How to Optimise eCommerce Websites to Improve Search Results
Since you’ve got your eCommerce website all set up, it’s safe to assume you’ve got an awesome product you’re looking to sell.
It’s true, that each website is somewhat different, and thus, aims to attract different users, depending on the niche, target audience, and so on. But, the bottom line is a website is a website, and things like SEO will play a big part in its success.
That said, your eCommerce website will need to be optimised. A good place to start is to question whether people can find your website. Your product might be the best on the market, but if it’s virtually invisible to search engines, it’s not really on the market, is it?
On-Page SEO
Looking to optimise your eCommerce website and rank better in search engines? Of course you are. Let’s start with on-page SEO. This is an effective way to attract relevant traffic to your website; that way users who land on your website are high-quality prospects.
Here are some things to keep in mind:
Keywords
Learning what keywords can help you rank better is just the beginning. Now, you have to implement these keywords into various elements on your website such as:
- URLs
- Meta title and description
- Image alt tags
- Image file names
- Product description
- Page title
- Header
- Subheaders
- And more
Some people may tend to overlook things like URLs, and meta titles because they don’t appear on a page per se. Don’t let that fool you: search engines refer to these elements specifically to determine relevance and ranking.
Site Architecture
If your website has many product pages, a well-designed site architecture will be your saviour, in that it allows Google to understand your site. A proper design helps to improve the usability of pages as well as ranking and conversion. More often than not, a flat design provides the highest usability as it requires fewer clicks from the homepage to the product page.
Mobile Optimisation
Did you know that Google’s algorithm ranks mobile-friendly websites more highly? Makes sense considering mobile surpassed desktop as the most used device to access websites in 2016.
If your eCommerce website isn’t optimised for a seamless (and speedy) mobile user experience, chances are you run the risk of being penalised by Google. You will also suffer losses such as short dwell time and high bounce rate, neither of which is good news for your business.
Fresh Content
Blogging regularly is another good way to improve ranking. Frequently publishing new and quality content tells Google that your website is active. It also gives users more ways to find your website and an incentive to return.
Think about it, if visitors find your content useful, it is only natural they will spend more time on your website. This tells Google that your content is relevant.
Finally, blogging is a great way to implement long-tail keywords which account for 70% of online searches.
Canonical URLs
Duplicate content is one potential issue that can arise when dealing with eCommerce websites. After all, you are sometimes listing the same types of products. Luckily, this issue can be easily avoided. Search Engine Watch, for instance, suggests listing all options for a particular product on one page. Also, by using canonical URLs, you help search engines understand what you want visitors to see when they click on the respective link.
Design and UX
There are a bunch of things to consider as it relates to the design and UX of your eCommerce website. Let’s take a look at a few of them:
Page Load Speed
If you’ve ever been on the verge of bursting a blood vessel as a result of waiting on any given website page to load, then you understand why it’s a good idea for your website to be responsive. Besides, slow page load speed is bad for ranking. Some experts say you have two seconds to get persons interested. For every second that follows, you lose 10% of your visitors – all of which is lost revenue. And Google isn’t going to like that one bit. The solution/prevention? Speed up your website!
Navigation
Navigation is another element you will want to get right. Imagine shopping online, and nothing appears in logical places? That’s bound to be a frustrating experience. Here are some killer tips from Smashing Magazine on how best to categorise and list products so customers don’t suffer headaches while trying to navigate your website.
What About Bots?
Let us not forget chatbots are an effective way for further user engagement and making their experience on your website as seamless as possible. Once they click on your website, users are likely to show up with questions, a lot of which would take away from your completing more strategic or important tasks. By having bots engage these customers, you lessen the human effort needed to solve the customer’s problems down the line, all while offering them the best experience which will, in turn, improve how search engines react to your site.
Posted by Michael Deane
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