When was the last time you shopped online with a new business? How did you find that business, product, or service you needed? Chances are – it all started with a Google search.
Google opens doors for opportunities for e-commerce companies. It helps improve discoverability and get your products in front of your target audience.
However, you can’t just set up shop and hope the customers start coming to you. You’ll need to develop an SEO strategy, find the right keywords, and optimize your content to get your site to rank on the SERPS.
Here are three SEO tips to help you get started:
Understand the SERPS
SERPS stands for Search Engine Results Page. When an individual submits a query, the search engine produces a search results page based on the keywords they used. Why is that important? Over 90% of Google search clicks are made on the first page of results. As an e-commerce store, you need to optimize your landing pages and product descriptions so that your website shows up on the first page of search results for keywords you want to rank for.
Another key component of the SERPS to keep in mind is the shopping tab. E-commerces can add their products to the shopping tab for free using the Google Merchant Center. With this Google feature, you can add your products to the SERPS by linking your e-commerce store. Any new products, product descriptions, or changes to the product will instantly be updated – so there’s no need to worry about maintenance.
However, if you want your products to show up on the first few pages of the SERPs, you’ll need to optimize your product descriptions with the right titles, keywords, and meta information. This will ensure your products come up in the search results ahead of your competition.
Take it task by task
We won’t beat around the bush – a ton of work goes into fine-tuning an SEO strategy. It takes time to create landing pages, refresh your content, and discover the right keyword clusters for your product descriptions. Google is also constantly changing its algorithm, so you’ll need to make ongoing adjustments and changes based on the new updates that roll out.
Before you create new content, you’ll want to take a step back and look at your existing landing pages and product descriptions. What pages are currently ranking? What is or isn’t working? Is there anything that can be optimized right away?
From there, start by taking a closer look at your product names, descriptions, meta tags, and alt-image tags. Try to add relevant keywords that make sense when you read it out loud. If you have tons of products you need to go through, you’ll also want to prioritize new product launches and best sellers and then work your way through the rest of the products from there.
After you make changes, add a recurring reminder in your calendar and analyze the performance of the pages after you’ve made changes. If they aren’t showing any signs of progress, you’ll want to revisit the changes you made, use different keywords, or try something new.
Don’t forget – Google prioritizes content written for humans and by humans. If the keywords don’t make sense in your content, it will look like you’re keyword stuffing or writing content to get it to rank. This can negatively impact your rankings if you aren’t careful.
Analyze your competitors
Your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses can help you improve your SEO strategy and approach. Don’t be afraid to shop their website, sign up for their newsletters, and look at what they are doing from an SEO standpoint to get their content to rank. Do they have any paid listings or advertisements running? What keywords are they doing? What is their search intent?
With browser extensions like SEMrush and MOZ, you can see which keywords your competitors use, how much web traffic they receive, backlinks, and other insights. With these insights, you can adjust your strategy and outrank your competitors.
Conclusion
If you want to find success in e-commerce, you need to make your search engine optimization strategy a priority. The best way to stay two steps ahead of your competition is to keep SEO top of mind and look for new opportunities to improve your product descriptions and overall website.
Contact us today to develop your ecommerce SEO strategy and amplify your business plan today.
