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E-Commerce SEO: These Expert Tips Will Take You to the Top of Google’s Rankings

Reading Time 6 mins | November 16, 2021 | Written by: AX Semantics

Would you like to generate more sales for your online store? Then you should not neglect the topic of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The higher the rankings of your website are, the easier potential buyers find you and make a purchase. Apart from a good ranking in the search engine, it is highly important that you convince the visitors of your website to buy your products.

Why SEO is Valuable for Your Online Store

Many online retailers first shy away from SEO, as the results are not seen immediately, in comparison with ads. However, without the help of search engine optimization, it can get quite expensive in the long term. According to a study, 51% of the buyers surveyed stated that they use Google for their research when they plan to purchase something online. (Think with Google, 2019) . In order to build a big and successful online store, SEO is the key. Search engine optimization is an extremely good way to get high quality traffic for most of the websites in the long run. The effort one invests into a website will pay off manifold later on.

An overview of your advantages:

  • Your online store will be better placed when it comes to relevant search terms and thus have a higher ranking in the search engines 
  • The number of store visitors will increase 
  • You’ll generate more sales and revenue


Christian B. Schmidt




Christian B. Schmidt, Managing Director of Digital Effects, examined the structure of various online shops with regard to SEO optimization. In this article, he gives five practical tips that you can quickly apply to your SEO landing pages and achieve a higher conversion.

5 SEO Tips for Your Online Store Using Real Examples

 

TIP 1: Control and optimize the category names of your online store

Seasonal categories and their subcategories in the online store should be named in accordance with the relevant theme of the products and always be controlled if they are named accordingly and inform the customers about what they will find in the category. Moreover, it is important to include the focus keyword in the category name.

It is helpful to implement the category name into the following sentence: “Can product X be bought in the online store?”. If the category name, such as “Christmas”, cannot be implemented into the sentence, it is a clear sign that the category name has to be optimized.

TIP 2: Customize individual keywords based on the search intention of your customer 

If search terms are named accordingly, but are still not being found by customers, it is essential to customize and optimize individual keywords.
An online store, for example, sells "black cumin oil". However, the keyword "black cumin oil" is only looked up by users in combination with an information-driven search. Google thus automatically displays blogs and advice rather than product suggestions to users.

Therefore, the search intent of the customers for individual keywords for which you want to be ranked must always be checked. In this way, you can find out if you display the right content on your website. If enough products are available in the store, for example, various sorts and sizes of "black cumin oil", a special category named after it can also be created, creating ranking opportunities for a transactional keyword.

Particularly with an information-driven search intention, it is a good strategy to create a guide to the corresponding product.

TIP 3: Find out via keyword search which keywords you should use

Do you sell products in your online store that are highly competitive and whose competitors are large and well-known stores? You can then use keyword research to find which keywords give you better chances. The user’s search intention should thus be transactional and the level of competition comparatively lower. It is less profitable for small companies to focus on highly competitive keywords, as big brands get the majority of clicks or the competition is extremely high, so that there are no realistic chances to be ranked among the top search results. 

TIP 4: Offer the customer all the essential information at a glance and make the process of checking out the shopping cart as short as possible 

If the customer does not immediately find what he’s searching for, he will more likely go back to the search results in the search engine, rather than remaining on the current product page. For this reason, it is essential to attract the customer as fast as possible, by displaying the exact information the customer expects to see on the relevant website.

Users must be able to find the information they need in just a few clicks and on a clearly structured, informative store page. This is why the way to the shopping cart must be as short as possible. If the users quickly leave your site, that is a clear signal for Google in the long run. It has a negative effect on your rankings.

TIP 5: Name your category pages specifically

If category pages are named with non-specific terms like for example " Others", it can easily happen that Google will no longer index these pages in the long run, i.e. they will be filtered out, because the subject of the page is not immediately recognizable. For this reason, it is important to organize products from an undefined category into a suitable, relevant named category of its own. 

SEO optimization for Online Stores - 5 Tips from Christian B. Schmitt from his talk at the AX Meetup

Conclusion: Achieve a great deal with small tricks

In order to sell more, you need to be discoverable in the search engines and grow your visibility. 

Using the right strategy and the expert tips from this blog article, you can generate more traffic, make more product sales, and push your store to the top in the e-commerce industry.

AX Semantics