9 Essential SEO Tips For eCommerce Websites

E-commerce is big business.

And it’s not the “kids” adding to this either, In 2017, 77% of adults bought goods or services online.

This warrants giving your eCommerce website a special kind of TLC.

Imagine walking into a store on the high street and noticing the walls are undecorated, the layout is dreadful, making navigation extremely difficult, the staff are unhelpful, and the cashier doesn’t accept card payments - would you go there again?

Well, think of your website in the same way. Having a poorly optimised online store can be detrimental to your business.

Google is also big business.

It holds a staggering 68% share of the search engine market.

Getting SEO right is crucial. The trouble is, there are so many “top tips” on the net, it’s difficult to know where to begin.

So, we’ve cut through the noise and compiled a list of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) essentials.

Use Responsive Web Design

As of 2017, 73% of adults accessed the internet “on the go” using a mobile phone or smartphone.

Because of this, Google actively ranks “mobile-friendly” websites higher.

There are no excuses for your website not to be mobile-friendly. None.

Using “responsive web design” basically means using a design, theme or build that adapts to suit the platform it’s viewed on. Effectively stretching/shrinking elements of the website without affecting navigation or performance.

A lot of WordPress themes have this built in as standard. But, regardless of what CMS you use, make sure your website and online store can be viewed on all platforms.

Google has a tool which checks to see if your website is mobile-friendly.

The quicker your website loads, the more money you make.

If an eCommerce site is making ￡70,000 per day, even just a 1-second page delay could end up losing ￡1.7 million in sales each year.

And, as of July, page speed will be another ranking factor of Google Search.

Just be careful you don’t over-monetise aspects of your site.

Google’s latest “Fred” update, cracks down on websites favouring CTAs (call to actions) over user experience. I am talking pop-ups, adverts, banners or anything else that obstructs page navigation.

The more features, images/graphics and audio/video embeds you have on your site, the more resources are required to load them.

GTmetrix is great for checking your website’s speed.

Buy an SSL (HTTPS) Certificate

HTTPS or “Secure HTTP” is, put simply, a more secure version of HTTP.

HTTPS has been around for a long time. It was primarily used for websites that handled secure/sensitive information such as payment transactions.

As well as providing more security, it also deciphers encrypted pages quicker, meaning a user journey through your eCommerce store will be much faster.

As well as ranking websites with HTTPS higher, Google will also start marking standard HTTP sites as “not secure” in their Chrome browser.

HTTP/2, which includes HTTPS as standard, is the eventual successor to HTTP. 

Although it doesn’t boost your Google ranking at present, it will very soon, and comes with a host of benefits over HTTP.

You can upgrade to HTTPS or HTTP/2 right now. Check with your website/server host for more information.

HTTPS can decipher encrypted websites 90% faster than standard HTTP can.

Format Your Pages

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, page formatting is not proper SEO.

Say you’re writing an email, an important company document or even a marketing advert, you will probably have some kind of quality control or “best practice” rules to follow, right?

Well, a website is no different. As your most important marketing asset, you should be settling for no less than the “best”.

It also affects your search ranking.

• Use a font that is easy to read.
• Use H1 tags for the title of your post or page.
• Use H2 tags for the main headings or subheadings.
• Use body/normal text for pretty much anything else.
• Use bold and italics to draw attention to keywords or phrases (only if the font remains legible).
• Use short sentences. The UK Government’s Digital Service suggests using no more than 25 words per sentence.
• Use Plain English (keep jargon to a minimum).
• Don’t use walls of text. Split large amounts of text up into smaller paragraphs or sections (use dividers, images or bullet point lists if necessary).
• Ensure hyperlinks are identifiable.

It may be better to use bullet point lists on your online store listings. This “catalogue” aspect of your website relies on visual stimulation.

Chances are, users will not want to trawl through paragraphs of text to find key pieces of information relating to the product.

A lot of CMS such as WordPress have a visual editor which makes formatting pages much easier.

Create Regular, Engaging Content (And Avoid Thin Or Duplicate)

When writing content, you don’t need to emulate Shakespeare in order to get a decent SERP ranking.

As long as you focus on quality over quantity and have a consistent writing style, you’ll be fine.

Google rates content based on the date of publication and regular updates help to improve your search ranking.

How do you do this? Plan content/topics ahead, and use a template when writing:

• Set a question/argument.
• Provide supporting evidence for different theories or sides.
• Come up with solution or conclusion.
• Invite the reader to engage or comment.

But, is there such thing as unique content? Well, not really. Quite frankly, in this day and age, a truly “new and unique” idea or creation is extremely rare.

It’s fine to take inspiration and information from other places as long as what you write the majority in your own words and reference other sources.

In terms of the number of words, long content always ranks higher than shorter content - providing it is quality. In fact, the average first page result on Google contains 1,890 words.

TL;DR: plan ahead, use a template, write at least 500 words each time, always reference other people’s work if you use it, use stats or figures to back up claims, check grammar/spelling and above everything else, make sure it’s credible.

That’s right, clickbait articles are a big no-no.

Also, check the whole of your website for thin or duplicate content as this does not help your ranking.

“Thin content” is pages with minimal words and that doesn’t add value to the website. Duplicate content is text that is blatantly from another source or repeats particular phrases or keywords over and over again.

Thin content can be avoided by padding out short articles or by merging/removing pages if necessary.

For duplicate content, either remove the page, set up a 301 redirect or use the rel=canonical/meta noindex tags so Google doesn’t index it.

Google will take action against domains that try to rank more highly by just showing scraped or other cookie-cutter pages that don't add substantial value to users.

Use Images

If you’re selling products or items through an online store, images are critical.

Articles with an image once every 75-100 words received double the social media shares as articles with fewer images.

Images are also great for breaking up pages and large portions of text, and for bringing in traffic via Google image search and social media (Instagram, Pinterest etc).

But, as mentioned in the very first point of this list, images, especially ones that are higher quality, will use a lot of resources and can make viewing on a smaller device difficult.

• Keep all images in the one place and delete ones you don’t use (or store offline).
• Optimize the image. The smaller the size of the image (in KB) the less resource it takes to load.
• Use images relevant to the page or content.
• Use Alt Text to describe the image.
• Use keywords in image file names (separated by dashes). Avoid using filenames like image1.jpg or person1.jpg. Instead, use meaningful names with dashes.
• Allow social sharing where possible (Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook etc).
• Always test uploads on handheld devices to ensure that images do not obscure content or navigation menus.

Make sure images are optimised for viewing on mobile/tablet devices.

Change Title & Meta Descriptions

Titles and descriptions are the primary piece of information users consider when clicking a SERP listing.

Essentially, these are the first things people see after typing something into the Google search box. You know, the little snippets of text that make up each listing.

Suitable title & meta descriptions increase the likelihood that someone will click on your website.

If you haven’t got an attractive or optimised title or description, you will be overlooked. Period.

The two most important things to consider are:

• Each page needs to have a unique page title and/or description (NO COPY AND PASTING).
• Be short & sweet.

Unlike actual page content where you can afford to have lengthier and more descriptive content text, the titles need to be informative but not convoluted.

The worst thing you can do is cram too much information into them.

Focus on who you are and what you/the page offers:

Derby's #1 Lawnmower Sales, Repairs and Servicing Centre | Arb & Grounds

Lawnmower sales, repairs & servicing in Derby. We are official suppliers of Stihl, Hayter, Weibang, Stiga, Masport, Cobra and many other top brands.

You can use search terms or keywords, but don’t oversaturate.

It’s also important to have unique wording for every page, including individual product listings on your online store.

A cardinal sin of eCommerce is copying text from the manufacturer’s website - how many other websites have done this too?

Lengthwise, aim for around 70 characters max for titles and 130 characters for meta descriptions.

Look out for plugins or tools which can help you with this process. WordPress has Yoast SEO - a traffic light plugin which advises on length, keyword saturation and much more.

Have Lots And Lots Of Internal, External & Backlinks

Internal links connect the user to another page on your website.

External links connect the user to a page on a completely different website.

Backlinks are when a user connects to a page on your website, from a completely different website - think of it as a reverse external link or “incoming” link.

All three are great for user experience, but more importantly, boost your domain authority for a better SERP listing.

Golden rules of internal linking:

• Link related articles together using keywords within the text. Link the actual word itself, instead of “click here”.
• Don’t overdo it. A few internal links per page are enough. This also includes repeated links. Don’t keep linking the same word over and over again.

Golden rules of internal linking:

• Link related articles together using keywords within the text. Link the actual word itself, instead of “click here”.
• Don’t overdo it. A few internal links per page are enough. This also includes repeated links. Don’t keep linking the same word over and over again.

Golden rules of external linking:

• Link direct to the relevant page of the other website rather than just the homepage.
• Don’t link to spam websites or websites with inappropriate content.
• Always check you don’t have any broken links.
• Don’t overdo it. Don’t keep linking the same word over and over again.

Backlinks are by far one of the most important aspects of SEO. Google loves backlinks.

Websites with a lot of backlinks imply that the content is better or more credible, thus, receives a higher ranking.

In other words, incoming links are seen as ‘votes of trust’ and this has a positive effect on a website’s ranking position.

But, due to black-hat SEO techniques, Google has tightened up their filtering in recent years, so (similar to external links), websites will be penalised if caught trying to manipulate their SERP listing in any way.

Golden rules of backlinks:

• Only create quality, consistent content.
• Link to other websites and reach out to webmasters informing them that you added a link to their websites. If they like your website, they may return the favour.
• Publish content on other websites and add links pointing to your pages (this is also known as guest posting or outreach).
• Go slow. Quality over quantity applies here too. Try to get links from high-quality websites that relate to your “subject area”.
• Avoid black-hat SEO techniques like “buying backlinks” or joining a “Private Blog Network”.
• Always encourage social sharing. Have social media “share” buttons on every page, blog or article.

Make It As Easy As Possible For Your Website To Be Indexed And Prioritise Crawling

A sitemap is like a “net” of your website. It lists everything.

You need 2 types.

An XML sitemap is submitted to Google Search Console and an HTML sitemap to visitors of your site.

Removing say, a page, from the list will not stop Google from crawling it. You

will need to add a ‘noindex, follow’ tag.

Here's a quick example of how to add a noindex tag to your page with the YoastSEO  WordPress plugin.

If you do have quite a big website, does every single page need crawling daily?

If you’ve got a set of pages you actively update content on, lets say “core pages”, you can submit just these as an XML sitemap to tell Google that you consider them more important than the ones that aren’t in the sitemap.

Thus, indexing these areas quicker and getting your active content in the SERP listings faster.

To check if one of your pages has been indexed, open up an incognito/private browsing window in your browser and then type “site:yourdomain.com” into the search bar.