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You might be wondering what sorts of strategy you need to employ to make your website even more SEO (search engine optimization) friendly. If you’re not sure why SEO is important, click here to read a bit more.
What’s the secret sauce that makes businesses get noticed in search? Maybe you’re having success with some categories or pages and getting conversions, but on other pages, you’re falling short. There’s a myriad of potential reasons you might not be getting the page views and conversions that you want. If this is the case, there are a few things you can do.
Title tag optimization, meta description optimization, heading tag optimization, working on body content, and beefing up supporting pieces. All of these things work together and play a major role in how well your website is doing. Especially with the latest Google algorithm updates, when it comes to ecommerce SEO, you need to make sure your website is dialed in. Let’s explore these five on-page SEO strategies that will help take your eCommerce business to the next level.
A title tag is part of the HTML (hypertext markup language) element. You’ll see the title tags when you do a search, and the results roll in. These are so important since that’s part of what the search engines pick up and show to people searching for businesses or services like yours. Making sure your title tags are optimized is a must.
You’ll need to start with keyword research, so you can know the best keywords for your title tag. You’ll want to make sure it’s also optimized for long tail searches, as well. For example, someone might search “outdoor storage” or “outdoor storage sheds small.” So, you’ll want to include a few other words that will allow you to be picked up with both types of searches. These are called modifiers. Here are a few modifiers you should consider:
You’ll want your title tag to stay between 55-60 characters and use your primary keywords at the beginning of the title. If you write something longer, it may get cut off, and you want the keywords to be up front and visible.
Meta descriptions are part of making a great first impression in search results. They go hand-in-hand with the title tags and help search engines find you. Essentially, they’re the portion of the search results underneath the title tag.
To write great meta descriptions, you’ll need to have your keyword research in hand. You’ll want to use your primary keyword, and you can include a secondary keyword as well. Some people include a third keyword, but it’s really up to you. You want to be careful not to overload your limited space with keywords, especially if they are different variations. Google will penalize you and won’t have you show in search results if it classifies that you’re using too many keywords in your meta description. Another cool feature is that if someone's search includes keywords in your meta description, Google will bold those words in the results for easier scanning. It’s definitely a balancing act.
Keep your meta description between 150-165 words at most, and they should include a call to action. You’ll also want to include really important information such as if you have free shipping, a shipping minimum, etc. You can also include your brand name when it's the meta for a category page or your homepage. Using Google Search Console, you can also see what queries people are searching for, what’s getting clicks, etc. so you can include similar language in your meta description.
If you want to be extra technical, you can download various extensions for Chrome that allow you to see an overview of any web page. It’ll give you information such as keywords, SEO info, URL, etc. You can use it get a quick view of what your competitors’ pages look like.
Making sure your heading tags convey your point and are communicating with search engines properly is also very important. You should include your primary keyword in the heading, but you don’t want to use too many keywords, either. You’ll want to make sure that you also have only one main heading (also known as an H1) per page.
H1 is the HTML code for your title. It’s usually the biggest title on the page.It just communicates through code that this is the title. Why is this important? Well, search engine bots use the H1 to determine what your page is about and if it’s relevant to searches. The H1 is usually the most prevalent and visible part of your page for viewers, as well. You’ll want to make sure your H1 has your primary keyword and that it’s a topic people will be interested in reading about/will search for.
You can use additional headings, just make sure you only have one H1 heading. H2 and H3 headings can be used throughout, but they should also include keywords and follow a similar theme. These headings are great for SEO, but they also make web pages and blogs much more user-friendly. Nobody looks at a huge block of text on a web page, and thinks “Hooray! A huge block of text to read!” In fact, a lack of headings can make viewers lose interest. Headings allow them to scan through your content to look for what they need. Headings also have the potential to hook viewers, so choose all of your headings wisely.
As far as body content goes, it may seem less important than things like the meta description and the title tags, but it’s very important too. The body content is the large blocks of text on your site, and it’s basically three different types of content blocks. It’s category pages, blog posts, and product pages. You’ll want to make sure these are not too long and include 2-3 instances of keywords within each. Anything more than that, and Google may think you’re keyword spamming. It’s a tricky balance, but it’s needed—especially with Google’s most recent update.
The category page content is the verbiage that you can find on pages with a group of product images and links to product detail pages. It talks about the category of items that are covered on the page. It should be from 100-150 words, and you’ll need to include 2-3 keywords on each page. This verbiage offers a way for consumers to read about the items on that page, and it also allows search engines to help find these pages when people do searches. You may also find that this content allows you to link to other subcategory pages or other category pages within your website.
Product pages are all of the individual listings for your products. So, if you sell athletic shoes, an example of a product page would be premium black and white track shoes. The product pages should list out details (color, material, sizes, etc), but you’ll also want a block of text between 100-150 words with at least 2-3 keywords within it. That way search engines will be more interested in bringing up your products when people search for them.
When it comes to blogs and articles, you’ll want to be right around 1,000 words. Sometimes 1,500 depending on the topic. If you’re using a lot of verbiage, you want to consider headers to break up your text. Readers love to skim and headers can help them decide if the article is worth their time. Most importantly, make sure you are writing about things that your audience wants to know more about.
Overall, optimized body content is the most important part of your pages. It gives you the opportunity to introduce your company and your product. After all, if you walked up to someone on the street and showed them your product, told them the price, and asked them to buy it with no background/without introducing yourself, they’d look at you like you were crazy. The same principle applies to a web page. No one is going to buy if you don’t introduce yourself and give some background information. It also can determine whether viewers take the next step and become customers.
Using blog content and embedding internal links within your blogs has been an age-old way that people have promoted their products. This content has long been king, but Google is starting to crack down a bit.
Google recently came out with a “Helpful Content Update” which might freak out some marketing agencies and website owners. It has been stressed by Google, however, that their latest update doesn’t mean that SEO best practices are no longer valid. They still are, but Google is going after certain kinds of content. It’s important to create content that helps people and isn’t just about getting the algorithm’s attention, according to Google. They really want to weed out websites that are ranking high just because of their SEO strategy. Google wants to feature content that actually helps people.
If Google classifies your site as one that isn’t being helpful, you won’t be listed as much. The good news is, though, that if you improve your content, Google will take the “signal” off your account, and your site will be able to rank highly once again.
It’s important to consider the following when it comes to your blog content and internal links:
Just make sure you’re being mindful about your user-generated content, and don’t be afraid to branch out. Make your content fun, and engaging, and answer questions people have. Make sure you’re also employing EAT.
EAT stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. You’ll need to show you’re an expert on the topics at hand, show sources, and make yourself an authority on the subjects you write about. This will keep your blog content humming along–even with the new changes Google is employing.
This should be a great start to getting your site to be more search engine friendly. If you want help tracking and driving organic performance, give Triple Whale a try.
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