Step-by-Step Guide: SEO Best Practices for Ecommerce Websites  - ResultFirst

Step-by-Step Guide: SEO Best Practices for Ecommerce Websites 

Ecommerce SEO Guide SEO Best Practices for Ecommerce Websites

Whether you’re planning to retail products or sell services online, you need to reach a large audience.

You should be sure people can actually find you when they search for products like yours. And to achieve this, a well-optimized e-commerce website is an absolute must.

Why SEO for eCommerce Website is Necessary? 

A well-designed e-commerce website lets you know the basics about your customers like demographics (locations, age groups, and how they found you). So, get a website created by your web development team.

If you already have a website, that’s awesome. But, you risk remaining invisible to fresh prospects and new leads. You need to take some proactive steps to increase visibility.

Having a website with excellent products at the best prices makes no sense if it is not visible to people when they search online.  A page that appears on the first page for a specific keyword gets ten times more clicks when compared if it’s a tenth. The higher you rank, the better.

This is where the significance of eCommerce SEO has a role.

What is Ecommerce SEO?

What Is Ecommerce SEO?

eCommerce SEO is the search engine optimization of web retailers. It is a strategy that helps online stores rank higher in search engine results. A well-optimized and designed website with top-quality content ranks better in search engines, like Google.

Important eCommerce product page optimizations are:

  • Writing long descriptions with relevant keywords on every product page to increase visibility and drive traffic
  • Gaining backlinks from relevant websites to improve your online store’s ranking position

Proper optimization makes it easier to get leads and conversions. But, SEO for an eCommerce website is more than adding written descriptions, blog posts, and keywords, and obtaining backlinks.

In this blog post, we’re compiling a list of strategies for SEO Best Practices for Ecommerce Websites. Follow them to ensure your eCommerce website has a shot at doing its best in organic search.

SEO Best Practices for Ecommerce Websites

 #1 Keyword Research

Keyword Research

Besides finding the most relevant keywords in your industry, focus on keyword intent. It is the intention behind a search query. For this, search for the specific phrases and terms people use when looking for a product online.

Different Types of Keyword Intent

Different Types Keyword Intent

Informational keyword: It is used in Search Engine Optimization to describe the type of information searchers are looking for. This consists of:

  • Searches that include questions like “how do I…?”
  • These are keywords like “buy this.” Direct purchase.
  • A searcher wants more details about a subject. So this includes factual queries.

Navigational Keywords: For the best eCommerce SEO tips, you need to be aware of navigational keywords. When someone searches for a company or brand name, they perform a navigational search.

Examples include YouTube, where is Angelino’s coffee, etc.

Commercial Keywords: People look for information to make a purchase decision. This means they want to find what they need and will buy it as soon as possible.

Examples of these keywords are “buy an iPhone” or “find new digital camera deals

Remember that commercial keyword users have more intent to buy. And more likely to search less for information.

Transactional Keyword: This category of keywords lies somewhere between the middle of commercial and informational intent. Searchers intend to complete an action or purchase. However, they can be targeted with paid ads.

  • These keywords often feature words like “buy”, “subscribe”, “Offers” and “for sale
  • These keywords are also referred to as buyer keywords.

To select the right keywords for your website, there are different tools for keyword research that are available online. You can use tools like Google Analytics, SEMrush, ahrefs, and more. These tools can be very helpful for finding out what keywords people are already using to find you.

#2 Create the Best Product Description

product page optimisation

Product descriptions have the power to drive your business to the top. The point is, what information should they contain and how long should they be? Include facts in the story. It is the first step to crafting an appealing product description.

Below are questions to ask before creating a product description.

  • Who are the target customers for the product?
  • What are the basic details of the product?
  • When should the product be used?
  • Where should someone use the product?
  • Why is the product better than others?
  • How does the product work?

To make your product information friendly, you need to focus on measurements, sizes, prices, colors, and other details. Make sure they are easy to find, read, and understand. Including measurements in standard, metric, or both is necessary, especially if visitors come from different regions. In addition, make sure that the product images are accurate in colors and sizes.

Display the prices on the product pages because customers are more likely to leave an eCommerce website that does not show the product prices. This will further lead to an increased bounce rate. Also, keep the information about products up-to-date.

Format of description

Choose the best format for describing products. Using bullet points can be useful because online buyers only scan text on websites. However, bullet points cannot be a good option for a product’s story as they are for short phrases (like features). So, write in paragraph (one or two) about the product – generally three or more sentences per paragraph. This convinces target customers.

#3. Make a User-Friendly Site

Mobile Friendly website

The benefits of a user-friendly eCommerce website include:

  • Improved website performance
  • Increased organic traffic
  • Reduced bounce rates
  • Greater chances of success
  • Increased sales and revenue

For your website to be successful, it should look good and let users have a smooth navigation experience. This is why usability is necessary.

To enhance the user experience or UX, creating a good design, and making aesthetics more visually appealing is necessary. Nonetheless, making your website look good won’t only serve a purpose; it is about making it work well as well.

So, take care of UX as it intakes everything right from the ease of use, navigation, and “feel” of your eCommerce website. Good UX makes sure people easily find what they want to buy. It keeps them engaged while browsing and lets them have the best experience. Most importantly, UX impacts SEO performance as well.

Key factors that can influence UX:

  • Keep your website clutter-free
  • It should be easy to navigate
  • Ads shouldn’t interrupt the user’s view of content
  • The site should load quickly and be mobile-friendly
  • Add CTAs button to let customers know what they need to do next
  • Use consistent styling throughout, and make it accessible

#4. Remove Duplicate Content

Remove Duplication of ecommerce Content

Duplicate content is text that appears on other websites or on different pages on the same website. It is similar or exact copies of content on other websites. Google punishes websites that have duplicate content by declining the web ranking. It is therefore important to avoid duplicate content.

How to Prevent Duplicate Content?

Avoid copy/paste:  Avoid using the same manufacturer descriptions i.e. don’t use the default descriptions provided by the supplier. Remember that everyone selling the same products may do the same thing.

Write unique descriptions: Appealing descriptions are completely original, easy to understand, and often reminisced. So, you need to write unique and fresh descriptions for each product. Don’t copy and paste even in case you have similar products. Instead, focus on what makes those products different and include those points in the content.

Check URL: Never underestimate the importance of URL structure. Double check things, such as pagination issues, session IDs, and tracking links. Yoast SEO (a search engine optimization plug-in) considers all these sorts of technical issues in detail.

#5. Avoid Cluttered URLs

A URL is the address of your eCommerce website by which visitors access your site page. There can be a big amount of information in URLs, such as product name, categories name, and even actions like ‘dash (-) or oblique (/). To create an SEO-friendly URL, keep it clear, cluttered-free, and short. Also, include relevant keywords in URLs.

Avoid URLs like this:

http://www.example.com/dog?=346/product}=237828/main.html

A search engine like Google will be unable to understand the information from that URL. It is therefore important to curtail your URL and make it like this:

http://www.example.com/browse/patio-garden/lawn-mowers.html

#6. Use Alt Text In Images

Alt Text for Image SEO

Alt text means ‘alternate’ text. It is used in different ways and appears in place of an image if the image does not load on a user’s screen. This written copy helps search engines better crawl and rank your website. It is a way to get important keywords on your site. If you miss alt-text on images, the search engines will not know what your images are or why they are on a specific page. So, you should use alt text on images.

However, avoid alt text where it cannot be displayed, such as displaying a product image in Flash. Even if your page has important keywords on your product or category page, alt text can help give search engines context to the images on the page.

Alt text also plays a very important role for the legally blind. According to the United States Rehabilitation Act, every website should be accessible to those with disabilities. And alt text on your site images enables a visually impaired person’s browser to “read” anything for them.

#7. Fix Broken Links

Fix Broken Links

Broken links not just annoy users, but also Google. The more problems your site has, the more authority rating of your site will negatively get affected. Thus, your site ranking will decline. Every link on your site helps Google understand your website structure and believe that you are sharing useful information. So, prevent broken links on your website.

However, it can be a difficult and time-consuming task. You can’t manually monitor all your links on hundreds of thousands of web pages. It is therefore important to use tools like Ahrefs or the Broken Link Checker. In addition, in case you change the URL of a page, then consider setting up a 301 redirect to tell search engines that the link has been updated.

#8. Showcase Customer Reviews

Showcase Customer Reviews

Customer reviews are important because they show your store’s reputation, improve search rankings, boost conversions on your product pages and increase sales. Remember, they influence potential customers better than a sales pitch. It is therefore important to allow customers to speak about your products after they buy.

Don’t be surprised that customers are intelligent enough to naturally use important keywords while writing reviews, which is helpful for SEO.  Let it be clear that using the same keywords that already have on your page is not going to have any impact. Using synonyms or long-tail keywords can help with ranking.

Do you need an SEO expert to successfully use these eCommerce SEO tips?

If so, ResultFirst is the right name to be. At ResultFirst, we provide professional, specialized eCommerce SEO services for online stores. With pay for performance SEO, on-site SEO, off-site SEO, and technical SEO, we help eCommerce businesses drive continuous growth through data-driven marketing.

When you partner with ResultFirst, you join hands with one of the best SEO companies – 3000+ Satisfied Customers, 550 websites launched, and 200+ digital teams. Whether you are building a new online store or need to improve the existing one, we are here to help you with all your eCommerce SEO needs.

What to Read Next

ResultFirst is the ONLY SEO agency
you will ever need.

Our Pay for performance SEO programe helps companies
achieve impressive results