SEO has become an essential part of running a successful e-commerce business. With the rise of online shopping, it's critical for online retailers to ensure their websites increase visibility, drive traffic, and boost sales.
Implementing an effective SEO e-commerce checklist can help businesses improve their search engine rankings, attract more customers, and ultimately increase revenue. In this article, we'll explore some of the best SEO practices for e-commerce businesses, including keyword research, product page optimization, and more.
What Is SEO for E-commerce?
SEO e-commerce refers to the process of optimizing an online store's website and content to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). The goal of SEO e-commerce is to increase website traffic, improve user experience, and ultimately drive sales.
Importance of Implementing SEO for E-commerce
SEO e-commerce is incredibly important for retailers in today's digital age. With more and more consumers turning to the internet to shop, SEO e-commerce has become a critical component of running a successful online business.
Here are some of the key reasons why SEO e-commerce is important for retailers:
Increased visibility: With effective SEO e-commerce strategies, retailers can increase their visibility in SERPs. This can lead to more traffic to their website and, ultimately, more sales.
Competitive advantage: Retailers who invest in SEO e-commerce can gain a competitive advantage over their competitors who do not. By appearing higher in search results, they can attract more potential customers and increase their market share.
Better user experience: SEO E-commerce involves optimizing your website for both search engines and users. By improving the user experience on your website, retailers can increase customer satisfaction and reduce bounce rates.
Increased sales: Effective SEO e-commerce can lead to increased traffic to a retailer's website, which can ultimately lead to more sales. By attracting more potential customers to their website, retailers have a greater chance of converting them into paying customers.
E-Commerce SEO Checklist
After knowing the definition and the importance, you might want to implement e-commerce SEO. Here is the checklist you better note.
Picture 1: Illustration of an E-commerce website that needs SEO
Conduct Keyword Research
Keyword research is a critical part of e-commerce SEO strategy, as it helps retailers identify the most relevant and profitable keywords for their product pages, category pages, and blog posts.
For example, let's say you run an online store that sells camping gear. By conducting keyword research, you may discover that the keyword "camping tents" have a high search volume and relatively low competition.
This keyword would be an excellent target for your e-commerce SEO strategy, as it has the potential to attract a significant amount of traffic to your website. To find the relevant keywords, you can use Keyword Research Tool.
This tool offers relatively complete data such as the search volume, the competition, CPC, YoY, and other metrics.
Picture 2: Keyword Research Tool from Sequence Stats
Optimize Product Page
Once you have identified your target keywords, the next step is to optimize your product pages. This involves ensuring that your product titles, meta descriptions, and headers include relevant keywords.
For example, if you sell a specific type of camping tent, you should include the product name and relevant keywords in the title, such as "Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL3 Camping Tent."
Additionally, it is essential to use unique product descriptions that include keywords and provide useful information to customers. By providing detailed and informative product descriptions, you can improve your chances of ranking well and increase conversions.
Boost Your Category Page
Category pages are an essential component of e-commerce websites, as they allow customers to browse and navigate through products efficiently. Here are some tips on how to boost category pages with SEO e-commerce:
Optimize category page titles: Make sure your category page titles are descriptive, include relevant keywords, and accurately reflect the content on the page. Avoid using vague or generic titles, as these may not provide enough information.
Include unique content: While it may be tempting to copy and paste product descriptions onto category pages, it is important to include unique content on each page. This can include a brief description of the category, featured products, and relevant blog posts or articles.
Use internal linking: Internal linking can help boost the SEO of your category pages by indicating to search engines which pages are most important on your website. Include links to relevant product pages or subcategories within your category pages.
Use Enticing Description
An enticing product description can make all the difference when it comes to converting website visitors into customers. A good product description should be informative, persuasive, and highlight the unique features of the product. Here are some tips for using an enticing description for e-commerce pages
Use persuasive language: Use descriptive and persuasive language that conveys the value and benefits of the product.
Highlight unique features: Focus on the unique features of the product that differentiate it from competitors. This could include materials used, special functions, or design elements.
Address pain points: Consider what problem the product solves or what need it fulfills for the customer.
Keep it concise: A long-winded product description can be overwhelming for the customer. Keep the description concise and to the point, while still providing all the necessary information.
Optimize All Images
Images play a crucial role in e-commerce, as they help customers visualize the product and make informed purchase decisions. Follow these best practices to optimize them.
Use high-quality images: Use high-resolution images that show the product from different angles and provide zoom functionality.
Optimize image file size: Compress image files to reduce their size without compromising on quality.
Use descriptive file names: Put keywords in the file name to describe it.
Include alt text: Alt text is a text description of the image that appears when the image fails to load or when a visually impaired person uses a screen reader.
Use User Generated Content
User-generated content (UGC) is any type of content that is created by users or customers, rather than the business itself. Examples of UGC include product reviews, customer photos, and social media posts.
Using UGC on e-commerce websites can be beneficial in several ways, including improving social proof, increasing engagement, and keeping fresh content.
Here are some tips for using UGC on e-commerce websites:
Encourage reviews: Encourage customers to leave reviews of products they have purchased by sending follow-up emails or others.
Showcase customer photos: Allow customers to upload photos of themselves using the product, and display them on product pages or social media.
Monitor UGC: Monitor UGC to ensure that it is appropriate and in line with the brand's values. Respond to negative reviews in a timely and professional manner.
Obtain permission: Obtain permission from customers before sharing their UGC on the website or social media.
Implement Schema Markup
Schema markup is a type of structured data that helps search engines understand the content on a website. For an e-commerce website, they can use the following schema markup types.
Product schema markup
Review schema markup
breadcrumb schema markup
Local business schema markup
Optimize URLs
To optimize URLs in e-commerce pages, follow these best practices:
Use short and descriptive URLs: Keep URLs short and include relevant keywords that accurately describe the product on the page.
Use hyphens to separate words: Use hyphens (-) instead of underscores (_) to separate words in the URL. This makes the URL more readable to both search engines and users.
Avoid using special characters: Avoid using special characters such as ampersands (&), dollar signs ($), and question marks (?) in the URL as they can cause issues with URL encoding and may not be recognized by search engines.
Make Sure Mobile Usability
With the rise of mobile usage, it is essential to ensure that your e-commerce website is optimized for mobile devices. Here are some ways to improve the mobile usability of your e-commerce website:
Use a responsive design: A responsive design ensures that your e-commerce website adapts to the size of the user's screen, providing a seamless user experience across all devices.
Optimize page speed: Mobile users expect fast-loading pages. Optimize images, reduce the number of HTTP requests, and use caching to improve page speed on mobile devices.
Simplify navigation: Ensure that your navigation is easy to use on mobile devices by using drop-down menus and clear calls-to-action.
Optimize forms: Make sure forms on your e-commerce website are easy to complete on mobile devices by using large form fields and minimizing the number of fields required.
Regularly Create and Update Content
Creating and updating content on your e-commerce website can help improve your search engine rankings and engage your customers. You can take these actions to create well-performing content
Create a blog: Creating a blog allows you to regularly publish new content related to your products and industry, which can help improve your search engine rankings and engage your customers.
Update your website regularly: Regularly updating your e-commerce website with new content, promotions, and product updates can help keep your customers engaged and improve your search engine rankings.
Monitor content performance: monitor how well your content performs on the search engine to get more insight into what you need to improve.
In terms of monitoring content performance, you can use Sequence Stats to help you get the daily ranking data. Not only that, but you can do more SEO e-commerce tasks within one tool only. Here is the preview of rank dashboard in the Sequence.
Picture 3: Monitoring content and page rank through Sequence Rank Dashboard
Conclusion
In conclusion, implementing these 10 essential e-commerce SEO checklist items can greatly benefit retailers looking to improve their online visibility, attract more customers, and ultimately increase their sales.
Additionally, you can use an SEO tool to help you do SEO tasks that need automation. Thus, we recommend you use Sequence to monitor daily ranking, do competitive analysis, do keyword research, and manage your team.
Register now and enjoy the free trial!