This is a user generated content for MyStory, a YourStory initiative to enable its community to contribute and have their voices heard. The views and writings here reflect that of the author and not of YourStory.
Best SEO Practices for eCommerce Sites You Need to Know
This is a user generated content for MyStory, a YourStory initiative to enable its community to contribute and have their voices heard. The views and writings here reflect that of the author and not of YourStory.
Any eCommerce site needs to pay individual attention to the SEO strategies they employ. SEO, when performed for an eCommerce site, presents different scenarios from what you might be used to for ordinary websites or blogs. If you are a big eCommerce site, a small business offering products online or a company offering eCommerce SEO services in India, this guide can enlighten you and improve your strategies.
These are not significant changes that need to be employed, but some more work needs to be done. You may choose to do it yourself or hire eCommerce SEO services in India if you think it is too much work.
Ensure Easy Navigation
User experience matters a lot for such websites since you probably have several products. Users need to be able to find their way around with ease, and the site needs to be pleasing to the eye. But that is not all; you also need to have your website ranked favorably and having smooth navigation is one way to ensure that. A well-developed sitemap is a must.
Have Specific Product Descriptions for Each Product
It may seem like a lot of work, but it is worth it. For SEO, you need every product to have a unique description and not something generic. Your products need to stand out individually. You will find that if you try the shortcut and have generic descriptions from the manufacturer, it will result in duplication errors that affect your ranking.
Make Your Site Mobile Friendly
While this is advice given to every website owner, when it comes to eCommerce sites, it is of utmost importance because site visitors need to be able to navigate with ease. There is the option of having a mobile app for your site to improve the experience or to make the site responsive. You can also have a separate mobile site.
Motivate Users to Leave Reviews for Every Product
Reviews are a great way to give other visitors an idea about the products that you are selling. Encourage as many people to leave reviews. This also helps create a reputation for your site not just with users but also Google, which is always looking for unique content that promotes value online. If you can execute this as well as sites like Amazon, you will be on the right track.
Maintain Pages with Out-of-stock Items
This is intended to please Google bots, keeping such pages running gives the bots more indexable content. But for the good of your visitors, you will need to indicate clearly that the product is no longer in stock. Sometimes it also prompts visitors to engage with you, and ask whether the product will be back in stock soon and the reviews already written will not go to waste.
Make Use of Multimedia
Video and pictures should be part of your content strategy. These days there is a lot of attention paid to video and photos, and they also appear in search results. Ensure you have the right metadata for each product image or video and make sure that they do not affect loading speed.
Frequently Run Error Checks
Since your eCommerce site is going to keep on growing, there will always be more pages to monitor. Errors on these pages may cause problems for you so regularly check for errors. There are several tools you can use to run error checks, so make use of them.
Maximize the Power of Meta Description
Never underestimate the value of a well-written meta description. This is what a searcher will see in the results, so you want it to be as enticing as possible. Without exaggerating, give the user a reason to click on your link after they read the meta description.
Create a Well Optimized Internal Search System
Most visitors to an eCommerce site will not stop on the product they searched for on Google; they are likely to search for more stuff within site. Even if a visitor misspells a word, they should still be directed to the right product. There is a lot more functionality you will have to think about and add.
Enable Social Sharing
A social sharing button should be standard practice for every website, but it makes a particular difference for an eCommerce site if visitors can share product links and other content from your site on social media. The more shares you have, the better for your SEO ranking since Google will use that as well to determine how useful visitors find your site.
These ten strategies are likely to make a significant impact on your SEO efforts for your eCommerce site. However, do not depend on just these, include whatever else you know is best to promote your ranking.