Ecommerce SEO: Everything Online Stores Need to Know

Do you wish to learn how to improve your eCommerce site’s Google rankings so that more people visit it? This eCommerce SEO guide is tailor-made for you if this is the case!

Why does SEO for Ecommerce matter?

Search engines are the most common approach for a prospect to learn about and compare your product with similar items. Your competitors are scooping away your consumers without care if your eCommerce site does not rank highly in search engine results. You are plagued with regret as more and more individuals flock to your rivals as their leads and customer base grow.

Get ready to embrace E-commerce SEO if you are searching for some magic pixie dust that can rewrite every terrible incident you’ve had up until now, and have your eCommerce website ranked at the top on Google. Doesn’t it seem too good to be true? Let me assure you: it isn’t!

Ecommerce SEO enhances your organic ranking and increases profits by increasing the number of consumers who find you through search engines.

How to develop an eCommerce SEO strategy?

You’ve got a lot of people vying for that strong #1 position in Google Search, starting with Amazon and moving down to the guy next door who does affiliate marketing. This makes eCommerce SEO seem like a difficult, uphill task. On the other hand, suppose you have rivals doing well on the internet. In that case, this makes your job a lot more difficult because it necessitates copying and emulating the competition’s success formula in ways they could never have imagined.

The SEO race is similar to an F1 race in that there are winners and losers. The drivers who succeed and fail use the same map, but how quickly you change gears matters.

That is why you’ll need a clear plan for increasing the visibility of your pages.

Let me tell you right now, E-commerce SEO takes time, and if an agency says it’ll take days or weeks, get the heck out of there as fast as you can and make sure your pockets are zipped.

But, in the end, they are probably con artists. We don’t like to say things like this, but most likely, they are criminals. However, the sooner you begin doing E-commerce SEO, the better.

If you want to do it alone, that’s fine; you just need a few items. However, if you aspire to be like Jeff Bezos in a few years, you’ll need an SEO team behind you.

Aren’t the SEO paychecks too expensive? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. We have people with specialized skills that can assist you at a fraction of the cost it will take to hire a full-fledged in-house staff.

Let’s look at the steps involved in chalking out a good eCommerce SEO strategy.

Ecommerce Keyword Research

The issue is, didn’t you do a lot of market research before developing your items? What was the point of this study? It’s to understand the persona of prospects who are ready to buy it based on a solution it offers.

Keyword research has a striking resemblance to this. It’s considered the foundation of any SEO campaign. The keywords that have been used to find your services and goods are known as organic or natural search traffic. Keywords are the traces that visitors may have left behind in an attempt to locate similar items and services.

It gives you the methods to enhance your eCommerce site’s product and category pages. By optimizing your website for the appropriate keywords, you can improve its visibility and rankings.

Google sees enough signals about the quality of your product page when your SEO-optimized content connects with consumers and offers answers to the problems that they are looking for. People frequently conduct product searches on eCommerce sites. Therefore, you should search for terms that are relevant to the products. This is the way to go about it.

Amazon Suggest

Despite its reputation, Google is no longer the king of search engines. As a result, you can recently see a rivalry between California-based Google and Amazon.

By reducing the number of product-related search queries, Amazon breaks up Google’s search monopoly. Moreover, because Amazon is a major online retailer with operations in many countries worldwide, it’s also one of the most important places to look for product-based keywords.

It also implies that you, as a website owner, may benefit from using the product suggestions it offers. But, again, this is similar to Google Search Suggestions in terms of relevance.

The drop-down suggestions are generally those that your target audience frequently uses. As a result, you must make use of keyword ideas to improve the performance of your product pages.

To find out if you’re on Amazon, go to the website and fill in a key phrase that describes your product. As you type, Amazon will give a list of possible synonyms based on the term you’ve entered. Unfortunately, there are so many suggestions offered with lengthy-tailed versions that it’s difficult to believe they’re all relevant.

So, let me tell you about the utter beauty of using long-tail keywords.

They’re simple to rank since most of them have a low level of complexity, and, more significantly, they aid in the ranking for subsequent-day keywords. If you have SEO specialists that focus on these keywords while optimizing your site, I’m confident you’ll see a substantial improvement in Google product rankings.

By the way, this isn’t to imply that long-tailed keywords alone can improve your SEO; but if you don’t do it, things will only get worse for you. For example, long-tailed keywords on Amazon search are related, and there’s a higher possibility that your items will sell out fast.

The first step in your SEO strategy must be to rank your product pages for a long-term keyword that relates more to buyer intent than short-term, high-volume terms that don’t result in purchases.

Categories of Amazon and Other Competitors

By the way, I’m not done with Amazon yet.

Amazon search engine optimization professionals can assist you in making your career as an E-commerce SEO specialist a breeze. And trust me, you’ll enjoy Amazon Algorithms far more than Google’s algorithms.

You’re ripping Amazon to shreds, and that’s fine since business is ruthless from time to time. However, categorizing your product is critical because it helps you compete against Amazon.

The following table shows the content of each major category, which is divided into many subcategories.

On the other hand, the entire store directory gives you a panoramic look at all of Amazon’s categories and subcategories.

Don’t be fooled by the hundreds of goods on offer.

Even if you only have a few goods on offer, this checklist will benefit you.

Thank you to the Amazon SEO crew for their time and help in advance of my explanation. Before I get into it, a huge thank you to Amazon’s SEO team, who have spent many hours assisting you with your research.

Amazon has given the category and subcategory pages the appropriate keywords.

For instance, after selecting Pets > Pet Food > Cats, you can choose from dry cat food, wet cat food, and frozen cat food.

As we’ve previously said, it’s important to understand what kind of content you want to sell on your product or category pages. In addition, you’ll learn a lot more about the keywords you might utilize for your product or category sites if you do this.

However, you should keep in mind that Amazon is not the only place to look for keywords. For further keyword suggestions for optimization, check out your top competitors’ websites.

Semrush

When you’ve completed typing in the name, a list of options will appear. To start your website, choose any suggested toolbars from the list that appears.

Assume I’m a website owner with no prior knowledge about SEO. All I have is a product to sell. It’s really simple to determine which keywords to concentrate on using Semrush.

Simply enter your product’s fundamental aim into Semrush to see how many variations there are on the seed keyword. For example, in the image above, I performed a search for the term “beard oil.” As a result, you can see how many different variants are on the seed keyword, with long tails.

Choose a keyword that you enjoy after carefully examining the volume and keyword difficulty. Now, all you have to do is discover the right seed term that best describes your product. What if you can’t come up with a seed term?

Don’t worry. Semrush has exactly what you need.

You are aware of your competitors.

In my position, Amazon should be the main competition. Since Amazon is currently ranking for this term, I can see it. However, the majority of SEOs would explain that the next step for most SEOs is straightforward: what follows is what makes life so simple for most SEOs.

Copy and paste the Amazon URL into Semrush to conduct an analysis. The following is a sample of the output. As you can see, a lot of terms are appearing, and I may rank for 433 keywords as well.

If you want to add more keywords to target, you might use Moz’s free keyword research tool to reveal comparable websites if you so choose.

With this first list of keywords, you should now have enough for your website to start optimizing. After that, you can repeat the process using the list of rivals you obtained in step #1, which should be sufficient terms.

Google Keyword Planner

Finally, there is Google Keyword Planner. Because this tool was created to help with Google Ad campaigns, its usefulness is questionable. As a result of the wide use of keywords that may not suit your items, the analysis is difficult.

The commercial objective and search traffic for the keywords you pick from this tool should be confirmed. Google does not provide a keyword planner, so you may use SEMrush to arrange your keywords.

This takes you to the next step of eCommerce keyword research.

How to Select Keywords for E-commerce Product Pages?

You’ve now seen a number of ways to get a list of prospective keywords. The next stage is to choose which terms from the list to use. To assist you in narrowing down your ultimate keyword selection, I’ve created a 5-step checklist below.

Search Volume

Consider this: you’ve found a fantastic long-tail keyword that you’d like to use to optimize your product pages. You discover that it is Google’s top-ranking, yet no one visits it.

What’s the cause of these issues? It’s all due to poor search traffic. The most common reason for such difficulties is a lack of keywords in the search query.

This is why it’s the most significant aspect to consider when evaluating a phrase.

Don’t pick a keyword with little search traffic unless you’re using it since it’s not worth your time and effort optimizing it.

However, there is no means to compare search traffic since what seems reasonable for your sector may not be enough for another.

Most tools provide you with the monthly keyword search volume, and there are a few free Chrome Extensions can help you find it. Keyword Surfer is one such free add-on that saves a lot of time.

Informational vs. Buyer Intent Dichotomy

Gold does not gleam all over the place, which is especially evident in the realm of SEO. If you look up the seed keywords for a brief period, you may come across a slew of variants URLs with a lot of traffic.

Now, those are the keywords that you want to rank, right?

Unfortunately, no.

On the other hand, those keywords are phrases that are frequently looked for but which, as an E-commerce company owner, will not provide you with any earnings.

Last but not least!!! That’s because the keyword you’re looking for might not be a good fit for what your site sells. As a result, make sure the term fits your website before using it.

There are numerous types of keywords, including informational keywords, navigational keywords, and buyer intent.

Informational Keywords: choosing running shoes

Commercial Keywords: best running shoes online

Navigational Keywords: Nike running shoes

Buyer Intent Keywords: buy running shoes online

Because these are the terms utilized by individuals who genuinely intend to buy from you, focusing on ranking for buyer intent keywords is essential as an e-commerce site.

In conclusion, make sure you provide some value and tell people why they should buy your product. If you have a blog that assists users in determining what to buy, use informative as it’s best utilized to entice visitors into purchasing a little attention.

Keyword-Product Fit

For example, say your eCommerce site sells apparel, and you come across a keyword like “women’s summer apparel.”

Even if your site does not specifically deal with summer women’s apparel, you may be able to create a category page around this phrase and turn those searchers into actual customers.

However, it might be tough to implement, which is why you should only stretch your product categories after you’re completely certain that the target audience wants it.

Even though you’ll receive fewer searches, an optimized keyword that is more relevant to your business is always preferable.

You may see a keyword’s competition rating in Google Keyword Planner and other SEO tools like Semrush.

The “Competition” metric reflects how people bid on that keyword on Google ads. So if lots of people are bidding on that keyword, it does have a commercial intent.

It’s critical to exploit medium and high-competition eCommerce SEO keywords.

You might also look at “Top Pages to Bid.” It offers you an idea of how much people spend when they click on a Google Ads ad.

When it comes to interpreting the commercial purpose, the higher the suggested bid, the better. This is because keywords with high competitive bids are also more competitive to rank for in Google search.

Keyword Difficulty

Finally, you must consider how difficult it will be to surpass Google’s top page. You can use Semrush to find a keyword’s difficulty and head to the “Overview” section.

The higher the percentage, the harder it is to rank that keyword on Google.

Track your competitors

Choose a competition page as a source of inspiration. When it comes to picking keywords for your e-commerce site, competitor keyword analysis is essential. It will provide you with insight into what you should concentrate on and those you should avoid.

Optimizing Ecommerce Category Pages – Best Practices

The eCommerce industry is competing for the top spots on Google, and it’s well deserved because a gain or loss in one spot may mean victory or defeat. However, with Black Friday and Cyber Monday fast approaching, many worries remain for internet retail site owners about how to handle them.

The inability of some category pages to rank higher on Google is one of the most common concerns of online retailers. As a result, there has been a lot of effort lately by SEOs to improve the Google ranking of eCommerce category sites. This is because a category page features numerous items, and achieving the top spot equals more sales and eCommerce development.

Unfortunately, SEOs go too far and attempt to over-optimize these category pages, resulting in a poor user experience for online buyers. They eventually fall out of favor with Google for having a high bounce rate. Therefore, it’s crucial to understand the genuine methods to optimize a category page to increase eCommerce sales.

Don’t over-optimize a Category Page with Content.

The most typical move among internet marketers is to include large amounts of information in the category’s footer. The goal is to employ the keywords several times throughout the page to deceive Google. Even though this technique was successful until recently, Google, as usual, discovered the loop and addressed it.

In one of the webmaster hangout sessions, Google’s John Muller said that placing a chunk of contextually irrelevant text in the footer of a category page will be regarded as keyword stuffing. It was concluded that the content in the footer provided no benefit to the users. This portion of the page is often neglected, and so it’s been included simply for the sake of changing rankings.

He also added that any content chunk added below the fold would be dealt with less importance as it doesn’t add any detail about the products online.

What the webmasters can do to rank category pages:

1. Inclusion of your products with a description that can add value to visitors to the page.
2. Add proper Alt Text for each image so that each product stands out.
3. Use proper heading tags to establish a clear context of the page and the products listed.
4. Add content above the fold, giving a little context about the products listed.

These techniques can assist in ranking the category page and increasing conversion rates. The material may be better utilized for blog sections that provide actual value to users.

Keyword Stuffing Is a Bad Idea to Rank Category Pages

Webmasters frequently include too many keywords within a category page. According to John Muller, when ranking category pages, Google adds another level of caution.

“Another thing I occasionally see, especially with e-commerce sites that are having trouble with this problem, is that they go to an unhealthy extreme by repeating the keywords on the category page,” explains Muller.

“And what happens in our systems then is we look at this page, and we see these keywords repeated so often on that page that we think well, something is kind of fishy with this page, with regards to these keywords, well maybe we should be more careful when we show it.”

Mueller recommends that webmasters concentrate on a few key terms based on the context of the items listed on the category page and then optimize it.

It’s extremely unusual for someone to look for a product on Google by its name. However, a search term that is broad in nature, such as “tents,” will often bring up a category page with comparable items. As a result, it’s critical to rank a category page for generic keywords that the target audience may use online.

One of the most important things that webmasters have to consider is whether or not the keywords utilized to rank a product page cannibalize with those used to rank a category page. A category page is generally ranked for words that are generic and long-tailed. Therefore, while optimizing the category page for better online sales, keep this in mind.

Importance of Internal Links and Navigation Structure

Internal links, according to Mueller, are “extremely” important in determining category page rankings. According to him, one of the reasons Google cannot rank category sites is the intricate navigational hierarchy.

A category and subcategory page for each product is required when it comes to the navigation area. The search engine can use categories and subcategories to construct hierarchy, so it’s a good idea to include them. A well-described hierarchy for category sites also improved Google search visibility and increased eCommerce revenue.

Internal links on a category page send a wealth of information to Google about the type of product advertised. In addition, internal links are essential since the person who directly lands on a product page may wish to return to the category page to discover other alternatives. Therefore, it’s possible that restricting users’ access to the category page is affecting eCommerce growth.

Building Links to Category Page Can Backfire

When it comes to backlinks on category sites, Google has been hesitant. Because these sites provide monetary benefits, obtaining natural backlinks is difficult. It’s possible that building unnatural backlinks to category sites will enrage Google.

According to Google, obtaining genuine links is something that webmasters must consider to rank category pages. However, unnatural methods of obtaining them might result in being blacklisted.

Getting backlinks to the category pages in a natural way may be done by obtaining genuine consumer feedback or contacting micro-influencers who are interested in writing about the items on your list. These links provide value in terms of link juice and through website traffic generated from referrals.

Ranking a Category Page is a Long-term Goal

It might take a little longer to observe outcomes when ranking a category page rather than a product page or blog post. According to John Mueller, Google’s algorithm requires some time to adapt to the changes on the category page.

Another thing webmasters should consider is appropriately categorizing the items being sold. Adding the same items in several categories is not a good SEO strategy because it might perplex Google and visitors.

The speed of an e-commerce category page is also a determining factor in its ranking. Google has been encouraging mobile-first indexing, implying that user experience takes precedence. Ecommerce sites are plagued with slow category pages because they are weighed down with images.

There are hundreds of items available on e-commerce sites in the same category. It takes time to render all 100 products and pictures, using whatever CMS uses. Enabling lazy load for both products and images is the greatest method to display such a category.

If a site’s viewport is set to allow lazing load, the server load will be reduced, and items will be listed as and when users reach the designated site viewport.

Ecommerce Website Architecture

For any website, the way the pages are organized is a crucial SEO element to think about. For example, only the significant increases in an eCommerce site because it has significantly more pages than a local plumbing business or a pizza shop website.

With numerous pages on your eCommerce site, it’s critical to make them easily available to clients and search engines.

The two prime rules of eCommerce site architecture are:

1. Keep things simple
2. Keep every page three or lower page away from the homepage

Ecommerce sites with deep pages are detrimental to SEO. This is because the majority of the links on e-commerce sites go to their home page.

The site’s authority is diluted as it travels from one page to the next until it reaches its product and category pages.

The architecture for a well-optimized eCommerce site should appear similar to the one shown above. The link authority focuses on the site’s product and category locations, making it simple for Google to find and index each page.

On-Page SEO For Ecommerce Sites

Once you’ve got a solid foundation in place for your website, it’s time to optimize the product and category pages. For eCommerce sites, these are the two most common types of pages.

So, here’s how to optimize your product and category pages with the best keywords.

Title & Description Tags

Title Tag

Add Modifiers like “Buy,” “Cheap,” and “Deal” to Get More Long Tail Traffic

You want to use your target keyword in your page’s title tag.

Don’t stop there, though; use modifiers to enhance the likelihood of your page appearing in more long-tail searches.

For example, if your target keyword is “optical mouse,” you can add modifiers like:

• Cheap
• Best
• Online
• Free Shipping
• Deals

So, your title tag could be “cheap optical mouse” or “best optical mouse” or “optical mouse free shipping.”

Use Click Magnet Words Like “X% off” or” Lowest Price” to Boost CTR 

A higher click-through rate leads to more clicks and hence, higher sales.

Fortunately, certain words or phrases are known as click magnets, and they will instantly direct a person’s cursor to your product.

Here are some examples of click magnet words that you may utilize on your product and category pages.

• Lowest price
• Lightning Deal
• Sale
• One-time offer
• Guaranteed

When you use these words in your title tags and meta descriptions, you’ll receive more clicks on your site, which may lead to increased revenue.

Description Tag

Include Phrases like “Free Shipping” and “Great Selection” to Maximize Your Page’s CTR

Your site’s description tag is as important as your site’s title tag. It is perhaps not the essential aspect, but optimizing it for a high CTR is still beneficial. In addition, with a description tag, you get more opportunities to include longer phrases.

Here are a few examples of longer phrases that you can include in your description tag to boost clicks:

• Save X% off on ____.
• All of our ____ are on sale for 24 hours only
• Get FREE shipping on all our orders today.

Product and Category Page Content

 Add 1000+ Words of Content and Use Your Keyword 3-5 Times

The most challenging aspect of eCommerce SEO is to optimize product and category sites. The goal of an article should be to offer valuable information, but unlike blog posts, you must create content focusing on conversions in mind. Here are three major on-page SEO tactics to follow for your eCommerce pages.

Write Descriptions of 1000+ Words.

Longer content performs better on Google, according to studies. This is because Google wants to understand the content you provide, and the more words you add, the more it gets easier for the search engine to understand your business.

Furthermore, detailed product page content allows consumers to comprehend better what they’re purchasing, improving the user experience.

You might not be able to generate a thousand words of material for each page on your eCommerce site but keep the length at least for the 50 most popular products and categories.

Use Your Keywords 3-5 Times

Once you’ve completed an in-depth product description, make sure your target keyword(s) appear 3-5 times throughout the content. Your keywords will assist Google in comprehending your material better. Google gives the top of the page somewhat more weight. Hence ensure that your target keyword appears in the top 100 words of your content.

LSI Keywords

LSI keywords are the words or phrases closely related to your main keyword.

For example, let’s say your target keyword is “pressure cooker,” and then your LSI keywords will be:

• Manual
• Slow Cooker
• Stainless Steel
• Crock-Pot
• Recipes

Here’s how you can find and use LSI keywords for eCommerce SEO.

The Amazon Eyeball test

Find out what your competitors are doing by going to Amazon and looking for the keyword you’re researching. Then, look at phrases that frequently appear on the category page or product page.

Google Keyword Planner

In the GKP, put in your target keyword and see the keywords that the tool suggests for you. Then, use them in your product or category page content.

URLs: Use Short and Keyword-Rich URLs

Shortened URLs tend to rank higher on Google than longer ones. Ecommerce site URLs are usually longer than website addresses for other websites.

Keep your URL word count to less than 50 characters because excessively long URLs generally render the power of your target keyword in the URL moot. When you think of user-friendly URLs, you want to make them short and keyword-rich. Some eCommerce platforms don’t encourage the creation of tags and subcategories in product URLs, making it even more straightforward.

Internal Links: Link to High Priority Pages

Internal linking is one of the most beneficial features of eCommerce SEO. Internal connections are generally created automatically, which is fantastic. This is because the site’s navigation makes a lot of natural links. On the other hand, strategic internal linking is still essential for eCommerce SEO. You need authoritative connections from reputable pages to your critical product and category sites.

For example, suppose you have a blog entry that generates a substantial number of backlinks and a page that ranks in Google’s top 10 search results. You’d then want to add a keyword-rich anchor text link to your product page on that blog post.

Implement Product Review Schema to Appear on Google Rich Snippets

If you want your business to stand out on Google, strive for rich snippets. The most eye-catching rich snippet sought after by eCommerce sites is the review snippet.

Here’s how it looks below:

You may also use schema markup to get your eCommerce pages to rank in review snippets by practicing SEO. Schema is a unique code that allows Google to understand your page content better.

Below are the types of markups specific to reviews:

No assurance adding schema markup to your pages will result in rich snippets, but it improves the probability.

You may use Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper to create rich snippets for your eCommerce sites.

Here’s how to use the tool:

Go to the tool and choose “Products.” Next, find a product page on your site that has quite a few reviews and ratings.

Paste the page URL in the given field and click on “Start Tagging.” Then highlight the section of the page you want to tag.

In this case, it will be the reviews and ratings. You can highlight the number of star ratings and pick “Aggregate Rating.”

Also, don’t forget to highlight the number of reviews and choose the “count” tag.

Once that’s done, choose “Create HTML.” You can copy-paste this new HTML into your page or add the new schema markup to your existing code.

Technical SEO for Ecommerce

Technical SEO is crucial for every site, including eCommerce. Unfortunately, it’s all too easy for minor technical difficulties to arise on a large eCommerce site with thousands of pages.

Because eCommerce sites do not receive many backlinks, any technical problem might disrupt the neck-to-neck competition against another eCommerce site.

This is why eCommerce firms should have their websites regularly audited to ensure operationally.

How to Do Technical SEO for Ecommerce Websites?

If you operate an eCommerce store, these technical SEO suggestions can assist you in improving the searchability of your website. Continue reading to learn some techniques for increasing web traffic.

Site structure

You can ensure that your content is easily accessible to your visitors with the right site structure. Here is what an ideal site structure looks like:

Homepage > Categories > Subcategories > Products

If you have a small website, you don’t need to add subcategories.

URL structure

The ideal URL structure is simple and indicates the page’s content. This basic design can be followed:

yourwebsite.com/category-name/subcategory-name/subcategory-name/product

Keep it short and use the focus keyword. The hierarchy should be clarified, and the words should be separated using hyphens.

Sitemap (XML/HTML)

Sitemaps have several uses in eCommerce SEO. First, an HTML sitemap is required to assist your consumers in navigating the platform. An XML sitemap ensures that the search engine can adequately index URLs throughout your website by performing validity checks and preventing duplicate content.

Log File Analysis

The logs are then extracted from Security Log Analyzer, imported into a log filing tool, and analyzed. You’ll get detailed information on every interaction with your website, including bots and people, via this approach. It aids in the identification of unknown concerns as well as informed SEO-related decisions.

Crawl Budget

The crawl budget is the amount of web pages that search bots scan every day. If you have a small crawl budget, indexing difficulties might arise, which will result in lower search rankings. On the other hand, because eCommerce sites are large, they must reduce their crawler budget. You may check your Google Search Console to determine if your crawl budget has been.

Crawl the website

Many tools are available to detect and repair HTTP error problems, such as Ahrefs, Semrush, DeepCrawl, and others. 5XX server errors, 4XX client errors, and 3XX redirection difficulties are examples of HTTP error problems. They identify missing or duplicate page titles, H1 tags, meta descriptions, or image alt text.

Canonical tags

It is critical to avoid duplicate URLs with the same content on your website. To do so, use a canonical tag that informs the search engine which version of the URL should be crawled and displayed in the SERP.

Robots.txt

Robots.txt prohibits a web page or section from being searched by search engines. This can be used to block non-public pages, save money on your crawl budget, and prevent resource pages from being indexed. Pages such as login, cart, checkout, and finish order should be included in this file for eCommerce websites.

Redirect Out-of-Stock product

Some of your products will be out of stock. If you take them down, you’ll get a 404 error, which may negatively influence your search results. Redirecting these URLs to other pages is one option.

Duplicate/Thin content issues

Duplicate content is a real problem on eCommerce websites. The primary cause of this is due to technical problems owing to the use of CMS and other code-related issues. Thin content refers to pages with little substance, such as tet pages, thin category pages, empty product descriptions, and so on (also known as “thin sites”). Both these types of content will lower the quality of your website. You can use canonical URLs to ensure search engines know which version of the page they should index.

Fix 3xx, 4xx, 5xx Errors

An error is an HTTP status code that indicates a server’s response to the browser’s request. 1xx and 2xx are not significant concerns. The other three, on the other hand, might be serious issues. The 3xx code means the server received the request, but the user was redirected somewhere else. The 4xx indicates a problem on the client-side, and the page could not be found. The 5xx Status Code means that the server could not complete the request or respond. In terms of how Google bots to index your eCommerce website’s pages, these codes are handled differently.

Rendering

Rendering involves processing the URLs for JavaScript. There are two types of rendering that can take place on your website:

• Client-Side Rendering (CSR)
• Server-Side Rendering (SSR)

If your pages aren’t rendered properly, they won’t be adequately indexed.

Page Speed

In Google, a high PageSpeed score indicates the time it takes for the browser to display all of the content, starting from when the server made the initial request. Therefore, a faster page speed will enhance your position in search engine results pages (SERPs).

Structured Data

It improves the visibility of your items in search engine results displays. This data ensures that search engines have all the additional information to rank you higher in search results and get more clicks from consumers. Here are some forms of structured data:

• Aggregate rating
• Availability
• Price
• Product name

HTTPS/SSL

An HTTPS/SSL tag is a sign that you have a secure website with an encrypted connection. The presence of a green lock in front of your website’s URL indicates that it has the SSL certification. Despite its current image as a lightweight ranking signal, almost 50% of Google’s top results are HTTPS websites.

Mobile usability

Google has a mobile-first index, which means it starts with the mobile version of a website when calculating ranks. So while you’re creating your SEO plan, you’ll have to think about configuration variables like dynamic serving, responsive design, and separate URLs.

The latest technology

To avoid being hacked, you’ll need upgraded infrastructure and security. However, even if it costs you money, it is nothing compared to the costs involved in a data breach.

Platform Migration

When moving your website from one platform to another, be cautious not to lose SEO value.

Here are the precautions you need to take:

• Write down changes occurring during the migration.
• Have a list of all the existing URLs and the new URLs implemented on the new website.
• Build a redirect map cross-referencing all the old URLs to the new ones.
• Create a list of top-performing pages and manually-built links.
• Keep checking your search rankings.

Use Google Search Console and Google Analytics

Both of these solutions are required to help your eCommerce business grow. Google Search Console aids you in obtaining information on your best and worst-performing pages, as well as inbound links and the most lucrative keywords. In addition, you may analyze trends such as how visitors find your website, conversions, bounce rate, and so on using Google Analytics.

You need to check both of these every day.

If you operate an eCommerce store, you must pay attention to various SEO elements. The 19 characteristics listed above should provide you with a solid basis for further investigation.

How to Run a Technical SEO Audit on an Ecommerce Website?

You can use several tools for eCommerce SEO audits, such as Semrush, Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, and Deep Crawl.

The audit tool will reveal current technical concerns on your sites, such as title or description tag problems, duplicate or thin content issues, broken links, and other similar concerns.

How to Fix Common Technical SEO Issues on Ecommerce Sites?

Problem: Too Many Pages

Sometimes, minor variations of the same product, such as trousers in different sizes, are represented on their unique URLs that can add up to the overall word count of an eCommerce website. Having too many pages on your site can lead to issues like duplicate content.

The Fix

Usually, 80% of the sales on eCommerce sites come from the top 20% of the product pages. Moreover, around 25% of the product pages on eCommerce sites do not generate any sales.

If you’re using the Google Search Console tool, these non-performing pages may have already been indexed, and you may noindex or remove them. If none of these options work, try combining these pages into a “super page.”

It’s simple to overlook a product page that has never generated any sales if you use an eCommerce CMS like Shopify. Put these pages on Google Analytics to ensure that they are not receiving you any traffic, and if necessary, merge or no-index them.

Problem: Duplicate Content

One of the most prevalent problems affecting eCommerce sites is duplicate content.

Fortunately, you can utilize canonical tags to solve duplicate content problems.

The most frequent reason duplicate content appears on eCommerce sites is that each variant of a product or category page has its unique URL. If those URLs get indexed by Google, it creates much duplicate content.

Next is boilerplate content.

There’s nothing wrong with snippeting text on numerous pages, but make sure they’re under 100 words to avoid getting Google flagged as duplicate content. For example, copied product descriptions frequently occur due to similar or identical product or category pages.

The Fix

The first step is to index all those pages that aren’t bringing you any traffic but causing duplicate content concerns.

Say if your category filters generate unique URLs, just noindex them.

Once you index all the possible URLs on your site, next, you need to see how you can utilize the “rel=canonical” tag.

The canonical tag indicates to search engines that a page is a precise duplicate or just a minor variation of another page.

When a search engine finds an URL with the canonical tag, it recognizes that the page should not be considered a unique URL.

Finally, you should update any URL you’ve added to a canonical tag or no-indexed with unique content. It will undoubtedly take a long time, but if you want to compete with e-commerce behemoths like Amazon, eBay, or Alibaba, you’ll need to undertake this difficult work.

Problem: Thin Content

In addition to being an issue, Duplicate content is also a common problem on eCommerce sites. Finally, thin content is a severe problem on eCommerce sites since it is challenging to create distinctive descriptions for nearly identical items or category pages.

The Fix

First, you need to identify pages that have thin content.

You should strive for a minimum of 1,000 words for all your primary product and category sites and at least 500 words for the secondary pages if you want them to rank higher on Google.

Following a specific template to write product descriptions/category page content can speed up the process.

Problem: Site Speed

The common reasons for slow e-commerce site speed are:

• Some eCommerce CMS have bloated code, which makes the site unexpectedly slow.
• High-resolution images can surely be a deal-breaker for eCommerce sites, but they can also slow down your site speed.
• A slow hosting plan can significantly affect your site speed when it comes to web hosting.

The Fix

• Upgrade your hosting: You should select a reputable hosting company in order to avoid site speed problems and deliver a positive user experience.
• Invest in a CDN: A CDN is one of the most cost-effective ways to enhance performance on your site. It also makes it more secure.
• Optimize large image files: Compressing your huge image files will relieve the burden on your web server and improve download speeds.

Content Marketing for Ecommerce Sites

How do you use content to get more targeted traffic to your site? Here’s a step-by-step guide to keep in mind.

Find where your target audience is

Find your target audience where they are expected to hang out online.

For example, if you own a pizza company, check out online forums where the cuisine is discussed.

There are a lot of resources that you can use to market your business on Reddit. You also have several food-related Facebook groups. These places will help you target your prospective customers.

Learn the words and phrases customers frequently use in their searches

Now that you have found your prospective customers, it’s time to reach out to them.

Keep an eye out for the words and phrases they frequently use while participating in internet debates.

These are the keywords your audience most likely uses when talking about your niche without a purchase intent.

These keywords or phrases are very useful if included in your blogs.

Create awesome content using those keywords

Now use the keywords and phrases to create a useful piece of content.

Following the skyscraper, the method works when creating content that stands out.

Make this a consistent process where you find the terms frequently used by your target audience and create quality content on your blog.

When you maintain your eCommerce blog up to date, it provides you with many relevant backlinks and social media mentions, allowing your material to rank higher and appeal to millions of people.

Ecommerce Link Building

The importance of link building for eCommerce websites cannot be overstated.

Let us look at some of the effective eCommerce link-building strategies below.

Utilize video marketing

Video content brings life to your brand products.

You can create video brand stories, narratives, and product demos.

This medium gives you endless opportunities to experiment with different types of content, from educational to comedy.

You can create a YouTube channel for your eCommerce brand and publish your videos to amplify your reach.

Additionally, you must share your videos on social media to boost more shares.

Remember to provide a video iframe embed link for others to link to your content easily.

Build links by leveraging extreme products

The following approach to increase your eCommerce site’s backlinks is to sell and promote uncommon items.

Seasonal items or a new line of goods that have just been added to your site are examples of this.

You may drive a large amount of traffic by appealing to a broad audience if you build connections around these items.

Build content assets in collaboration with influencers

Millennials are more aware of large corporations attempting to encourage them to buy items with paid advertising.

This has harmed paid marketing and eCommerce sites’ ability to acquire high-quality backlinks.

However, sites are now stepping up their marketing game with influencers who create powerful and relatable content assets for brands and sites.

Because the rising generation is more interested in influencers than celebrities, eCommerce businesses may profit from the situation by linking with specialized influencers.

This will help you earn quality backlinks for your eCommerce site and enjoy a lot of organic traffic.

Share research-based discounts and coupon codes.

According to research, people are more inclined to buy when they get a bargain or discount coupon.

People will feel compelled to buy from you as a result of your offering if they associate themselves with it.

You can run special discounts and coupon codes based on local or national holidays.

You may go a step further by personalizing special offers for your clients on their birthdays or anniversaries.

You may need to A/B test a few discounts and offers to understand what works the best for your customers.

As you run more offers, certain websites and blogs may share the news on their platform and help you earn a backlink naturally.

However, keep in mind that your discounts and specials should not be used all of the time on your website, else customers will become accustomed to purchasing with discount offers exclusively. If you utilize a discount or offer all of the time, its strength will fade away.

Host free giveaways

Free giveaways are like a magnet for customers. It is a great marketing tool. You should give away items that you believe people will enjoy.

It might be a new product line or one of your best-selling items that are just being introduced on your eCommerce platform.

Create a draw at home, but if you want to get more attention and generate buzz, work with a business or an influencer to hold an interest.

When you associate for giveaways like that, the brand or influencer you’re collaborating with can boost your natural backlink-building prospect.

8 Essential eCommerce Site Optimization Strategies to Boost Sales During Holiday Season

Boosting holiday sales is essential for all eCommerce sellers. Below, I’ll share eight tips to increase eCommerce sales during the holiday season.

Share Your Last Shipping Day

A banner in your site’s header may be used to display the possible delivery date depending on their location, and a link can direct them to a page where they may view that information.

This will assist them in determining when they should order from your website in order to receive it before the holiday season begins.

This approach is advantageous since many consumers are wary of last-minute holiday shopping online because some e-commerce firms have been known to ship items after they’re sold out.

Users will have more confidence in purchasing if you can promise consistent delivery. You may also provide memorable holiday offers such as “free shipping” or “express delivery for free” on your top-selling or seasonal items.

Add Exciting Discount Offers At Checkout

Offering amazing discounts and special offers right before checkout is one of the most effective methods to boost your eCommerce sales.

Let’s pretend a person shops for $100. Once he adds the items to the cart and is about to checkout, you flash an offer saying if they shop for another $50 and make the total cart value of $150, they get a complimentary gift voucher, an additional 10% off and a surprise gift.

Make sure you maintain profit margins while providing these unique discounts to your clients.

Hit the Bull’s Eye With a Striking “Last Day Shipping” Copy

Instead of just saying “our last day to ship” with a tentative day, spice up the information with something like “this product arrives before Santa” or “this item will knock your door a day before the Thanksgiving dinner.”

Other local holidays are covered as well. If your eCommerce site offers holiday discounts, make sure you consider other religions and groups’ holy days as well.

Adding a different spin to your usual text content may significantly boost your conversion rates.

Inform Affiliates of Upcoming Sales in Advance

If you have significant affiliates in your program, let them know a few weeks ahead of time. As a result, you’ll be more likely to get included in their roundups of Black Friday and Cyber Monday specials, as well as their newsletters to subscribers and social media postings.

Create an Opt-in VIP List

Create a list of purchasers that visit your eCommerce store at least three to four times each year.

Now, add their accounts to your database to receive unique offers at checkout.

To claim the discounts you provide, make sure to label their email address and billing addresses properly.

Finally, reach out to your VIP list and ask them to join your private email list, where you’ll distribute special offers and discounts for holidays.

Let them know that these special deals are only available to a select few, as they continue to support your company by shopping from you regularly.

You may also tell them that these unique VIP offers are add-ons to the general discounts offered on their website, and they may be combined to provide special consumers with greater savings.

Tap Into Celebrations and Special Occasions

Celebrating life events, like birthdays and anniversaries, is a frequently neglected strategy for holiday marketing.

If your birthday falls near to a major holiday, you may miss out on special birthday discounts that many eCommerce sites provide since they concentrate on holiday deals during these periods.

Customers are more likely to remember the events and activities they have taken part in with you, whether a birthday party or a wedding. So if your customers are planning their special events around the same time as yours, don’t make this common blunder. Instead, keep track of your customer database and analyze their previous purchases made around their birthday month.

Send customized alerts and offers with discounts on items they’re likely to buy for their birthday, along with personalized birth announcements. The same goes for other major events in their lives, including anniversaries and special deals.

Enable Product Customization and Personalization for Customers

Another tactic to boost sales during the holiday season is to be inclusive. How is that possible? I’ll tell you all about it.

Assume you have an eCommerce store that sells couple dress sets for prom or wedding dress combinations for brides and grooms. Instead of selling items in pairs, give customers the option to customize them to their liking.

You may also allow customers to personalize the wedding veil, gown neckline, or sleeves length. In addition, you may provide options for selecting unique colors for males’ T-shirts, designing their suit jacket, or installing specific buttons on their suit set.

If you allow customizations for the products sold on your site, more people will be keen on purchasing your products.

Treat Your Employees and Customer Service Team Well

With the holiday sale frenzy, you and all of your workers may be too busy.

Customers will be contacting customer service more often during this time, and they may even become a bit pushy on the phone. So during this period, support them.

During this period, as the manager of your organization, you must lift your staff’s spirits by encouraging them and rewarding them on your behalf.

Remember to thank them for their services and remind them of their importance to your business.

Arrange a celebration when the final shipping day has passed during the holidays. Because your customer care staff interacts with clients personally, they are the face of your company.

They’ll give their 110 percent to this work and exceed your expectations in terms of outstanding customer service and happiness if you keep them happy, encouraged, and motivated.