For your e-commerce store to thrive, you need to get visitors to your site. Successful companies generally draw this traffic from social media, PPC ads, or organic search (SEO).
If youve already perfected the art of attracting visitors from Facebook and regularly run effective Google Ads campaigns, there is just one world left to conquer – SEO.
Optimizing your site for search can attract a consistent stream of users to your store each week. These visitors won’t be there just to browse, either. Adobe research indicates e-commerce shoppers will convert into a paying customer around 3 percent of the time – with an average order value of $159.
What do you need to do to drive these kinds of results? You can get started by taking these four steps:
1. Carefully Select Your Keywords
If you want shoppers to find your store in their Google search results, effective keyword research can help. Without a strong keyword strategy, you run the risk of:
- Targeting keywords that are too competitive and difficult to rank for, or
- Ranking for keywords that don’t receive a great deal of search traffic
The three best techniques you can use to figure out the best keywords for your e-commerce store are:
- Social Media Research: Twitter, Reddit, and Quora are excellent places to find people talking about products like yours. Review how they communicate to help you select effective keywords. In other words, speak their language.
- Amazon Research: Amazon is the largest and most successful e-commerce store in the world. However, it isn’t just your competitor. It can also be a great place to find keywords that work for items like yours.
- Competitor Research: Do your competitors regularly appear at the top of Google’s search results? If so, don’t be afraid to visit their website to see what keywords they use.
Keyword phrases that are at least four words long (“rustic wood bed frame”) tend to convert more often than shorter keywords (“bed frame”) – since buyers who search for long phrases typically know what they need and are ready to make a purchase.
2. Improve Your Loading Speeds
According to Google, as a website’s loading speed goes from one second to ten seconds, the likelihood of users bouncing (leaving the page without converting) increases by 123 percent.
If your site has a high bounce rate, Google will lower your search rankings and reduce the number of shoppers that see your products. To avoid this, you should take steps to improve your loading speeds, like:
- Optimizing and compressing your images
- Upgrading your hosting from shared to dedicated
- Enabling browser caching on your website
- Prioritizing your site’s above-the-fold content
Taking these steps will help you generate more organic traffic and make sure your customers have a positive experience on your website.
3. Build Inbound Links to Your Website
Link building has long been a highly effective way to increase your store’s search engine rankings.
When Google’s algorithm sees other websites linking to yours, it begins to consider you relevant and authoritative. As a result of your site’s improved reputation, the search engine giant feels increasingly comfortable sending users in your direction.
Building inbound links is not an easy task. However, you can accomplish it by:
- Asking influencers to review your products and link to your site
- Writing guest posts for high-authority sites and linking to your store
- Using the broken link building technique
- Writing informative and authoritative blogs
When building links, it is vital to remember that Google values quality over quantity. Its algorithm prefers to see a few links from well-respected sites rather than a plethora of links from shady or untrustworthy websites.
4. List Your Products on Google Shopping
Did you know that 45 percent of shoppers use Google to look for the best products for their needs? The most efficient way to get your merchandise in front of those users is to list them with Google Shopping in 6 simple steps:
- Create a Google Merchant Center account
- Click the “Products” tab
- Select the “Feeds” button
- Input your product information
- Select high-quality images
- Hit the “Save” button
When a user clicks on your Google Shopping listings, they may go straight to your store. Once there, they can purchase the item they needed or take a few minutes to browse through your catalog.
Need Some Pointers? Contact FZA Digital Today
Optimizing your e-commerce store for organic search can drive customers to your website and dollars to your bank account.
Finding the time to run through these steps can be challenging when your primary focus is on sales. Fortunately, the SEO experts at FZA Digital are always available to provide you with astute guidance and assistance.
To discuss your website’s needs with a member of our team, give us a call at (424) 229-2923 or contact us online.
