What is Ecommerce SEO?

Does it really matter if your URL begins with HTTPS instead of HTTP? Unbelievably so. If your site is not secured, Google alerts users with a “not secure” warning in the address bar.

Not only is https a positive signal to Google of trustworthiness and value, securing your site is essential for users. An HTTPs protects data transfer. Users are not going to purchase an item and enter personal information on a site that is not secure. Even if an internet visitor doesn’t know what HTTPs means, “not secure” is enough to warn most people away from inputting credit card information.

Most hosting services offer SSL certificates, used to secure sites. 

Keyword research is one of the most important tasks for improving organic search performance.

Keywords are the questions and phrases your prospective customers are looking for while searching for products or services like yours. Google’s Keyword Planner is a free tool for marketers performing keyword research. We highly recommend a number of paid options as well, such as SEMrush and Moz.

While performing keyword research, consider search volume, intent, and relevance.

An ecommerce page has big shoes to fill, providing an experience as easy as shopping in a physical store while still remaining in a virtual world. If you want shoppers to find you – and buy from you! – the right site architecture can make all the difference. This means a distinct hierarchy, both on your store pages as well as throughout the rest of your site.

Make sure your product organization is clear, straightforward, and easy to navigate, both for the benefit of search engine crawlers and your customers.

While creating an effective layout, it's also important to keep internal linking in mind. This practice serves two key purposes: creating an index of how pages relate to one another while also improving navigation and thus time spent on your site.

Though blogs and articles are most commonly included in content creation strategies, every page on your website presents an opportunity to rank for a valuable keyword.

• Category pages - category pages are often ignored or duplicated, but they shouldn’t be. Category pages can rank for overarching high-volume, low-difficulty keyword phrases. In fact, in our experience category pages provide some of the most potent opportunities for ecommerce sites.
• Product pages – product pages should be organized, comprehensive, and optimized for more specific keyword inquiries. Evaluate if each and every product page on your site includes helpful details that properly inform the visitor and will lead to conversion.
• Industry pages – depending on your brand, industry pages can be helpful, providing ample opportunity to rank for specific keywords.
• Location pages – location pages are best for businesses serving multiple surrounding locations.
• Main website pages – of course, your main website pages should be thorough, straightforward, and optimized for your most important keywords.

As an ecommerce operation, the products you showcase are among the most important assets you have available. Without in-depth and detailed pages, it's possible to fail to pack a punch both on the SERPs as well as with your customers, making it a challenge to communicate the value of what you have to offer.

Instead, you need to create a valuable experience for your visitors. Focus on a few key elements, including:

• Product names with appropriate keyword usage
• Product descriptions rich in information about size, material, cleaning instructions, and more to provide a well-rounded customer experience
• Image optimization designed with the customer in mind, including files named with keywords
• Product information or how-to videos
• Comprehensive customer reviews to boost consumer trust
• FAQ content to keep customers involved and boost conversion rates

4XX errors are important to resolve. Generally, 4XX errors indicate broken pages that Google is unable to crawl, and once you’ve connected to Google Search Console, you can check for 4XX pages regularly. 

Over 60% of all internet users search on a mobile device. This fact – and the reality that Google now predominantly uses the mobile version of a site for indexing and ranking – mean that mobile compatibility is not optional. Websites that are not compatible on mobile devices miss out on nearly 60% of all internet traffic.

Mobile compatibility is no longer just a convenience but a necessity in today's digital landscape. With that much data supporting the notion of internet users accessing websites through mobile devices, ensuring that your website is optimized for mobile viewing is crucial. Moreover, Google's shift towards mobile-first indexing emphasizes the importance of mobile responsiveness for search engine rankings. A website that isn't mobile-friendly risks losing a significant portion of potential traffic and could struggle to compete effectively in the online market.

Add social media channels, customer reviews, testimonials, and case studies to your website. Social proof demonstrates that your brand is trustworthy from a third-party perspective. After all, if YOU say YOUR brand is trustworthy, your bias is clear.

Prospective customers enjoy hearing about their peers’ experiences before purchasing.

“Featuring social proof across your ads, website and emails can help move online shoppers from inspiration to consideration and from consideration to purchase, ultimately driving conversions on your ecommerce site,” one online commerce resource wrote.

In fact, nearly 80% of people reference social proof, like user-generated content (UGC), as a significant factor in their purchase decisions.

Include social proof in key location across your website. HubSpot outlines a few examples of brands using social proof well, including Nature Made and Fitbit.

Nature Made and Fitbit are two examples of many brands allowing social proof to serve as a critical selling point in the buyer’s journey.

Finally, make sure to implement a few key tools on your website to track progress. To start, we recommend connecting Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Bing Webmaster Tools. We briefly discussed Search Console at the start of this piece.

Google Analytics is especially useful for organic search metrics, like traffic and larger search performance trends. Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools serve similar purposes on Google and Bing. Both tools allow marketers to identify errors, view keyword performance, submit an XML sitemap, and other opportunities.

For digital storefronts running search engine ads, Google Ads is an inclusive tool for creating, launching, and managing ads on Google. Additionally, Shopify, BigCommerce, and other top ecommerce management systems provide high-quality data – including details about your sales, your website traffic, and your audience.