page speeds.
Product pages
Time to ensure your product pages and descriptions are up to scratch!
- Put the product price above the fold.
- Create a clear and concise product description.
- Include high-quality images and video.
- Show multiple image angles of the product.
- Include visible value propositions.
- Build trust with customer product reviews.
- Add urgency elements.
- Create a specific product name.
- Ensure pricing is transparent and easy to understand.
- Include similar and complementary product suggestions.
- Do not redirect to the basket after the product has been added.
Basket and checkout entrance
To improve conversion rates at the basket and checkout stages, focus on the following:
- Allow users to update basket contents.
- Add cross-selling features to the basket.
- Reiterate value propositions throughout each stage.
- Limit exit points by enclosing the checkout.
- Add secure checkout messaging.
- Use progress indicators for the checkout journey.
- Allow guest checkout.
- Let users sign up with social accounts.
- Collect email addresses in the early stage.
- Show payment types accepted early in the checkout.
Payment and delivery
To enhance checkout conversion rates, implement the following:
- Show shipping information before billing.
- Use correct keypads for number fields on mobile.
- Use inline validation and autofill, especially for addresses.
- Show estimated arrival dates with shipping options and costs.
- Enable the ‘shipping same as billing address’ tick box functionality.
- Use trust signals in the payment step.
- Repeat addresses and selections in the review step.
- Allow changes to be made in the review step.
- Enable account information to be saved once ordered.
💡 Read more here: Ecommerce UX: Design Tips & Best Practices.
Chapter 6: Promote your brand through content marketing strategies
Content is more than just words on a page; it’s a powerful tool that can enhance your brand’s online presence and improve your rankings on Google. After all, Google much prefers websites with fresh and relevant content!
This chapter delves into the art of crafting and utilising content effectively to drive traffic, engage customers, and bolster your SEO efforts.
An example; you can also allocate a certain budget for sharing content with other resources and it is convenient to operate with it thanks to Precoro. Bulldog has shared a number of strategies between eachother.
Building a content strategy
A well-structured content strategy is vital for ecommerce success. It’s akin to drawing a map before embarking on a journey. Start by setting clear objectives – what do you wish to achieve with your content? Is it brand awareness, customer engagement, lead generation, or sales conversion? Your goals will shape the content you produce.
- Understanding Your Audience: Dive deep into the psyche of your customers. Who are they? What are their pain points, preferences, and purchasing habits? Create buyer personas to represent different segments of your audience. This exercise helps in tailoring content that speaks directly to their needs and interests.
- Keyword Research: With help from the keyword research mentioned earlier, look for a mix of high-volume keywords and long-tail phrases that offer less competition but are more specific to your audience’s queries.
- Content Type and Channels: Decide on the type of content that will resonate most with your audience. Will it be blogs, videos, infographics, or podcasts? Also, consider the platforms where you’ll share this content. Your website is primary, but don’t overlook social media, email newsletters, and other relevant online forums.
- Competitor Analysis: Keep an eye on your competitors. What type of content are they creating? Analyse their strategies to identify gaps and opportunities for your brand. This doesn’t mean copying what they do, but rather learning from their successes and failures.
- Update Old Content: If you already have a bit of content on your website, performing a content audit will help to identify anything you might have missed. Never forget about content simply because it’s been posted! Review, update and refresh. Always
- Content Calendar: Planning is key. Develop a content calendar that outlines what to publish, when, and where. This ensures a consistent and timely flow of content that keeps your audience engaged and helps in SEO, as search engines favour regularly updated websites.
Blogging for ecommerce
Blogging is a fantastic way to connect with your customers. It’s not just about selling products; it’s about telling your brand’s story, sharing insights, and offering value.
Blogs rich in keywords and relevant topics boost your SEO, but remember, quality trumps quantity. Ensure your blogs are informative, engaging, and shareable. They should answer common questions, offer solutions, and even entertain.
And if you don’t know where to start when it comes to creating content, you can use a tool to generate a story with AI. These tools can help plot your blog posts or ebooks.
💡 Every piece of content should serve a dual purpose – engage your audience and support your SEO goals. Use keywords strategically, focusing on long-tail keywords that capture your niche market.
Video content and ecommerce
The growing popularity of video content is undeniable. Videos can showcase your products in action, share behind-the-scenes glimpses, or offer tutorials. They increase the time visitors spend on your site, signalling to Google that your site offers value. Ensure your videos are SEO-friendly with descriptive titles, tags, and transcripts. You can even leverage a video monetization platform to maximize your earnings from video content.
User-generated content and SEO
User-generated content, such as reviews, testimonials, and social media posts, enhances trust and authenticity. Encourage your customers to share their experiences and incorporate this content on your site. This not only creates a community around your brand but also improves your SEO as it generates fresh, relevant content that search engines love.
Chapter 7: Build links to your ecommerce store
Did you know that the links pointing to your site heavily influence your store’s visibility? In this chapter, we delve into the art of link building, a pivotal aspect of ecommerce SEO. This is not just about gathering any links; it’s about acquiring quality niche-relevant backlinks that giving your eCommerce SEO a boost, site’s authority and improve your search engine rankings.
The importance of backlinks
Backlinks are like votes of confidence from other websites. Each link pointing to your site signals to search engines that others find your content valuable and trustworthy. This enhances your site’s credibility, a crucial factor in Google’s ranking algorithm. Remember, not just the quantity but the quality of these links matters. Links from reputable and relevant sites carry more weight.
Backlinks from high-authority domains, especially those within your industry, are valuable. They’re akin to endorsements from well-respected figures in your field. These links tell search engines that your content is helpful and relevant to the industry or topic area, which can significantly boost your rankings.
However, this doesn’t mean links from smaller or less known websites aren’t useful. Diversity in your link profile is also essential. Various links from different types of websites can demonstrate to search engines that your content appeals to a broader audience. This variety adds another layer of trust and authority to your site.
White hat link building strategies
In ecommerce SEO, one of the most significant and challenging aspects is acquiring high-quality backlinks. Unlike black hat tactics, which can lead to penalties and damage your visibility, white hat link building emphasises authenticity, relevance, and long-term benefits.
💡 These strategies take time to fix; they require patience, creativity, and a deep understanding of your audience and industry. But the payoff is substantial, leading to improved search rankings, increased website traffic, and enhanced credibility in your niche.
Creating shareable content
🎯 Purpose: The idea here is to produce high-quality, informative, and engaging content that naturally encourages other websites to link to your site.
🏃 Approach: This could include blog posts, infographics, research studies, tutorials, or any content that provides value to your audience. The key is to create content that is so compelling that others want to share it.
Guest blogging
🎯 Purpose: Writing articles for other reputable sites in your niche can expose your brand to a broader audience and earn you valuable backlinks.
🏃 Approach: Identify blogs or websites relevant to your industry and pitch them with unique content ideas. Ensure your content is high quality and includes a link to your site, ideally within the content or in the author bio.
Broken link building
🎯 Purpose: This involves identifying broken links on other websites and offering your content as a replacement.
🏃 Approach: Use tools such as Ahrefs to find broken links on websites relevant to your niche. Reach out to the website owners, inform them about the broken link, and suggest your content as an alternative. This method helps them improve their site while providing you with a backlink opportunity.
Engaging with communities
🎯 Purpose: By participating in online forums and communities relevant to your niche, you can position yourself as an authority and subtly gain backlinks.
🏃 Approach: Engage in discussions, provide valuable insights and advice, and when appropriate, link back to relevant content on your site. It’s crucial to prioritise adding value to the conversation rather than just seeking link opportunities.
How to build high-quality links
Building high-quality links demands a strategic and meticulous approach. This detailed guide outlines the core principles, tools, and practical examples that form the backbone of an effective link-building strategy.
Strategic Planning
⛳ Identifying Goals: Set clear, achievable objectives for your link building campaign. Your goals should be specific and measurable, whether it’s increasing Domain Rating, enhancing brand visibility, or driving specific traffic. For instance, aim to increase your Domain Rating by 5 points within six months through guest blogging on industry-related sites.
🔎 Research: Utilise tools like Ahrefs to conduct in-depth research on your competitor’s link profiles. Analyse their backlinks to identify patterns and opportunities. For example, consider targeting similar platforms if a competitor has many links from industry blogs.
Targeting the right websites
⭐️ Relevance and Authority: Prioritise authoritative and relevant websites to your niche. For example, a backlink from a reputable industry blog is more valuable than a generic site with a higher Domain Rating but no relevance to your field.
🛠️ Tools for Identification: Employ Ahrefs to analyse potential sites for their Domain Rating, relevance, and audience engagement. Look at their traffic trends, the topics they cover, and the quality of existing content.
Content-centric approach
📝 Valuable Content Creation: Develop high-quality, informative content like in-depth guides, case studies, or industry analyses that offer real value. For instance, creating a comprehensive guide on the latest industry trends can attract attention from authoritative sites.
🌐 Matching Content with Opportunities: Align your content with the interests of the target website’s audience. For example, if targeting a tech blog, tailor your content to discuss technological advancements in your niche.
Outreach strategy
💬 Personalised Communication: Craft customised outreach messages to website owners or editors. Reference their recent articles, discuss how your content complements their site, and explain the mutual benefits.
🤝 Building Relationships: Focus on long-term relationships rather than transactional link exchanges. Engage with their content on social media or comment on their posts to build rapport before reaching out.
Monitoring and analysis
⏭️ Track Progress: Use tools like SEOmonitor, Google Analytics, and Ahrefs to track the impact of your backlinks. Monitor changes in traffic, rankings, and engagement metrics resulting from your new backlinks.
🎚 Adjusting Tactics: Analyse the data collected to refine your strategy. Adjust your focus accordingly if certain content or outreach methods are more successful. For example, if guest posts on certain types of blogs yield better results, increase your efforts in that area.
Avoiding black hat techniques
While pursuing backlinks for your ecommerce site, it’s crucial to steer clear of black hat SEO techniques. These practices, although sometimes offering quick gains, can damage your site’s reputation and rankings long-term. Understanding and avoiding these tactics is essential for maintaining the integrity and sustainability of your SEO efforts.
What are black hat techniques?
Black Hat SEO refers to practices that violate search engine guidelines, primarily designed to manipulate search engine rankings. These techniques are unethical and can result in penalties from search engines, including reduced rankings or even complete removal from search indexes.
Common black hat techniques to avoid
Private Blog Networks (PBNs)
PBNs are networks of websites created solely for link building. These sites are often low-quality and lack genuine content, existing to pass on link equity.
❌ Risks: Search engines like Google are adept at identifying and penalising PBNs. Using them can lead to severe penalties, including the de-indexing of your site.
Link farms
Link farms are groups of websites that link to each other, often created en masse. This interlinking is intended to inflate the link profile of a website artificially.
❌ Risks: Link farms are easily detectable by search engines and are considered a form of spam. Involvement in link farms can lead to significant drops in search rankings.
Cloaking and irrelevant redirects
Cloaking involves showing different content to search engines than to users. Irrelevant redirects trick users into visiting a separate page than they expect.
❌ Risks: These deceptive practices can lead to a poor user experience and are heavily penalised by search engines.
Chapter 8: Leverage digital PR and get featured in dream publications
The power of public relations (PR) extends far beyond traditional media outreach. Digital PR has become a pivotal tool for enhancing online visibility and bolstering SEO efforts.
This chapter dives into digital PR or HARO, illustrating how it can be leveraged to elevate your brand’s presence and significantly boost your SEO performance. By targeting your dream publications and harnessing the synergies between PR and SEO, you can achieve remarkable results in both brand recognition and search engine rankings.
Setting PR goals aligned with SEO objectives
The foundation of a successful digital PR strategy lies in setting goals that complement and enhance your SEO objectives. Here’s how to align these two crucial aspects:
1. Define clear PR goals
Start by outlining what you wish to achieve with your digital PR campaign. This might include increasing brand awareness, positioning your brand as a thought leader, or driving specific traffic to your website. These goals should serve your broader marketing objectives and feed into your SEO strategy.
2. Identify SEO objectives
Your SEO objectives include improving keyword rankings, increasing organic traffic, or enhancing domain authority. Understanding these goals will guide your PR efforts in the right direction.
3. Align PR efforts with SEO
Ensure your PR activities are tailored to support your SEO goals. For instance, if you aim to improve rankings for specific keywords, focus on getting featured in publications that rank highly or can add credibility to your content.
4. Target publications with high SEO value
When selecting publications for your PR pitches, consider their domain authority and relevance to your niche. Getting featured in a high-authority publication amplifies your brand’s visibility and contributes positively to your site’s SEO through high-quality backlinks.
5. Use keywords strategically in PR content
Share your press release through your social media channels and email newsletters to reach your existing audience. In case you haven’t created a list yet, source contacts through some of the best email extractor software and extensions available at your fingertips.
6. Measure and adjust
Regularly monitor how your digital PR efforts impact your SEO performance. Use tools like Google Analytics to track referral traffic from PR campaigns and assess keyword rankings or Domain Rating improvements.
Crafting your digital PR strategy
Crafting an effective digital PR strategy is essential for amplifying your brand’s presence in the digital space and supporting your overall SEO goals.
Understanding your audience
Know who your audience is. Understanding their interests, needs, and media consumption habits is crucial.
💡 Example: If your ecommerce store specialises in sustainable outdoor gear, your target audience might include environmentally conscious consumers who value ethical production practices.
Selecting the right channels
Determine where your audience spends their time. This could include specific social media platforms, industry blogs, or online magazines.
💡 Example: Utilise platforms like Instagram for visual storytelling or industry-specific forums for detailed discussions.
Developing key messages
These should resonate with your audience and reflect your brand’s values and unique selling propositions.
💡 Example: Emphasise your commitment to sustainability and the high quality of your products in your messaging.
Building relationships with media & influencers
Look for journalists, bloggers, and influencers who align with your brand values and have an engaged audience.
💡 Example: Connect with outdoor adventure bloggers or influencers focusing on eco-friendly lifestyles.
Creating a content calendar
Develop a schedule for your PR releases, social media posts, and other content related to your PR strategy.
💡 Example: Align your content calendar with relevant events like Earth Day or significant industry conferences.
Incorporating SEO best practices
Use keywords strategically and ensure any digital content is SEO-friendly.
💡 Example: Include relevant keywords in your press releases and ensure your backlinks are strategically placed.
Measuring & adapting
Use analytics tools to monitor the effectiveness of your PR campaigns in terms of audience engagement, website traffic, and SEO impact.
Regularly review your campaign’s performance and adjust your strategy based on the insights gathered.
Creating press releases and content for PR
In digital PR, creating press releases and content is crucial for capturing media attention and engaging your audience.
Understanding the purpose of press releases
Press releases are designed to announce significant news or developments about your business to the media and public. They should be newsworthy and informative.
Writing engaging press releases
- Headline: Create a compelling and clear headline that encapsulates the main news in an attention-grabbing way.
- Introduction: The first paragraph should briefly cover the who, what, when, where, and why of your news.
- Body: Provide detailed information, including quotes from key stakeholders, data, and additional context.
- Boilerplate: End with a standard boilerplate about your company, providing essential background information.
Optimising content for SEO and readability
- Incorporate Keywords: Integrate relevant SEO keywords naturally into the content to enhance its online visibility.
- Clear and Concise: Ensure the content is easy to read and jargon-free. Use short paragraphs and bullet points where appropriate.
Creating additional PR content
- Blog Posts and Articles: Write informative and engaging articles for your website or guest posts for other sites.
- Visual Content: Include high-quality images, infographics, or videos that complement the press release and make it more shareable.
- Social Media Posts: Craft social media content to promote the press release and engage with your audience directly.
Make sure to use engaging Facebook captions and create visually appealing graphics or videos to captivate your audience’s attention.
Distribution strategies
- Target Relevant Media Outlets: Send your press release to media outlets most likely interested in your news.
- Use PR Distribution Services: Consider using platforms like PR Newswire or Business Wire to distribute your press release to a broader audience.
- Leverage Social Media and Email Lists: Share your press release through your social media channels and email newsletters to reach your existing audience.
Reaching out to journalists
Successfully reaching out to journalists is critical to your digital PR strategy, especially for getting your ecommerce brand featured in desired publications.
Building a targeted media list
Research and compile a list of journalists and influencers who cover your industry or have shown interest in similar stories.
Crafting a compelling pitch
Tailor your pitch to each journalist. Mention their previous work that aligns with your story to show that you’ve done your homework.
💎 Be concise and clear: Clearly articulate the uniqueness of your story and why it’s relevant to their audience. Keep your pitch brief and to the point.
💡 Example: For example, if a journalist specialises in covering home tech, ensure you highlight how your product provides a solution to an area or service they are particularly interested in such as kitchenware or security.
Effective email communication
- Subject Line: Create a captivating subject line that stands out and summarises your story.
- Introduction: Start with a personal greeting and a brief introduction about who you are.
- The Pitch: Present your story in a few sentences, focusing on the key points.
- Closing: End with a clear call to action, such as offering an exclusive interview or additional information.
Follow-up strategy
- Timing: Wait for a reasonable time before following up, typically about a week.
- Polite Persistence: Follow up with a polite email reiterating the value of your story. Avoid being pushy or sending too many emails. As well as use a free email verifier to ensure inbox deliverability.
Using social media
- Engage on Social Platforms: Journalists often use social media to find story ideas. Engage with them on platforms like Twitter or LinkedIn to build a relationship.
- Share Relevant Content: Share and comment on their articles or posts to get noticed.
Networking & building relationships
- Attend Industry Events: Participate in industry conferences, webinars, and events where journalists might be present. Use these opportunities to network.
- Nurture Relationships: Building a relationship with journalists is a long-term effort. Keep in touch by periodically sharing interesting insights or industry news.
Chapter 9: Measuring SEO success
SEO success isn’t just about achieving a top-ranking position on search engines; it’s about understanding how these rankings translate into real-world benefits for your business. This means tracking a variety of metrics, from organic traffic and keyword rankings to conversion rates and user engagement.
Setting up and using Google Analytics
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) represents a significant shift from Universal Analytics, offering a more integrated approach to understanding user behaviour across websites and apps. Setting up and utilising GA4 effectively can provide deep insights into your audience, user journey, and the overall performance of your digital presence.
Step 1: Creating a GA4 Property
To start with GA4, you need to create a new property in your Google Analytics account:
- Sign in to Google Analytics: Go to the Google Analytics website and sign in with your Google account.
- Create Property: In the Admin section, select the account where you want to add the GA4 property, and click on ‘Create Property’.
- Enter Property Details: Fill in the details like property name, time zone, and currency.
- Select a Data Stream: Choose where you want to collect data from – a website, an app, or both. For a website, enter your website URL and stream name.
Step 2: Configuring your data stream
After setting up a property, you need to configure your data stream to start collecting data:
- Web Stream Details: For a website, you’ll get a ‘Measurement ID’ or a ‘Global Site Tag (gtag.js)’. This needs to be added to your website’s code.
- Enhanced Measurement: GA4 offers enhanced measurement options which can be toggled on to automatically track events like page views, scrolls, outbound clicks, site search, and video engagement.
Step 3: Understanding the GA4 Interface
GA4’s interface is different from Universal Analytics. Spend some time familiarising yourself with the following:
- Reports: The main dashboard shows a summary of your data. GA4 focuses more on user engagement and events.
- Events: Unlike Universal Analytics, GA4 automatically tracks several interactions as events. You can also create custom events.
- Explore: This section allows for more in-depth analysis with customisable reports.
- Audiences: Segment your users based on various criteria to better understand different user groups.
Step 4: Utilising GA4 features
Leverage GA4’s advanced features for deeper insights:
- BigQuery Linking: GA4 can be linked with BigQuery for advanced data analysis (available in the free version of GA4).
- Predictive Metrics: Utilise machine learning-powered predictive metrics like purchase probability.
- Cross-Platform Tracking: If you operate both a website and mobile apps, GA4 can integrate data across these platforms for a unified view of user interactions.
Step 5: Ongoing learning and adaptation
Given the newness and complexity of GA4, it’s essential to stay updated with the latest features and best practices:
- Google’s Resources: Use Google’s own tutorials, help documents, and forums.
- Online Courses and Webinars: Engage with online learning resources to deepen your understanding.
- Testing and Experimentation: Continuously experiment with different features and settings to see what works best for your specific needs.
Setting up and effectively using Google Analytics 4 can initially seem daunting due to its new interface and approach to data. However, with time and exploration, it becomes a powerful tool in your digital analytics arsenal, offering richer insights and more flexible data analysis capabilities than its predecessor.
Tracking and interpreting key metrics
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) introduces a new way of measuring and interpreting user interactions, shifting the focus from session-based data in Universal Analytics to event-based data in GA4. Understanding and leveraging these key metrics is crucial for gaining insights into user behaviour and the performance of your digital assets.
Key Metrics in GA4
- Users: This metric counts the number of unique visitors to your site. GA4 distinguishes between ‘New Users’ and ‘Returning Users’, providing insights into your audience’s loyalty and growth.
- Engagement Rate: Replacing the bounce rate from Universal Analytics, engagement rate in GA4 is a measure of user engagement, calculated based on time spent, event interactions, and other engagement signals.
- Events: Events in GA4 are user interactions with content that can be measured independently from a web page or screen load. Events can be clicks, file downloads, video plays, and more. GA4 automatically tracks some events and allows for custom event creation.
- Conversions: Similar to goals in Universal Analytics, conversions in GA4 are key actions that you want users to take on your site, like making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter.
- Page Views and Active Pages: These metrics provide insights into the most viewed content on your site and what users are actively engaging with.
- Average Engagement Time: This metric shows the average time users spend engaged with your site, offering insights into content relevance and user interest.
Using Google Search Console
Google Search Console complements Google Analytics by offering insights directly from the search engine’s perspective. It helps you understand how Google views your site, tracks your site’s search performance, and identifies any issues that might be affecting your ranking, such as crawl errors or security issues.
Reporting SEO ROI
Reporting on SEO ROI involves demonstrating how your SEO efforts are contributing to your business’s bottom line. This includes tracking organic traffic growth, conversion rates from organic traffic, and improvements in keyword rankings. By linking these metrics to business outcomes like sales or leads, you can create a compelling narrative about the value of your SEO efforts.
Chapter 10: Staying updated with SEO trends
Staying current with the latest trends, algorithm updates, and industry best practices is essential for anyone involved in digital marketing or website management. This chapter delves into the key strategies for keeping your SEO knowledge up-to-date, ensuring that your digital marketing efforts remain effective and competitive.
Following Google’s algorithm updates
Google frequently updates its search algorithms, and these changes can significantly impact website rankings. To stay ahead:
1. Regularly Monitor SEO News: Follow authoritative SEO news sources like Search Engine Land, Search Engine Journal, X (Twitter), and Google’s own Search Central Blog.
2. Understand the Impact of Updates: Each algorithm update has a different focus. It’s important to understand how these changes affect SEO tactics.
3. Adapt Strategies Accordingly: Be prepared to adjust your SEO strategies in response to these updates to maintain or improve your search rankings.
SEO resources and communities
Engaging with SEO resources and communities is a great way to stay informed and connected:
🌐 Online Forums and Groups:Platforms like Reddit’s SEO community, where discussions often receive attention through the upvote market,LinkedIn groups, and specific SEO forums like Warrior Forum can be valuable resources for advice, discussions, and staying on top of trends.
🎤️ Webinars and Podcasts: Many industry experts host webinars and podcasts that provide insights and discuss the latest trends in SEO. Popular choices include the Search Engine Journal Show, Strategy Sessions Podcast and Marketing O’Clock.
💻 SEO Tools Blogs: Blogs by popular SEO tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, Yoast and Backlinko are regularly updated with tips, guides, and industry news.
Continuing education in SEO
Given the fast-paced nature of SEO, continuous learning is key:
- Online Courses: There are numerous online courses available, ranging from beginner to advanced levels, that cover various aspects of SEO. Our personal favourite all-rounder is the SEO Blueprint by Detailed course.
- Conferences and Workshops: Attend SEO conferences and workshops, like BrightonSEO, to learn from industry leaders and network with other professionals.
- Reading and Research: Regularly read books, research papers, and case studies on SEO to deepen your understanding of advanced concepts and methodologies.
SEO is not a static field, and what works today might not be effective tomorrow. By staying informed about the latest trends, actively participating in SEO communities, and committing to ongoing education, you can ensure that your SEO strategies remain effective and align with the current best practices in the industry. This proactive approach is crucial for anyone looking to excel in the ever-changing landscape of SEO.
Chapter 11: Advanced ecommerce SEO tips and tricks
Guess what? There’s even more you can do! Embracing the following advanced techniques will elevate your online presence and drive more organic traffic to your website.
International SEO for ecommerce
International SEO focuses on optimising your website for different countries and languages. It’s not just about translations; it’s about understanding and catering to local search habits and preferences. Key aspects include:
- Localised keyword research: Each market has its unique set of popular keywords. It’s crucial to conduct thorough keyword research for each target country or region, understanding the local language nuances, colloquial terms, and specific search terms that are prevalent in those markets.
- Language targeting: Using hreflang tags is a critical strategy in international SEO for accurately targeting users based on their language preferences. These tags are snippets of code that you add to your website’s pages, which inform search engines about the language and geographic targeting of a page. Essentially, hreflang tags help search engines understand which version of a page to show in search results, depending on the user’s location and language settings.
- On-page SEO elements: on-page SEO involves optimising title tags, meta descriptions, and content for each local audience. Ensure that these elements are translated accurately and resonate with the local culture and customs.
- Local user experience: Adapt your website’s design and user experience to align with local preferences. This includes currency, payment methods, and even the aesthetic elements to meet local tastes.
- Cultural sensitivity and legal compliance: Be aware of cultural nuances and legal requirements in each region. This includes understanding local holidays, cultural references, and legal restrictions on products or marketing practices.
- Link building with local relevance: Develop a link-building strategy focusing on gaining backlinks from local websites and influencers. This improves your website’s authority in local search engines.
- Local reviews and ratings: Encourage local customers to leave reviews. Positive reviews and ratings on your website and on local review sites can significantly boost your SEO in specific markets.
- Regular monitoring and analysis: Use analytics tools to regularly monitor your website’s performance in each target market. Pay attention to metrics like traffic, conversion rates, and bounce rates to understand what works and what needs improvement.
Utilising AI and machine learning
AI and machine learning are reshaping SEO strategies. Many businesses are leveraging enterprise software development services to implement these advanced AI-driven SEO solutions. These technologies can analyse vast amounts of data quickly, offering insights that humans might miss. However, it happens thanks to reinforcement learning with human feedback that refines these insights, because it learns directly from humans.
For ecommerce stores, AI can be used to understand customer behaviour, predict trends, spark ideas and much more. Machine learning algorithms can also help in personalising user experiences on your website, making recommendations based on user behaviour, thus increasing the chances of conversion. Consider looking up LLMOps explained to explore how the integration of AI and machine learning can further optimize and streamline your online retail operations. Examples of how ecommerce businesses can benefit from AI include:
-
- Customer service
- Product descriptions & content
- Social, email and content calendar Ideas
- Promotional ideas
- Data analysis
- Market trends
- Training
- Customer FAQs
Structured data beyond the basics
Structured data is the secret sauce that makes your website more comprehensible to search engines. It goes beyond basic implementations.
For ecommerce sites, using structured data for product listings, ratings, and availability can significantly enhance visibility in search results. Rich snippets, facilitated by structured data, make your listings more attractive, potentially increasing click-through rates. Implement schema for product prices, availability, and reviews to give potential customers crucial information right in the search results.
1. How the product page looks
2. How the schema markup looks
3. How this looks in search results
Chapter 12: Common SEO mistakes to avoid
While mastering SEO can propel your ecommerce site to new heights, certain pitfalls can just as easily derail your efforts. By identifying and avoiding errors, you can ensure that your SEO strategy is effective and sustainable in the long run.
Over-optimisation
Sadly, it’s possible to have too much of a good thing, and this holds particularly true for SEO. Over-optimisation occurs when a website is stuffed with keywords or has an excessive amount of low-quality inbound links. This can lead to penalties from Google, as it’s perceived as manipulative.
✅ The key is to maintain a natural and balanced approach to SEO – focus on quality content and user experience first, and let keywords and links follow organically.
Neglecting mobile users
In today’s world, mobile browsing has overtaken desktop, making mobile-friendliness a crucial aspect of SEO. Neglecting mobile users can lead to a significant loss in traffic and rankings.
✅ Ensure your website is responsive, meaning it adapts seamlessly to different screen sizes. Also, pay attention to mobile page load speed and ease of navigation to enhance the mobile user experience.
Slow site speed
Website speed is a critical factor for both user experience and SEO. Slow loading times not only frustrate visitors, but also negatively impact your rankings on search engines.
✅ Optimise your site’s speed by compressing images, leveraging browser caching, and reducing server response time. Remember, in the online world, every second counts.
Duplicate content issues
Duplicate content can confuse search engines and dilute your SEO efforts. This is a common issue in ecommerce, where product descriptions might be replicated across various pages.
✅ To avoid duplicate content, ensure each page has unique content and use canonical tags to tell search engines which version of a page you want to prioritise.
Building poor-quality links
In the quest for higher rankings, some ecommerce sites resort to building poor-quality links. These include purchasing links or participating in link schemes. Such practices are frowned upon by search engines and can result in penalties.
✅ Instead, focus on building high-quality, organic links that add value to users. This can be achieved through creating shareable content, engaging with your community, and forming partnerships with reputable websites.
Lack of a content plan
It’s easy to assume you can write a piece of content and your SEO will improve. Although content is King, what you do with that content and how you write it is vital. Writing low-quality, over-optimised content that jumps from topic to topic won’t rank as well as some would assume.
✅ Instead, remember Google ranks a page based on how relevant and high-quality it is for your users. Dial in your content to resolve your users’ questions and provide them with the solution to their search query.
Loco internal links
Internal links are important to your SEO execution. So creating as many keyword-stuffed internal links, to all types of pages on your site seems great, right? Not exactly.
✅ Instead, think of internal links as a user-experience practice. When you approach internal links with the aim of guiding people around the site with natural anchors, you’ll be on your path to creating beautiful internal links.
It’s time to get your ecommerce ranking!
SEO is not a one-time task, but a continuous process of improvement and adaptation to the ever-evolving digital landscape. Patience and persistence are key, as the results of your efforts may take time to manifest. Stay updated with the latest trends, adjust your strategies accordingly, and always keep your audience’s needs at the forefront.
If you’re looking to elevate your ecommerce store but find the journey daunting, our digital marketing agency is here to guide you. With a team of seasoned SEO experts, we specialise in crafting bespoke strategies that align with your unique business goals.
