Disappointed in your e-commerce website? Not getting the numbers you expected from your online business?
These complaints are common, but solutions may be simpler than you think.
Basically, your website has to feature prominently in the search engine rankings if you want your e-commerce business to gain traction. It has to come up as a top option when people are browsing or searching for the particular type of products that you sell. And if your potential customers can’t see you, they’ll go to the competition. And that’s where SEO comes in.
Online visibility should be your number one priority and so if you’re concerned about sluggish sales and losing out to your competitors, it’s time to focus your attention on your SEO.
Here are my top five tips e-commerce tips that will take your website to the next level.
Google is heavily focused on giving users a positive experience and it rewards websites that deliver a superior experience with higher search engine rankings. Having the right content on your e-commerce website is a game-changer.
Quality content not only helps you define your brand and showcase your values, it builds trust and authority for your site and leads shoppers to make a purchase. The more useful content you have on your website, the greater the opportunity to present your business as a knowledgeable, reliable ‘expert’ in the industry.
Obviously, the type of content depends on your particular product offering, but generally for e-commerce sites, it’s about giving consumers accurate, relevant product information while engaging them and reinforcing the brand’s benefits. It’s also important to create content that answers a user’s search query. They may be looking for information on a product or recommendations on how to use a certain type of product, and if your content matches their search intent, it is likely to result in a jump in the rankings.
Content excellence is crucial because it:
Finding the right keywords is the holy grail for SEO, especially in e-commerce. It’s really important to research your keywords thoroughly – and you ought to take your time working through the process because it really will impact your business success.
Your research should aim at finding keywords that customers actually use to search for specific products and which are relevant to your specific niches. Ideally, you want to get a jump on your competitors who haven’t yet targeted those specific keywords.
Remember not to make keywords too broad otherwise you risk a high bounce and low conversion rate, which is bad news for your rankings.
Images are a great opportunity to boost your site’s SEO.
Product images are a crucial part of customer engagement and driving e-commerce sales, but they also present opportunities to drive traffic to your site if they appear in Google searches, especially Google Images.
That’s why you should always optimise your images for SEO by:
Slow loading speeds are a big NO for SEO. They diminish the user experience and they impair Google’s ability to crawl all your pages effectively, which in turn can negatively affect your rankings.
You definitely don’t want people moving off your site in frustration or abandoning their shopping cart mid-stride because your information or images are taking too long to load. E-commerce is about making shopping quick, easy and efficient and if your loading speeds are too slow, you will lose customers and lose out to your competitors in the search engine rankings.
As tempting as it may be, copying and pasting the manufacturer’s product descriptions onto your website is another SEO no-no.
Apart from the fact that Google recognises – and penalises – duplicate content, you’ll be missing the opportunity to differentiate yourself from the competition and attract customers with product descriptions that they can relate to and which give them the information they’re looking for.
Compelling product descriptions that are key-word rich and highly targeted to your specific audience will boost your SEO efforts.
Need help staying on top of your SEO?
Talk to me if you need a helping hand to boost your rankings.
I’ve been an SEO specialist in Perth for nearly 20 years (some of my clients even call me the Google Queen!) and have helped hundreds of businesses achieve top rankings on the search engines. From building a successful website from the ground up to revamping existing e-commerce sites to maximise SEO opportunities, I’ve got the insider knowledge and experience to tackle any digital marketing challenge.
Click here to learn more about Blue Cherry; otherwise, please call me on 08 6313 3935. I’d love to make your website the star of the search engine rankings show!
Karen Dauncey has been working in SEO since 2003. She specialises in helping businesses get found online through Google using Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
Karen's wealth of SEO knowledge and practical digital marketing experience comes from running her own SEO and Google Ads agency, Blue Cherry Online Marketing since 2008. Karen has optimised over 1000 websites, managed millions of dollars' worth of spend on Google Ads and has a solid understanding of the constantly shifting industry of digital marketing and SEO. This gives her a unique advantage when it comes to being able to recommend the right online marketing strategies for your business.
She is the founder and creator of The SEO School an online SEO Course to help teach business owners how to do their own SEO. She regularly delivers educational programs for both Local, State and Federal Government and was an advisor for the ASBAS Digital Solutions Program. Karen’s passion and commitment to help small business owners get found online is the driving force behind her online school, making SEO advice accessible to all with free resources and online courses.
Karen has attended search engine conferences in London, Stockholm, Adelaide and Sydney, and was also invited to attend a pilot Business Coaching Course at Google’s Head Office. She has a Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing in the UK.
She is also the co-owner of the Digital Experts Directory, an online directory for female serviced-based businesses to promote their business (with a great backlink for SEO).
To keep up to date with the latest in SEO, join her Facebook group The SEO School Community or follow her on Facebook
or LinkedIn.
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