How to SEO an eCommerce website
If you own (or plan to own) an eCommerce business, then getting found on Google using SEO is a great way to grow your customer base.
In this article, we are sharing some of our best insights and eCommerce website design tips into how you can get your products and services found by customers who are ready to buy.
SEO product pages and long descriptions
A mistake that many eCommerce businesses make is to focus on SEO for the entire website as a single set of keywords, rather than focusing on individual pages.
SEO (or Search Engine Optimisation) involves optimising your site so that individual pages come up in search engine results.
A sports clothing company, for example, should optimise its pages that offer running equipment around keywords such as running while its football, hockey and tennis clothing pages should be optimised around keywords related to football, hockey and tennis.
When optimising individual product pages, make sure to use long descriptions that contain the relevant keywords.
This helps search engines to understand what’s available on that page and to match it as accurately as possible with what’s being searched for.
When it comes to eCommerce website design, creating the best long descriptions for each product page is important for getting found on Google.
eCommerce websites require detail!
Each product page should contain as much detail as possible and, where possible, it must include keywords that you know people will search for. This should include relevant details such as colours, textures, sizes and any brand name if you are selling branded products that people search for.
Potential customers often use brands and colours when searching, using phrases such as “Nike running shoes”, “Blue scatter cushions” or “nylon running socks”.
Optimise the visuals
When it comes to eCommerce website design, make sure you have great visuals. Customers like to see what they are buying, and it’s also important for attracting users via images in SERPS (Search Engine Results Pages).
Images should be quick to load while also being good quality. Image files names should also reflect the keywords for the page and subject matter.
The importance of blog posts
When it comes to effective SEO for eCommerce websites, it’s important to have supporting pages that include more detail about a specific product category or product - and blog posts are a great way to create supporting pages.
Blogs posts can be used to attract visitors to your site with topics such as how to get the best out of a product or service, how to select the right version, model or colour, how to wear a pashmina and so on (who doesn’t want to read a blog that helps them make the right choice?).
The blog post should contain as much useful information as possible, as well as the relevant keywords in the right place.
A mistake many businesses make is to miss off a call to action, which should include links to relevant products or categories of products.
This helps direct the reader toward buying from you, and it also improves the ranking of product pages in search results. However - be careful. If you link to a product that you decide not to sell in the future then if you remove that product, the link will no longer work.
This creates what’s known as a broken link which can impact your overall website ranking in search results. For this reason, it’s sometimes better to link to a product category page that is more likely to be permanent.
Make blogging a regular thing!
Don’t underestimate the power of writing regular quality blog posts that provide real value to your target audience. For long term success, all eCommerce websites should have regular blog posts that their target audience finds useful and valuable - and they should be promoted as much as possible on social media and other channels.
Content managed website options
If you don't have time to research, write, SEO and add regular blog articles to your eCommerce website, let us do it all for you with content management
Looking for a professional eCommerce website designer?
At aprompt, we take eCommerce website design seriously. We work with our customers to ensure that they have great looking websites that are also optimised to appear in Google Search results. We have a wealth of experience – since 1998 - creating and developing eCommerce website designs and if you are looking for help, get in touch with our website designers in Wiltshire.