If you're an online retailer, you know how important search engine optimization is. Not only does SEO help attract customers to your website, it improves your search ranking results and the visibility of your eCommerce website, thereby increasing sales.
Below, we discuss how search engine optimization works for eCommerce and how to optimize your website for search engines as well as your target audience. We'll look at how to pick the right keywords, how to optimize your images, and other e-commerce SEO tactics you can leverage to help you grow your online business.
What Is eCommerce SEO & Why Do You Need It?
Before you can even begin to optimize your eCommerce site for search engines, you need to know what makes search engines tick.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving your website's visibility in search engines. In simple terms, when someone types a keyword into a search engine like Google or Bing, the search engine returns a list of websites it thinks are relevant to that keyword. It's proven that the websites that appear on top of this list get more clicks from people doing searches related to the keyword.
While it's true that Google and other major search engines have become increasingly sophisticated and complex over the years, they're still just scouring billions of web pages to find out which websites provide the most value for specific search terms and key phrases. If you can find the right combination of content, keywords, images, etc., search algorithms will rank your pages significantly higher.
How to Optimize eCommerce Title Tags & Meta Descriptions
Title tags and meta descriptions are arguably the most important components of SEO. These are snippets of text that appear under your website's URL in search results.
Most search engines will display these snippets when someone searches for a keyword that matches the main keyword on your page. But a well-written meta description will not only help search engines but will also capture the attention of potential customers, persuade them to click on your link, and ultimately drive traffic to your site.
How to Optimize Images
Every picture that has been uploaded to the world wide web contains data that search engines can read. This makes it important to include keyword-rich alt text when publishing pictures to your website.
Images should also be properly named and linked to the website's main text. The more relevant links you can provide for search engines, the higher you'll rank in search results.
How to Optimize Your Website for Mobile Device Searches
With Google's recent announcement of their mobile-performance update, it's more important than ever to optimize your site for mobile devices. Not only will a website that's clunky on mobile get less user engagement, Google's update penalizes sites whose content is not user friendly to read on mobile devices.
To avoid this penalty, make sure your site is easily viewable and navigable on mobile devices. If your site isn't already mobile-friendly, you'll want to take the necessary steps to get it there as soon as possible.
Top eCommerce Mistakes to Avoid
Many of the mistakes that are made when optimizing an eCommerce store for search engines are common mistakes that are easily avoided. Here are the top five missteps to keep in mind and how to avoid them:
- Using poor quality pictures on your product pages. Only publish top-quality, high-resolution images that don't pixelate when they are resized.
- Having a site that is difficult to navigate. Make sure users can find their way around the different sections of your website and that you have a search function that allows people to find exactly what they're looking for.
- Not using strong calls to action. Your pages should include both text and visual elements like buttons to direct users on what actions they should take and in what order. Use your content to nurture users through the buyer's journey or sales funnel.
- Making meta data too long. If your titles and descriptions are over character limits, they'll get truncated by Google. Make sure your titles are less than 60 characters and your descriptions are less than 160 characters.
Should You Hire an eCommerce Marketing Professional?
It's possible to handle all of your eCommerce marketing tasks on your own, but if you're busy running your business, it can be hard to find the time to focus on checking things off your to-do list. If you're in the process of launching a new eCommerce site or have a lot of products to list and sell, you'll definitely want to hire a professional in this area.
You may also want to consider hiring an expert in the following situations:
- You know you need help but aren't sure where to start.
- You want to improve your SEO and rank higher than competitors.
- You want to develop a digital marketing strategy that's customized for your site. Your products aren't converting well or your sales are becoming stagnant.
Laveh is a Boston inbound marketing agency dedicated to helping small eCommerce businesses succeed online. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help your website rank higher by dialing 617.657.9966.
