SEO for e-commerce: how to raise your online store to the first position in online shopping

An online store must receive a constant influx of customers from search engines, its success and profits directly depend on it. There are various ways to promote eCommerce sites, for example, contextual advertising or targeting in social networks. However, it is SEO for E-commerce that comes first in attracting targeted traffic.

What is SEO for E-commerce and why is it important for promotion?

SEO for E-commerce stands for “Search Engine Optimization”, which translates to “search engine optimization”. This is the name given to the methods aimed at getting a website on the first page of an issue, which in turn will attract customers to it and raise sales.

For e-commerce sites it is important that visitors, having asked a question to Google or other search engine, got exactly to their online store. That being said, SEO promotion, as we mentioned earlier, takes the lead in attracting traffic. According to research data, the difference is colossal:

• 53% of the transition to the e-commerce site occurs through the request of users in search engines;
• 27% - thanks to paid advertising.

Such figures are explained by a higher number of clicks, because the transitions are made naturally in response to a search query. On the other hand, a user may not react to paid advertising and may not click on it.

How you can increase sales through SEO

In order for SEO for e-commerce to work and your site is noticed by search engines, it is not enough to create an online store and launch it on the network. You need to perform a number of actions, which we'll talk about below.

Competitor Analysis

It is necessary to constantly monitor competitors who are at the top of the search results, and pay attention to the actions they take to attract visitors.

Be sure to analyze their text content - product descriptions, blocks, articles, headings, subheadings. This will help you discover keywords and phrases that competitors emphasize in promotion.

To analyze competitors, you need SEO tools for online store. Here are some of them:

• Ahrefs is a set of SEO tools for analysis, keyword collection, optimization and site audit. The service helps to find the words by which competitors are ranked, shows their positions in the search results, the volume of traffic for each word;
• SEMrush - the tool allows you to analyze the competitors' traffic, which they receive from the search engine and paid advertising. It can be used to identify the pages that attract the largest flow of visitors to the site;
• SimilarWeb - analyzes traffic sources of different portals, indicates popular pages, user behavior.

Competitor analysis will help to develop an effective SEO strategy in e-commerce. Its implementation will increase the visibility of the online store and bring it to the TOP. In addition, you will be able to outrank them if you provide better content and unique offers.

SEO for online store - check search engine positions

Regularly check where your site ranks in search results for your target keywords. This way you will be able to:

• evaluate the effectiveness of your SEO strategy;
• analyze changes in position and determine what they are related to - search engine algorithms, competitors' actions, internal adjustments on the e-commerce site. Such control helps to react in time, if the result suddenly deteriorates and prevent a drop in traffic;
• Identify the keys that bring your portal to the top positions, and focus on their promotion.

Checking can be done manually by typing targeted keywords into Google search engine and then searching for your e-commerce site. However, this is a simple but inefficient process, especially if there are a lot of keys and the online store is on page 12-20. It is better to use tools for automatic checking - Google Search Console, SEMrush, Ahrefs, Serpstat.

Keyword selection

Keywords play a huge role in SEO in e-commerce. Search engines react to user queries, such as “buy a smartphone”, and show them resources where there are such word combinations. Everyone works with such queries, so the competition is high, and they are dominated by the sites of large online stores.

To get to the top of Google for a small online store, you need to work with medium-frequency and low-frequency keywords. A tool like Google Keyword Planner can help you do this. If you want a deeper check, turn to the paid platforms Ahrefs and SEMrush.

When thinking about SEO strategy for B2C (manufacturer to customer), pay attention to the keys that consist of 3 or more words, i.e. more specific. For example, instead of “buy a smartphone”, employ the key “buy a smartphone with a good camera for selfies”.

Specific low-frequency keys have fewer competitors when compared to more general queries. Users who make such a query to Google are usually more likely to be ready to buy a product than people using general queries, such as just “buy a smartphone”.

Optimizing the structure of an online store

To promote an e-commerce site, the structure of the online store is also important. It should be well thought out, convenient and logical. This will allow customers to quickly find the goods they need, which positively affects the user experience.

SEO for Ecommerce website stipulates that the navigation should not only be convenient, but also help search engines to index the pages correctly:

• products should be categorized into clear categories and subcategories;
• navigation menus should be clearly designed and made to cover the main sections of online stores;
• to make it easier for the user to find the product, add filters by different characteristics - color, size, price, novelty, popularity.

It is easier for search engines to find an e-commerce site if there are headings, meta tags that contain the main keys. Do not forget about the description of categories and internal linking, simple and clear URLs.

Optimization of product pages

Unique and detailed product descriptions are one of the key factors of successful SEO in e-commerce. They attract the attention of both search engines and customers, convincing them to buy goods exactly in your online store. But copying descriptions from other sites, on the contrary, has a bad effect on SEO, and the portal runs the risk of being far from the first pages of search.

Also encourage customers to leave reviews of products - this increases trust in the store and helps customers to make a choice in your favor. React to negative reviews in time and know how to deal with them properly. This way you demonstrate that you care, and it has a good effect on the reputation of the store.

Pay special attention to the photos of goods. They should be high quality and take up little space, without slowing down the loading of pages. In order for search engines to understand what is depicted on them, it is necessary to add attributes “alt” and “title”.

Optimization of the mobile version

Special attention should be paid to the mobile version of the online store. It should meet the following criteria:

• automatically adjust to different screen sizes (adaptive design);
• load pages quickly;
• have a simple and clear navigation with easy to click buttons.

Tools such as Google Mobile-Friendly Test and PageSpeed Insights can help you check whether your site is optimized for smartphones.

Content creation and blogging

Quality content is the foundation of successful SEO for E-commerce and attracting traffic to an online store. It helps solve user problems and builds brand trust. Therefore, when creating content, pay attention not only to the description of products, sections, categories, but also:

• instructions;
• manuals;
• FAQ;
• reviews and comparison of products;
• description of additional services;
• video content.

Publish articles using keywords on a regular basis. Also another working tool of SEO Ecommerce is blogging. Search engines are more loyal to online stores and sites that maintain their commercial blogs. This tool, which refers to content marketing, works well with those users who are only familiar with the topic and have not yet decided on a particular product and store. At the same time, with the help of a blog you can create demand and “teach” users to use certain products.

External optimization of the online store

This is called the promotion of an online store in the search engine with the help of building up external links. To do this, usually write an article with a link to the online store, then publish it in authoritative sources - online magazines, newspapers, blogs, catalogs. These can be both paid links and two-way exchanges, for example, as a result of joint companies.

Analytics and monitoring

To check the effectiveness of your SEO strategy, connect Google Analytics and Google Search Console to your website. This way you will determine what is producing results, as well as identify weaknesses and address them.

SEO promotion of your online store with MEGASITE

To raise your online store to the first positions in online shopping, contact the IT company MEGASITE. We have been creating and SEO-promoting online stores for more than 10 years, and we know all about successful application of SEO for E-commerce.

Contact our manager and he will answer all your questions! To do this, leave your contacts in the feedback form on our website or call +38 (050) 3986 275.