E-commerce is a highly competitive field. On top of this, when you have more than 50% of e-commerce business dominated by giants like Amazon and Walmart, you really have to work hard to make your e-commerce business stand out.
One of the best ways to do this is by using SEO on a continuous basis to boost your E-commerce business. Effective application of SEO techniques will ensure that your site gets top rankings on search engines and this, in turn, will lead to more traffic and more clients. Read on to find out how you can use to boost your e-commerce business using SEO.
SSL Certificates
It plays a massive part in SEO. It is quite confusing sometimes to purchase ssl certificate for an eCommerce site so you should check whether you are using a single domain or multiple subdomains. Because the SSL certificate depends upon a number of domains and validation type. So it is better to be sure about your domains before purchasing an SSL certificate.
Never Lose Focus on Keywords
To begin with, you need to use keywords that relate to your services, products, and industry. It is best to use tools like SEM Rush, Google AdWords, BuzzSumo, SpyFu, Seed Keywords, and Tag Crowd to find out what keywords your competitors are using.
These tools will also help you analyze the keywords that visitors use when looking for information or products relating to your business. Using the right keywords will greatly improve the chances of your e-commerce showing up on the first page of search engines.
Include Long-tail Keywords
Did you know that more than 50% of searches are done using a minimum of four words and that 70% of the visitors come from long-tail searches? That is why it is important that your keyword research should also include long-tail keyword research.
Since long-tail keywords do not have a high search volume, it improves the chances of your site showing up in top pages of search engines for those long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords also improve the chances of visitors buying products from your site, because you are selling exactly what they are looking for.
Back it Up with Content
You have added keywords to your site and product description; however, this would not be enough to get top search engine rankings. The best thing to do is to create a blog focusing on your services, products, and industry.
Create content around the keywords and long-tail keywords specific to your business. Also, try to create content that answers customers’ queries relating to your business. There are several benefits of adding content:
- The conversion rate of e-commerce business with content marketing is six times more than an e-commerce business without content.
- Blogging improves your chances of creating quality backlinks to your website.
- Visitors are likely to spend more time on your website and this will help them understand your brand much better.
- Blogging allows you to create internal links to various pages of your site.
- Customers prefer to learn about products and services from blogs rather than from other forms of corporate messaging.
Establishing Authority of Your E-commerce Business
Quality backlinks are quite effective in establishing the authority of a website in the eyes of Google and other major search engines. It tells the search engines that you are credible. Backlinks basically give your e-commerce business a stamp of approval.
However, did you know that you can also use social media influencers to establish the authority of your business? A social media influencer is a person or business who has the capability to influence their audience via social media platforms like, Tweeter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, etc.
It will be easy for you to find social media influencers of your industry if you know your targeted audience. You can use tools like, Google, Buzzsumo, Followerwonk, and TrendSpottr, to find the social media influencers.
The next step is to connect with them in the right way and convince them to say good things about your business. Remember that visitors are more likely to buy from you if some prominent person has recommended your business.
Mobile Friendly
In an age when more than 60% of the searches are done on mobile phones, it would be a death blow to your e-commerce business if your site is not mobile-friendly. Maybe one of the reasons why your website is not showing up in the top pages of search engines is because it is not mobile-friendly. Make sure that your site is optimized for smartphones.
Page Loading Speed
If your e-commerce site takes more than 4 seconds to load, do not expect high traffic. The general rule is that the faster your site loads, the more visitors you will have. Optimize your content and images to ensure that your website loads faster. You can utilize Web Page Test to find out what is preventing your website to load fast and fix the problem right away.
Update Your HTML, Meta Descriptions, Headers, and Title Tags
HTML, meta descriptions, headers, and title tags all help search engines and visitors to understand what your site is about. HTML is a big factor in helping Google assign search engine ranking. Therefore, make sure that your HTML, title tags, meta descriptions, and headers are up to date and are not overly stuffed with keywords.
HTTPS and SSL
It was in 2014 that Google announces that HTTPS will play a crucial role in determining the ranking of your site. However, today e-commerce businesses are required to use SSL on their sites to provide security to their customers.
A responsible e-commerce business owner will ensure that the information of his/her customers is protected. More importantly, remember that site without a valid SSL certificate will be penalized by Google and this will likely put off new customers.
Make Sure Your Site is Well Structured
A well-structured site helps search engines to easily crawl through the pages and index them accordingly. A well-structured site will have the most relevant content on the top and the least important in the end. It will also have internal links that link all the pages and products.
An organized and well-structured website will have no broken links, redirects, uncompressed images, and duplicate content. A well-structured site will not be too deep that it becomes difficult for visitors to navigate.
Easy to Navigate and Have Category Based Navigation
An e-commerce site should not only be easy to navigate, but it should also offer product category based navigation. Products on your website should be listed under several categories to make it easier for visitors to find them. Just having a long list of products not only looks messy, but it is also more likely to make visitors leave your site.
For an e-commerce business to be successful it has to increase visitors and improve its conversion rate. In other words, it has to constantly update its SEO strategy and apply it to the site.
