The success of a business in the field of online commerce largely depends on the site’s position in search engine results. Our experts have prepared 13 simple tips that you should consider when SEO-optimizing your online store.
1. Pay attention to the robots.txt file.
This is the first step with which the promotion of the project should begin. By editing robots.txt, you can solve a range of important technical optimization tasks: prevent search engines from indexing service files and duplicate pages, and closing user accounts from indexing to avoid disclosing personal data. Depending on the store engine and its structure, the set of directives will be individual for each site.
2. Remember to use Micro Markup.
Display a set of results of your product pages using advanced snippets. For example, when displaying a product, showcase its rating and price. Attractive site snippet increases clickability in search results and allows you to attract additional search traffic to the site. For this, it is recommended to use Schema.org micro-marking. Note that the main influence of the markup is on snippets in the Google search engine. Consider the main types of this markup:
- Product – this type of scheme describes a product: its name, image, brand and description. It does not have much to display in the snippet, but it is recommended that you use the rest of the schemes in conjunction with the Product.
- Offer – mark the cost of the product, its availability, user rating of the product.
- AggregateOffer – similar to the Offer type, but used if the product has a price range.
- Rating – the user review and the final product rating based on this review are marked with this scheme.
- Aggregate Rating – there are several reviews on the page, and the average rating of the product is considered and displayed.
- Review – this type of scheme marks the user’s review of the product.
- Video Object – if a video review is placed on the product page, mark it up using this scheme. The result will definitely attract the user’s attention.
3. Do not be Lazy to fill in the Description fields.
The direct ranking of the online store and the description meta tag are not related but do not ignore the page description during SEO optimization. These descriptions have a major impact on the site’s CTR in the search. Search engines, especially Google, use the description meta tag to create a snippet in the search results. Therefore, your task in promotion is to attract the attention of the user, “hook” him with your unique offer. Then the clickability will be higher. At the same time, we recommend making descriptions within 150 characters with spaces, because longer descriptions simply do not fit into the visible part of the snippet. Get a FREE store audit by simply filling out the contact form on our About Us page.
We will do a clear audit, check all the details, provide a detailed report indicating all current problems and how to quickly and effectively solve them!
4. Use Google for Webmasters.
Using at least one system, you will be aware of all the technical problems with the web resource, you will be able to monitor the indexing of the pages of your online store, track the statistics of search queries for which visitors come to the page. For example, Google Webmaster of your store gives a complete picture of the status of your online store.
5. Work with Product Reviews.
When choosing a product, a potential buyer will want to know the objective opinion of people using this product. A detailed review is a significant plus for making a purchasing decision. Therefore, we recommend adding the ability to leave reviews. The buyer can easily determine custom reviews. Reviews must be real, even if they are negative. Do not forget to respond to criticism and answer questions, as this increases the confidence of users in the online store.
6. Work with Content.
Successful SEO optimization of an online store and its content are inextricably linked. But, it’s not always advisable to place voluminous SEO texts crammed with keywords on the pages of an online store when promoting. This will harm the position of your site.
Indeed, there is nothing superfluous: it is convenient to select and order a product without unnecessary questions and unnecessary content.
7. Sign the photo.
When adding images to the directory, be sure to add the alt attributes to the img tag. Thus, the photos of the goods of your online store will get into the search in the pictures, which will attract additional traffic. Another point that you need to consider when promoting – the contents of the alt attribute is displayed even when the visitor’s browser does not display a photo for various reasons. It will help a user understand what the image is about.
8. 404 Errors need to be Fixed!
Make sure that the user never gets to the page without information. All sections of the site should work correctly, and non-existent addresses should give the correct 404 response or redirect to the current section. If the user somehow came to a non-existent page, we recommend you these templates. These templates will help you understand on how to make your 404 informative, add a search function, retain the visitor, and tactfully suggest going to the main page or offer a bonus.
9. Work on Product Descriptions.
Try to provide product pages with simultaneously informative, technically competent and selling descriptions. In no case, do you not duplicate content on different pages. Firstly, it negatively affects the results of issuance, and secondly, it is not best perceived by potential buyers. And yet, in no case do not impose the product. Such advertising is ineffective and even harmful.
10. Maximum attention to Structure and Navigation!
Even at the stage of store development, we recommend that you carefully consider the structure of your online store and write down the CNC pages (addresses convenient for human perception). A competent site structure and the availability of CNC will contribute to:
- improve site ranking;
- increase search traffic;
- easy user orientation on the site.
Avoid a lot of nesting. Technically, this is not a mistake but can lead to confusion in navigation. Avoid overly detailed divisions into subsections (e.g., by color, size, cost). Otherwise, an unreasonably large number of subsections will turn out, which will greatly increase the site menu. For such a division, it is better to add a product filter or use quick or tag links directly in the content of the main section under the H1 tag.
From the point of view of correct navigation, we consider the following structure acceptable:
- site.com;
- site.com/catalog/;
- site.com/catalog/adidas/;
- site.com/catalog/adidas/shoes/* or site.com/catalog/shoes/**.
* With this option, the entire navigation chain can be displayed in the snippet
** With this option, it is possible to bind goods to various sections/subsections without forming duplicate pages, but the navigation chain in the snippet can be picked up only due to the micro-marking of “bread crumbs”
Do not let users “wander” around the site in search of the right product. Make the menu convenient, simple and logical. This will allow you to easily find the right product. Just look at an example: in a large online hypermarket of clothing, makeup can be found in 2 clicks!
11. Indicate the Geographical location of the Store.
This step will help the online store rank high in the sales region you are interested in. To do this, you must have the contact details of the company in this region. To specify the geographical location, use the “Regionality” tool in Google My Business.
12. Ensure Stable Performance and Fast Page Loading Speed.
If the online store crashes with any increase in server load or the pages load for a very long time, this is a serious problem. Without proper optimization, visitors will not be converted into buyers – they simply will not wait for the content to load. Pay attention to hosting reliability and reduce download speed as much as possible. In our opinion, very good hosting in terms of reliability, quality of support and price:
- BlueHost
- Digital Ocean
- Amazon SES
You can check the page loading speed and get recommendations for improvement, for example, using the PageSpeed Insights service.
13. Constantly work with the Semantic Core and Content.
It is necessary to constantly update the core, monitor trends, add popular queries for new product models, remove queries from remote pages, monitor the current frequency, and fill new or existing pages with content.
SEO is Important but not the Main Success Factor
Applying these useful tips to your online store will significantly improve the rankings of your online store. But, do not limit yourself to this list, there are several other factors in SEO for eCommerce, these are some quick tips to help you boost your SEO.
