SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, can be an intimidating concept for some.
Despite the misconception that e-commerce SEO is a relatively quick and easy process which can reap immediate results, good and proper e-commerce SEO can actually be a time consuming task which doesn’t always yield immediate results. However, in the end, the results of good SEO undeniably make it a vital aspect to the survival of any e-commerce business, especially in today’s thriving and competitive environment.
Hence, it would be wise to have a basic understanding of some of the facets of SEO and their power to enhance your business.
What Is SEO?
SEO is the act optimizing your website and its various elements to cater to search engines like Yahoo and Google in order for your site - and ultimately your business - to get a higher ranking in search results.
The gold standard of SEO is to rank on page one of a search.
However, SEO is in itself not a cut-and-dry topic or simple, limited concept. There are different types of SEO that cater to different types of businesses, customers, and searches.
- Local SEO caters more to the brick-and-mortar based business,
- Organic SEO focuses on the online-based business that may not even have or need a physical location.
While an understanding of which specific focus of SEO is right for your business is important, the focus of this blog post will lie on the more universal Organic SEO. Organic SEO can be applied in a variety of circumstances in a variety of places, from Shopify and Amazon to Walmart and beyond!
SEO & Your Business
As we explained above, quality SEO makes your business stand out from the competition with Google. Quality SEO makes your site more relevant, easier to find, and accessible to people looking for the good or service you have to offer.
The better your optimization, the earlier in a search Google will point people your way. That means more traffic to your site and ultimately more potential customers. Our post on why SEO is important for your business goes into more detail on this topic and breaks down even further the benefits of SEO, from staying ahead of competition, establishing brand presence, and more.
The Basics
Some of the more basic aspects of e-commerce SEO include:
Make your website engaging and mobile responsive
A good chunk of e-commerce sales come from mobile devices. Making your website mobile friendly will make your website way more appealing to customers and minimize important negative factors (like abandonment rate and page load speed) that Google looks at to rank you accordingly.
Optimize your images
This works hand-in-hand with the above step, as having large images will take longer to load and make your website run significantly slower. People tend to navigate away from sites that take longer than 1 second to load. Optimizing your images can go a long way towards a higher ranking for your site.
Make appropriate use of keywords
Using appropriate keywords are of extreme importance. But as with all good things, they should be used in moderation. If you use too many keywords, then Google will see that and count that against you. But use too little, and Google will pass you by for someone better.
Add relevant, quality content
This is probably one of the most important parts of SEO, because without content, Google and other search engines really don’t have much to judge you by and will move on. Blogs, articles, and the such are great ways to get good content up on your site and add to your Google ranking.
Conclusion
SEO is a very powerful tool that can benefit your business. The higher the quality of your website’s optimization, the better your ranking with search engines. The better your ranking with search engines, the more traffic you gain. And the the more traffic you gain, the more potential customers you get, ultimately making good e-commerce SEO not only vital to your business, but also a worthwhile investment.
