SEO is integral when it comes to the success of eCommerce sites and this blog will transcribe to you eCommerce SEO best practices, along with an array of SEO strategies for eCommerce websites.
Before we launch into the juicy somewhat-secret formula, let’s swoop into a bit of an eye-opening statistic.
According to Statista, a February 2023 survey of Australian shoppers found that over half of respondents began their online shopping journey through a search engine.
This is in contrast to less than 15% of online shoppers using direct retailer websites for product research, and only 4% beginning their shopping journey on social media.
This tells us that over half of online shoppers will rely on a search engine to find what they’re looking for, and unfortunately a lot less than half of users scroll past the first page on Google, around 25% to be more accurate.
This is where ensuring eCommerce SEO checklist items are being ticked off, becomes vital.
On-page SEO for eCommerce should be perched high and mighty on that checklist. This aspect is detrimental when it comes to any eCommerce SEO strategy. To provide a synopsis as a precursor to content that will ensue shortly on-page SEO refers to optimising the aspects that reside on the page; homepage, collection page, product page content, headings, internal links, images, and more.
We’ll delve a bit deeper into this below, but keep in mind that on-page SEO for eCommerce plays a crucial role in garnering positive eCommerce results.
What is On-Page SEO for eCommerce Websites?Defining On-Page SEO for eCommerce
As briefly mentioned, on-page SEO for eCommerce refers to SEO aspects that live on, or make up, a particular page. As visible in our tips to improve on-page SEO blog, to provide a more polished definition of what on-page SEO is as a whole, it’s the practice of optimising the content of webpages for both users and search engines,
On-site SEO for online stores spans from the discernible elements on the screen: the URL, content, keywords within the content, images, headings, internal linking, to the more discreet elements that aid Google in its ranking decisions: title tags, meta descriptions, schema, page speed, mobile-friendliness, and alt tags.
Key Components of On-Page SEO
- Content optimisation
- Keyword usage
- Meta tags
- URL structure
- Internal linking
On-Page vs. Off-Page SEO
In contrast to on-page SEO, off-page SEO refers to optimising the elements that reside outside of your actual website.
Backlinks make up a large portion of what SEO specialists deem off-page SEO. Backlinks, as described in our 3 types of SEO blog, are acquired when an external website, that’s relevant to your website’s industry or niche, links back to your site. The purpose of this is to transfer some of their PA (Page Authority) from their site, over to yours, which is intended to boost SERP rankings. Digital PR (public relations), GBPs (Google Business Profiles) and social media, also constitute off-page SEO.
These are all external aspects that have an impact on rankings within Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) and because they aren’t a facet on your actual website they’re deemed off-page.
When weighing up both on-page and off-page SEO and which one to prioritise, we generally want on-page SEO to take precedence over off-page. This is because on-page SEO for eCommerce has a more “immediate” impact, I’ve included quote marks as SEO in its entirety is a long term process, whereas off-page SEO has a more long term impact. Off-page SEO is a strategy that should be incorporated when your on-page SEO is well optimised, hence why the latter should be prioritised, however both aspects are substantial in relation to eCommerce SEO best practices.
The Role of Keywords in eCommerce SEO
Researching and Selecting Keywords
As with any form of SEO, keyword research and selection is pivotal when it comes to on-site SEO for online stores. There are several characteristics of keyword research that website owners need to be cognizant of: search volume, keyword difficulty, and search intent (informational, commercial, transactional, navigational) which is elaborated on below:
Informational - Keywords that convey to search engines the user is looking for an answer to a question or information on something, (“next solar eclipse”).
Commercial - Keywords that convey to search engines the user is browsing for a brand or businesses that aligns with their interests, (“best dishwasher”).
Transactional - Keywords that convey to search engines the user is looking to purchase a product, make a transaction or book a service quickly in the near future, (toy cars for sale).
Navigational - Keywords that convey to search engines the user is looking for a specific brand or business, (nike runners).
If these terms are still unfamiliar and you’d like to learn more about them, I suggest reading our How To Do Keyword Research blog.
To give you a brief snapshot, when it comes to research, understanding your industry, and your business's position within it is crucial. For a relatively unknown website, ranking for high-volume keywords can be challenging due to their higher difficulty. In such cases, it's better to target keywords with lower search volume but less difficulty, commonly referred to as ‘low hanging fruit’.
In regard to eCommerce keyword research, the goal of driving revenue hinges on focusing on transactional and commercial keywords within collection and product pages. While informational keywords, such as ‘how to improve running style’, may attract interest, they often don’t align with the search intent needed for conversions, particularly on a running shoe collection page. Instead, targeting keywords like ‘runners with ankle support’ (commercial) or ‘black runners’ (transactional) will likely be more effective in driving sales.
Long-Tail vs. Short-Tail Keywords
When it comes to eCommerce SEO best practices, short-tail keywords drive traffic and capture broad interest as the audience are predominantly top of the funnel users. Long-tail keywords attract a more defined audience with a higher intent to purchase. In a nutshell, short-tail keywords push traffic and brand awareness, whereas long-tail keywords look to drive conversions and revenue.
Optimising Product Titles and Descriptions
Optimising product titles and descriptions are a pivotal part of on-site SEO for online stores.
Featuring the primary keyword within the H1 tag (main heading) is critical for optimising product titles. eCommerce SEO best practices inform us to feature the primary keyword within the URL, title tag, and H1 tag.
The second point of advantage is to scatter the primary and secondary keywords throughout the product description, doing so cautiously as to avoid keyword stuffing.
Lastly, make sure that the content is created to highlight product features, rather than being contorted to fit around the keywords. What I mean by this is when crafting product descriptions, ensure they highlight to the user the features of the product. Attempting to describe the product by jamming keywords within the sentences, more often than not reads poorly. It can sometimes stand out to the user when keywords are forced into content against their will, so try and embed them seamlessly whilst prioritising explaining what the product offers.
Google favours businesses whose sites are easy to use/read/understand, so making content readable and comprehensible is substantial.
The Importance of Semantic Search and Natural Language
Semantic search and natural language processing go hand in hand. Semantic search is Google, or another search engine’s, ability to display in the search engine’s eyes, the most relevant results based on the comprehension and interpretation of the user’s search meaning and/or intent.
Unlike traditional searches, which matched keywords directly, semantic search uses context, synonyms, and intent to understand and deliver results. Essentially it adds another layer in providing results that may be better suited to what the user is searching for, as opposed to providing an exact match based solely on the keywords in the search.
Semantic search can impact your product or collection page keywords if your terms are not semantically related, so when doing keyword research it’s important to stay vigilant for keywords that look similar—perhaps through featuring a particular term—but actually convey a separate intent or meaning.
Optimising Product Pages for Maximum SEO Impact
Writing Meta Titles and Descriptions
The below list outlines the steps necessary to write impactful meta titles and descriptions.
1. Identify Relevant Keywords
Use tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Google Keyword Planner, to find product relevant keywords and avoid keyword stuffing.
2. Keyword Optimised Meta Titles
Keep your title under 60 characters to ensure it displays fully on SERPs. Ensure every product has its own unique title tag to avoid confusion in ranking and include your target keyword(s) while maintaining readability and clarity.
3. Engaging Meta Descriptions
Keep meta descriptions between 150-160 characters to ensure you’re utilising available character real estate whilst not being truncated in SERPs, and provide a call-to-action that encourages users to click, such as ‘Shop now’ or ‘Discover our collection’.
Using Structured Data for Rich Snippets
Structured data is a universal language that serves as a code standard enabling enhanced communication for search engines, and helps them understand the context of a web page’s content. Consider optimising structured data to enhance search engine visibility.
Optimising Product Images
Below are a few tips for optimising product images, however they only provide a synopsis. If you’re unsure about, or would like further clarification regarding the below dot points, read our How to Optimise Your Images blog.
- Select the appropriate image formats: BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WebP, and SVG.
- Use Clear and Descriptive File Names
- Ensure alt text is concise and comprehensive
- Optimise sizes: this includes adjusting actual image size as well as reducing image file sizes
- Make images responsive
- Use lazy loading for faster pages
Crafting Unique Product Descriptions
You may have a handful of products on your website that are labelled the same or fall under the same category, take t-shirts for example; you could have products that fall under the t-shirts category, but are different in that one’s a white t-shirt and another is a graphic t-shirt.
It’s important to create unique keyword driven product descriptions for all your products, no matter how similar a product may be to another. Making sure of this increases visibility through keyword implementation and minimises the chance of being penalised for duplicate content.
Mobile Optimisation and Page Speed
Google’s Mobile-First Indexing
The rapid progression of mobile phones over the last decade has seen Google prioritise websites that are optimised for mobile usage. To elaborate, Google has shifted its focus from desktop sites to mobile sites, meaning the mobile version of a site will often take precedence when it comes to indexing and ranking. Since this update in 2016, mobile SEO for eCommerce has become pivotal,
Tips for Mobile-Friendly Design
- Creating mobile-friendly layouts
- Improving page load times through image compression and lazy loading
Core Web Vitals
When we talk about user experience core web vitals are the mainstay. Core web vitals refers to the speed of your eCommerce store, and is broken down into three key areas which is then further broken down into a respective technical term:
- Loading - LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): this is used to measure page loading speed, which should clock in under 2.5 seconds to be considered good for user experience.
- Interactivity - FID (First Input Delay): this is used to measure the interactivity whilst the page is loading. For sound user experience your site needs an FID of less than 100 milliseconds.
- Visual Stability - CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): this is used to measure the visual stability of your page. Having a CLS rating that’s less than 0.1 is good for user experience.
All of the aforementioned metrics are pivotal for SEO because collectively they provide an indication of your site’s core web vitals which essentially translates into your site’s page speed. For eCommerce SEO best practices there isn’t much you want to avoid more than having a slow page speed; it frustrates users and serves as their ticket to browse elsewhere, so making certain that your site’s core web vitals are well optimised can have a profound effect on eCommerce success. If you’re looking to learn more about core web vitals and page speed, head over to our Complete Guide to Technical SEO where we go into more detail.
The Importance of Internal Linking and Navigation
Best Practices for Internal Linking
A sound internal linking structure is an integral part of eCommerce SEO best practices as it enhances user navigation, making it easier for shoppers to find related products and information. Moreover, internal links distribute page authority, helping search engines understand your site’s hierarchy, boosting rankings. When implementing internal links, having a pertinent anchor text is important as well as pointing the link to a relevant page.
For eCommerce SEO best practices, improving your site’s navigation with breadcrumbs, a user-in-mind architecture, and internal links to relevant products/information, enhances user experience. Check out the below subheadings to find out how.
Breadcrumb Navigation for SEO
Taking its name from Hansel and Gretel, breadcrumbs enable users to find their way back home (in our case back to the homepage). To summarise, they’re an additional form of navigation that allows users to see their browsing journey and return to previous pages with a mere click. Making them an asset in eCommerce SEO best practices.
When optimising breadcrumb navigation for SEO, hone in on creating a structure that makes sense for both users and search engines. Breadcrumbs help search engines understand how your pages are organised, which amplifies indexation and visibility in SERPs. For users, a clear breadcrumb trail makes it easy to navigate back to broader categories, or the homepage, improving the overall user experience.
To get the most out of integrating breadcrumbs, make sure each page is logically linked to its parent category—this helps both users and search engines follow the path with minimal hassles.
Creating a Logical Site Hierarchy
Another way to optimise your site’s SEO and UX effectively, is by creating a logical site hierarchy. A logical site hierarchy refers to having collections, products, and pages reside under the rational main navigation categorisation.
Devising a logical hierarchy doesn’t exactly fall under advanced SEO strategies for eCommerce websites, to be transparent, all it takes is a touch of common sense. If your website has a mega menu that features a number of categories and subcategories, it’s crucial to make certain that each of those categories and subcategories fall under the ideal or supposed structure. As an exaggerated example you don’t want ‘High Heels’ falling under ‘Mens’ and then ‘Men’s Shoes’. In short, align pages where they should go.
Enhancing User Experience to Improve SEO
Content That Adds Value
Keeping the user in mind plays such a crucial role in SEO. Embedding customer reviews and FAQs is a great way to do this and optimise on-page SEO for eCommerce.
Anyone browsing the internet wants to trust the website they intend to buy from. The last thing people want is to spend their money on something they can’t put their faith in. Adding positive customer reviews to your homepage is a great way to prove to both users and Google that they can trust the website from both a purchasing perspective and customer experience perspective. On top of this, ensuring your product review schema is healthy and optimised, is another way to convey this to users before they even land on your site, I’ll expand on this a bit later.
Embedding collection, product, and blog relevant FAQs throughout your site can resolve any queries the user may have regarding the aforementioned aspects. When creating FAQs, it’s important to consider the user’s perspective. Ask yourself, "What questions would I have if I were purchasing from this site for the first time?" You can also use keyword search tools to find relevant informational queries related to your collection, product, or blog. These often take the form of long-tail keywords that pose specific questions.
EEAT
Standing for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, EEAT provides a crucial framework for establishing credibility in online content. In regard to SEO strategies for eCommerce websites EEAT is of particular importance as users need to be able to trust not only who they’re buying from but the reasons behind why they’re buying. I’ll outline what each quarter of the acronym equates to and why it’s important now.
- Experience: refers to how long a name, or business, that the site serves as a digital face for, has been in operation and how much experience they’ve had within a particular industry. This is important for users so they can be aware of the businesses familiarity with its range of products.
- Expertise: refers to the knowledge and skill of the particular business which is typically demonstrated through the content. Expertise shows that the creator and his or her colleagues understand the subject matter.
- Authoritativeness: refers to the reputation of the website along with the business, indicating that it’s recognized as a credible authority within its industry. If a site has more authority than it’s likely to be more renowned and if it appears one above or below a competitor’s it may be clicked based on this.
- Trustworthiness: refers to the ability for users to be able to trust the site/business. If users don’t trust the content that they’re presented with, it’s highly unlikely they’ll proceed with a transaction as users are very conscious of losing money to fraudulent eCommerce sites, hence why being trustworthy is of the utmost importance.
Intuitive User Interfaces
User interfaces tie in with user experience, which both affect on-site SEO for online stores. As mentioned, with SEO, it’s important to keep the user in mind, and designing an intuitive user interface is no exception.
Whether liaising with web developers or designing yourself, be sure to think of the user when it comes to the visual aesthetic, product touchpoints (buttons, product hover zoom, product hover variations, etc), typography and design patterns. Having an optimised, but also brand/business personalised user interface that’s best for the user, is the key takeaway in relation to user interface’s role in eCommerce SEO best practices.
Reducing Bounce Rates
As you may have surmised by now user experience has a few boxes on the eCommerce SEO checklist and I’m about to add another one to that list. Bounce rate is a factor Google looks at when indexing URLs; how quickly users click into and back out of your website can impact how high a particular page is ranked, especially if that page is clicked into and out of, quickly and frequently.
There are a handful of methods to look at when attempting to increase dwell time (how long a user spends on a page or product) and hence decreasing bounce rate. The below dot points highlight some of the main solutions to a high bounce rate::
- Optimise page loading speed - holding user attention is paramount, so the quicker a page loads the better.
- Sound user experience - making sure it’s easy for users to navigate through your site means there’s less chance of user irritation, therefore, decreased bounce rate.
- Optimise site for mobile use - having a well optimised mobile site on-top of a great desktop site, makes common screen sizes user-friendly
- High quality content - create engaging and informative content about your products
Those are just the focal action points, other methods include: relevant internal linking, keyword implementation, quality calls to action, and minimising pop up advertisements that could potentially annoy the user.
Leveraging Customer Reviews for SEO
The SEO Benefits of User-Generated Content
including customer reviews for each product page, or as many product pages as possible, is another strong product page SEO optimisation element.
As touched on, reviews signify reliability to both Google and the user, but product page customer reviews also add another content element to that page. Because reviews are a regular and idiosyncratic facet, this translates to unique and fresh content, which is a big green flag for Google. Furthermore the review content may outline relevant aspects that your current content doesn’t, which can be beneficial for the user.
Review Schema for Rich Snippets
Review schema markup allows search engines to display additional information (rich snippets), such as star ratings, review counts, and product images directly in the search results. This makes your listing more visually appealing and provides users with immediate product information. These aspects give your product/s the potential to rank higher due to the improvement of CTR and user experience.
Monitoring and Improving eCommerce SEO with Analytics
Tracking SEO Performance
It’s almost impossible to manually quantify the organic traffic changes without analytics tools to assist you. This is where Google Analytics and Google Search Console come into play.
For eCommerce sites, both Analytics and Search Console offer excellent insight into how SEO is making a difference in results related to traffic and conversions.
For Search Console, analysing the variation in clicks and impressions can provide a sound understanding of how SEO is affecting your site’s organic search performance. It’s important to remember that SEO is a long term process and results typically aren’t discernible until 4-6 months into the process, however best results are often seen one, even two years into consistently implementing eCommerce SEO best practices.
For Analytics, monitoring key conversions—(transactions, cart abandonment rate, repeat purchase rate, etc—through the organic traffic filter, is the optimal way to measure SEO’s effectiveness.
Key Metrics to Monitor
- Organic traffic
- Conversion rates
- Bounce rates
- Keyword rankings
Final Word
In conclusion, implementing the aforementioned SEO strategies for eCommerce websites and ticking off your eCommerce SEO checklist is essential for driving visibility and conversions. By focusing on key elements like on-page SEO, keyword optimisation, mobile-friendliness, and page speed, you can create a seamless and engaging shopping experience that appeals to both users and search engines.
Optimising product pages, enhancing navigation with internal links and breadcrumbs, and leveraging user-generated content, such as reviews, all contribute to better rankings and credibility.
Regularly monitoring SEO performance with tools like Google Analytics and Search Console, ensures keeping a watchful eye on what works and what doesn’t to foster ongoing improvement.
By implementing these best practices, you’ll boost your site’s search performance, which will ultimately lead to higher traffic, then conversions, and ultimately business success!
If you’re still with us, the StudioHawk team strongly believes and hopes that addressing these points on your eCommerce SEO checklist should lead to awesome results. Thanks for reading!
