10 Game-Changing SEO Tips For Ecommerce in 2018

Traffic is among the deciding factors which determine the ultimate success of an e-commerce website. As it brings potential customers to the businesses, it also helps maintain a robust rank among competitors in Google SERPs.

Visibility is the key factor that ensures a website remains displayed on SERPs and keeps attracting users towards its products and services. By upholding SERP rankings, an e-commerce website can generate profitable returns and bring the business to an exposure point where it can progress and grow into a reliable selling machine.

But how does a business achieve this milestone and which factors stimulate this process? The answer is SEO.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) improves website visibility, engagement, retention, and rankings for enhancing search engine results and attracting relevant users towards products and services.

In this article, we will reveal the 10 game-changing practices that dominate SEO. By strategically applying these techniques, your website can gain the edge it needs to stay ahead of the competitive curve and return a healthy revenue.

1. Generate Original Content

Among the primary factors that help search engines’ algorithms grade websites is original content. Since e-commerce websites feature products and services which are also marketed by competitors, they often find themselves publishing generic content.

Rather than displaying stock descriptions and tags for products and services, generate original content which can be detected and graded positively by search engines. Write content which is helpful and distinguishes products and services from the customer’s perspective.

The same rules apply when using predefined templates and databases, which can lead to lower SERP ratings since the content is detected on competitor websites. Modify the content so it is unique, with keywords related to the topic.

2. Optimize Meta Descriptions

While meta descriptions are not the deciding factor for search engine rankings, they can be optimized efficiently to increase the Click Through Rate (CTR), subsequently growing traffic. Here are a few ways meta descriptions can be optimized for maximum effect:

• Self-Explanatory: Meta descriptions help users decide whether a website will provide the items they are searching for, and therefore should be written from a user’s point of view to boost CTR.

• Concise: Use short and meaningful descriptions to leverage the average user’s reading preference. Limit the description under the benchmark 156-character limit to bolster maximum engagement.

• Convincing in Nature: Meta descriptions should prompt an action from the customer through Call to Actions (CTR) and should persuade them towards purchasing products and services offered by your store, such as “Delivery Free for Orders over $80” or “Get Offer Now”.

3. Enable Product Reviews

One of the major reasons behind e-commerce site abandonment is mistrust. Even if a customer does end up selecting their choice, there is no reference material to validate the quality of their choice.

Adding customer reviews provides your potential leads the information they need to finalize their purchase. Reviews are regarded as reliable content by customers since they are provided by users who have previously purchased their choice of items and submitted honest responses absent of promotional intent. Customer reviews also serve as freely submitted, original content on your website which increases SERP ratings and enhances user experience.

4. Link Building (Quality Over Quantity)

A prevailing misconception about link building is that if an e-commerce marketer has a diverse network of links, it will automatically direct maximum traffic towards his or her website.

Contrary to this belief, successful influencers and veteran e-commerce professionals know that placing inbound and outbound links everywhere can reduce website credibility and traffic.

Placing links indiscriminately on low rated websites can ultimately cause lower SERP rankings since search engines also penalize websites that promote their links on sites blacklisted by them.

5. Implement 301 Redirects

Implement 301 redirects to cultivate the benefit of inbound links present in website pages which no longer exist. Providing a 301 redirect allows you to send users towards another page of the website that is relevant to their query.

6. Adding Keywords to Anchor Text

Optimize your content by integrating keywords within the anchor text of internal links to increase visibility and provide users with a descriptive, clickable link. This also enhances user experience through readability since the links provide the only information needed to help customers find pages, contributing to a much higher CTR.

7. End Reliance on Pay Per Click (PPC)

PPC is essentially the fastest means available to advertise your online presence on Google and other third-party websites. It works by placing textual and visual ads on top ranks, so it gets the best attention on SERPs and web pages. The catch to it is each time a click is made the advertiser will pay for it, hence pay-per-click.

Although it is an affordable fast-track method of bringing leads to your site, PPC strategies can also backfire. Badly optimized ad copy and poorly developed landing pages can nullify the campaigns and instead damage the website’s integrity. Moreover, customers tend to place little credibility in ads hosted on other sites and are naturally reluctant to click on them.

Google statistics revealed that reliance on PPC could result in negative consequences as 89 percent of clicks were lost on average when use of AdWords was discontinued. Instead, develop strategies which incorporate organic SEO techniques for ensuring your website visibility does not decrease even with the use of PPC.

8. Utilize Product Images for SEO

Search engines’ algorithms enable image searches to allows users to find their required products and services. While many e-commerce stores tend to neglect the potential offered by optimizing images in their stores, modifying alt tags through the integration of relevant keywords is a proven strategy that can significantly enhance the crawlability your website content.

9. Specifying Priorities in SiteMap.xml

Search engines rely on sitemap.xml for crawling a website. This can be modified to prioritize certain areas of the web store and develop an order by which the pages will be identified by Google. The highly optimized pages can be assigned a higher priority through sitemap.xml to make sure they contribute to higher SERP rankings.

10. Modifying the Robots.txt file

Search engine crawlers can be directed to crawl only specific website pages by modifying the Robots.txt file. This saves website bandwidth and streamlines the operations the search engine has to perform to ascertain rankings.

You can also exclude certain areas of your website for temporary periods, allowing you to submit portions of your site to search engines while you develop the SEO strategy for other sections.

Applying SEO Effectively

Deploying result-oriented SEO techniques remains the corner stone of any successful online business. These practices will not only ensure your portal gets the right publicity on the search engines, but also bring your website to a competitive business environment where trends can be set.

Simple steps can achieve major boosts and consistently practicing them can cultivate a much greater yield in the long run. With time, your store will convert users into happy, satisfied, and loyal customers.

Simon Walker

Simon Walker has more than 9 years of experience in eCommerce development & consultancy. He currently works for FME Dubai, a company known for its eCommerce website development services. He also consults with businesses to help them increase their online exposure and reach.