Some SEO strategies for online stores
Having an online store is the first step to get started in the world of online sales, but did you know that it is necessary to implement SEO strategies for online stores in order to attract customers?
It is obvious that, if you created an online store, it is because your main goal is to get a lot of sales and grow your business, but you can not achieve that goal if your potential customers can not find you.
Luckily, there are several digital marketing strategies, such as SEO and SEM, that aim to make your online store much easier to find in a search engine (such as Google) and, therefore, to make them buy from you.
This time, we want to focus on some SEO strategies for online stores that you can implement to improve the visibility of your online store and help you increase your sales.
Why should you implement SEO strategies for online stores?
Day after day, countless amounts of searches are performed on Google, people are constantly looking for information, products and services to satisfy a specific need.
Based on this, Google organizes the different search results, giving priority to those websites and online stores that best meet the user’s search needs.
The websites and online stores that are located on the first page of results are the ones that get the most clicks, since every 9 out of 10 people do not go beyond this page.
Moreover, the first three results (excluding ads) are the ones that get the most clicks, about 53% of the total clicks on the first page of results, so it is very convenient to be in those positions.
How can you get your online store to these top positions? This is where SEO comes in to help you.
SEO is a digital marketing strategy that, through a series of optimizations inside and outside the virtual store, improve its authority and give much better response to the needs of users.
The result of this work is that Google places your online store in higher positions and so you have this quality traffic that will undoubtedly translate into more sales for your business.
SEO strategies for online stores that you can start to implement
Now that you know the importance of SEO for your online store, we will tell you some strategies that you can apply to start positioning yourself in Google.
Conduct keyword research
Any SEO strategy must start with a keyword research, since these are the words that users use to search on Google and that allow the search engine to position websites and online stores in the search results.
Keyword research will allow us to know the level of competition, find new sales opportunities and draw a guide of actions to position your online store.
It may sound tempting to position yourself on very popular keywords in your sector, but this would require a lot of time and effort, it is best to position yourself on “long tail” keywords, which are those that target more specific search intentions.
Optimizes loading times
In an age of immediacy, where we want everything to be delivered in the shortest possible time, it is recommended that your online store loads in 3 seconds or less.
Internet users are very demanding with the loading speed of online stores: if the content takes too long to load completely, it will take users less than 1 second to leave your store and they will never visit you again.
In Google’s eyes, this is fatal and can even penalize you severely by placing you at the bottom of the search results.
To optimize the loading times of your online store, you can perform the following actions:
- Avoid using too many plugins and widgets in your online store, as these elements load a lot of resources. Only use the really necessary ones.
- Paradoxically, there are plugins that help you reduce the loading time, such as WordPress WP Rocket.
- JavaScrip is very good for customizing your virtual store, but don’t overdo it. but don’t overdo it.
- Avoid loading your online store with very heavy images, it is recommended that they weigh less than 500 KB.
- Finally, invest in a good server that can store and load your online store information efficiently.
Quality images, but light
In the previous point we talked about the fact that images cannot be too heavy, but there are other elements that you must take care of them if you want your SEO strategy for online stores to be effective.
In addition to the weight, you must give them a correct name, avoiding the use of special characters and separating the words with bullets, you must also give them an ALT attribute in which you must include your keywords.
This information is necessary so that Google robots can analyze your image and index it in the image search results.
In terms of user experience, you must make sure that your pictures are of high quality, that they show the details of your product, and if possible, include a variety of pictures from different angles, in order to show the user what your product looks like.
Provide all the necessary information about your products or services.
As it is an online store, people do not have the chance to see your products in person before making a purchase, so, together with the images, you should provide as much detailed information about your products as possible.
The general structure of a product card consists of:
- The name of the product.
- The price.
- A short description, which seeks to highlight the benefits of the product.
- Product variations, such as color (this information is optional and depends on the product).
- Finally, a long description, in which you can put all the complementary information about your product.
Avoid using generic descriptions or those provided by your suppliers as much as possible, as this can lead to duplicate content problems, and Google will penalize your website.
The ideal is to create unique texts that show the benefits of your products, also, include the keywords with which you want to position yourself. It is a time-consuming job, but the results are worth it.
Create a blog for your online store
For Google, content is king, the more content (and especially quality content) there is on a website or online store, the more relevant it will be and therefore will be positioned in higher rankings.
To achieve this, the blog is a great tool to generate content, content that can also serve to promote your products and services in a subtle way.
In a blog you can write about whatever you want, but if you plan to have one as part of your SEO strategies for online stores, it is best to write content related to the sector in which your business operates.
As we mentioned before, you can promote your products and services within the articles you write in your blog, you can even create text links to redirect to the file of a special product.
Take care of the internal linking of your online store
The internal linking of your online store is very important for Google, since you give it signals of which pages are more important within your information architecture and it will prioritize them to position them in higher positions.
How can you create good internal linking within your online store?
- Organize the structure of categories and subcategories.
- Add a section of related products or complementary products within each product page.
- As mentioned above, create text links within your blog articles.
- You can highlight best-selling products on the home page.
For all this internal linking work to be effective, you must take care that no link is broken and that the redirects (301 and 302 links) are pointing correctly.
Attractive meta-descriptions
The meta-description is a text that Google uses to display in search results, therefore, it should be as striking as possible, inviting users to click on your business and not on others.
The meta-descriptions should be unique for each product (and page of the online store), it is also advisable to use the keywords you want to position yourself with. Google will highlight the keyword within the meta-description, if it matches the query made by the user.
It has a responsive design
Responsive design is no longer a whim, it is a necessity. This is because the vast majority of searches on Google (about 63%) are registered from mobile devices (cell phones and tablets).
If a user visits your online store from a mobile device, and it does not have a responsive design, he will leave immediately and will never visit you again.
In the eyes of Google, you are providing a very bad experience and would penalize your online store by not indexing it within the mobile search results.
In conclusion
SEO strategies for online stores do not differ much from an SEO strategy, it requires proper planning, execution and patience to see results.
The good thing about implementing SEO strategies is that your online store will be well positioned for a long time, so it is a great long-term investment.
Are you interested in positioning your online store on Google?
Our SEO experts are ready to help you with this task. Let’s schedule an appointment and plan your SEO strategy.
Orbis Advisers is a digital marketing agency, 100% results oriented. We specialize in Google Ads, and natural positioning in Google (SEO).