What Goes into Great SEO for E-Commerce

E-commerce is a trillion-dollar industry, and one of the best strategies to maximize revenues is search engine optimization (SEO).

Today, you will learn the foundations of reliable SEO for your shopping or affiliate website. These ideas are easy to follow. If executed correctly, they also help increase your visibility and conversion rate. They support every buyer’s journey and even retain paying customers.

7 SEO Strategies for Successful E-Commerce

The future is bright for the online commerce industry. Precedence Research, for example, expects its global market size to hit over $7 trillion by 2030. It could also achieve a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 8% from 2022 until the end of the forecast period.

In other words, you shouldn’t worry too much about a saturated market. However, you must play your cards right to beat the competition. Be visible to your target audience and make the most of your potential Internet earnings through SEO.

Here are seven optimization strategies to help you succeed.

1. Start with the Marketing Basics

It’s tempting to jump into keyword research for e-commerce SEO. But you’re setting yourself up for failure if you don’t begin with the essentials: understanding the market and defining your objectives.

  • Who are you selling to?
  • What are your target market’s problems you wish to solve?
  • Where are they in their buyer’s journey?
  • How much are they willing to pay?
  • Why do SEO? Is it to raise brand awareness, remarket, or increase sales?
  • What metrics should you track?
  • How do you know you’re succeeding with your efforts?

The answers to these questions determine the SEO strategies you will use. They also affect the way you measure progress and ROI.

2. Conduct Comprehensive Keyword Research

According to Digital Authority Partners (DAP), comprehensive keyword research is one of the most important steps in SEO for e-commerce. It allows you to understand how your target market thinks and searches. The process also uncovers related terms you can use to improve your website’s discoverability.

Here are a few tips on how to do it right:

  • Use the right tools. Google Ads Keyword Planner is a great starting point. It’s free and gives you an idea of the average monthly search volume for particular keywords, as well as their level of competition.
  • Identify the intent behind searches. People may be looking for a specific website or answers to their questions or wanting to buy something. Determine the searcher’s intent behind particular queries to match your pages to their needs. You can then tweak your title tags, meta descriptions, and on-page content to improve your e-commerce SEO ranking.
  • Uncover long-tail and LSI keywords. Long-tail keywords are three or four-word phrases with low search volume but high conversion rates. They allow more targeted traffic. Meanwhile, latent semantic indexing (LSI) keywords are related terms that help you rank for your main keyword. They add context and relevance to the page.

3. Optimize Your Website Architecture

Contrary to popular belief, users are willing to click several pages to find the information they need. But it doesn’t mean you should waste their time or, worse, lose them among a sea of links.

Focus on the website’s architecture when starting your e-commerce site. Doing so helps drive traffic and funnel users toward your conversion goals. Here are some factors that affect it:

  • Site navigation. Link organization matters. It should be easy for both users and search engine crawlers to find their way around your website. Label menus properly and create a sitemap, which also works as the site’s directory.
  • Internal linking. Linking to other pages on your site helps with two things. First, it aids in the discovery of new content by search engine crawlers. Second, it keeps users engaged on your website longer. But don’t overdo it. Also, use keyword-rich anchor text (the visible, clickable text).
  • Breadcrumbs. These are links usually found above the fold and tell users where they are on your website. They look like Home > Clothing > Men’s Clothing > Shirts. They improve the user experience and help search engines understand the relationship between different pages.

4. Design Your Site for Mobile

Mobile e-commerce is gradually eating the overall retail pie. Its market size could reach over $700 billion in 2025. Google is also shifting to mobile-first indexing, which means mobile pages will play a bigger role in ranking.

Here are some ideas for designing a mobile-friendly site:

  • Simplify the design. Users should be able to find what they’re looking for quickly and easily.
  • Get rid of the non-essentials. These include large images, Flash, and pop-ups.
  • Size content correctly. Users shouldn’t have to zoom in to read the text on your website. Make sure font sizes are large enough for mobile screens.
  • Apply the core web vitals. These are the factors that Google says contribute to a great user experience. They include things like loading time, interactivity, and visual stability.
  • Increase site speed. The average user expects a website to load in two seconds or less. Improve the speed by compressing or resizing images, using CSS, and opting for content delivery networks (CDNs).

5. Use Product Schema Markup

Schema markup is code you can add to your website to help search engines return more informative results for users. It’s a form of microdata that provides additional details about your products, such as reviews, prices, and availability.

Product schema markup is particularly useful for e-commerce websites. It allows you to showcase your products in Google’s rich results. These enhanced listings appear at the top of the search engine results page (SERP).

Adding schema markup to your website can be tricky. If you’re uncomfortable doing it yourself, hire an SEO agency or use a tool like Google’s Data Highlighter.

6. Optimize Your Product Pages for Rankings

Product pages are some of the most important ones on your e-commerce website. They have a direct impact on conversion rates. Optimize them for both users and search engines with these tips:

  • Include relevant keywords in the title tag, meta description, product name, and elsewhere on the page.
  • Use high-quality product images and videos.
  • Include customer reviews and testimonials.
  • Make the price clear and visible.
  • Show product availability.
  • Use a call to action (CTA) to encourage users to buy the product.

7. Offer High-Quality, Impactful Content

There’s no better time to offer the best content than today. Google has recently announced that it will prioritize indexed pages with human-centric copies. The articles should be purposeful, audience-specific, authoritative, and trustworthy. It should be original, valuable, and well-written.

Consider these ideas when planning e-commerce content:

  • Expound on a subject. Don’t just write 500 words for the sake of it. Your goal is to educate and engage the reader. Publish long-form content, such as case studies, resource pages, and how-to guides.
  • Make the content scannable. Users don’t read online content word for word. They scan it to look for relevant information. Use headlines, subheadings, bullet points, and short paragraphs.
  • Use rich media. Include images, infographics, and videos in your content to break up the text and make it more visually appealing. Adding these makes your copies engaging and sharable on social media.
  • Establish topical authority. Google wants to see that you’re an expert on the subject. Write about topics related to your niche and link to your products when appropriate.
  • Build a high-value page. Write cornerstone content, such as “A Comprehensive Guide to Buying the Best Shoes.” Then, create several specific articles, like “The 10 Best Running Shoes of 2022” and “The 5 Best Shoe Brands for Women,” that drive traffic to your foundational page.

Final Words

Great SEO is essential for any e-commerce website that wants to rank high in the search engine results pages. But success doesn’t happen overnight. It requires strategic planning, ongoing effort, and regular monitoring.

Working with digital marketing agencies specializing in SEO can give your e-commerce website the boost it needs to win. The team helps you create an effective strategy and execute it flawlessly.