SEO has long been a staple in good digital marketing. But now more than ever, SEO can no longer be considered a suggestion or a choice. In today’s digital world, SEO is a necessity for all businesses, even more so for eCommerce brands.
Through the practice of good SEO, your online business will climb the ranks of search engine result pages (SERPs) and become more visible to potential new customers. New customers can mean a lot of things but above all, they give you more sales, more profits and more revenue!
Now SEO is easier said than done, but it’s not impossible! With our updated eCommerce website SEO checklist you can start implementing the strategies you need to make sure your business is showing up on the first pages of Google. Let’s get going and start checking off our list!
Ticking off your eCommerce website SEO checklist
SEO content
Any good eCommerce website SEO checklist starts with SEO content. SEO content comes in many forms. This can be as simple as a paragraph of copy on your website’s home page or a full blog site dedicated to housing valuable and informational articles.
OSIM UK uses a blog post to provide value to readers whilst also boosting their website SEO. Source: OSIM UK
The difference between regular old content and those made for SEO are keywords. Keywords are the backbone of SEO and targeting specific ones will attract people actively searching for said keyword. Make sure you do proper keyword research to select the best performers, before inserting them into your content.
Unique titles and meta descriptions
Speaking of good SEO content, you’ll also need unique titles and meta descriptions to attract visitors and to help search engines rank them. For all your pages, ensure that you’re using appropriate H1 and H2 tags and that all your headlines are not too long in length (so they don’t appear cut off in SERPs). Also make sure they contain good keywords and are individually unique.
Ensure both your headlines and meta descriptions are the right length so they don’t cut off. Source: Google
Meta descriptions require the same attention as your headlines. Make sure they’re not too long and are written to tease and attract potential visitors. There are many online checkers that you can use to see if your headlines and meta descriptions meet both user and search engine criteria!
Alt text and image file names
An important yet often overlooked part of our eCommerce website SEO checklist is alt text and image file names. Alt text is written text that appears in place of an image on a page if the image fails to load on a user’s screen.
It’s important for every image you use on a page to have alt text because they have two important purposes – to help describe images to visually impaired users and to help search engines better crawl and rank your website.
Does your eCommerce website images have alt text? Source: Google
The same goes for their file names as well. By appropriately naming them, you make it easier for both users and search engines to find what they’re looking for. Filling out every single image’s alt text and file name may be tedious, but the payoff is too good to ignore.
Reviews & Testimonials
To bolster your eCommerce SEO efforts, try showcasing your customer reviews and testimonials on your website. Testimonials are a showcase of the trust you have developed with your customers and are fantastic in spreading good word-of-mouth to potential clients.
Testimonials build trust and create additional SEO value Source: Cosoosoo
They’re also excellent in boosting SEO in three ways. First, they are great for user experience, capable of adding value and social proof on home pages, product pages and landing pages.
Reviews and testimonials also increase your domain authority, especially if they come from third-party sites and pages. Lastly, they also improve your ranking on SERPs.
Prioritise horizontal architecture
Nobody likes clicking through 10 pages to get to where they want – search engines included. Your eCommerce site’s architecture or structure dictates the way both users and search engines navigate it.
When users land on your website, they should be able to easily navigate and find the products they want (otherwise, you run the risk of users bouncing). Search engine bots crawl and index pages based on this same idea. A well-structured site will provide search engines differentiated page experiences that are easy to crawl and understand, making it easier for them to match them with user searches.
When building your eCommerce site, try prioritising a more horizontal structure, as opposed to a more vertical one. This encourages smoother and easier navigation for both users and search engines.
Add schema markups
Perhaps the most technical item on this eCommerce website SEO checklist are schema markups. Schema markup is website code or tags that helps search engines match your site with user queries and searches. Common examples of schema markup use are rich snippets which are found in Google searches.
Schema markups help differentiate your site’s search engine result from others. Source: Google
Google search results with star ratings and publication dates can all be added in with schema markups. They help bolster your site on SERPs and make them more attractive to users. To generate your own schema markup codes you can use resources such as the Google Data Markup Helper.
Mobile responsiveness
Another great way to improve your website’s SEO is ensuring good mobile responsiveness. 55% of the entire population browse websites on their phones, so it’s essential that your site looks good and functions well on mobile devices.
Search engines such as Google know the importance of mobile responsiveness to users and as such, favours websites that can cater to these devices. Make sure all aspects of your eCommerce site – from images to buttons – all work on mobile devices, and to test them thoroughly!
Bug and error free
This one is pretty straightforward; search engines are likely to not show your website if it is broken. So it goes without saying you need to guarantee your website is free of bugs, broken pages and errors. You may never be able to stamp out 100% of bugs but constant monitoring and testing can help you stay on top of them!
You can also do work to optimise your website’s backend to decrease the chance your website breaks. Optimisation can also help speed up loading times which is another great way to boost your SEO.
Get your eCommerce site to top of Google today!
By checking off everything on this eCommerce website SEO checklist, you can bolster your site’s ranking and position on the search engine of your choice. Need more information? For more SEO boosting articles like this, visit the ZipZipe blog today!