Boosting eCommerce Sales: Top 4 SEO Strategies for Retailers

August 4, 2023

Looking for ways to get ahead of your competition online? Boost your eCommerce sales with these top four SEO strategies for retailers.

Are you constantly asking yourself ‘how can I sell more products online?’ Well, you're not alone!

There are millions of people selling online, so it can be hard to stand out from the crowd. Especially if your website is a new website that you recently launched, since you don’t yet have any domain authority in the eyes of Google, and other search engines too. But there's a way to do it: SEO.

What is SEO?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It's a way to make sure that your website shows up at the top of the search results when people search for things you sell. The goal is for your website to show up in the first page, or at least the first 3 pages, of Google for the search terms, or keywords, your potential customers enter into the search box. If you can accomplish this, it means more people will see your website and more people will buy your products.

Top 3 Organic Search Results Infographic

According to a study by Backlinko

Let’s talk about keywords. For example, let's say you sell shoes. If you want people to find your website when they search for "shoes," you need to make sure that your website is optimized for that keyword. You can do this by using the keyword "shoes" in your website's title, your product descriptions, and your website's content. But as you can imagine, the simple word “shoes” is ridiculously competitive and tons of other retailers are also trying to rank well for the word “shoes”.

There are many ways you can better optimize your website for SEO. So, if you are ready to take your eCommerce business to new heights, this blog post will walk you through four of the most important SEO strategies for eCommerce businesses.

Understanding the eCommerce Landscape

In the past, if you wanted to buy something, you had to go to a store. But now, you can buy almost anything online. That's why the eCommerce landscape is so competitive. There are millions of websites selling all sorts of products. These days, most all sales actually start online, even when they end in your store.

To thrive in this new, digital environment, retailers need to adopt effective SEO strategies to ensure their products and services are easily discoverable by potential customers.

So, how can you make sure that your website is found by people who are looking for the products you sell? That's where SEO comes in.

63 Percent of Sales Start Before Customer is in store

But how does SEO work?

Well, Google and other search engines use algorithms to rank websites in the search results. These algorithms take into account a lot of factors, including the keywords that are used on the website, the quality of the content, and the number of backlinks to the website.

If you want your website to rank high in the search results, you need to make sure that it's optimized for SEO. That means using the right keywords on your website, writing great content, and building backlinks to your website.

But SEO is not just about keywords; it's about crafting a user-friendly and search engine-friendly website that aligns with the needs and preferences of your target audience.

Here is the tricky part: search engines, such as Google, are constantly changing their algorithms. That means what is super important to Google today, might not be as important next month. It’s important to stay on top of SEO best strategies, to ensure your website is keeping up with the new changes and trends.

But first, let’s start with when your website goes live, and how the strategies you apply afterward can propel your website to the top of search results.

SEO Strategy 1: Keyword Research and Optimization

The foundation of successful eCommerce SEO lies in keyword research and optimization. Start by identifying relevant and high-converting keywords that resonate with your target audience. Put yourself in the shoes of your potential customers and think about the terms they would use to find products similar to yours.

Pro Tip:

You can use free tools like Google Trends and Answer The Public to supercharge your keyword research. These magical tools reveal the words and phrases that people are using to search for products like yours. It's like having a treasure map that guides you to the most valuable keywords in your realm of eCommerce. With these tools by your side, you'll have the insights you need to choose keywords that truly resonate with your target audience.

Once you have your list of valuable keywords, strategically integrate them into your product titles, meta descriptions, and URLs. Remember, it’s not about stuffing keywords but rather providing meaningful and relevant content that satisfies both users and search engines. By focusing on long-tail keywords- more specific and less competitive phrases- you can increase your chances of ranking higher in search results and attracting potential customers with higher purchase intent.

Competitive Keyword Research

But wait, there's more to our keyword quest! Just as knights size up their opponents, you can enhance your strategy by conducting competitive keyword research. Study the keywords your competitors are targeting and unveil new opportunities to conquer. By doing so, you position yourself for greater success, gaining insights into untapped territories that can set you apart in the eCommerce industry.

SEO Strategy 2: Content Marketing for eCommerce SEO

Content marketing plays a pivotal role in eCommerce SEO success. Creating high-quality and valuable content not only engages your target audience but also signals search engines that your website is a reliable and authoritative source of information.

When planning your retail content strategy, consider the types of content that resonate with your audience, such as:

Product descriptions
Product reviews
Buying guides
Product tutorials
Informative blog posts

As an online retailer, the first way to enhance your content is to revamp all of our product descriptions. Many retailers are pulling product data feeds from their vendors and distributors, which include product descriptions, images and other consumer facing product information. The challenge with this from an SEO perspective is simple; all of your competitors are pulling that exact same copy and nothing is unique or specific to your site. Which is probably one of the worst things you can do in the eyes of Google.

Pro Tip: Customizing Distributor Product Descriptions

Super flexible eCommerce providers offer an online product feed from distributors, pulling all of the valuable product data from the vendors, while also enabling retailers to quickly tweak and modify the copy on the fly, before it posts on their website. If your eCommerce provider offers this flexibility- you should definitely take the time to make these product descriptions unique and modify them to give your website an SEO advantage. Learn more about how vendor integrations can help you sell more products by watching this video on YouTube.

User-generated content (UGC) is another powerful tool in your eCommerce SEO arsenal. Encourage your customers to share their experiences through product reviews and testimonials. UGC not only builds trust and authenticity but also generates fresh, keyword-rich content for search engines to index.

Pro Tip: Automated Product Review Requests

Depending on your retail software provider, some offer integrated email marketing based on triggers in the software. This is super helpful because then retailers can automatically have an email sent to each customer, shortly after each purchase, encouraging them to post an online review for the product that the software knows they purchased! Not only will these new online reviews help encourage future shoppers and provide validity to that product, but equally as important, the more online reviews your website has, the better, to help increase the SEO on your site! Learn more about how triggered emails from your point of sale and eCommerce can help you enhance your marketing by watching this video on YouTube.

SEO Strategy 3: Technical SEO for eCommerce Websites

While compelling content is essential, technical SEO cannot be overlooked. Technical SEO involves optimizing your website’s infrastructure and performance to ensure it’s easily crawlable and indexable by search engines. Here are some key technical aspects to consider:

Website Speed: A fast-loading website is crucial for both user experience and SEO. Optimize your images, leverage browser caching, and use content delivery networks (CDNs) to ensure speedy page loads.
Mobile Friendliness: With the increasing use of mobile devices, having a mobile-friendly website is a must. Google prioritizes mobile-friendly sites in search results, so make sure your site adapts well to different screen sizes.
Site Structure and Navigation: Organize your site logically with clear navigation paths. This makes it easier for users to find what they are looking for and for search engines to crawl and index your pages effectively.
XML Sitemap and Robots.txt: Create an XML sitemap and a robots.txt file to guide search engine crawlers and ensure they can access and index your site efficiently.

Pro Tip: Test your Site Speed

There are many websites that can help you test your website’s performance, including speed, load time, etc. This includes Pingdom Speed Test, GT Matrix, and Google Page Speed Insights. Simply enter your website domain into these sites to get a pulse on how your website is performing and where you might need to be more focused.

SEO Strategy 4: Technical SEO for eCommerce Websites

Social media and SEO are a winning combination. By leveraging social media platforms effectively, you can increase your brand’s visibility, engage with your target audience, and drive more traffic to your eCommerce store. Here’s how you can make the most of social media for SEO:

Shareable Content: Create content that is easily shareable and resonates with your audience. Engaging content is more likely to be shared, liked, and linked to, which can positively impact your search rankings.
Influencer Marketing: Partnering with influencers in your niche can extend your brand’s reach and credibility. Influencers can help promote your products and services to their followers, leading to increased traffic and potential sales.
Social Signals: While social media signals are not direct ranking factors, they can indirectly impact your SEO efforts. A strong social media presence can increase brand awareness and drive more users to search for your brand, which can positively influence your search rankings.

Pro Tip: Connect your Blogs with Social

Blogs are great SEO assets for your website. At the top of each blog post, you should include all your social media icons, linking back to your social sites and making it easy to also share on their social platforms directly from your site. Eventually, your blog posts will get ranked by Google and you will soon see how many new customers come to your website from your blog posts, also known as “back-door web pages”.