If you’re selling products and want to reach the widest audience possible, having a well-optimized e-commerce website is an absolute must.
Why? Well, there are several benefits to having an online store.
The most obvious reason to have an online store is to take advantage of the rapid growth of e-commerce worldwide. The value of total e-commerce sales has soared from $1.3 trillion in 2014 to 5.7 trillion in 2022. By 2026, Statista predicts total sales will be worth $8 trillion. An e-commerce store can significantly grow your customer base, making it possible for people from all over to buy your products. Given that so many more people shop online today, an e-commerce website can also make up for falling foot traffic.
But that’s not all. An e-commerce website can also help you learn more about your customers.
By installing an analytics tool like GA4, you can discover your customers’ demographics: locations, age, and even how they found you.
Whether you already have an e-commerce store or you want to create one, you need to take steps to ensure it’s as visible as possible.
How do you do that? It’s simple enough: with SEO for e-commerce.
Key Takeaways
With the value of total e-commerce sales expected to reach $8 trillion by 2026, there is a great deal of opportunity for your retail business to grow.
According to Capital One, there are tens of millions of online retail stores which means competition is fierce.
SEO can help your e-commerce website to rank higher in search engine results which, in turn, increases website visitors and conversions.
A few e-commerce SEO best practices include product page optimization, the use of long-tail keywords, a simple URL structure, and link building.What Is SEO for E-Commerce?
SEO for e-commerce is a strategy that helps web retailers rank higher in search engine results. A well-designed and optimized website with high-quality content will rank better in search engines such as Google, increasing your store’s visibility and driving traffic.
In other words, SEO for e-commerce concentrates on optimizing your site, which makes it easier to get leads and conversions.
However, unlike SEO for content-focused websites, SEO for e-commerce websites is more than just adding keywords, writing blog posts, and gaining links. You need to understand how search engines work and what they reward.
That means having a working knowledge of SEO for e-commerce, considering Google’s guidelines, analyzing buyer intent, and implementing it strategically.
E-Commerce SEO Best Practices
SEO for online retailers is a complex field. With tens of millions of online retail sites in existence, it’s not always easy to make your site stand out.
While increasing your SEO rankings might seem like a huge challenge, you can make a positive start by applying the best practices I outline below.
If you haven’t optimized your e-commerce website at all, I highly recommend working through this guide in order. If you have optimized your site in the past, then feel free to implement my advice as you wish.
Ready? Then let’s learn how to do SEO for e-commerce.
1. Perform Keyword Research the Right Way
If there’s one thing absolutely every e-commerce business owner should do, it’s perform in-depth keyword research for their store.
Your goal should be twofold.
First, you want to find the most relevant and popular keywords in your niche. Second, you must understand the buyer intent behind each keyword.
Keyword intent is the aim behind a search query. You can identify it by looking at the specific phrases people use when looking for an item online and the results shown by Google.
There are two main types of keyword intent you’ll see most often.
Informational Keyword Intent
Informational keyword intent is when users search for an answer to a question or to understand a topic in more detail.
They aren’t quite looking to make a purchase yet. Instead, they might want to understand your niche in better detail or get an answer to a question that isn’t related to a product. For instance, if you owned an outdoor clothing store, an informational keyword might be something like: “best hikes near San Francisco.”
Commercial Keyword Intent
Commercial keyword intent is when people are looking for information to help them make a purchase.
Consumers typically use commercial keyword intents when they know what they want but don’t know where to find it yet. You see this when you’re typing specific terms into Google, like “buy digital camera” or “find new laptop deals.”
But they may also use commercial intent keywords when they don’t know which product they want to purchase. Review-based queries are a great example of commercial keywords, for example: “What is the best digital camera?”
Determining Keyword Intent
Deciding consumers’ keyword intent seems challenging, but you can make it easier on yourself. This can be broken down into 3 primary stages.
Analyzing SERPs: Pay special attention to paid ads, knowledge graph results, and organic listings.
Look at Google ads for commercial intent: Seeing bid prices for keywords gives an idea of how competitive keywords are.
Review your analytics: Look for content with high bounce rates as it may mean it doesn’t match with search intent.
To determine the right keyword mix for your site, though, you’re going to need support. Let’s talk about a couple of tools that can power your search for SEO e-commerce keywords.
Using Ubersuggest and AnswerThePublic for SEO E-Commerce Research
While Google’s keyword planner is an effective start, you may want more depth or specialized support to build out your keyword targets. Here’s a closer look into some of the other options that can help you build your target keywords for your SEO e-commerce strategy