Have you started an eCommerce site that no one is visiting?
You’ve put in all the hard work, but you’re getting frustrating returns.
Your problem probably lies in your SEO strategy. As an eCommerce site, managing your SEO can be difficult. While the SEO basics are still in play, having a retail site will throw you some SEO curveballs.
As daunting as it might seem, you have to start somewhere. Keep reading to learn about eCommerce SEO solutions in 10 steps.
1. Managing Out-of-Stock Products
What do you do when an item is out of stock?
One option you have is to redirect the page somewhere else. You could link directly back to the homepage.
From the customer’s perspective, being instantly redirected to the homepage is confusing.
They might assume something is wrong with the website, not that the item is out of stock.
Another option is labeling the item “out-of-stock.” A few are fine, especially if you plan on getting the item back in stock soon.
If you have too many, this will eat up your “crawl budget.”
You don’t want Googlebots crawling pages that don’t matter.
You want to leave room for them to find the pages that are important.
Of all the SEO solutions, which one is right for your eCommerce business? It depends on the size of your company.
Small Sites
If you don’t have much inventory, redirect items that are permanently out-of-stock to similar items.
If you plan to restock it, you can mark it temporarily out-of-stock. Perhaps, with an estimated restock date.
Medium Sites
Most eCommerce sites fall under the category of medium size. These are sites selling thousands of products.
For permanently out-of-stock items, you can do a 404 “page not found” delete.
You don’t want to link to similar products. With this much inventory, you could end up with a long trail of redirect links.
This will also diminish your crawl budget.
A bot can get stuck crawling through a chain of irrelevant redirected pages.
2. Optimize Category Pages
The most important page on your site is the homepage. Your category pages come in at a close second.
Each category page is another homepage. You should treat them as such.
Optimizing category pages will yield more positive results for you.
One way to do this is by adding unique content to each page.
There should be great visuals and design. It should have the same usability as the homepage.
Set up category page links so they are easier to search.
Links should hint to the user and search bots what the page will be about.
The most efficient way to do this is to structure a product page within a category: ecommercesite.com/category/sub-category/productname.
3. Internal Linking
Any website looking for SEO solutions should integrate internal linking.
Internal linking is when you link to other pages within your website.
It helps drive up your SEO ranking by keeping people on your page longer.
For eCommerce sites, internal linking is especially helpful and easy.
On any product page, you can link to other related products that a customer might be interested in.
You can link to similar products or to complementary products.
You’ve probably seen this type of linking before on retail sites.
There might be a header saying, “Other Customers Also Looked At…”
Underneath are pictures that link to that product page.
This not only keeps people on your site longer but also inspires them to buy more.
4. Improve Product Pictures and Videos
Take note of these image SEO solutions. The pictures and videos you use on your eCommerce site could be directly impacting your ranking.
You should be using high-quality pictures. Are you a small eCommerce site selling handmade items?
Consider having a professional take photos of your products.
Having good photos will increase your sales and, thus, your ranking.
If you’re a medium-sized site, reconsider using the distributor’s product pictures. Having unique photos optimizes your image SEO.
Make sure your alt tags and image file names are descriptive. Like category links, they should hint at what the image or video is about.
Lastly, ensure that your image sizes aren’t slowing down your pages’ loading speeds.
5. Create User-Generated Content
Allow people to post reviews on your website. Ideally, you would have a place to leave reviews for each individual product or service.
Of course, it can be a little nerve-wracking to enable this. People can say anything, and they might feel more emboldened to exaggerate.
But, this SEO solutions risk is worth the reward.
Customer reviews boost your ranking because it counts as unique content.
Bonus, it’s also content you don’t have to create, which is a time saver.
Another way to get user-generated content is by using social media. For example, pages can be integrated with Facebook and Instagram.
Tags of people using your products can be displayed on your site.
6. Internal Site Search
Your eCommerce site should have an intuitive, easy-to-use internal site search. Minor misspellings shouldn’t yield “no search results.”
If there’s a hyphen error or a product’s synonym is used, your site search should be on top of it.
If not, you’re creating a frustrating shopping experience for your customers.
Frustrated customers don’t stay on your site long, driving down your ranking.
To optimize your internal site search, you can start by looking into your site’s popular search terms. This can be helpful for you in two ways.
For one, knowing what products people are looking for can help you curate inventory better.
If customers consistently search for products you don’t have, you should look into stocking them.
You can also take these search terms and plug them into your site’s search. See what comes up.
Are people being directed to the product pages that are most relevant?
Fix whatever errors you come across. Make sure every search finds the correct products.
This means tinkering with meta-data until you find solutions.
7. Write Unique Product Descriptions
Do you sell products from a manufacturer? You know now that you shouldn’t use their product photo.
Additionally, be sure not to copy and paste their product description.
While it might save you time, it will also hurt your SEO ranking.
Google doesn’t like to see duplicates that occur on your page or other company sites.
If you’re copying the manufacturer’s description, chances are that the same description is showing up elsewhere.
Take the time to write your own or hire a copywriter.
You can use this as an opportunity to build your brand’s voice.
It will allow you to speak more directly to the kind of customer you’re hoping to attract.
Having your own unique copy directly improves your conversion rates.
8. Add a Blog
You aren’t just selling products. You’re selling a lifestyle. Having a blog will boost your brand and your SEO.
Having a blog on your site creates a ton of SEO solutions. You can write blogs that will incorporate keywords and internal linking.
It also gives you an opportunity to trade guest posts and external links with other businesses.
Finally, having more content to read means people staying on your site longer.
To make your blog benefit your eCommerce site, you have to post often. Once a week isn’t enough.
The more content you put out, the more traffic you’ll get.
However, this isn’t quantity over quality. Your blogs need to be well-written and contain good information.
Creating a loyal base of readers who will turn into customers means giving them a reason to keep coming back.
9. Be Mobile-Friendly
These days people spend the majority of their web-surfing time on their smartphones.
Because of this, Google has made mobile-friendliness a big factor in their SEO rankings.
When you set up a website on your laptop, it doesn’t automatically translate to mobile use.
What you see on a real computer probably won’t look the same on a phone.
There are free internet tools to check whether your site is mobile-friendly. Test it out and see how it looks.
You should also surf through your site on your own phone. Try to experience it like a real customer.
There might be even more things you can improve upon.
10. Be Upfront About Security
Cybersecurity is an issue that’s important to any consumer.
When someone makes a purchase online, they trust that the site will keep their information secure.
Give your customers peace of mind by being upfront about security.
Have logos and certification seals of security front and center on your website.
Experts say that this sort of third-party credibility improves consumer trust.
When customers trust your site, your conversion rates will increase. SEO solutions like this one are a no-brainer.
eCommerce SEO Solutions: The Takeaway
Having an SEO strategy tailored for an eCommerce site is necessary for a successful business.
Employing SEO solutions can be daunting. However, these are some easy first steps you can take to instantly boost your ranking.
Interested in learning more about SEO solutions? Check out some of my other blogs for more SEO inspiration and ideas!
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