SEO is a massive topic. But, it is also critically necessary for online store owners to learn about SEO.
Now, if you’re new to SEO and don’t know what steps you need to take, then you’ve come to the right place.
In this post, I’ve revealed everything an eCommerce store owner needs to know & learn for ensuring that they show up in the top search results.
My main goal here is to help you as an eCommerce store owner to understand what is SEO, why SEO is important, and 10 surefire eCommerce SEO strategies you should use on your online store.
But, before we dive right in, I’d like to point out that SEO is like a marathon. – It’s a long-term game and therefore it requires a long-term commitment.
Moreover, many eCommerce SEO Strategies mentioned might also seem boring.
And this post covers strategies, not any shortcuts. So, you’ll have to put in the effort & implement the SEO strategies mentioned in this post consistently to be able to realize its payoffs.
Simply put, SEO is something that compounds. And the little things contribute just as much as the big things do.
So, if you really want to improve the SEO of your online store and show up in top search results, I recommend you put all the strategies in practice mentioned in this post. Because that’s the only way you’re going to achieve top positions in SERPs.
With all that being said, let’s jump in!
What is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and it helps to make a website or an online store appear on top positions on search results.
In simple words, SEO helps website & online store owners get more visitors/customers by appealing to search engines like Google, Bing, etc., which is why SEO is worthwhile.
Why is SEO Important?
As mentioned just above, SEO is mainly important because it can bring massive amounts of relevant visitors/customers to a website & online store.
That means, if you’re a website or online store owner, you just need to implement the SEO strategies correctly and you’ll definitely reap the rewards of gaining more visitors/customers back to your website or online store.
Overall, SEO is one of the massive sources of organic traffic.
And it might take some time to reap your SEO efforts, but it is definitely worth it because you’ll not have to pay a single penny to get visitors/customers to your website or online store.
Now, to help you learn how to implement SEO the correct way for your eCommerce store, I’ve shared 10 surefire eCommerce SEO strategies below that have proven to do wonders.
10 Surefire SEO Strategies to Get Your Online Store Show Up in Top Search Results
Let’s get into all of the SEO strategies that you can use to optimize your online store for search engines and gradually show up in the top search results.
1 – Keyword Research
Keyword research is the first & a major key component of SEO.
In fact, you’ll never know what you’re optimizing for search engines without keyword research.
And without proper keyword optimization, you’ll be basically wasting all your SEO efforts.
Therefore, it is extremely crucial to understand what keywords are and how to use them to optimize your online store for SEO & show up in top search results.
What is a Keyword?
A keyword is basically a phrase or a word that people use to search for things online that they’re looking for.
These keywords are typed into the search engines such as Google or Bing, which returns a list of search results to the user based on what it thinks is the most relevant results for a specific keyword.
Below are some of the keyword examples:
- Top Travel Destinations
- Nike Shoes for Men
- Best Horror Movies
- Latest HP Laptops
Types of Keywords
Keywords usually fall into one of the two following categories.
- Short-tail keywords – This type of keywords contain two words or less such as Golf Courses, Best Smartphones, Gaming Accessories, etc.
- Long-tail keywords – This type of keywords contain more than two words such as Famous American Golf Courses, Best eCommerce Marketing Strategies, Top Digital Marketing Tools, etc.
Now, the key difference between short-tail & long-tail keywords is that the long-tail keywords are easier to rank for compared to short-tail keywords.
Therefore, it is highly recommended to target long-tail keywords in your online store, especially when you’re just starting out.
Besides long-tail keywords, you also need to keep in mind the search intent of the keywords you’re planning to target.
Types of Search Intent
There are 3 types of search intent:
- Informational Intent – This is when a searcher is only looking for information. An example of such keywords is “Best eCommerce SEO Strategies”.
- Navigational Intent – This is when a searcher is looking to get something or somewhere online. An example of such keywords is “Best Tools for eCommerce Marketing”.
- Commercial Intent – This is when a searcher is looking to buy something online. An example of such keywords is “Buy Henley T-Shirts”.
Now, since you’ll be selling products on your online store, it is necessary to focus on keywords with commercial intent to ensure you generate sales from visitors.
How to Perform Keyword Research?
Now that you understand more about what are keywords & what type of keywords are there, it’s time to understand how to perform keyword research the right way.
The best to perform keyword research is to simply make sure all key criteria are ticked:
- Keyword/Product Fit – If you’re selling t-shirts on your online store, you should find all the relevant keywords that fit your products.
- Search Volume – Search volume is an important metric. It helps you know how many times a particular keyword is being searched on the internet.
- Commercial Intent – As discussed earlier, you should focus on keywords with commercial intent to ensure you make sales from visitors on your online store.
- Keyword Difficulty – Keyword difficulty indicates the level of competition there is for a specific keyword. When starting out, you should focus on keywords with low to medium keyword difficulties.
Now, if you’re wondering how to get the above metrics for specific keywords, there are many tools, both free & paid, available in the market such as KWFinder, Google Keyword Planner, SEMRush, etc.
And once you’ve narrowed down your target keywords, the next step is to put them to use on your online store. And you can do that with the following strategies.
2 – Optimize Meta Titles & Meta Descriptions
The first thing you need to do after you’ve selected the target keywords is to edit meta titles & meta descriptions of every page & optimize them for your target keywords.
What is a Meta Title?
A meta title is basically a title of a webpage or a website that shows up in the search results. When you search for a keyword in the search engine, it’s the meta title that shows up in the search results. Therefore, you need to edit the meta titles of all web pages and optimize them with your target keywords.
What is a Meta Description?
A meta description is basically the description of a webpage or a website that also appears on the SERPs. And similar to meta titles, meta descriptions also show up in the SERPs. Therefore, you should also edit meta descriptions of all web pages and optimize them with your target keywords.
Tips to Optimize Meta Titles & Meta Descriptions
When you’re optimizing the meta titles & meta descriptions, there are only two key things you need to keep in mind.
- Use Keywords at The Beginning in Meta Title – The best practice to ensure higher ranking in SERPs is to put your target keywords at the beginning of the meta titles. Ideally, you should start your meta titles with the target keywords. However, make sure not to compromise on the integrity of the title while doing so.
- Use Only Two Keywords in Meta Description – When you’re writing meta descriptions, the best practice is to add a keyword as close to the beginning as possible. And look for an opportunity to add a second keyword anywhere in the meta description. Again, make sure not to compromise the integrity of the meta description.
3 – Optimize Page Slug
A page slug or URL basically comes after the main URL of your domain.
For example:
https://www.magedelight.com/magento-2-extensions.html
The highlighted words in the above URL are the page slug.
And when you create a new page or a blog post, a page slug is automatically created. However, it’s best to change the page slug with your primary target keyword for that particular page or blog post.
For example:
https://www.magedelight.com/magento-development-service.html
Also, The best practice for optimizing page slugs is to keep them short (2-5 keywords), use hyphens to separate words, use your primary target keyword, use hyphens to separate words, & don’t use any numbers.
4 – Optimize H Tags
Every webpage on your online store including homepage, product pages, category pages, blog posts, etc. should contain H tags.
H tags are basically Heading Tags and they help to break your content into headers.
H tags start with H1 and go all the way to H6.
The H1 tag should be used for the title of your web page.
H2 tag should be used for subheadings in-between your web page content.
H3 tag should be used for less important subheadings. And the same goes for H4, H5, & H6 tags.
5 – Optimize Introduction Content
After the H tags, the next element you need to optimize with your primary target keywords is the introduction paragraph of the content.
Ideally, you should try to add the primary keyword either in the first sentence or the first paragraph of your home page, product page, category page, and blog post content.
In other words, the closer your primary keyword is to the beginning of the page, the more likely it is to rank in higher positions on SERPs.
6 – Improve Loading Speed
How fast a website or a web page loads is also a key important factor in SEO.
In fact, a study also found that 57% of online consumers abandon an online store if takes more than 3 seconds to load.
However, the same study also revealed that if a website or a web page only takes 2 seconds to load, the bounce rate is only 2% whereas if the same website or web page takes five seconds to load, then the bounce rate increases to 38%.
So, if the loading speed of your online store is slow, figure out ways to improve it.
7 – Start a Blog
If you haven’t started a blog on your online store, you immediately should!
Starting a blog has tremendous benefits and gives you a plethora of opportunities to target more keywords & increase organic traffic to your online store.
In addition, blog also allows you to link to other pages on your online store, which ultimately helps to create a web of internal links.
And this web of internal links help search engines like Google or Bing to learn more deeply about your online store and easily discover all web pages.
So, start a blog on your online store, publish blog posts consistently, and use them to target more keywords.
8 – Add & Optimize Visual Content
Visual content like images & videos have a great impact on the user engagement rate, which ultimately helps to rank on top search results.
This is mainly because when you add visual content, especially videos, it helps to increase your visitors’ time spent on your online store.
And the more time visitors spend on your online store, the better signal it gives search engines that your content is valuable and is better to show it to other searchers for keywords as well.
9 – Optimize Anchor Text
When you’re linking internal pages on your online store, it’s best to place links on anchor text that is your primary keywords.
Anchor text is basically the word or words with a hyperlink attached to it.
And instead of attaching hyperlinks to any text like click here, read more, etc., attach your hyperlinks to relevant keywords.
For example, many websites place hyperlinks on words like “Click Here for Best Magento 2 Extensions”.
But if you use a keyword-optimized anchor text like “Best Magento 2 Extensions”, it will signal search engines about what the content is about.
10 – Build Backlinks
Although, internal links are important, but they’re just a part of a good SEO hygiene.
Internal links are all about linking to related blog posts or web pages from other blog posts & web pages in your online store.
Backlinks, on the other hand, can provide your online store with major SEO benefits.
When you build external links from other websites in your field, they basically tell search engines that your online store is valuable, which search engines takes into consideration.
As a result, it increases your chances of landing in top positions in SERPs and drive more visitors to your online store.
And as far as the “How” part is concerned, there are many different ways to build backlinks such as:
- Directory Submission
- Guest Posting
- Forum Submission
- Infographics submission
- Blog Commenting
- Feedback sites
- Social Media
The ultimate point is, it is critically important to build backlinks from relevant & high-quality websites to consistently signal search engines that your online store provides valuable information and therefore they should show it to more people.
Final Note
Finally, you now have the comprehensive overview all things SEO with a better understanding of the best eCommerce SEO strategies.
Your only job now is to start implementing these strategies in your online store right away and use the tips given above to climb to the top positions in the search results.
With that being said, if you have any questions regarding any of the strategies mentioned in this post, feel free to ask me in the comments!
Jaimin Kapadia is a Sr. Technical Content Writer at MageDelight and is expert in creating content that commands attention, builds authority, and drives action. In his free time, he likes to read fictional books and write short stories.
Twitter – https://twitter.com/KapadiaJaimin
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/kapadiajaimin/
SEO stock image by everything possible/Shutterstock
