E-Commerce websites require a different SEO approach than regular business websites. Online retailers have also many added incentives to deploy robust and well-managed Search Engine Optimization campaigns.
While regular business websites often have the objective to generate site traffic and leads, e-commerce websites go a couple steps further. They also have to produce sales, right there and then – online. There is an additional need for trust.
For retailers who sell products online, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a smart investment. It comes with a host of benefits that are hard to ignore. To operate a more successful online store and website, here are 10 key SEO techniques for e-commerce websites.
10 Key SEO Techniques For E-Commerce Websites
1. Encourage and display product and customer reviews.
One of the most important motivators online that builds trust as well are product and customer reviews. Online shoppers often review them and they are a significant motivator. Furthermore, product and customer reviews add unique content to the pages by customers, which increases SEO results.
2. List unique product descriptions for each product.
Often retailers make the mistake to just copy and paste the product descriptions. Taking time to uniquely write and publish product descriptions, increases chances at success. Duplicate content can severely hurt a website’s rankings in search engines. While, uniquely and well written product descriptions can rank higher.
3. Create user-friendly and easy website navigation.
One of the quickest ways to loose a customer is with confusing site navigation. E-commerce websites should have very user-friendly and easy website navigation structures and button locations. This is also important for SEO campaigns and search ranking results.
4. Use only high quality photographs and images.
A picture speaks a thousand words. E-commerce websites and retailers that want to increase online sales should only use high quality photographs and images on their websites. In addition, they should all be optimized for search. Images are highly ranked in Google search results.
5. Publish videos on product pages and landing pages.
Videos increase the chances of ranking higher in search. Search engine giants such as Google, place lots of importance on videos. A page can significantly rank higher due to a video being placed on it. E-commerce product pages should have videos for improved ROI.
6. Have a clean and proper URL structure.
The correct URL structure is critical to the success of SEO. The URL structure should be keyword oriented, clean, and well architected for each category and product on the e-commerce website store pages and general site pages.
7. Embed social media channel icons on product pages.
To increase share-ability, social media channel icons should be embedded into each product page and other key site pages. The product pages can be easily shared this way and improve search rankings, when shared by users. Pages can even go viral.
8. Use ONLY Responsive Design technology now.
As Google and consumers require it now, websites should use only Responsive Design technology now. This means HTML5, which works across all major devices such as smart phones, tablets, and computers. E-commerce websites that are not Responsive will suffer losses quickly moving forward.
9. Secure the commerce transaction and website pages.
Online retailers should make sure their security is up-to-date. Websites that get hacked into can experience severe losses and damage. Often these damages can be devastating to a business. Proper merchant security for online customer transaction should be used as well as website security solutions.
10. Loading speed of websites is a key factor.
E-commerce websites must load fast to improve in search engine rankings. It is one of the main factors. Websites that load slow don’t just rank well in search, but also annoy consumers. Nobody likes to wait for pages to load. E-commerce websites should optimize their pages and home page to load as fast as possible.
Online retailers that like to improve their e-commerce websites can always work with professionals and a team that has the proper experience. Often, Conversion Optimization services are used to improve the performance of an e-commerce website.
For companies that do not have a Responsive Design website yet, it is strongly advised to upgrade to an up-to-date system that is at this point required not just by Google, but also demanded by consumers.
