SEO Best Practices For E-Commerce Websites

Online shopping is an ever-growing industry, and e-commerce website managers need to stay ahead of the competition by being updated on the new technologies, trends and approaches in e-commerce SEO.

Getting more web traffic, social media shares, and of course, investment returns are among the goals of e-commerce sites. Here are some tips on how to keep up with the latest trends to provide consumers a better shopping experience and at the same time make it easier for merchants to manage day-to-day operations.

Out-of-the-Box SEO Technology

Because SEO and SERPs have evolved over the years, out of the box solutions have also emerged to let merchants and web developers use apps, widgets, and tools to optimize their website and improve rankings, while minimizing manual data input. The WordPress Yoast SEO plugin does just that. It primarily helps you create higher quality content and goes the extra mile with technical optimization and page analysis.

Longer Content

In the past, more concise product descriptions are the way to go, as users tend to be impatient and take less time to read actual product information. However, longer content provides more detail and more relevant keyword searches. It also provides market differentiation from other competitors. Long-form and quality content should be developed with a more in-depth product detail, company insights, and some customer reviews without irrelevant filler content.

Social Media Shareability

Social media nowadays is very powerful. It enables users and consumers to put your product out there with great or destructive reviews. A great way to become more visible and get higher rankings is to be more accessible to social media users. Encourage your customers to share their checkout experience by providing buttons to Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and other social media platforms.

Mobile Optimization

As more consumers are using their mobile devices more than their computers or notebooks, Google now requires websites to have a mobile version. However, meeting Google’s standards for mobile optimization is not enough to stand out and gain regular customers and following. Mobile optimization is about providing the best possible shopping experience by offering more functionality with fewer taps or clicks. Developing mobile e-commerce apps may soon become a requirement for staying in that top spot in search results.

Video Content

As mobile devices are upgraded every year, user behavior evolves as well. Video creation, editing, and sharing capabilities become more available to users and they demand more videos! Video content can be considered rich media and may show better rankings, especially if posted on YouTube. In addition, it has more potential to become viral. Video content has gained its ground and is getting even more popular through the years. Make sure to post video content to stay up-to-date.

Local Marketing

While attending an online SEO training course will show you how important local marketing is in search engine optimization, most companies forget about local marketing because of the fact that e-commerce sites usually target a nationwide audience. However, pursuing a local market can help companies be more reachable to their target market and differentiate themselves from competitors. The click-and-collect concept is gaining more ground, and more consumers choose to purchase online and pick-up their items from local stores.

Final Tips

Stay up-to-date with new e-commerce trends and approaches as the e-commerce industry grows every year. Make sure to stay ahead of the competition by adapting to newer technology and fresh ideas.

Michelle Gonzalez has been writing for SMEs across the United States, Canada, Australia and the UK for the last five years. She is a highly-experienced blogger and SEO copywriter, writing business blogs for various industries such as marketing, law, health and wellness, beauty, and education, particularly on creating online courses such as those offered by ClickMinded.com.

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