Today we will see all the practices to be applied
to improve the positioning of e-commerce on search engines. Practical tips to
do SEO on e-commerce and optimize small and large online stores to increase
traffic and turnover.
Most e-commerce owners and managers understand
little or nothing about SEO and search engine optimization (rightly so), and
thus risk creating online stores through which it will be very difficult for
them to obtain a good number of sales.
Today we will see how to solve this problem thanks
to SEO services for e-commerce, or all those practices and tips
that will help you improve the positioning of your ecommerce. Below we will see
all the SEO optimizations that can be implemented on an online store in order
to increase visits and sales.
Design it
correctly
This is an essential part of SEO, valid for all
online realities, from institutional sites to personal blogs, but particularly
important for an industry such as e-commerce, where the sites and structures at
the base must boast certain characteristics. This first phase of design ,
closely related to the second of structuring, serves to lay the foundations of
your online project , from the hosting plan that will be used to the keywords
for which you will optimize your content and images.
Choose a
good host
When a non-expert starts to structure their
e-commerce, they usually pay very little attention to the choice of hosting,
underestimating its importance. The infrastructure of the site , or the server
on which it is hosted, is instead one of the most relevant factors for
e-commerce, because many elements depend on it.
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First of all the speed of the site , which makes
the shop more or less usable, but also the safety , obviously fundamental when
it comes to online sales. Market analysis will help you choose which type of
hosting to use, based on the estimated monthly traffic, and good hosting will allow
you to increase the average duration of the site, decrease the bounce rate,
guarantee security and guarantee an up -optimal time.
Choose a
good CMS
For each e-commerce its own CMS . Philosophical
maxims aside, there are many different CMSs in the world, from free to
proprietary ones: just knowing how to choose the right one. My general advice
is to choose one of the two solutions proposed below:
1. WordPress + Woocommerce for online stores with
relatively few products , around a hundred
2. Prestashop / Magento when it comes to building
shops with numerous items available (I prefer Prestashop, but they are tastes).
Study the
keywords
An error often made in the management and
implementation of e-commerce is the failure to analyze and study the keywords
to be used. This is one of the most important steps to take and must be done
carefully and competently, because it will determine the success of the shop.
First of all, it is necessary to analyze how much
competition there is for the products you are trying to sell, and therefore how
difficult it is to be able to position yourself with the exact match keywords
of your articles. After that, it will be necessary to carry out an accurate
keyword research , or to draw up a long list of related keywords and long-tail
keywords which will then form the urls
of your products, your categories and your articles.
This initial design phase is essential that it is
carried out before the creation of the site, so that the product data sheets
are inserted with correct URLs and SEO optimized: but this is something we will
see later. To do this we are helped by numerous keyword research tools that we
can use to structure our online shops.
Create a
good structure
The product hierarchy and site structure is one of the
most relevant elements for obtaining a good organic positioning of your site.
The structure of e-commerce , together with the authoritativeness of the site
(quantity and quality of incoming backlinks) and the creation of unique product
sheets made with a good copy, already make up 80% of SEO and will help you
ensure that your shop is positioned in the best positions.
Precisely for this reason, the structure of the
site must be designed down to the smallest detail , trying to connect the
various products together, to divide them into carefully chosen categories, to
position them close to the home page and so on. Now I show you in detail how to
properly structure an e-commerce.
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Products
close to the home page
The home page is the most authoritative page of the
site, therefore it is important to be able to place the products as close as
possible to the home , especially those to which you are most focused. This
means that creating a structure with too many sub-levels can lead to a
difficulty for crawlers and users in understanding the hierarchy and
identifying products.
What I suggest you do is first of all to go to the
products of your e-commerce in the home of your e-commerce, those in evidence,
so that they receive more link juice, which favors their positioning.
Furthermore, as regards the structure of the products, it is always better to
have them no more than 2-3 levels apart.
Crosslinking
What is meant by crosslinking ? This is nothing
more than the practice with which the different products link, or rather link,
to each other. This practice is useful both for creating good internal linking
and for showing visitors and customers other products they may be interested
in.
A good link between articles can be obtained in two
ways: through the implementation of related products and through a good use of
the company blog, which we will see later.
Tag
structure
Proper use of tags is a particularly useful
tool when it comes to SEO in e-commerce.
By correct we mean the use of a conscious tag , which is capable of linking
different products together, so as to also improve the navigability of the
site.
The important thing is that the tags are used
wisely. Here are some tips for using them in the best way:
·
Don't use keywords as tags
·
Don't stuff your articles / products with dozens
of unnecessary tags
·
Start using tags only when you have a fair
number of products (wait to have more or less 5 articles for each tag)
·
As a reference you can keep 3-4 tags per product
Optimize it
on the SEO side
Here we are at the most interesting, most juicy
part of this article, or the tips and practices to be implemented on the SEO
side to improve the organic positioning of your e-commerce . In reality, the
previous phases, such as the design of the structure and the analysis and
research of keywords, or those that we will see later, such as link building ,
are part of SEO, but here we will analyze in detail the on-page SEO , or the
improvements that can be applied to individual content.
Zero point:
unique and original descriptions
What's the most important thing about an
e-commerce? Obviously the items you sell inside. And what should SEO do? Many
people will tell you that it must bring you visibility, but the truth is that
it must bring you an increase in income, or an increase in the sales of your
products .
Precisely for this reason it is necessary that the
product sheets of the goods you sell are treated in detail , that they present
effective and persuasive descriptions , that they are drafted through SEO
copywriting practices and that they present numerous images that show their
aesthetics in all its detail. Only in this way will you be able to make your
products stand out from those of the competition.
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your business
Title tag
The title tag is the code that indicates the title of
a particular page and is an important SEO factor . The Tag Tile we insert is
the one that will be displayed in the SERPs, or in the Google search results.
The title plays a fundamental role in on-page SEO
and for this reason it must be treated with particular attention. What you can
do is:
·
Pay attention to the length of the title, in
order not to risk that important parts are cut in the SERP
·
Make sure the title tags are unique for each
different content / article / page
·
Be clear, specific and, if possible, persuasive
·
Enter the keyword as far left as possible
SEO friendly
url
Well yes, both in e-commerce and in websites of any
other nature, the optimization of URLs is fundamental. During the insertion of
the products and in the creation phase of the various institutional pages /
landing pages, you will have to make sure that each URL is clear, short and
understandable.
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Rel =
canonical tag
The term "canonical" defines the
"real" product page, the one that Google will have to take into
consideration. If you are dealing with E-commerce full of identical product
sheets , you can use this parameter to indicate to Google which of these will
be the reference one, so as to prevent being penalized.
In a nutshell, if there are many products that have
mostly the same descriptions, you will have to identify the best performing and
best optimized one and use the rel = "canonical" tag to refer all the
other items to that particular product.
Noindex
When we are faced with thousands of product cards
all the same, even the rel = "canonical" tag could not be enough to
get us out of trouble. So what to do in this situation? The alternative is to
use the noindex value, follow and assign it to the meta robots.
In this way you will avoid indexing thousands of
identical contents and you will be able to direct search engine bots to a site
with a cleaner, tidier and more focused structure on the most important
contents .
H1 and H2
Often I found myself in front of online stores that
had a completely flat text, without the h1, h2 tags and so on. Of course these
should not be used at random, filling the text with their insertion, but using
the titration tags , from H1 to H6, inserting the keywords with which you are
trying to position yourself, will give an excellent boost to your positioning .
Not only that: the use of these tags makes it
easier for visitors to your site to read, which is particularly important if
you have a blog.
Optimize
images
L ' SEO Image Optimization can be understood in two
different ways, namely as the inclusion of numerous pictures of great quality,
which portray the article in detail, showing it to be in front, behind and to
the side, so as to positively influence decision-making of the customer , or
like the optimization of dimensions, weight, title tag, etc., to improve its
positioning .
Usually only the second optimization is intended,
which corresponds to the insertion of images curated on the SEO side, which
carry the alt and title tag with the keyword and which have a very low weight,
to make the page load faster, but to increase turnover is essential to optimize
images even in the first way.
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Duplicate
content
It often happens that I shiver when I visit
e-commerce that present, for dozens and dozens of products, the exact same
descriptions, sometimes even the exact same title tags , changed perhaps for 1
letter / number. The serious problem is that there is a risk of heavy penalties
using duplicate content, for this reason it is essential to use unique texts
for each individual product (unless the rel = canonical and noindex tags are
used correctly).
Link
building
It would be nice to believe that links no longer
have value in positioning, unfortunately this is not the case. Backlinks are
still an extremely important parameter, which determines, for a good 40%, the
positioning of a site. This is especially true in e-commerce, where links play
an important role.
Precisely for this reason it is necessary to
implement a blog, to try to earn / get spontaneous links, and to design link
building campaigns, so as to increase the authoritativeness of your site. The
links, however, are somewhat “burning “material, which if you are unable to
handle it can bring more problems than benefits.
If you do not have experience in the design and
management of link building campaigns, contact an SEO NYC consultant who will help you manage this
precious resource, so that he can help you make the most money possible and,
above all, avoid your site suffering heavy penalties.
Guest post
The Guest Blogging is today an excellent resource
to be exploited, is to be known that to earn some valuable links to your store
for free. Publishing articles for free on other portals will also help you
build interesting relationships between Webmasters, a truly valuable asset,
both online and in everyday life.
Company blog
Having a corporate blog, more commonly known as a
corporate blog, well cared for within your e-commerce, can give an important
boost to your business , both as regards the organic positioning of your
products, and as regards brand awareness .
The reasons that should lead you to choose to open
a blog inside your online store are manifold:
·
Organic positioning of the site for long-tail
keywords that bring profiled traffic
·
Obtaining valuable backlinks that increase the
authoritativeness of the site
Use social
media
Do Social Networks Directly Affect SEO? NO. Do they
influence you indirectly? Yes, and they can give important pushes to their
content, especially in realities like these. Thanks to social networks, you can
get important sources of visits, which will help you position your e-commerce.
Facebook
Facebook is currently the best showcase where you
can advertise your articles, especially if related to certain niches. On this
Social you will find thousands of people daily potentially interested in your
articles and products.
All you have to do is take care of social media
marketing activities correctly, creating creative copies that will attract new
customers to your page. My advice, agrees with 90% of the experts, is to go and
focus on visual content, mainly video .
YouTube
I'm biased, being a big fan and supporter of SEO
YouTube, but I think this platform is much more than just a social network.
YouTube is the second most used search engine in United State and hosts
millions of views every day.
If you know how to use this platform correctly,
perhaps by relying on someone who deals with YouTube Marketing, you will get
great visibility and you can significantly increase visits to your e-commerce.
Pinterest
Personally Pinterest is a Social that I do not
suggest to everyone indiscriminately but which, if applied to the right niches,
can bring a lot of target traffic . For example, if your e-commerce deals with
DIY (do it yourself), furnishings, design or more generically sales of
aesthetically beautiful items, then you can get an important source of traffic
from its use.
The only problem with Pinterest is that, in order
to be exploited correctly, it requires pinning many images, from 10 to 20,
every day. Obviously you will have to fin not only the images of your articles,
but also images of third parties: as long as they are beautiful and in theme
with the niche of your shop.
Improve the
UX
The User Experience is one of the most interesting
and stimulating elements to take care of, and at the same time one of the
factors that can help you make a difference compared to your competitors. Below
we will see how to improve the usability of the site and the user experience,
elements that increase the time spent on the site, trust and, indirectly,
sales.
Increase
your speed
It doesn't really matter if the PageSpeed , or the
speed of loading the pages , directly influences the organic positioning; what
matters is that, if a site is slow, you can be sure that your potential
customer will prefer to browse a faster one, often abandoning your own even
before it has loaded.
Reviews
Now will I say a rather uncomfortable truth, ready?
If you are afraid of the reviews it means that your product / service is of low
quality.
This is reality. If in your e-commerce you will
always be sincere with the customer , you will insert real photos of your
products, you will write descriptions and specifications consistent with the
product sold and this will be of good quality, then you can be sure that your
reviews will be filled with stars.
However, if you are not sincere with the customer
and you are trying to offer him a low-alloy article, be sure that the reviews
will be drastic.
Their inclusion, however, can help many potential
customers to conclude sales, because their reading positively influences the
customer's decision-making process. After all, reviews are the best source of
social proof .
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Dynamic list
of best-selling products
A dynamic list of the best-selling products, as
perhaps those on offer or more recent, if inserted in the home of your site you
can help yourself, and not a little. Google, and especially its crawlers, love
dynamic pages, which update and change, so it will appreciate this kind of
list.
Mobile site
Searches from mobile devices are now becoming
almost all of the searches performed. Every day 80% of searches are done
through a mobile device. This means that not having a responsive site,
optimized for tablets and smartphones, greatly affects the user experience of
most users.
An unresponsive site will be abandoned within
seconds, which will dramatically decrease your sales.
Increase
sales with Digital Marketing
We talked about on-page and off-page SEO for
e-commerce, we talked about User Experience and structuring, but you can still
do something more to improve sales on your ecommerce. These last points are not
strictly related to organic positioning, but they are powerful Web Marketing
tools that will allow you to conclude more sales.
Integrate a
newsletter
Compared to a decade ago, the communication
techniques and tools through which you reach your customers have changed
considerably. Today there are Social Networks, Google
Adwords and so on, but a tool still widely used and still very profitable
is email marketing.
Integrating a newsletter into your e-commerce,
perhaps highlighting it in the blog, is an excellent strategy for obtaining the
emails of possible customers, who will be able to be contacts for special
offers and discounts, so that even old customers return to buy at your shop.
And to date, integrating a newsletter system is
extraordinarily simple: just use one of the many services, such as that of
Mailchimp, and integrate the banners on the site with plugins, or take
advantage of Facebook, where you can create posts for collect mail.
