Many entrepreneurs and companies shy away from Search Engine Optimization because it is a fixed monthly cost for online retailers. Many simply cannot afford it starting out or believe the money can be allocated in other ways to generate sales. In other words, there is a lot of skepticism associated with SEO marketing campaigns. Mostly, for the reason that many companies still do not understand SEO very well.
SEO practices to increase e-commerce sales can double traffic and sales volumes for e-commerce websites and online merchants. When properly implemented and managed, SEO campaigns and Conversion Optimization techniques can drastically change the return on investment (ROI) for e-commerce merchants.
To gain a better understanding about practices to increase e-commerce sales, here are 10 tips to achieve best results with e-commerce websites, sales and Search Engine Optimization.
10 SEO Practices To Increase E-Commerce Sales
1. New Products and SEO
When adding new products to an e-commerce website, retailers should make sure that the new products are linked-up correctly with the appropriate category. New products should also be listed on the home page, where they will get found quickly and indexed by major search engines.
2. Individual Product Pages
Each individual products page should have a unique title tag, keyword(s), and description for best results. They should also have unique content that is written well with quality. This will ensure faster indexing and better rankings in search by major search engines such as Google.
3. Optimizing Category Pages
For e-commerce websites that have multiple categories, retailers should treat those pages as individual home pages. Each major category page should have plenty of unique content. These pages should have social sharing functions and separate Meta data to support those individual pages.
4. Internal Link Building
Internal link building helps with Search Engine Optimization efforts. To achieve better results, retailers should have internal linking structures, keeping in mind user-friendliness and overall navigation. Using breadcrumbs on all pages helps as well with internal link building and customer navigation.
5. Customer Generated Content
How do retailers leverage customer-generated content for e-commerce websites and SEO efforts? There are multiple ways to go about this. Integrating social media sharing functions helps, publishing product reviews by customers, blog community and comments help, and so on. Content generated by users and customers is unique, relevant and “fresh”.
6. Optimized Website Design
Website design is often not incorporated into Search Engine Optimization efforts. Once SEO efforts are put into place, the design of a website must be part of the overall optimization process. For best conversion, the design of a website must allow for proper SEO marketing campaigns and conversion optimization.
7. Product Pictures and Videos
SEO includes the optimization of all images and videos as well. E-commerce websites that wish to increase e-commerce sales must optimize images and videos as well as use them accordingly throughout the website. Retailers should use high quality images and optimize each individual one. Videos displayed on key pages will increase the chances of getting ranked higher in search results.
8. Responsive Design Websites
In today’s mobile and digital culture, operating a Responsive Design website is not an option anymore. Responsive Design means that the website is responsive to the user and displaying properly regardless of device used to access the website such as smart phones, tablets, and computers. E-commerce websites should be created with HTML5 and CSS3 technology.
9. Creating Unique Content
One of the most important methods to reach results in search is to have quality and unique content that is of course relevant to the e-commerce website and products being sold. Retailers should have unique content that is not repeated throughout the website for all pages, including all blog articles.
10. Reports and Statistics
Proper reporting tools must be implemented and correctly activated for best results. Flying blindly is never advised. Retailers that want to deploy SEO practices to increase e-commerce sales must pay attention to the correct reports and statistics to make the necessary adjustments. SEO is an ongoing process and reporting tools are necessary for best results.
Any online retailer or e-commerce website operator that wishes to increase online sales and revenue can work with professionals to get help. Marketing consulting services are available to online retailers as well as professional marketing services such as Search Engine Optimization and Conversion Optimization. Both improve an e-commerce website performance, marketing, and sales.
