The considerable increase in the usage of smartphones and the availability of higher bandwidth speeds played a critical role in the growth of the ecommerce industry. The increasing popularity of ecommerce urged several businesses to start an online store or e-commerce site to sell products and services online.
It is integral for businesses to hire an ecommerce seo agency if they want to grow and stay ahead of competitors. Also they offer extra ordinary SEO services and create excellent content and other digital descriptions to improve the visibility of the business to the clients. It makes your website attractive for different search engines to appeal to several potential customers.
Here is an e-commerce SEO checklist that will simplify businesses when implementing SEO on their website.
Keyword Research
The first and foremost thing you should do is to invest time in keyword research. Keyword research will help you to identify the top-searched keywords that are related to different industries.
Businesses can use this information and include popular keywords in the content of their website to increase their chances of getting a higher rank on the search engine results page of Google.
There are several free and premium tools available online that will help you easily find ideal keywords for your business. Such tools will help you conduct competitor research, topic analysis, backlink analysis, keyword research, and more.
Responsive Design
Most online marketers will probably be aware that the search engine giant Google started using mobile-first indexing approximately two years ago. Several existing and potential customers will be visiting your website through their mobile devices.
This means that ecommerce websites will have to ensure an engaging experience on both desktops and mobile devices. Businesses will also need to make sure that the content on both desktop and mobile websites are the same.
Apart from that, ecommerce website owners or administrators will have to check the page load time on their mobile website. It is crucial to note that a responsive website will improve the traffic to your website, generate more leads, and earn more revenue.
Create Engaging Content
Ecommerce business owners should realize that one of the best and easiest ways to lure in more customers to your website is by publishing unique and engaging content. Websites that regularly come up with engaging, informative, and fresh content are sure to get more traffic when compared to other websites.
It is also important to optimize all the product pages on your website with relevant keywords. You should also make sure to include the benefits of products while writing product descriptions. It is also an excellent idea to include social sharing buttons to lure website visitors into your social media accounts.
Resolve 404 Errors And Other Warnings
Error 404 – Page Not Found is a common error that can negatively affect website visitors. 404 errors usually occur on websites due to the following reasons.
- When you remove content from the website
- When you change the permalink
- When you link your website with another site with an incorrect or misspelled link
You can easily remove the 404 error from your website by making use of a 301 redirect. If a customer types in the old URL of your website, then a 301 redirect will automatically redirect the customer to the new URL of your website.
Avoid Keyword Stuffing
It might come as a surprise to many when they learn that several businesses try techniques such as keyword stuffing to get a higher rank for their website. Keyword stuffing was a common SEO practice used by several online marketers to boost their website rank.
However, it is best to avoid this practice, as it will not help you get better ranks. You may even get penalized for keyword stuffing by Google and other popular search engines.
Make sure to keep things simple and natural when creating content on your website for existing and potential customers. Including relevant keywords on unique and informative website content will increase your chances of getting a higher rank.
Use SSL Certificates
Ecommerce business owners will have to strictly follow the PCI-DSS guidelines, which requires them to have essential security measures in place to prevent the chances of data breaches and cyber-attack. Most ecommerce websites will be handling a vast amount of information. Secure your in-transit communication containing confidential information by installing an SSL certificate that encrypts the same using Public Key Infrastructure technology.
Search engines like Google and most internet users prefer websites that are safe and secure. So, if your website doesn’t have an SSL certificate, your website may fail to lure in customers. This is why it is integral for all ecommerce websites to buy and install reliable certs such as AlphaSSL, comodo SSL certificates.
If you want to ensure higher security to customers and make your website look trustworthy, you should consider getting the right kind of SSL certificate for your website. For securing an ecommerce website, we suggest employing a cheap wildcard SSL that does its job pretty well by securing your chosen primary domain and an unlimited number of first-level subdomains under it. You should also note that most web browsers will flag non-HTTPS websites by issuing “not secure” warnings.
Avoid Using Duplicate Content
Search engines like Google usually promote high-quality, unique, and relevant content. This means that websites using duplicate content will struggle to get higher rankings on the search engine results page.
If 60 percent of the content in your website matches with another content, then the content on your website will be considered duplicate by Google. In some cases, you may even get penalized for using duplicate content on your website.
Another important thing to note is that Google also does not prefer web pages with thin content. If the product pages on your website do not have detailed information and relevant images, they might not even get indexed by Google.
This is mainly because Google believes that such pages will not satisfy the search intent of internet users since they offer very little information. This is why ecommerce website owners should also consider improving the thin content on their web pages.
Wrapping Up
E-commerce is an extremely competitive field, which means that it is essential to follow a solid SEO strategy if you want your businesses to succeed. The above-mentioned ecommerce SEO checklist offers effective tips and tactics that will help ecommerce businesses solidify their stance on the market.