SEO for eCommerce Sites: Our 2023 Guide
In 2022, revenue from U.S.?eCommerce sites came to around $905 billion—a figure that’s expected to rise to more than $1.7 trillion by 2027. Needless to say, selling your products or services online is more competitive than ever before, and it’s just going to keep getting tougher.
In this?eCommerce SEO guide,?we’ll look at several techniques you can use to cut through the noise and increase your visibility in search results.
Why Does SEO Matter for eCommerce?
In the U.S. alone, the?number of online buyers?is expected to rise from 268 million in 2022 to 285 million by 2025. Put another way,?that’s basically everybody?who’s finished middle school!?
Search engine optimization?(SEO) for your eCommerce site?matters because it’s the way your customers will find you—53% of shoppers?do research before buying a product and?28.5% of consumers will click on the first organic result.???
But it goes deeper than that. Many marketers report that?eCommerce SEO optimization?drives more sales?than any other form of marketing or advertising, including PPC ads. To ignore SEO in favor of throwing time and resources at whatever new platform is trending this week is to miss out on an opportunity to drive real, trackable sales in a tried and true way.?
How Is eCommerce SEO Different from Normal SEO?
Both eCommerce SEO and “normal SEO” follow the same basic guidelines and best practices. The goal for your?eCommerce SEO strategy?should be the same as any online business strategy: get seen by the right people.?
What differentiates?SEO for eCommerce?sites?is that eCommerce SEO requires a heavier focus on:
Let’s look at several of these items in greater detail.
How to Do SEO for eCommerce Websites: A Step-by-Step Guide
In this detailed guide, we highlight several SEO tactics you can take to improve your site’s visibility on search engines.?
Step 1: Keyword Research
Most marketers and business owners understand the importance of keyword research—Keywords remain as important today for?how to do?SEO for your eCommerce website?as ever. But what many may not realize is that there are three distinct types of keywords that all serve different purposes.?
Understand the Three Kinds of Keywords
If we said “you’ve got a long tail, a fat head, and a chunky middle,” there’s a good chance you wouldn’t be calling us back. Please, let us explain!?
These are three types of keywords, and despite doubling as unique insults, we really are talking about SEO.
1. Fat-head Keywords
A fat-head keyword?(also called a short-tail keyword) is more specific than a single, widely searched word—usually containing two or three highly competitive words. They’re a bit too general to be the best way to attract your ideal audience.?
For example, if your keyword is “glasses”, you’re basically competing against everyone who sells eyewear and kitchenware. But, if you sell Ray-Ban sunglasses, that keyword will target a more specific and valuable audience—at the cost of high competition.
2. Long-tail Keywords
A long-tail keyword can be as long as a full sentence.?Well-researched, long-tail keywords?are great for attracting people looking for exactly what you offer—but they’re also a double-edged sword. They attract the right crowd: just a smaller crowd.
An example of this is “Light pink flower glasses for 10-year-old girls.”
领英推荐
3. The Chunky Middle
What’s good for Goldilocks works for keywords as well. In this case, the porridge is the chunky middle—keywords that strike a balance between competition and specificity.?
The chunky middle is “just right”, bringing traffic that’s worth competing for—like “Pink flower glasses.”
Keyword Research Isn’t Static
Don’t just assume the SEO you used six years ago is still perfect today. Fresh keyword research can uncover specific descriptions people are using that have changed over time. It’s equally possible the competition has increased with some keywords that used to be easier to rank for.
Focus on Keyword Intent
Keyword intent is important for two main reasons:
With eCommerce, keyword intent attracts the right buyers, and then delivers on the purpose behind their search.
Step 2: Use Product Schema on All of Your Products
Schema markup is a light programming language used to feed important product data to Google.
Product schema adds specific details about your products (like price, materials, or reviews) to your search result listing. This may seem like a lot of extra work at the beginning, but in the?grand schema-things, it’s a great way to maximize your website’s full potential.?
By giving potential customers all the important information in one easy-to-find place, you increase the chances of potential leads converting into customers.
Google offers?advice on how to implement product schema, and for more handy insights, you can read?Big Leap’s article on schema markup. There are also?tools that can help generate product schema markup, so you can add the proper formatting without complicated coding.
A Few Words About Rich Snippets
Rich Snippets?might sound like the name of an amateur comedian who’s opening for the main act, but it actually represents one of the major benefits of using schema markup.?Rich snippets?appear in SERPs when your product schema is coded properly.?
Check out?these rich snippet examples?or learn more by visiting?schema.org.
Step 3. Optimize Everything
Quality content is about more than keywords and text. Make sure you create informative, keyword-rich product descriptions and add a compelling call to action (CTA) to each page.
Use your own high-quality photos of your products (not stock images) and add descriptive alt text.
Step 4. Get Honest Reviews
Much of Google’s SEO focus comes from what others have to say about you. This is a huge plus if you get a lot of customer reviews (especially when they’re positive!). Star ratings, shares on social media, and reviews are all signals for Google to consider you for a higher ranking.
Step 5. Be Consistently Competitive
If you’re selling your products on Amazon, keep in mind that price alignment matters. Price your items competitively on Amazon and make sure you...