Every business needs to have a robust digital marketing strategy that includes ecommerce SEO if they want to succeed in this digital landscape. Competition is fierce both on a local and national level. Your competition invests in these methods, and if you don’t, then you’ll be left behind.
People don’t look anything up in the Yellow Pages anymore. They Google it and if you want to make sure your e-commerce website is on the front page, then you need to know how cost-effective these strategies are for your small or medium business.
We created this guide to help you understand what SEO is and explain why it is essential to your marketing strategy.
A History of SEO
As long as there have been search engines, there has been search engine optimization. Search engines use an algorithm to find the websites to put into the search results page.
A person types in a search query and the website crawlers view the code and determine if the site is worth placing on the results page and at what rank. Initially, the algorithms were simple, and many marketers used the first SEO methods to rise to the top page ranking.
This included purchasing low-quality backlinks and stuffing keywords everywhere they could on a website. It wasn’t long before Google noticed people trying to game the system.
Google is a business and wants to provide the best product, web results, to their customers. Keyword stuffing and other methods caused websites that were not as high quality to be the ones seen by customers.
In response, Google updates its algorithm regularly to keep its search results as accurate as possible. The company used to let people know when there was to be a major change, but now they roll out and rescind changes throughout the months without telling anyone.
Keyword stuffing and low-quality backlinks now get you saddled with a manual penalty that can drastically reduce your rank or have your site removed from the index until the issues are corrected.
With e-commerce SEO marketing constantly shifting with the algorithm, you must be up to date with the latest methods to make sure they’re cost-effective for your business. If not, then at best you keep your ranking stable and at worst creating a ranking drop for your e-commerce business.
The Importance Keywords in Ecommerce SEO
When a person wants to know something, whether it about local restaurants or some trivia fact, they Google it. They use a search query that could be as simple as a few words or a full-sentence question.
If this search query or something like it is on your website, then the crawlers consider your site for ranking. With the organic nature of the algorithm, there has been much debate on the usefulness of using keywords in your content and web copy.
People believe that content is more important than the keywords, but the truth is keywords and content go hand in hand. Without keywords, the crawlers have a difficult time understanding the subject matter of your site when compared with the search query.
There are many tools available to help determine the best keywords for your website. There shouldn’t be a single or even group of keywords for your entire site. You should have a dedicated list for each page and each blog post.
When it comes to keywords, the important factors are search volume and search competition. If the keyword has a high search volume, then it’s difficult to rank well for it. Since it’s high volume, then other websites use it for their own SEO.
You can tell this from the search competition. This is an estimate of how many websites use it as a keyword. The key, at least initially, is finding keywords that have a reasonably high search volume and lower search competition.
These are usually longer phrases known as long-tail keywords. It’s important to invest in good keywords because they are vital to ranking well and being noticed by crawlers.
Effective SEO Marketing Strategies Include High-Value Content
The changes in the Google algorithm have all been to provide expertise, authority, and trustworthy websites to their customers. Google believes if your site, even if it is ecommerce, has detailed content, then you are an authority in your niche.
There is only so much you can do with ecommerce staples like item descriptions and category descriptions. If you want Google to notice you, then you need to create high-quality keyword-optimized content regularly.
The most common method of creating content is through blog posts. Many businesses dislike blog posts because they take a long time to write. You want to spend your time building your business and not writing blog posts.
It’s not uncommon for businesses to hire an ecommerce SEO company to help create these articles. This is an investment in your business that can get great returns. The more articles you have the more chances Google bots latch onto one for the search results.
Content can be 500, 1000, 1500, or longer depending on the content. If a blog gets a high rank for a high-volume search query, then it can bring considerable traffic to your site. Once there, you can hook them into the sales funnel to the shopping cart.
Hiring a professional ecommerce marketing agency is worth the investment. They not only have writers that can write amazing content, but they can handle the keywords and all other aspects of search engine optimization as well.
A professional marketing agency provides a high return on investment over time. It’s important to be patient with SEO as it takes time to develop a plan, create content, and for Google to improve ranking.
Schema Markup Provides Context for Google Bots
Google bots do a lot of work. When they scour websites, they look at every piece of code to determine the subject of each page and if it’s worth being on the search results page. The problem is they are just pieces of code looking at other pieces of code.
They can examine your H1 headers, search for keywords, and other methods to determine the subject matter, but they might get it wrong. Schema is a programming language that provides context to Google bots, so they know exactly what they’re looking at.
For example, if the page is a blog post, it tells the bots it’s a blog post, so they don’t have to guess. It’s the same for your address and many other aspects from recipes to item pages.
Context is invaluable because it not only helps the bots understand your site better, which can help with ranking but also improve your chances for being part of rich snippets such as questions and answers and knowledge graphs.
These are above the search results and valuable real estate for your company. You can implement schema yourself, but it’s best to have it professionally done because of the sheer number of schema markups available.
Ecommerce SEO Marketing and Local Search
If you’re a brick-and-mortar store, then you face stiff competition in your area. It doesn’t matter if you’re a restaurant, heating and cooling company, or exterminator, you face off against a bevy of competitors.
A local search is different from a national search. You want customers within a certain geographic area. Schema can help with this, but localised content with localised keywords also is important.
You should have a Google My Business listing to help Google know where your business is located and claim business listings on major review sites such as Yelp. Business listings rank well on Google, but they often have incorrect information.
It’s only by claiming these listings either through a company that can change all the listings or by yourself that you can change this information and add new information. The better your business listings look, the better your chances of having someone visit your website.
Many listing and review sites let you add pictures and videos to help make your video stand out.
Reviews show people how real customers feel about your business. You need to know what reviews are out there and respond accordingly. You can thank those that left good reviews and get more information about those that had a bad experience.
How you respond to a bad review can help turn it around. It shows you care about what your customers say and want to make sure they have a positive experience. The opposite is true if you respond poorly or start an online argument.
SEO is a Great Investment
You face an uphill battle in this digital landscape. You need every tool available to get ab edge on your competition. Ecommerce SEO is an investment you need if you want people to see your business online. Without it, you’re missing out on a large amount of website and foot traffic.
If you want more information about SEO, then please contact our experts today.
