The Ultimate Guide to Understanding the Basics of Ecommerce SEO

Ecommerce SEO

Every Ecommerce site strives for better visibility and, of course, a lot of traffic. However, getting discovered from a sea of competitors seems like a real challenge. Even though Ecommerce SEO offers way more ROI than any other marketing campaign, many online stores are still unaware of its potential. 

Instead, many e-commerce businesses prioritize quick results through paid ads or social media ads. While these marketing strategies offer quick results, they often come with a hefty price tag and require constant effort. At the same time, spending on ads costs businesses millions of dollars per year, and this amount continues to increase. 

At the same time, E-commerce SEO is relatively affordable and long-lasting. Although it requires effort upfront – but once you rank, your sales will go on autopilot mode with little to no recurring expenses. 

So, what would you choose, E-commerce SEO or paid ads? If you want to grow your business organically and affordably, choosing SEO over paid strategies seems the most viable. However, before you start implementing it, it is important to understand its basics, how it works, strategy, and tools. And you will get all this information in one place when you scroll down this detailed guide to E-Commerce SEO. 

Key Statistics Highlighting the Importance of Ecommerce SEO Optimization

  • 87% of shoppers tend to start their search for the product online. (Source: Retail Dive)
  • Online stores get more than 80% of successful sales. (Source: Shopify
  • E-commerce stores focusing on SEO tend to see a higher conversion rate, with organic traffic converting at 3.6%. (Source: Shopify)
  • SEO professionals understand the importance of link building, with 42% dedicating equal time to creating both internal and external links. (Source: Databox)
  • Mobile users are a major traffic driver to e-commerce websites, with some data suggesting that as much as 79% of traffic comes from mobile devices. (Source: Shopifyandyou)

Ecommerce SEO

What is Ecommerce SEO?

E-commerce SEO is an advanced digital marketing strategy to increase the website’s reach and visibility in search engine result pages (SERPs) so that the potential customer can find your product easily, ultimately driving traffic and sales to your business. 

Let’s break it down with an example – 

Whenever you search for something on the web, you often get a number of results. Each result takes you to a different webpage. And which webpage you choose to visit greatly depends on their position on SERP. For instance, if you have searched for ‘Sports Shoes,’ you will see a number of online e-commerce sites. But the top 10 will get the most visitors. Likewise, if your site ranks on the top pages of SERP, you will likely get great traffic. And E-commerce SEO does everything to make it possible. 

The tasks involved in e-commerce SEO marketing vary depending on your business goals. However, the most consistent one remains to create high-quality content that matches the intent of the specific search query. 

Other aspects of SEO Ecommerce involve writing product descriptions and meta descriptions, acquiring links from authoritative websites, and enhancing the loading page speed. These strategies help e-commerce websites generate more traffic and attract potential customers. 

Does SEO Matter for E-commerce Websites?

Yes, search engine optimization (SEO) does matter, and it matters the most for e-commerce businesses. Although it is not mandatory, but more than a necessity for modern websites. As said, when you search for something on the web, you will be presented with plenty of organic results for your keyword. 

The top results get the most visitors, especially those that rank within the top 10. E-commerce SEO is all about making efforts to rank your product pages on the top organic search results. 

Ecommerce SEO

Here’s a fast fact – 

Websites that rank beyond the top 10 results are rarely visited, and even those in 4 to 5 positions get far less traffic than the top 3 results. The first result on SERP gets around 27.6% of all the clicks. 

We believe these facts are enough to make you understand the importance of SEO for Ecommerce websites. Now, let’s move on to understand how to do so with ease. 

6 Key Steps to Setup E-Commerce SEO for Your Business

If you have recently finished setting up your online store and finding ways to increase its ranking on Google, here’s how you can easily do e-commerce SEO. These steps will help you set up basic SEO on your site. 

Step 1. Ecommerce Keyword Research

Everything in the SEO world starts with a keyword – a user searches for it, and businesses use it to drive more traffic to their site. In this series, the first step of the E-commerce SEO strategy is to identify the high-value keywords that your potential customers are searching online. You can do so through e-commerce keyword research. 

It is slightly different from traditional keyword research, but how? As we see, many sites care about informational keywords to get traffic. However, E-commerce keyword research is a process of finding a mix of informational, commercial, and transactional keywords. 

While informational keyword searchers look for guides, answers, and explanations of a broader topic, e-commerce keyword searchers have buying intent and are about to make a purchase. 

Here’s how you can find the perfect keywords for your product page: 

Google Autocomplete Predictions

We don’t know whether you have noticed this before –  when you type something on Google, its autocomplete features start suggesting relevant queries. They are a boon for an eCommerce SEO agency to find keyword ideas. Additionally, there are also related search queries at the SERP bottom. 

Ecommerce SEO

Amazon Autocomplete Predictions

Like Google, Amazon marketplace has a similar autocomplete feature. However, what makes it better than Google is its product-focused nature and sorting capabilities. 

Additionally, do remember to add long-tail keywords to describe a more specific product. The more specific a keyword is, the lower the competition and the higher the conversion rates. 

Keyword Research Tools

If the above two methods don’t work for you, you probably need to go one step ahead with advanced keyword research. For this, you need an advanced SEO keyword research tool like Ahreaf, SemRush, and Moz. These tools offer a wide scope of research and analyze keywords in masses. 

How to Choose the Right Keywords?

For an e-commerce business, it isn’t necessary to target every keyword. You need to decide on specific keywords based on your products and customers. To choose the perfect keyword for your product page, here are some aspects to look into: 

  • Volume: The first thing to look at is the keyword volume. The higher keyword volume denotes the greater potential traffic for your site. You can use tools like Google Keyword Planner or Ahreafs to find the keyword volume. 
  • Competition: The competition of your chosen keyword should be low as it stands more chances of ranking. Many free tools show keyword difficulty/competition (KD).
  • Relevancy: Relevancy plays a vital role in keyword research. It is important to ensure how relevant your product page is to the search term. That’s a huge ranking factor for Google. 
  • Intent: The intent of the keyword shows the user’s intentions to buy or learn about a product. Usually, you can learn the keyword intent through competitor analysis. 

Ecommerce SEO

Step 2. Site Architecture

The structure of your site’s pages matters a lot in determining their search engine rankings. Site structure also greatly affects user experience (UX). It’s essential to ensure that both visitors and search engine bots can easily navigate your store. 

Maintaining a clear and simple site structure can become challenging as you add or remove products and categories. Here are some important tips to consider before fully developing your website:

  • Keep it Simple: Avoid making visitors rely on the back button to navigate your site, which can lead to frustration. Ensure they can easily find what they want without running in circles. Additionally, try to design your site structure in a way that doesn’t require constant reorganization each time you add a new product category.
  • Understand Page Indexing: Page indexing refers to a search engine’s database. When a page is indexed, it means it has been added to this database. In other words, Google has found your page and included it in its search results.

Step 3. Technical SEO

Technical SEO works behind the scenes to enhance your website’s performance. Shoppers might not notice it, but it ensures your site is optimized for search engine crawlers, runs quickly, and is mobile-friendly. The benefits of technical SEO include:

  • Improved Website Engagement: A faster, easier-to-navigate site keeps visitors engaged.
  • Increased Organic Traffic: An optimized site is easier for search engines to crawl, leading to better search rankings and more visitors.

Here are some ways to enhance your technical SEO for ecommerce:

  • Create Logical Internal Linking: Ensure your menu structure helps users find what they need easily.
  • Submit Your Sitemap to Google Search Console: This helps Google understand your site structure and index your pages correctly.
  • Optimize Images: Make sure images load quickly to improve site speed and user experience.

Step 4. On-page SEO for ecommerce

When your keyword research is done and your site structure is set, it’s time to optimize the content on your key pages that include the following

  • Product category pages
  • Product pages
  • Ecommerce Content Basics

For Shopify users, several built-in SEO features are available:

  • Automatic inclusion of canonical tags.
  • Generation of sitemap.xml and robots.txt files.
  • Themes that create title tags with your store name.
  • Social media linking and sharing options in themes.
  • Manual Optimization Tasks
  • Edit title tags, meta tags, and meta descriptions to include keywords.
  • Ensure alt text for product images accurately describes the visuals.
  • Use keywords in file names.
  • Carefully consider URLs for blog posts, webpages, products, and collections.

When optimizing title tags and descriptions:

  • Focus on ranking on the first page of Google.
  • Aim to convince searchers to click on your site.
  • Using modifiers like “Deals,” “20% Off,” “Free Shipping,” and “Wide Selection” in meta descriptions can improve your rankings and help you target long-tail keywords more effectively.

In ecommerce SEO, search engines like Google use the content on your pages to determine which keywords to rank them for and how high they should rank. Here’s how to optimize your product descriptions:

  • Detailed Descriptions: Avoid using short or copied descriptions from manufacturers or suppliers, as this counts as duplicate content. Write detailed descriptions using relevant keywords and subheadings to help Google understand your content.
  • Use LSI Keywords: Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) keywords are related terms to your main keyword. You can find these using tools like Google Keyword Planner or by searching on Amazon. Incorporate these keywords to improve your ranking.
  • Internal Linking: Keep visitors on your site longer by using internal links to other relevant pages. Use your target keywords in the anchor text to drive traffic to product, category, or informational pages. This increases the chances of making a sale.

Step 5. Blogging

Blogging is the most effective aspect of content marketing, and it uses on-page and technical SEO strategies to boost your website’s visibility in search engines. It helps search engines see your site as credible, making it easier to rank for keywords that match your audience’s needs. 

Here’s how to use SEO in your blogging efforts:

Ecommerce SEO

  • Build Credibility: Each blog post can help establish you as a trusted source of information.
  • Improve Authority: Regular posts enhance your site’s authority.
  • Increase Visibility: Quality content boosts your presence in organic search results.

A well-written blog provides a continuous flow of unique content. The more people find your content helpful, the more they trust your site, leading to better search rankings. Ecommerce businesses often find blogging challenging because it requires consistent time, effort, and resources. Random posts won’t drive traffic effectively.

Here’s how you can start SEO blogging for your site:

  • Keyword Research: Identify keywords that people search for when they have problems or are making buying decisions. Focus your content on these keywords.
  • SEO Optimization: Ensure each blog post targets a specific keyword for better search engine ranking.
  • Product Presentation: Use your blog to present products as solutions to problems. Link to product pages where relevant, but not every post needs to be product-focused.

Step 6. Link Building

Google’s PageRank algorithm evaluates webpage quality by examining the number and quality of links from other websites. This helps determine a page’s trustworthiness. New websites with fewer links have lower authority in the eyes of search engines, but building quality backlinks can speed up Google’s recognition of your site’s authority.

High-quality backlinks from respected domains, such as .com, .gov, and .edu sites, carry significant authority. Links from well-ranking websites within your niche are especially valuable.

Here’s how you can build quality backlinks for your e-commerce website: 

  • Focus on Partnerships: Create valuable content that other websites would want to use and cite. Partnerships can lead to natural backlinks, boosting your site’s credibility.
  • Guest Posts: Guest posting on relevant websites can help build backlinks. Conduct keyword research and analyze backlinks to find sites in your niche open to guest contributions.
  • Press Mentions: Getting your ecommerce store mentioned in the press is another way to build backlinks. While building a press list or hiring a PR firm can be costly, simple growth hacks can make this more accessible.

Conclusion

E-commerce SEO has today emerged as a necessary digital marketing strategy to drive more traffic to a website and increase its visibility. Understanding the basics is easy enough, but serving a large volume of customers while avoiding technical issues is much more complicated than you think. 

In such a situation, it is better to get professional help from an ecommerce SEO agency, such as Malicy. We are a leading Shopify development company with over 13 years of experience in the e-commerce industry. Leverage our eCommerce SEO services to get the most out of your business. 

FAQs

Why is eCommerce SEO Important?

eCommerce SEO is crucial because it improves your online store’s visibility in search engine results, making it easier for potential customers to find your products. Higher visibility means more organic traffic, which can lead to increased sales and revenue. It also helps build brand awareness and trust, as users tend to trust websites that appear higher in search results.

How Much is eCommerce SEO?

The cost of eCommerce SEO varies widely depending on your store’s size, your industry’s competitiveness, and the services you choose. Monthly rates can range from $500 to $5,000 or more. It’s an investment, and the returns often justify the cost, as effective SEO can significantly boost your online sales.

Is SEO Worth It for eCommerce?

Absolutely. SEO is worth it for eCommerce because it helps attract highly targeted traffic to your site. Unlike paid ads, the benefits of SEO are long-lasting, providing ongoing traffic and sales without continuous ad spending. It enhances user experience and builds credibility and authority for your brand.

How to Rank an eCommerce Site?

To rank an eCommerce site, focus on keyword research to identify relevant search terms. Optimize product pages with high-quality content, including unique product descriptions and images. Improve site structure and navigation, ensure mobile-friendliness, and build high-quality backlinks. Regularly update your site with fresh content and monitor performance using analytics.

How eCommerce SEO is Different from Normal SEO?

eCommerce SEO differs from normal SEO because it focuses specifically on product-based websites. It involves optimizing product pages, categories, and other elements unique to online stores. eCommerce SEO requires strategies for handling product descriptions, reviews, inventory management, and technical aspects like site speed and secure transactions.

Is SEO More Important than Ads?

SEO and ads serve different purposes and can complement each other. SEO is important for building long-term organic traffic and trust, while ads provide immediate visibility and traffic. Both are important, but investing in SEO can offer sustainable growth, whereas ads require continuous spending to maintain visibility. Combining both can yield the best results.