How to Do Technical SEO for ecommerce Sites?

Technical SEO is important for eCommerce businesses because it impacts how search engines crawl your website. It allows Google to find and index your pages, which improves the site’s searchability and generates more sales.

As an element of eCommerce SEO services, technical SEO makes your site easy to navigate and free from technical glitches.

Implement it to attract organic traffic, turn it into customers, and drive more sales conversions.

Here are the essentials that must be focused on when doing technical SEO for eCommerce sites.

1. Conduct an Audit

A technical SEO audit refers to the process of analyzing the technical aspects of your site. It involves detecting issues like broken links, low page speeds, duplicate content, missing alt tags, etc. To perform a website audit, you need to follow some steps very carefully.

2. Work On A Mobile-Friendly Site

A mobile-friendly website is crucial to offering a positive user experience for mobile users. Elements of mobile-friendly website design:

• Implement a responsive web design that adjusts the layout and content of your site dynamically based on the screen size and device the visitor uses. This ensures that your site looks and functions well on all devices, including smartphones, tablets, and desktops.
• Simplify navigation for mobile users by using a clear and intuitive menu structure. Opt for a hamburger menu or slide-out menu to conserve screen space and make it easier for users to access different sections of your site.
• Ensure that your content is easy to read and navigate on mobile devices. Use legible fonts, sufficient font sizes, and ample spacing between elements to improve readability. Keep paragraphs short and use bullet points or lists to break up content.
• Optimize images and media files to reduce their file size and improve loading times on mobile devices. Use compressed images, lazy loading techniques, and responsive media embeds to ensure fast and smooth loading on mobile devices.
• Simplify and optimize forms for mobile users by minimizing the number of fields and using mobile-friendly input methods (e.g., drop-down menus, checkboxes, radio buttons). Ensure that form fields are large enough and easy to tap on touchscreen devices.

3. Optimized Keywords Are Beneficial for Technical SEO

Optimizing keywords for technical SEO involves strategically placing and utilizing targeted keywords throughout your website to improve its visibility in search engine results. Here’s a step-by-step guide with examples:

• Conduct thorough keyword research. Track relevant keywords related to your site’s content. Use tools like “Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Ahrefs” to find keywords.

Keywords Example: “best gaming laptops,” “graphic design software,” “cloud computing services.“

• Add the target keywords to your site’s web page title. Make sure that these are concise, descriptive, and relevant.

Example:

Page Title: “Best Gaming Laptops for 2022 | Top Picks and Reviews”

Page Title: “Graphic Design Software Comparison | Best Tools for Designers”

• You must write compelling meta descriptions that include target keywords. In addition, summarize the content of your web page effectively.

Example:

• Meta Description: “Looking for the best gaming laptops of 2022? Our expert reviews and comparisons help you find the perfect gaming laptop for your needs.”
• Meta Description: “Compare the top graphic design software tools for designers. Find the best software for your design projects with our comprehensive comparison guide.”

4. Link-Building Is a Great Way to Improve Your Technical Ecommerce SEO

Link building is instrumental for technical eCommerce SEO. It boosts your website’s authority, search engine rankings, and organic traffic. Simply put,  quality backlinks from authoritative websites establish trust and credibility. 

These links provide you with room for referral traffic and expose your brand to a wide audience. Backlinks act as a “proof of confidence.” They build confidence in potential customers and encourage conversions. So, it’s a powerful strategy for eCommerce businesses to drive sales and growth.

5. Crawl Your Site

You can start a website crawler tool that suits your needs. There’s a range of options in front of you, like Screaming Frog, SEMrush Site Audit, Ahrefs Site Audit, Google Search Console, etc.

• Now, you have to launch the selected tool and enter your site’s URL. Some of the tools may need additional settings or configurations for crawling.
• Depending on the size of your website and the depth of the crawl, it may take some time for the crawler to analyze all the pages and resources on your site. Be patient and wait for the crawl to finish.
• Once the crawl is complete, review the results provided by the crawler tool. This typically includes information such as the number of pages crawled, HTTP status codes, internal and external links, page titles, meta descriptions, and more.
• Pay close attention to any crawl errors reported by the tool, such as broken links (404 errors), server errors (5xx errors), redirect chains, or missing meta tags. Addressing these errors is essential for improving the overall health and performance of your website.

6. Optimized Images Are Crucial for Technical SEO

Image optimization is really important for Technical SEO because it affects how fast a website loads and how users interact with it. When images are optimized, pages load faster, which keeps users interested and reduces how often they leave the site right away. 

Also, optimized images make the website work better on mobile devices and are easier for everyone to access. They also use less internet data, which is great for people with limited plans. Plus, when images are optimized well, they show up more in image searches, bringing more people to the website. 

So, optimizing images is key for making websites work better and getting more visitors from search engines.

Source: Scaleflex

You get an overview of image optimization in search rankings

7. Check Your Robot.txt File

• First, you need to open a web browser and navigate your site’s screen.
• After reaching your website’s domain, append “/robots.txt” to the end of the URL in the address bar.

Website URL: https://blog.example.com

Robots.txt URL: https://blog.example.com/robots.txt

• As you enter the URL with the “/robots.txt” extension, tap enter on your keyboard or hit the “Go” button in the browser’s address bar to access the robots.txt file.
• In this step, robots.txt files get displayed in your site’s browser. You need to review the contents of the file to see which directories and pages are allowed or disallowed for crawling by search engines.
• There’re a range of issues that you can counter at the time of reviewing, like incorrect syntax, misconfigured directives, or unintended exclusions. These can hamper your site’s SERP rankings.
• If you identify any errors or issues in the robots.txt file, you may need to make corrections or updates to ensure that search engines can properly crawl and index your website’s content.

8. Check Your Site for Duplicate Content

Different types of content issues can plague your site’s image. It ranges from URL-based content issues to physical duplicate content. Semrush’s data states, “50% of websites have duplicate content issues.”

Let’s see how to detect duplicate content on your website and remove it:

You can use the “Duplicate Content Checker” tool to detect duplicate content on your website. Let’s go through the steps:

• Putting your site’s URL into the checker tool gives you an overview of internal and external URLs duplicating the inputting URL.

Source: SEO REVIEW TOOLS

Besides this there are some other tools to check your duplicate content, like Copyscape, Siteliner, Quetext etc.

Site Structure & URLs

Make sure your website structure allows visitors to access content easily.

To do this, make a list of important pages. Generally, category and product pages are among the most important pages in eCommerce sites.

Make these pages just a three-click away from the homepage.

The site structure should be like this:

Homepage > Categories > Subcategories > Products

Avoid subcategories in case of a smaller site. Or, ensure that each product is listed only in one category or subcategory.

What else?

Your URL structure should be simple, consistent, and, most importantly, short. Try to keep its length under 160 characters.

For example

If you’re selling a Sony Xperia PRO Smartphone, make the URL like this:

www.example.com/sony/smartphone/xperia-PRO

or

www.example.com/smartphone/Sony-Xperia-PRO

Breadcrumb Navigation

Breadcrumb is an important factor when you SEO for eCommerce sites. Create breadcrumb navigation – a type of navigation that lets users track how far they are from the homepage or where they are on a website.

Breadcrumb navigation can be seen at the top of a website or just under the navigation bar.

The breadcrumb navigation for your site may look like this:

Home > accessories > headphones

Breadcrumb navigation is an organized path to get products on your site. This is helpful for both users and search engines.

XML Vs. HTML Sitemap

XML and HTML are the two different types of sitemaps. Both have their own importance in best eCommerce SEO practices.

• XML Sitemaps: XML sitemaps are created to allow search engine robots to index URLs across websites correctly. They’re comparatively more straightforward than the HTML sitemap.

Use XML sitemaps to your site’s information to make it more readable for machines.

Below is an XML sitemap image:

In the SEO world, the role of XML sitemaps is to invite search engine bots to crawl a URL.

Remember,

• Having an XML sitemap is more of a recommendation
• It doesn’t guarantee that your page will be indexed
• It doesn’t showcase your page authority

HTML Sitemaps: HTML Sitemaps are typically designed to help buyers navigate the platform. They’re much easier to understand and allow more options for users to navigate the platform and go deeper into the site.

Below is an HTML sitemap image:

Source: Search Engine Journal

HTML sitemaps are valuable for many good reasons:

• They make your website more user-friendly
• They easily organize large websites (over 2000 pages)
• They serve as a directory for all web pages
• They let visitors easily find what they’re looking for

Site Load Time

A hard fact: The possibility of a bounce increases by 32% if page load time goes from 1 second to 3 seconds.

That means you could lose around a third of your potential customers if your website loads in three seconds. This may sound weird, but it’s true.

eCommerce technical SEO helps improve your site load time. Use a tool like GMetrix to check how fast your website loads. You can also see how your site performs, know why it’s slow, and discover optimization opportunities.

If your site load speed is slow, there are ways you can improve it.

• Minify HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
• Reduce redirects and image file sizes
• Enable browser caching
• Host videos on an external platform

Structured Data

Why does structure matter for eCommerce stores?

Because it helps Google understand your pages, products, and websites.

Since Google needs to find what web page it should display in search results, structured data tells it what your site is about.

It is, therefore, important to add structured data to your eCommerce SEO strategy. Doing so will enable you to improve product listings and rank your site better in search results.

For an eCommerce business, add information like the name of your products, rating, price, and availability.

Use the tools below to find, create, test, and improve your SEO with structured data.

• schema.org: Use it to find structured data markup.
• Structured Data Markup Helper: Use it to add structured data markup to a sample web page.
• Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool: Use this tool to test all structured data markups.
• Google’s Rich Results Test Tool: This tool will help you test and preview structured data that can generate rich results.

Use SSL

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a standard security technology that creates an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. It is a security protocol.

It protects sensitive information like:

• Credit card numbers
• Login credentials
• Other personal information

Without an SSL, data can be transmitted from the browser to the web server via plain text, which makes users vulnerable to eavesdropping.

How can I identify if my website has installed an SSL certificate?

Quite simple!

Check the URL of your site. If it has installed an SSL certificate, the URL will start with ‘https://’ rather than ‘http://.’

Best example: https://www.resultfirst.com/

eCommerce websites add SSL certificates to secure online transactions and keep customer information private and secure. SSL certificate lets customers feel secure.

Install the SSL certificate on your website today if you haven’t done so yet.

Crawl Budget

Your crawl budget is the number of pages crawled by search engines on your website within a specific timeframe. This number can differ from day to day, but most probably, it remains stable.

How do you check the crawl budget?

• Log in to Google Search Console
• Choose your website
• Go to Crawl > Crawl Stats
• There, you’ll see the number of pages that Google crawls per day

Remember, a low crawl budget affects your search rankings and indexing issues. If your eCommerce website has a large size, it is important to optimize your crawl budget.

Tips to optimize your crawl budget for eCommerce website

• Optimize your overall link structure.
• Remove duplicate content
• Fix broken links
• Increase backlinks number
• Update your sitemap regularly

Quick Tips for Technical SEO for eCommerce Sites

If your eCommerce store is on Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, or another platform, much of the work will likely be done for you. But, regular maintenance and improvement are always the need of hours.

As an eCommerce store owner, you must focus on the aspects of technical SEO. The goal is to identify and fix issues related to SEO right there.

Hopefully, these essentials are excellent starting points to keep your technical eCommerce SEO in order. Give them a try to drive more sales conversions.

Also Read:

What are The Ecommerce SEO Trends and Insights for 2023

Ecommerce SEO AI vs Traditional SEO