It’s hard for a business to be super successful in 2020 without e-commerce. That’s why you’ll want to do everything you can to boost sales this way. At Blue Water Marketing, one of our favorite ways of doing this is with specialized eCommerce SEO practices.
What if we told you 44% of online shoppers begin by using a search engine? [1] Or that 40% of men and 33% of women said they’d buy everything online if they could?
If your products are available online, that’s a great start. But next, you need to make sure as many people as possible see these products. Ultimately, this is vital for improving sales and conversion rates.
Before we get to our most effective e-commerce SEO strategies, let’s break down some of the terms we’ll be talking about.
What is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.
It’s the practice of boosting the quality and quantity of visits to your page through organic search engine results. That means you’re not paying for traffic or clicks, but you’re implementing strategies in your content and on your website to optimize the likelihood of your page being shown in search engine results increasing organic traffic.
It’s all about rank. You want to rank as high as possible so your page shows up before other
What is E-commerce?
E-commerce, or electric commerce, is the process of buying goods and services online, or in an online store, as opposed to a traditional in-person transaction.
E-commerce SEO
When you combine SEO and e-commerce, it refers to utilizing SEO strategies for the purposes of making e-commerce sales and bringing traffic to your e-commerce site.
Now, we’re going to share our e-commerce SEO best practices for 2020 guaranteed to boost sales and make your business more successful.
Our E-Commerce SEO Best Practices for 2020 Guaranteed to Boost Sales
There are several different components that go into a successful e-commerce SEO strategy.
We’re going to break them down today, but keep in mind, they work best when used together.
Long-Tail Keyword Research
Before you get started, you need to do your keyword research in order to target specific keywords and search volume.
This is the process of determining the keywords people actually type into a search engine to find your product. Once you find keywords to use for SEO optimization, you’ll place them in title tags, meta descriptions, and content on your page.
Here are some great tools for keyword research:
E-commerce Title Tags
These are the HTML codes that describe the product you’re selling. Visitors click on this link to visit your category and product pages.
For example, when doing a Google search, it could say something like, “Long Blue Dress.”
You want this title tag to be as close to what people who are searching for similar products would type in. So, if they type in something like “blue dress long,” or “dress long blue,” your title tag of “Long Blue Dress” is SEO optimized to show up in their results.
To optimize your title tags, be sure to include your target keywords as close to the beginning of the title tag as possible. If “blue dress” is your target keyword, you wouldn’t use “A Very Beautiful Long Blue Dress,” because that moves the keywords to the end of the title tag.
Here are some other tips for optimizing your title tags:
- Add your business name at the end of the title tag to boost brand awareness
- Keep title tags between 50 and 60 characters
- Always use unique title tags, and never use duplicate content
- If there’s a way to naturally include LSI keywords, this can be useful (learn more about them here)
E-commerce Meta Description Tags
Below a title tag, you’ll find a more detailed product description in a search engine. This is called your meta description.
Meta description tags will highlight your main keywords in bold, so be sure to include them.
Interestingly, these aren’t directly linked to SEO, but that doesn’t mean they’re not useful! In fact, the more information you can offer about a product or service, the better. This is another part of increasing brand and product awareness. It also increases the click-through rate when users know more about a product.
Here’s an example of a title tag and a meta description tag in action.
[Image source: Doorbelldm.com – https://doorbelldm.com/seo-titles-meta-descriptions/]
Url Structure & Link Building
Another factor to consider is your URL structure for your e-commerce site. Great link building is a niche form of online PR and is a crucial eCommerce SEO strategy.
Many platforms, including BigCommerce and Shopify, include options for SEO optimization on the Web Page URL settings. You can choose a long or short SEO optimized URL, or create a custom URL. If you do create a custom URL, be sure to include your target keywords. Keep the URL looking as clean and straightforward as possible.
Here’s how it looks on BigCommerce. Notice how there are no random numbers or letters in the URLs. Only straightforward, target keywords.
Want to learn more about link building? Take a look at our 7 fundamentals that every link-building strategy needs.
Quality Website Content
Quality content is important for so many reasons. It also comes in many different forms. It could be a product description, category description, or blog post. More information equals a better user experience. It saves visitors from having to look elsewhere for more information. It also increases brand awareness and brand trust.
Another advantage of content creation? It creates great opportunities for internal linking.
Internal links are those that take a visitor from one page on your domain (maybe a piece of content) to a different page on the same domain (a checkout page, for example). This helps decrease your bounce rate, and also increases the time a visitor spends on your page.
You want to be sure the content you’re producing, no matter what kind is of good content quality. It should have a natural style (Google loves this!), and be informative and engaging.
Don’t miss our content strategy checklist for more tips on creating great content. Blue Water Marketing is also here to help with creating a marketing strategy to fit your goals.
Other E-Commerce SEO Factors
Sometimes, even the things that seem the most insignificant can have a major impact on the SEO success of your e-commerce business. That’s why undergoing a comprehensive website audit is essential for identifying any areas for improvement.
Our website audit services included in our SEO services also include:
- Metadata optimization
- Internal anchor text optimization
- Alt tag optimization
- Canonical tags (checking, implementing, or removing)
- Implementation of 301 redirects
- Correction of 404 errors
- Sitemap optimization
- Correction of other front end errors flagged up in Search Consoles such as mobile compatibility issues or slow loading times
Lastly, when it comes to eCommerce SEO, the final and arguably the most important are the backlink strategies that you and your team will be implementing.
E-Commerce SEO Helps from Blue Water Marketing
Our eCommerce SEO services can help your business grow.
Blue Water Marketing has designed a search engine optimization service that is both ethical and result-driven. We use the latest tools, strategies, and trends to help you move up in the search engines for the right keywords to get noticed by the right audience.
Higher search rankings for the right keywords can have a huge impact on the amount of traffic and quality of traffic that your e-commerce site receives. When relevant searches for your business are made, our goal is that the search includes your company’s website.
We Use White-Hat SEO Techniques For Higher Rankings
Search Engine Optimization is the use of keywords, links, and content marketing to increase your digital footprint on search engines. SEO marketing is a set of strategies with the broad goal of bringing more people to your website by improving your search engine rankings.
By increasing rankings online and in your general area, more people are likely to visit your e-commerce site and convert into paying customers.
Custom Campaigns Specific For Your Business.
Our work embodies design, technology, content, and marketing. We are focused on helping businesses achieve goals using white-hat SEO techniques. We create custom SEO campaigns for increased rankings, lead generation, and higher revenue.
Get Real Traffic To Your E-Commerce Site
Blue Water Marketing creates content that speaks directly to your customers’ needs and separates our clients from their competitors. Our content marketing programs drive inquiries, qualified leads, awareness, and build thought-leadership within your industry.
Our work spans from marketing to sales. We are about improving business growth, not validating marketing spending.
Does that sound like just what your e-commerce business needs? Call us today so we can get started.
