The Top 9 SEO Tips for eCommerce Stores -

If you plan on selling products or services online it is important to ensure that customers can easily find them.

It's not worth having an appealing website designed with high-quality items at affordable prices if people can't find your site when they do a search. And the higher you rank, the better. If your site is listed first for a specific keyword, it'll get ten times more visitors than if it's tenth. And the average click through rate for websites on the second page of Google is less than 1%%.

That's where your SEO strategies come in. Rank higher in searches and visitors are more likely to locate your website. And the more traffic you get, the more likely you will be able to sell.

Here are nine tips to help you maximize your SEO efforts:

1. Use effective keywords

Keywords are words that consumers use when they search on the internet. These are the keywords you need to concentrate on in order that your website is visible to prospective customers who are looking for your items.

It's up to you to include as many keywords as you'd like, but it's essential to share your love. The goal is to inform Google about what every webpage on your website is about, so it can show up for appropriate searches. Do not focus on a variety of phrases for each pagewhich can muddy the waters! Instead, target one (or possibly two) terms for each product and page or.

How do you decide which keywords are appropriate to utilize? Here are a few suggestions:

• Beginning with what you know. Make a list of products and services you provide and the related terms. For example, if you offer pet products, that list might contain "ID tags," "toy mice," or "dog foods." These terms can be pretty broad.
• Look at the data. Also, look at any current analytics and the data available to find the keywords that people are already using to find the information you. Tools like Google Analytics as well as Moz Keyword Explorer can be incredibly helpful here.
• Make sure you are precise. Now, you want to get more specific. Since you're likely to not be able to compete with the top competitors (like, in our example, Chewy or Petsmart) by using generic keywords such as "dog food." Focus on your own unique offerings and differentiators. For example, specific keywords might include "non-GMO pet food that is suitable for young dogs" or "custom handmade dog tags that are hand-stitched."
• The balance of search volume and the competition. You want to find keywords that a lot people are seeking Yes, but it is also important for the keywords to be attainable. A pet shop will not be able to appear among the top results when searching for "dog food." In the ideal scenario, you want to target relevant terms with high search volume that are relatively easy to rank for. But you also may want to target some lofty phrases, as long as you realize that this is more of a long-term play. It is possible to use tools such as Google Keyword Planner to determine the data needed for each term.
• Consider user intent. User intent is the goal one has while searching on the internet. In the case of for an eCommerce retailer, a suitable user intent would be to purchase. Keywords are a good source of information to the purpose of each person who searches. As an example, someone searching for "average retail revenue of pet stores" may be looking for details on how to start your own business. However, someone who searches "pet stores with overnight shipping" is likely to want to purchase some thing today. Focusing on keywords that are more likely to bring the purchase of a product is, naturally, going to be the best strategy.

If you're looking to go further into the subject of keyword strategy, HubSpot has a excellent guide.

2. Write thoughtful product descriptions

The product's page should contain more than a price, photo, and title. The page should also include a detailed description that "sells" the item -at the same time to shoppers as well as users.

Think about the sort of information that buyers might be able to use. Depending on your products it could include measurement of ingredients, age-ranges as well as guidelines.

Make sure to be specific and detailed. Is the fragrance of your candle bring you to the forest of autumn? Does your A-line dress fit for a night in the city? Are your blocks compatible with a STEM course? Write about that.

When appropriate, include the keywords you choose for each product page. You shouldn't simply include them every time you're able, however. Instead, make use of the words in a natural manner, in the content you're writing.

For example, if you sell a dark chocolate raspberry candy bar, don't write a description like:

"We sell dark chocolate raspberry candy bars. These dark chocolate candy bars consist from the finest Dutch-processed cocoa powder. If you're interested by our dark chocolate raspberry candy bar follow the link below for a purchase."

Does it sound natural? Not at all. Remember: you want to be focused on the people who visit your website first in order to be able to implement a successful SEO strategy. Therefore, instead of writing: could write something like:

"Our brand new Dark Chocolate Raspberry Candy Bar is the perfect choice for lovers of bold flavour. Made from the best Dutch-processed cocoa powder and stuffed with sweet, tangy raspberry jam that explodes on every bite."

That type of description uses the keyword naturally but also allows customers to visualize exactly how it feels to bite into the chocolaty bar.

3. Be cautious about duplicate content

Duplicate content can be defined as written content that can be found online in multiple places in a row, regardless of whether they're on your website or else's. Search engines such as Google dislike duplicate content due to, well, it's confusing. They don't know what version is the most accurate version and are, thus, they don't know which version should be ranked.

How can you prevent duplicate content for your online store?

• Copy/paste the manufacturer's descriptions. If you dropship items, ensure that you're not just adding the supplier's default descriptions. In the end, everybody else who sells the same items is probably performing the same process. Make sure to stand out and create your own unique twist on things.
• Write unique descriptions for each product. If you've got identical products, it could be tempting to duplicate the description multiple times. This can affect the position of each of theproduct pages. Take some time to think about what makes each one different and focus on that.
• Check the URL structure. Be aware of things such as tracking links, session IDs or pagination issues. Yoast walks through these sorts of technical problems in more detail.

4. Utilize strategic keywords within anchor text

Internal links, which include links to other content that you have on your websitecan be extremely beneficial from an SEO standpoint. They're an excellent option to aid Google recognize the connections between your sites.

But when you create the links, you shouldn't use phrases like "click here" or "check this out" for anchor text. When appropriate you should include your keyword.

For example, don't say "click here for our list of top toy for children."

As an alternative, you could say "our collection of the top toys for toddlers has even more great gift ideas!"

5. Your URL structure should be simple for search engines

The first and most important thing is that good URLs provide an equally good experience for users by providing visitors with a preview of the content about. But they also do exactly the same for search engines.

Try to keep your URLs short, concise, and clear. So, if you sell a French press, for example, you want to avoid a product URL like example.com/store/products/374820/show. Instead, try something like example.com/machines/french-press. Find out how much easier for users that is?

It is also important to incorporate keywords where applicable. The primary focus should be on providing a pleasant experience to site visitors. But, you may be able to tuck a keyword into the URL so that it does not disrupt the flow.

6. Use alt text for your images

Search engines aren't able to "see" your images. What's the best way to tell the contents of each image? Alt text.

Alt text is basically an image caption you add each image you display on your site. It must both contain your target keyword and be as detailed as possible. That second part is the key: your goal should be to describe your image in a way that someone that isn't seeing it all will understand. Why? Because alt text is also employed by screen readers in order in order to "read" images for those visually impaired.

If you are able to use a targeted keyword excellent! If you don't need for describing the image then skip the keyword.

Imagine that you are selling paper goods, including that journal on the picture below:

An excellent alternative text would be "a feminine pink notebook with the words 'today I am thankful' sat on a table with a gold pen and leaf."

7. Make use of Google Ads to test your goals

Remember the importance of user intent? If you're planning to put countless hours and resources into ranking for a specific term, you'd hate to realize that it only attracts visitors, but not visitors who are interested in purchasing what you provide.

Create an ad group with just a few hyper-specific terms. Make sure you use brackets (or quotes " " when entering the keywords to ensure that your ads appear only in the case of people who use keywords that are closely related in the same category as those you're looking for.

As long as you have converted properly it will be possible to tell if the traffic generated through these keywords will actually bring your customers who pay. Compare the results of that campaign to your other campaigns and other metrics for your store to judge the level of traffic it brings.

If it's profitable You may decide to continue running your paid campaign until you achieve organic rankings, and then achieve top rankings for nothing!

8. Avoid broken links

Broken links aren't just confusing to your visitors on your site but they also cause confusion to the search engines too. In the end, they aid Google to understand the nature of your site and ensure that they're providing accurate data.

However, it isn't easy (and time-consuming!) to track all of your links manually. You can employ tools like Screaming Frog or to use the Broken Link Checker plugin to keep an eye on the things. Also, if you modify the address of a website take into consideration making a redirect to 301 to inform Google that the URL is changed.

9. Speed up your site

A site that loads quickly is crucial to providing a pleasant user experience, so it's no surprise that search engines look at speed in determining the ranking of your site. Here are some tips to ensure your site is fast:

• Configure caching. Caching saves a copy of your site's content on users' web browsers, ensuring that the site is loaded faster next time they return to. It is possible to set it in place using a plug-in like WP SuperCache.
• Consider the possibility of utilizing a CDN. A content delivery network (CDN) keeps large content off-site, allowing them to are able to load more quickly. Also, it loads your website from distributed servers closest to where each user. Jetpack has a great free WordPress CDN.
• Limit the number of HTML0 plugins you are using. More plugins mean more code and more weight on your site. Only install the plugins that are essential to be installed. Consider the tools that can provide more than one functionality, for example, Jetpack.
• Update regularly WordPress and your theme as well as your plugins. The updates usually include code that is optimized which loads quicker. It's also essential for security and usability!
• Enhance your code. Use a tool like Jetpack Boost to optimize the CSS structure, delay non-essential Javascript as well as lazy load images using just a few mouse clicks.

Most important thing to remember? Be focused on your user experience

The suggestions here have just the same thing: they focus on real individuals..

Search engines want to provide the best possible results for users. So, if you take the time to think about your customers and provide them with a great experience, you'll be in the right direction to great search engine optimization.