SEO for eCommerce Website: A Definitive Guide for Entrepreneurs

SEOSEO is one of the top reasons eCommerce sites like Amazon are worth $800 billion!

It’s hard to find a balance between running your business and staying up-to-date on the latest in SEO. But, you have to do it!

To help you out, we’re here with some tips for optimizing an eCommerce site for search engines. We’ll cover topics like: what kind of content should you produce? What keywords should you use? How often should you update your website? And much more!

Read on to learn all about seo for ecommerce website.

What Is SEO for Ecommerce Website?

What is SEO exactly?  The letters SEO create an acronym for search engine optimization.  Over the past decade, the SEO industry has changed dramatically. In the past, it used to be all about getting your website to rank number one, no matter what.

In the past, the goal was to get your site at the top of Google search results, no matter what it took. This meant unscrupulous practices, such as keyword stuffing and poor linking habits.

Sites got the company’s name out there but didn’t provide much value to the customer. Thankfully, today things in the SEO world are much different!

SEO Practices Today

Thanks to new algorithms released by Google and better business practices, SEO has become a customer-centric industry. Not only are companies trying to rank at the top of Google search results, but they’re also striving to give customers as much value as possible. By providing relevant content and easy-to-navigate websites,  SEO is helping companies connect with their audience.

What does your company’s online presence look like right now? Do you have a website that stuff today? Are you active on all of your social media accounts? If a customer has a question, do you have multiple ways for them to reach out to you for answers? All of these considerations tie into what SEO is all about. By improving your online presence, you’ll be able to maximize returns on your e-commerce website.

Why Do Keywords Matter?

Next, when thinking about seo for ecommerce website, you have to consider keywords. When you type a question into Google, the words you use matter. Over time, Google notices what type of words people are including in their questions. These popular words transform into SEO keywords.

When you create content for your eCommerce site, such as articles, you’ll want them to include SEO keywords. That way, when somebody is searching for an answer to a question it’ll be more likely they find your site.

How to Do Keyword Research?

Moving on, there’s a specific process for determining what SEO keywords are popular. This is commonly referred to as keyword research and it’s key to having a successful eCommerce business. People search the internet with questions all day long, so if you can help them find answers on your website, they’re not going to visit!

To perform SEO keyword research, you’ll need to use software online. There are dozens of different tools that can do this for you, but Google’s free Adwords Keyword Planner is a good option to get started with. You can upload keywords and it’ll give you estimated search volume along with other suggestions.

Another helpful site is Ahrefs, which is a tool that analyzes your website’s backlinks. It’ll give you insight as to which keywords are most likely driving traffic to your site.

Keyword Tips and Tricks

The goal of SEO Keyword Research is to choose keywords that have low competition, but high search volume. The more difficult it is to rank for a keyword, the fewer people who are searching for it. If you have a smaller niche, then you can use such keywords but if not, you might need to stick with a small list of keywords.

If you do a good job answering the customer’s question in your article, customers will probably explore your site further. You can even include a call to action at the end of your article, encouraging potential customers to look around.

However, if they start to look around and have a tough time navigating your website, they won’t be staying for long.  Whereas, if you have a properly optimized website, customers will enjoy the experience of exploring your company.

On-Page Optimization

What goes into on-page optimization? For starters, you’ll want to make sure you have the best page speeds. The last thing you want is for a customer to click on your website, only to be met with long load times! In our fast-paced society, a page that takes more than a couple of seconds to load is it page that’s likely to be ignored.

Next, you’ll want to cater to your mobile customers, as well as PC users. When your website has mobile capabilities, it’ll be easy to navigate the page is using a smartphone. Chances are, most of your customers will be using a smartphone to shop anyway.

Our brains tend to read between 100 and 400 words per minute. At the end of the day, your customer is looking for answers, so make it easy for them to find that information.

That’s why you’ll want some big fonts and clear text. There’s no need to incorporate tiny lettering or fancy writing.

Finally, you’ll want to optimize your images. If your website is using stock photos from Shutterstock or another provider, you should consider removing them and adding new images with copywriting.

Original vs Stock Photos

When you create original images for use on your site, they’re more likely to stand out against the standard search results. Stock photos are extremely common in eCommerce businesses and there’s nothing wrong with using them as long as they’re relevant to your topic!

However, if you can put together compelling graphic elements that tell a story about what you do better than others, then it’ll help make your content share-worthy. That means people will see it in their social media feeds and be more likely to click on it when they like what they see.

That social media element is another one of the most important parts of SEO for eCommerce Businesses. You’ll want to get all your customers to share your content so it reaches even more people. If a customer likes what you’re doing, they’ll be happy to give you a shout-out on their favorite media outlet.

After all, if you can’t get any friends or family members to talk about your company, then who will? And without that kind of online presence, how will new clients come to know about your business?

Social Media Marketing

The words “social media marketing” probably bring up images of paid advertising and other strategies that are very expensive. However, there’s actually a lot more to social media marketing than just buying ads. You can create engaging content that people will want to share for free!

We find that the number one factor of engagement is consistency. If you post regularly on social media platforms, your audience is more likely to contact you when they need service or support.

There are many ways for eCommerce business owners to market their products online. But if you take your time and think outside the box, it shouldn’t be hard to get customers coming in through the front door!

What Is Link Building?

Next on your seo checklist for ecommerce website, you’ll need to learn about link building. Link building is the practice of using different kinds of links to make your site more popular. It’s also one of the best off page seo techniques.

Link building includes paid and natural links, as well as links from other websites to yours.

To put it simply, link building is a way to get other sites to promote your company. When you use the rate link-building tactics, Google will see your site as having quality information. If Google thinks you can adequately answer the question going into the search engine, you’ll get a higher ranking.

One of the ways Google determines whether or not you can help searchers is by valuing your website. A website that links to helpful resources, and has other sites linking to it, will hold more power.

External Links

As you begin to dive further into the world of Link building, you’ll hear the terms external and internal. an external link is one that links to a site other than your own. It’s the external links that are going to help you rank higher on Google. Internal links are links that direct customers to other areas of your website.

Internal Links

Internal links are a great way to help guide customers to areas of your website that can help them further. For instance, let’s say you have an article on your eCommerce blog post about saving money on clothes.

If clothing is one of the items you sell, you can include an internal link taking customers to the product page. The most important part of linking is that the links contextual, and helpful for the reader.

Improve Google Rankings

As you can see, seo for ecommerce website is about more than fast web pages. Your website needs to provide value to the customer, making it easy for them to find the information they need. To keep customers engaged, your website needs fresh content, easy to read fonts and photos.

Remember, to find the perfect keywords when creating articles for your blog. Start looking into the different keyword researching software platforms today. For more helpful tips, read another guide!