Did you know that there are 2.14 billion people buying online and 12-124 million eCommerce sites around the globe?

Online purchasing provides convenience and immediacy, making it an ideal and profitable business for your company and your customers.

But like all businesses, not all online shopping websites are optimized for search engine optimization (SEO). 

If you don't know SEO basics, you can't run a successful business and target the right buyers.

And If you don't know how to optimize your website for SEO, you're probably missing out on a significant amount of sales. 

But no one can blame you.

According to Insider Intelligence, eCommerce sales are expected to exceed $5 trillion in 2022 and $6 trillion in 2024 globally.

It is incredibly naive to believe that competing in such a tournament is a piece of cake, but it is far from impossible.

To get a piece of this 'pie,' we will guide you through 6 incredibly manageable steps on how to optimize an eCommerce website for SEO, target the right customers and get the conversions that your efforts deserve.

Let's start!

What is SEO?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a technique for attracting and driving traffic to a website that combines technical, creative, and strategic tactics.

It employs several approaches that enable a search engine to prioritize a particular website for inclusion in search results.

how-seo-works-graph

The more relevant keywords you use on your eCommerce website, the better performance you can expect.

Google Search Console and Google Search Ads are the two most popular ways to execute SEO for e-commerce websites.

Why Does SEO Matter For Ecommerce?

SEO is not only about growing organic traffic to your site but also about increasing your exposure in search engine results pages (SERPs). 

And If you add that 81% of customers research their products before purchasing, we can agree that is pretty important, right?

SEO is necessary for your business strategy to maintain your website's relevance to search engines and customers.

Let's see what the eCommerce SEO best practices are.

How to Optimize Your eCommerce Website For SEO

E-commerce SEO requires significant time, effort, and a well-thought-out plan to increase your website's traffic on top search engines.

As a result, you can boost your sales and overall online visibility.

To do that right, use these top 6 suggestions to optimize your website for the best performance.

Let's dive in!

1. Do a Detailed Keyword Research

Everything in SEO revolves around keywords.

And the math is simple - people search for data in specific ways using search engines, and the words they use to look for those data are the keywords you should aim for in your web content.

However, there is a slight difference between e-commerce keyword research and other keywords, and to understand the difference, you need to grasp the buyer's intent.

What is a buyer's intent?

Buyer intent reflects a consumer's intention during the purchasing process, which marketers often use to target a specific audience for their products.

For example, when people search for answers to a specific question, they use informational keywords — they often start with "how-to," "is it ok to," "the best way to," etc.

google-search-results-coffee

On the other hand, if people search for a specific product to buy, they use commercial keywords, such as "digital camera," "AirPods," "rainbow coat," etc.

digital-camera-search-results-query-google

We use commercial keywords when we know what we want to buy but are looking for where to buy it.

How to find the most suitable commerce keywords?

As I mentioned, understanding a buyer's intent is the most important factor when deciding which keyword to use for your website.

1. Research keywords on Google

You can start your research for the best keyword fit straight from Google — with autocomplete feature.

When we search on Google, this feature provides us with suggestions on how and what other people are searching for, and that looks like this:

travel-pillow-google-search-query

You can receive a lot of beneficial information and ideas this way if you have keywords that you want to research.

2. Research e-commerce platform 

E-commerce platforms like Amazon are usually product-oriented and can give you more specific ideas for generating your keywords.

Let's take a look.

amazon-search-travel-pillow-example

Not only can you get ideas for keywords, but you can also use this type of research to get ideas on how to optimize product titles and product descriptions.

3. Use keyword research tools

Using free keyword research tools is a straightforward approach to optimizing your web content for SEO.

The market offers tons of free tools, such as KeywordEverywhere and AnswerThePublic, to get information about trending keywords.

  • KeywordsEverywhere's add-on application will show keyword SEO metrics when using search engines, such as SEO difficulty, related topics, related queries, etc.
keywords-everywhere-results
  • AnswerThePublic conducts a more in-depth study about what and how people search the internet.
answer-the-public

Whichever way you choose to find keywords that will work for you, you should always narrow them down by relevance and intent.

Relevance is an important ranking factor that must match the product you represent with the product category query you are trying to conquer.

We can define intent with the following question - "Does the keyword you're employing target the right audience and search query?"

For example, if you offer laptop services, you can't also provide paintwork, can you?

SEO employs intelligent algorithms, so properly research the keywords you will use to generate more organic traffic down the pipe.

2. Improve Your Site Architecture

Site architecture is as relevant for SEO optimization of your website as the entire business planning strategy.

A good site architecture requires your customers to have an 'at home' vibe, with everything they need in the palm of their hand.

Why is that important?

Site structure matters for two reasons:

1. Increases your website relevance — Users get the sense that your website's entire concept is focused on organizing the product categories that are simple to explore.

2. Improves user's experience — The website is deliberately arranged and customized for ease of use, so customers can quickly discover everything they need under a specific category.

In simple words, the longer customer stays on your website Google will recognize it as a more relevant answer for specific search queries.

And yes, that means also, your website can be relevant for more than one search query if you organize your website correctly.

Let me first show you the lousy website structure example to grasp the overall idea behind site architecture better.

bad-website-structure-seo

This example is wrong, although giving the idea of a decent organization impression because it is too deep.

With each new category, you must add a new layer, and with this management structure, customers already have 6 steps before reaching the first product page.

This approach will only increase the abandonment rate since customers can get the idea that your website is too complicated to research, leaving them uninterested in staying on the page.

Conversely, here is what a good website structure should look like:

good-website-structure

Not only that this type of structure will improve your website SEO, but it will ensure your customers enjoy browsing it.

And to match this up with how well-known marketing giants do website architecture, here is Adidas example:

adidas-example-of-good-structure-website

"A user interface is like a joke. If you have to explain it, it's not that good."- Martin LeBlanc.

The organization of your website is the last thing your customers should notice when searching for products — that is your job.

The most important takeaway from this step is that the optimal website architectural plan requires fewer clicks for your consumer to find what he is looking for.

3. Work On Technical SEO For Your Website

People often overlook the importance of Technical SEO and what it does for your site visibility.

Content is essential for website notoriety.

Likewise, Technical SEO works behind the scenes to establish an edge over the competition.

It is a set of universal guidelines responsible for increasing your website's performance for better search engine response.

Each step of Technical SEO brings you closer to your goal of being the No.1 response on the search query.

We can separate the Technical SEO steps into two parts:

1. DOs 

  • Use HTTPS security protocol 
  • Make your website mobile-friendly
  • Improve website speed loading
  • Check the uniqueness of your website name
  • Keep a simple page structure
  • Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console

2. DON'Ts.

  • Don't overlook a crawl errors
  • Don't keep broken links

Crawling is usually bad, but not when a search engine instigates it.

Bots use crawling to recognize website characteristics and give it a rating accordingly.

4. Strengthen Your On-page SEO 

When a user enters a keyword into your URL, Google sees the entire website, including your pages, subpages, and content.

On-page SEO is a form of search engine optimization that focuses on how your website is structured and the content you set up on your website — the copy, images, and the layout.

These all help Google understand what the webpage is about.

So how do you improve your on-page SEO?

text-cortex-chrome-extension

Before we get to the part which you can influence to improve your website SEO optimization, here are some that are built-in SEO advantages that come automatically:

  • The canonical tags — Informs search engines that a particular URL represents a page's master copy.
  • Your website's sitemap.xml and robots.txt files — A sitemap that allows search engines to crawl through an index of all the webpages on your site in one place.
  • Title tags that include your store name — An HTML element that specifies a web page's title.

Let's take a look at the on-page setup that you can work on to improve your website optimization:

1. Optimize product titles

Your product titles determine the relevance of the product category in search engine queries.

The more specific keywords you use in your product titles, the better value you provide to your customers, directly influencing the number of leads you can attract.

Not to mention that if you optimize product titles, you can raise your CTR and help shoppers make purchasing decisions and convert a lot easier.

aliexpress-product-title

And to back up your product titles, you can enrich your title tag categories with keywords, such as:

  • Modifiers 

Users frequently use modifiers when searching and scanning the online pages on a SERP.

To get more long-tail traffic, use keywords such as:

  • Cheap 
  • Deals
  • Review
  • Best
  • Online
  • Free shipping
sneakers-search-result-product-title-optimization

Modifiers allow you to identify your products or product categories more precisely.

  • Click Magnet Words

Google likely uses organic click-through rate as a ranking signal. 

So the formula for success looks like this: Higher CTR = More Clicks = More Sales.

Here are some of the top eCommerce click magnet words for product and category pages:

  • X% off ("20% Off")
  • Guarantee
  • Lowest Price
  • Overnight Shipping
  • Sale
jacket-products-magnet-words-offer

Click magnet words help you attract more customers by making your web content stand out.

  • Latent semantic indexing (LSI) keywords

LSI keywords are words closest to your main keyword and describe the product more precisely.

They vary from product category, but here are some of them:

  • 450w
  • 17 Inc
  • 4K
features-lsi-keywords

LSI keywords can help lower page bounce rates and prevent website ranking for the wrong terms.

2. Write unique product descriptions

Search engines evaluate the content on your page to determine which keywords to rank your page for and how high your page should rank for each keyword you use.

So, if you plan to rank high, short product descriptions won't do.

Additionally, copy-pasting descriptions from a manufacturer is a no-go because search engines consider it duplicate content, which can lead to more penalizing issues rather than benefits.

Instead, writing unique SEO-friendly product descriptions will reduce thin content and improve the ranking of your product page.

bed-aliexpress-offer

Long and in-depth descriptions help Google understand your product's relevance to the search query while influencing your conversion rates. 

Furthermore, product descriptions give you more opportunities to use more than just one keyword, expand your visibility in different search queries, and gain more leads for your website.

3. Choose short URLs 

There are a few URL criteria to follow for optimal eCommerce SEO ranking:

  • Make a memorable and simple URL so customers can easily find your website.
  • Use your core keyword in URLs for better accessibility.
  • Short URLs are preferable to large URLs ( keep the URL length between 50 and 60 characters).
  • Avoid words such as "and," "of," "the," and "a" unless they are part of the keyword.
  • Avoid keyword stuffing and meaningless repetition.

4. Include internal links

The longer your visitors stay browsing your web content, the better conversion chances you can get.

Relevant links you add for other landing pages on your website make browsing for useful information more straightforward.

And, by default, that influences the better customer experience.

You must include the target keywords in your anchor text when developing internal links in your web content (words in your content that you use as hyperlinks).

That way, your customer can easily switch between pages within your website and influence their decision-making while keeping them involved with your content.

internal-links-example

Nevertheless, avoid going overboard with internal connections. Every few hundred lines, one or two links are sufficient.

5. Create Content For Blog Post

Blogging is a content marketing strategy in which you utilize on-page and technical SEO tactics to improve your website's search visibility.

A blog post or article will answer the questions people are looking for while bringing you more organic search visibility.

Many blogs follow a particular topic-oriented structure that you can use as an asset when optimizing your website for SEO.

blog-post-article-example-for-ecommerce-website

Your blog page must be engaging enough to keep readers' attention at all stages of the reader's journey through your content.

If you learn how to  write a compelling blog post and avoid the biggest content writing mistakes, you can use blogging to:

  • Share opinions, thoughts, and ideas
  • Gain exposure
  • Inform, educate, and entertain
  • Provide information and insight
  • Increase sales and traffic

Many marketing websites make the mistake of dismissing the relevance of this phase since it is time-consuming.

However, this is an essential step responsible for keeping communication with your clients going while indirectly offering and educating them on the relevance and benefits of your industry.

Blogging can help you establish yourself as a trustworthy source, which helps draw new leads and enhance your website's authority.

6. Build your backlinks 

To make your website more visible on the world wide web, you need to establish link building strategy and expand the net of potential new leads.

Link building is a phase in optimizing your website for SEO that helps businesses get their products or services in front of as many people as possible. 

It would be best to link your website content to other internet sites relevant to your business, clients, and products to achieve solid backlinks and increase traffic. 

When Google's algorithm calculates your website relevance, it relies on characteristics such as:

  • The number of links
  • Link quality
  • Link relevance of links 

As a result, new websites always have less authority than the market's well-known giants.

To build quality backlinks and help Google recognize your website authority more quickly, you can:

  • Backlink your website with content from official and educational websites such as "example.com," "example.gov," and "example.edu."
  • Investigate potential partnerships that can bring more organic traffic.
  • Build links with guest articles if the material is valuable to your audience and your partners' audiences.
seo-link-building-process

Focusing on quality over quantity is vital when creating your backlink strategy to promote your website as a valuable resource that others will gladly revisit.

To Sum Up

If you believe this is all there is to know about SEO, I have to disappoint you – it is not.

To be honest, we only glanced at how to optimize your eCommerce website for SEO.

Even the most successful marketing titans still learn about SEO's best strategies, and competition never ends.

However, this is a good start, and if you follow these steps consistently, you will see a significant improvement in the performance of your website.

To succeed, you must arm yourself with a lot of patience and time and invest in even more research and writing.

How about automating the time-consuming and never-ending process with an AI writing assistant that can take over % of your writing job while still producing SEO-optimized content?

Sounds tempting, right?

Well, that is precisely the purpose for which we created TextCortex.

Let me explain.

TextCortex is a use-case module-based AI tool that can automatically produce for you any content type such as product titles, descriptions, blog posts, ads, social media posts, cold emails, etc.

What does that mean?

We train our AI modules to generate content using advanced algorithms and a knowledge base of over 3 billion best practice sentences.

If you add to that machine learning process, you get 98% plagiarism-free content, with 2% creativity of automatically SEO-oriented output.

TextCortex content is designed to sound natural because it is based on human writing and keyword-focused due to the creation process.

How does it work?

You can use TextCortex as a web application to generate any content type.

All you have to do is sign up for free and go to your preferred content form.

Let me show you how TextCortex can generate blog posts for you.

Likewise, the TextCortex extension can generate, rewrite, expand, summarize and autocomplete your content wherever your cursor needs it.

By implementing TextCortex in your writing flow, you will:

  • Save more than 80% of your writing time.
  • Create the content on a large scale
  • Produce SEO-optimized material that is plagiarism-free
  • Generate both long and short-form content in seconds
  • Always get natural-sounding output

The best part is that it doesn't cost you a dime to give it a try — sign up for a free version and get 10 credits per day that you can always increase with referrals.

Add our Chrome extension today and see how TextCortex automatically scales up your website performance while soaring your CTRs and conversion rates.