Search engine optimization (SEO) means getting a higher ranking for your website and it isn’t easy for any site, and e-commerce sites have some unique SEO challenges to overcome.
These tips will help you tackle some unique challenges for your e-commerce site so you can rank higher in Google’s search engine results and get more visitors, especially ones that might buy.
1. Creating Unique Content on Each of Your Products & Categories
Google looks for unique content and it tells Google if your page is valuable, and helps it to rank higher. Well-written content can be the one thing that persuades your visitors to actually get their credít cards out.
Write your own descriptions of your products so that Google sees them as valuable. Google’s Panda Upodate of back in 2011 favours sites that have original content.
2. What are Shoppers actually searching for
Keyword research is an invaluable way to discover the words you should be using to describe what you sell. You can find out how many people search for a particular keyword per month, and even check more specifically for your own region, with Google’s free keyword tool.
For more info on the importance of choosing the right keywords, read http://www.thehostingpool.com/the-importance-of-ranking-high-in-google-10-facts/773/
3. Create Pages for Categories People are Searching For
Some people may be searching for specific product names like “Dyson,” but it is more likely people are searching for broad keyword phrases like “Vacuum Cleaner” and “high power vacuum cleaner”
Creating category pages for these broad keyword phrases – as well as product-specific pages within each category – boosts your SEO and helps you capture a larger number of people searching for your product. The added bonus is that category pages based on broad keywords can help browsers and researchers find what they want more quickly, and possibly turn them into buyers.
4. Interlinking Your Pages
Links to other products and categories within the text on your site. Be sure to use good anchor text with relevant keywords. This will help Google find and index other the other pages on your site, so they get found too. The links and anchor text can also boost the linked pages’ SEO and help them rank higher for the words you use in your anchor text.
People reading your text can easily click on links you provide and find other products that might interest them. This can be a good way of keeping people on your site, and helping them find what they want.
5. Allow People to Share on Social Media Sites
SEO loves Social Media, it was made for it. Social media sharing gets your product seen by more people. Install social sharing buttons for Facebook, Twitter and Google+ for every product and on every page. Make sure they’re prominent on the page. Some online retailers place them right below the price of each product, people always look for the price.
For more about Using Social Media as part of your Search Engine Optimization
6. Valuable Backlinks
Backlinks or links from other websites to yours are one of the most important factors search engines consider when deciding how high to rank your web page in their search results.
Adding interesting content to your website that is outside the usual product and category pages is a first step, because very few website owners want to link to a boring page, or a page where you’re just selling something. Blogging is a great way of adding link-worthy content to your website.
For much more info on getting backlinks & blogging
7. Avoid Duplicate Content Issues
Sorting through a list of products by various parameters like price, popularity or product ratings is not enough. While sorting is useful for people, it can be a bit of a nightmare for your SEO, because it usually means you are essentially creating multiple pages with the same content, just in a different order. Search engines can see these pages as duplicate content, and therefore less valuable. This can dilute the SEO of these pages.
This isn’t a simple thing to fix, but the easiest thing you can do is tell Google about it using Googles Webmaster Tools.
8. Use Descriptive URLs
The URLs on your site are a great opportunity to boost your site’s SEO. If your page about pink wine bottles has a URL like http://www.example.com/pink-wine-bottles , the URL is telling Google that the page is about “pink wine bottles and should show up in search results for that keyword phrase. However, if the URL is http://www.example.com/page?id=592749742 , Google doesn’t understand that piece of information as it’s not telling them what the page is about. People sometimes look at URLs too, so it’s much better if the URL informs them, too.
9. Let Visitors Leave Reviews
Reviews are a great piece of unique content that search engines love.
Reviews can also help visitors decide to pull out their bank cards and purchase your products.