If you own a small e-commerce business, then you must have heard of the phrase e-commerce SEO. After launching your business, you will build and fine-tune your online store, then try to figure out the best way to drive traffic and increase sales, but the truth is if you don’t have a basic understanding of e-commerce SEO, you may not be unable to get your desired results.
So, if you are wondering what other e-commerce businesses are doing that is making them thrive and stay relevant in the industry, we have got you covered. In this guide, we will teach you about e-commerce SEO so you won’t struggle to reach customers after getting your website prepped. However, let’s start by looking at the meaning of e-commerce SEO.
What is E-commerce SEO?
SEO stands for search engine optimisation; it is the process of making your website visible on search engines.
Search engines provide directions for people to get the information they need online, and an excellent example of a search engine is Google. It simply directs searchers to the information they are looking for.
So, how you make your e-commerce business visible on search engines is called e-commerce SEO.
For example, if your e-commerce store sells fashion items, and someone is searching for where to buy fashion items on Google, what is the probability that your store will be among the search results? This is where e-commerce SEO comes in, and as we progress in this guide, you will learn how to put your business out there and generate traffic for your website.
How to do E-commerce SEO for Small Businesses
Here are the most basic yet effective steps to take to get your desired results from e-commerce SEO.
1. Keyword Research
One of the reasons SEO is done for an e-commerce business is to generate traffic and traffic on the right search engine result page (SERP). This means you need traffic that will earn you money. To do this, you must use the keywords that your customers will most likely search for through keyword research.
Keywords are the building block of e-commerce SEO. If you use a keyword relevant to what your target customers are searching for, you will increase your chances of them landing on your page.
Find the Right Keyword
To find the right keyword, you have to look at the products, services, and customers, then jot down broad terms that apply to them; the terms should be relevant to what you offer and something your customers may likely search for. You can start by entering your seed terms, which can be the name of your products or services, on the Google search bar and see the suggestions.
keyword Research Tools
keyword generators can also be used to check for the relevance of your keywords. They are tools that can help you score your suggested keywords, show how many people search for the terms within a specific time, and how competitive the terms are on search engines. Examples of keyword generators include Google Keyword Planner, Ahref, Uber Suggest, Keyword Tool Dominator, etc.
Competitor Research
Competitor research is also a vital strategy to get the best keywords; try searching for your products on Google and see the companies that rank or appear first on the search page. Then, look for the keywords that make them rank and jot them down.
Evaluate the Keyword
Not all your keyword ideas will yield the expected results. So you need to evaluate them and get only the best of them. The right keywords will have a low difficulty level and high search volume. The difficulty is the competition for the keyword; if the competition is high, it will be difficult for your business to rank using such keywords, and difficulty levels above 40% can be considered too competitive.
The search volume signifies how many people search for the keywords within a specific time. The higher the search volume, the larger the audience it will reach. You can get the keyword search volume and difficulty using a keyword reach tool.
2. Optimise Your Website
E-commerce SEO is not complete without on-page optimisation. You need to optimise some aspects of your website, including HTML tags, URLs, internal links, and so on, by imputing your keywords to increase your chances of ranking higher on search engines.
HTML Tags
These codes determine where each piece of content appears on your webpage. It structures all the contents in your webpage and tells the search engine which bits are more important. Adding your keywords to the HTML tags can help your site rank higher on search engines. This is because the HTML tags are the fastest way for search engines to find out what your website is about.
URLs
This is also a good SEO strategy. Adding keywords that are relevant to your content in your URL can help search engines gain more context on your webpage and quickly locate it when people search for those keywords.
Internal Links
Internal links are hyperlinks that connect different resources on the same website as people navigate an e-commerce store. So, add keywords to your internal links and use relevant anchor text to make it easier for search engines to understand and for users to know what the link is about.
3. Create Content
Content creation is also a crucial part of e-commerce SEO. It is essential to add keywords to your content, from the heading to subheadings, descriptions, and the body of the content. It will make your content rank higher on search engines.
However, do not stuff your content with too many keywords; if a search engine like Google detects any unnatural keyword use or too many repetitive texts, it may lower your content’s rank. Also, while using keywords, ensure your content is valuable, informative, and engaging. This will keep your audience satisfied and increase the chances of other websites linking to your content.
4. Analyse Your E-commerce SEO Strategy
The final step to e-commerce SEO is to determine whether or not your SEO strategy is effective; these are the relevant KPIs that can help you analyse it.
Keyword Ranking
You need to identify the keywords generating the most traffic to your site and monitor the fluctuations in keyword ranking so you will adjust according to the algorithm changes.
Organic Traffic
This is the number of people that visit your sites from organic search results not influenced by any promotion or ads. An increase in organic traffic signifies an effective SEO strategy.
Time on Page
Find out how much time visitors spend on each page of your website. A higher time on the page shows that more people are engaging with your content, and they find it valuable and informative.
Bounce Rate
This is the percentage of people who spend little time on your page; they leave your website after a few seconds on one page. A high bounce rate signifies your website is not offering what users want.
Conversion Rate
The conversion rate is the percentage of people who have visited your website and become your customers. Tracking your conversion rate can help you understand the effectiveness of your SEO strategy in driving traffic and sales.
See also: The Best Influencer Marketing Platforms for Small Businesses
E-commerce SEO is one of the most exciting aspects of an online business or store; if you do it properly, you will get excellent results, but if you miss out on it, your e-commerce store may remain hidden. It is very competitive, so you must give it your best shot.
Thankfully, this guide can get you on the right path even if you are a beginner; the steps discussed here are simple. However, you have to be consistent and patient enough to build the visibility you want for your business.
