ecommerce seo

eCommerce SEO

eCommerce SEO is very similar to regular SEO. You just have a lot more moving parts to watch.

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Keyword Research Similar to regular SEO, keyword research should be a core part of your marketing plan. You have to know what buyers are searching for so know how best to position your products.


CommonProblems: OnlinestorelaunchedwithoutanykeywordresearchHaphazardorquickkeywordreviewVerybroadkeywordsthataredifficulttorankKeywordsthatnotrelevanttoactualbuyers

BestPrac1ce: Researchproducts,manufactures,andcompe@torsCreateaseedlistforproducts,categories,andtopicsPullsearchvolumesforpossiblekeywordsRankkeywordsforrelevance

HelpfulTools: GoogleAdwordsKeywordPlannerMozKeywordExplorerKWFindersemrushSpyFu

Site Mapping Site mapping is critical for ecommerce based websites, because it is very easy to compete with yourself due to the cross over of products, categories, tags, and topical areas.


CommonProblems: LackofstructureandplanningPrimarykeywordsareassignedtoproductsKeywordphraseusedmorethanonceasfocus

BestPrac1ce: AssignhighestprioritykeywordstocategoriesCreatetopicalareasforseasonalorclearanceitemsExtendusageintocomparisonandbuyerguidesKeepoverallstructurenomorethen3clicksdeep

HelpfulTools: DynoMapperWriteMapsScreamingFrogSEOSpiderTool

Site Mapping Search Phrase Ugg Boots

Results 1 – 3 Manufacturer or Brand

Results 4 – 5 Reseller Category


SEO Friendly URLs SEO friendly URLs help search engines understand a website’s architecture and the structure of the content. They also help users quickly find products.


CommonProblems: ConvolutedURLswithoutstructureConstantlychangingURLsduetocategorymodifica@onsExtremelylongURLswithmul@plelayers

BestPrac1ce: HumanreadableURLsFocusedkeywordphrasewithinURLSetlimitatthreelevelsdeepConsistentusageoruseof301redirects

HelpfulTools: DynoMapperWriteMapsScreamingFrogSEOSpiderTool

Duplicate Content Duplicate content (in this case) refers to the same content displayed under different URLs within the same website.


CommonProblems: Non-canonicalURLsSessionIDsDuplicateURLpathsduetomul@plecategories

BestPrac1ce: KeepURLscleanSetanyareasofduplica@onsasnoindexWatchcategoryusagewithinURLscarefully

HelpfulTools: DynoMapperScreamingFrogSEOSpiderTool

WinterBoots AdirondackII /winter-boots/adirondack-ii/

SnowBoots AdirondackII /snow-boots/adirondack-ii/

Product Descriptions If you want your store to rank over other stores, you have to give search engines a reason to elevate you in search. One way to accomplish this task is through high quality product descriptions.


CommonProblems: Limitedproductdescrip@onsManufacturer’sdescrip@onasonlycontentBulletlistofwordsandnoactualsentences

BestPrac1ce: Createunique,keywordrichdescrip@onsU@lizemanufacturer’sdescrip@ons,butaugmentReviewcompe@torwebsitesandwritebeZer,moredescrip@vecontent

HelpfulTools: GoogleSearchConsoleDynoMapper

Category pages also need descriptions. Don’t just list products. Tell search engines and users what is listed on the page.

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Manufacturer Part Numbers Consumers search for manufacturer part numbers when needing specific products. Optimizing for these data points will help increase search and shorten the sales cycle.


CommonProblems: Missingorincompletemanufacturerpartnumbers

BestPrac1ce: Includecompletemanufacturerpartnumbersinoneormoreofthefollowingplaces:-Descrip@on-Productname-H1-URL-Meta@tleanddescrip@on-Shortdescrip@onsforlistbasedpages-Imagefilenameandalttext

Meta Titles and Descriptions Meta titles and descriptions give search engines and users an idea of what the page is about and what they should expect to see as they digest the content. These data points appears in search engines result pages.


CommonProblems: Duplicatemeta@tlesanddescrip@onsacrossproductsKeywordstuffingwithinmeta@tlesanddescrip@ons

BestPrac1ce: CreateuniquemetaforeachproductIncludefocusedkeywordifapplicableAddinofferstohelpsetyouapartinSERPs

HelpfulTools: YoastSEOAllinOneSEODynoMapperScreamingFrogSEOSpiderToolMozbarGoogleSearchConsole

Meta Search Phrase site:ugg.com/uk/ womens boots

Ask yourself this: Can you tell the difference between the search results?

You can, because good meta titles and descriptions make that possible.


Breadcrumbs

ü  Improved usability and helps eliminates additional clicks ü  Shows hierarchy ü Reduces bounce rates ü Helps with search engine optimization


CommonProblems: 23%don’thavebreadcrumbsatall68%sufferfromsub-parbreadcrumbimplementa@ons

BestPrac1ce: ImplementbreadcrumbsoncategoryandproductpagesStylesotheyareeasytoreadanduseCheckmobiledevicestomakesuretheyareusable

HelpfulTools: BreadcrumbNavXTbYoastSEO

Link Building ü  Internal linking is important because it tells search engines which content is

most important ü  Inbound linking is important because it demonstrates authority and relevance


CommonProblems: LimitedinboundlinkingstrategyBrokenlinksLackof301redirectusageLimitedornoinboundlinkingefforts

BestPrac1ce: UseinternallinkingtosupporttopSEOfocusedcontentUse301redirectsandusethemwiselyBuildinboundlinkstosupporttopSEOfocusedcontent

HelpfulTools: SpyFuAhrefsMozOpenSiteExplorer

Social Media ü  Facebook dominates social media traffic and conversions ü  Facebook accounts for 50% of social referrals and 64% of total social

revenue ü 87% of Pinterest users have purchased an item because of Pinterest


CommonProblems: DormantsocialaccountswithliZleac@vityLackofsocialsharingiconsforvisitorstouseonproductsFailuretobuildcommuni@esandengagement

BestPrac1ce: Ac@velyengagewithsocialmediausersAc@velysharecontentfromtheen@rewebsiteandstoreBuildacommunityfirstandsellsecond

HelpfulTools: AddThisShareBuZonsShareaholicUl@mateSocialMediaMashshareHootsuite

Schema and Rich Snippets

ü  Structured data helps Google understand the content on your site, which can be used to display rich snippets in search results.

ü Rich snippets can also help with click through rates.


CommonProblems: NoschemaIncorrectlyappliedschema

BestPrac1ce: AllowproductreviewsApplyproductbasedschemaValidateschemaiscorrectviaexternalsources

HelpfulTools: Google’sStructuredDataTes@ngToolYoastWooCommerceSEOSchemaWooCommercePluginbySchemaApp

XML Sitemaps An XML sitemap is a file where you can list the content within your site to tell Google and other search engines about the organization of your content.


CommonProblems: MissingIncompleteErrors

BestPrac1ce: SetXMLmaptoautoma@callyupdateConnecttoGoogle,Bing,andothersearchenginesIncludeproducts,categories,tags,andtopicareasValidateandcheckforerrors

HelpfulTools: YoastSEOAllinOneSEOGoogleSearchConsoleBingWebmasterToolshZp://tools.seochat.com/tools/site-validator/

Mobile Responsive ü Mobile commerce is now 30% of all U.S. ecommerce ü By 2020, mobile commerce will make up 45 percent of total ecommerce


CommonProblems:

LackofmobilewebsiteUnexpectedredirectstodesktopsiteHiddenorlackofinforma@onLargeimageswhichimpactperformanceCheckoutprocessesthatarenotop@mized

BestPrac1ce: Op@mizethecheckoutprocessformobileMakeuserreviewedeasytolocateCompressimagestoimprovepagespeed

HelpfulTools: hZp://ready.mobi/hZps://[email protected]/hZp://ami.responsivedesign.is/

Speed and Performance ü 40% of people abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load ü A 1 second delay in page response can reduce conversions 7% ü  If an ecommerce site is making $100,000 per day, a 1 second page delay

could potentially cost you $2.5 million in lost sales every year


CommonProblems: Slowandsluggishpageloadsduetolargeimages,poorcode,orcheapwebsitehos@ng

BestPrac1ce: UsecachepluginsUseCDNsCompressimagesPurchasehighqualityhos@ng

HelpfulTools: GooglePageSpeedInsightsPingdomToolsGTmetrixWPEngineWordPressSpeedTest

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ?



Rebecca Gill WordPress Agency Owner & SEO Instructor

@rebeccagill RebeccaGill.com