In today’s day and age, everything has become more and more digital- including sales. As more and more people are working from home, the way people shop has changed significantly from what it was. Thankfully, eCommerce has made its place in the world and is here to stay. Although the digital world might seem confusing to new eCommerce owners, there are many easy-to-implement tasks that will set up a website for success.
One of the most common questions many new eCommerce owners have is how to remain relatable and memorable in the online world. A website may be spectacular and have great information on it, however, if the company is not using good Search Engine Optimization (SEO), they are missing out on a world of opportunities. Thankfully, there is a lot of information available to guide new users through excellent SEO practices
Below are 11 eCommerce SEO Best Practices that will help you succeed in the online world.
#1 Understand the primary keywords you will use
Keywords, overall, are primordial to an eCommerce website’s success. Knowing which primary keywords you will use on your website allows you to focus on how your page will rank. A law website, for example, should have keywords pertinent to its services.
An eCommerce website, on the other hand, should have keywords directly associated with its products. Each page of your website should have its own primary keyword, unique to the page to allow the best search capabilities.
#2 Simplify your site architecture
One of the last things in the world an eCommerce website should have is a complicated site architecture that makes it difficult for customers to navigate. Ideally, eCommerce sites should follow the three-click rule. This means no page should be more than three clicks away from the homepage.
The fewer clicks that are required to arrive to a portion of the website, the more enhanced user experience the customer will have.
Akrobat USA is a great example of this in action. Their product page gives visitors the ability to view products with price filters, by average rating, and by category:
They also focus on being mobile-friendly which is extremely important for eCommerce sites since mobile commerce sales in 2021 has multiplied by more than 3.5 times what it was in 2016.
#3 Optimize for user experience
As an eCommerce owner, you want your customers to have the best possible user experience on your website. Always ensure that filling out forms is relatively easy, websites load well on a cell phone and images are optimized with descriptions and good keywords.
#4 Reduce broken links and optimize 404 error
For a customer, it is very frustrating to research a brand and happen upon a 404 error page This error occurs when a page has been redirected or deleted. For the company, it looks pretty bad if there are several bad pages linked on their website.
A good SEO practice is to always double-check your website for broken links. This check may be done manually which would involve several hours or even days of labor or, alternatively, a free program such as Google Search Console can do the work for you in mere minutes!
Once broken links are found, they should be fixed and redirected to the correct page.
Understandably, it would be hard to run a check every day on broken links to correct them as needed. Having a good 404 error page that shows the customer where they might find an answer is also a good option for the in-between times of running the check. This will empower the customer to be able to find the answers on their own.
#5 Improve Page Speed
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According to the Nielsen Norman Group, viewers typically leave a website within 10 to 20 seconds. If a website takes too long to load, the business is probably missing out on potential customers and has a high bounce rate.
A bounce rate is made by dividing the number of single-page sessions by the number of total sessions on the site. For example, if a website has 300 customers arrive to the website and 30 of them do not make it past the first page, then the bounce rate is 10%.
For this reason, eCommerce websites should ensure that their page loads quickly and efficiently without any issues to reduce the bounce rate and have a higher customer reach.
#6 Use Backlinks as Much and as Often as Possible
Backlinks are links from one website to another. They are a big part of improving your search ratings. Having a good search rating is what will make your website show up more and more on searches.
If you can create good, linkable content on your website, other websites will quote you or have a link back to your work. This will, in turn, make search engines understand that your content is good and intentional and allow the website to appear more often on internet searches. The better the search outcome, the more eCommerce visits you will receive.
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#7 Keep a Blog
Keeping a blog is an excellent way to reach new customers. If you write or hire writers to write about relatable content, it will help improve the visibility of your website. A blog is also a great opportunity to include backlinks to other portions of your website so you may increase views on other pages.
A blog is a great window of opportunity as great content with good SEO practices will bring new users to your website. Optimize the window of opportunity by creating some great infographics so writers will link back to your website.
The better quality and more relatable articles you have, the better the outcome for your eCommerce website and blog.
#8 Avoid Duplicate Content
Duplicate content is exactly as it sounds, large amounts of text that are very similar to data on another portion of your website. Duplicate content ends up confusing the search engine as it is not sure which page on your website should be shown.
Duplicate content does not just mean having a page doubled. It could be something as small as descriptions being very similar one to another. Each product description should be unique and specific to each item to avoid duplication.
#9 Have Succinct URLs
When a customer views the eCommerce URL, it should be succinct and direct. A URL that does not tell the customer what they are looking at will not be beneficial.
For example, the URL www.ecommercename.com/2022/09/01/products/ “pid=20301067&sid=aH5xJRoTZFOU&refer=spam” does not identify what the customer is viewing on the website.
A simple URL allows the customer to know the information will be provided on the page they are viewing.
#10 Showcase Customer Reviews
People love to talk about themselves, things, anything and everything. Allow them the opportunity to talk about your product by offering them a survey after purchasing a product and hearing their feedback. Honest reviews will build credibility and, in turn, motivate others to purchase the product as well.
#11 Conduct Competitor Research
Always know your competitors. Know what novelties they have, what their website looks like, accessibility features, and anything and everything you could possibly find out. Knowing what your competitors are doing will help you stay a step ahead of the game and really work on innovations for your eCommerce website.
Invest in Your eCommerce Website and Good SEO Practices
No matter the means, whether you are implementing it yourself or hiring someone else to do it, you should always focus on improving your SEO practices so your website is relatable and up to par with current trends.
Allowing your website to improve itself with good SEO will directly benefit the sales on your eCommerce website and allow it to succeed.
