Ecommerce SEO Strategies to Improve Google Ranking

Understandably, the first page of a search result is where you see pages with the highest traffic. Ask yourself, how often do you click to the second or the third page of your search results? Everyone wants their webpage to appear on the first page of the Google search results, which boosts visibility and sales. The secrets to winning this competition are first understanding and then knowing the right moves to win. This blog post is going to walk you through ecommerce SEO strategies that will help increase your site’s ranking on Google.

The first thing to understand is that when you create a website, Google’s bots crawl all over the site like little insect judges. Then they get together and give the site a score based on an analysis of the content on your web pages. This score translates to how effective your website ranks for its keywords. This is how search engines decide which web pages are displayed on a results page. But if you are experiencing slowed traffic on your website, outsmarting almighty Google to improve your website rank could seem like an impossible task. Luckily, we at ERI have seen through the Matrix and know how to do it, and are willing to share that insight with you.

1.) Write New, Quality Blog Posts that are Related to your Products

Producing fresh and engaging content for your website is essential for improving your Google ranking. If you do not publish new content often enough, Google will think your site is inactive and your Google rankings are going to suffer. Create blog topics for your target audience that are engaging, will keep people on your site, and ideally, give them a reason to return. WordPress reported that in 2019, WordPress users produced over 70.5 million new blog posts and over 52 million new comments monthly [1]. Writing engaging website content that users comment on and share opens up two-way communication and helps establish an online community on your website. Blogs about new insights or new offerings can bring awareness and activity to the site. When visitors read these blogs and produce user-generated comments, it generates more traffic to your original blog post.

2.) Include One or Multiple Internal Links in your Blog Posts and Product Pages

When producing new content for a website, experts recommend linking an existing page or post on your site to that new content. Internal links are links from a page on your website to another page on your website. Quality blogs and product pages do not just include engaging content, but internal links that help search engines understand the structure of your website. Internal links break down your posts and pages into a hierarchy. This means search engines know which pages are most effective and have the highest authority.

3.) Increase the Number of Outbound Links in your Blog Posts

You want to be a credible source of information for your audience. In your posts, you can make claims and present facts, but to be believed you need to have these claims linked to credible sources. Outbound links are links that appear on your website that link to another website. Having these links to reputable sites increases your own site’s credibility. The more outbound links you have, the more page authority you are likely to have, thus, again improving your Google ranking.

4.) Review your Older Content, and Update Anything that is Out of Touch

Updating older content shows search engines that your website is active. Content in today’s digital world can sour quickly. Anything old or irrelevant may be confusing for users–especially if a user found your site through an outdated post or page. You do not have a lot of time to make a lasting impression with your webpage so any public-facing pages must be current, updated, and optimized.

5.) Check the Links to your Citations on your Older Posts and Pages

Your older posts might have great content, and you might update them regularly to keep them performing well on search engines. However, there are ways in which these old pages can end up hurting your Google ranking even if the content and metadata are optimized. Having outbound links that link to pages that no longer exist, ends up hurting your ranking. Make sure these links stay healthy by frequently checking your site for broken links.

6.) Optimize your Keywords and develop a Keyword Strategy

Keywords are the words or phrases users type into the search engine to get to a page containing the information they desire, and the goal of a good keyword strategy is to understand user intent.

Ranking high amongst these keywords helps improve your Google ranking. These keywords should be monitored and researched regularly to ensure they still reflect your target audience’s search intent. There are online tools that will help you discover what keywords are trending such as Google Trends, Answer the Public, and Moz. When you know what queries bring traffic to your site, you can then segment your web pages and categorize your keywords based on user intent.

7.) Optimize your Media

There is such a thing as having too much content. Users arriving at a page cluttered with content may have difficulty finding what they need. This can sometimes cause users to leave, which boosts bounce rates. If you notice your bounce rates increasing, you should check what the offending pages are, audit them, and clean them up.

For example, have you ever arrived at a site and suddenly a video with sound starts playing? How quickly did you close the tab? Users are more likely to close the entire tab than try to find the “close” button on your video.

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8.) Configure or Reconfigure your Webpage’s Metadata

Webpage Metadata are the data elements that communicate directly with search engines. This metadata contains and communicates information such as page titles and image tags. Meta descriptions are also communicated to search engines.

Meta descriptions inform the user of what your content is about. If you notice your Google rankings are suffering, try making your meta descriptions more engaging to encourage more clicks. Improving your click-through rate improves search engine optimization.

9.) Ask Your Customers to Write Reviews of your Products

When traffic is down, it is crucial to get positive product feedback from satisfied customers. This gives other users the impression that you are trustworthy, and that your products are effective since it has met someone else’s needs and expectations. Encourage your happy customers to write a review of you so that you can upload these testimonials to your site. Search engines will see this when they crawl your site bringing with them referral traffic.

10.) Consider Guest Writing

You might be an expert, but that might not be enough for search engines to find your site credible. Encourage other experts in your niche to guest-write blogs for your site. Bringing in outside expertise will improve your credibility and ranking. Consider writing for your peer’s websites too, especially if their domain authority is high. Building these relationships with others in your industry shows search engines that your site is active and credible.

11.) Check your Site’s Mobile Efficiency

We spend a lot of time on our phones. Statista found that 52% of web traffic worldwide is mobile [2].

If your website is not optimized for mobile, users are less likely to find what they need, and more likely to leave your site. Your Google rankings will suffer as well. Make sure that your content still effectively tells your story on mobile.

12.) Optimize your Page Load Speed

If your web page or post is taking too long to load, you are going to lose users. Google found that the probability of bounce increases by 32% as page load time goes from 1-3 seconds [3]. A source to slow loading speed could be unoptimized media files. HubSpot found that page speed optimization was the #1 technical SEO tactic used to improve site performance [4]. High-quality images might look good online but it is important to optimize them so that they don’t end up slowing down your website.

13.) Sponsor Branded Content on Social Media

In the digital age, social media has become a hub for finding and sharing information. Take advantage of the sheer number of users and sponsor some of your content on your social media platforms. Posting a link to your latest blog might not be enough to bring in the engagement that you seek. Social media campaigns allow users to choose their social media audience, and what actions they would like to see this audience make. You do not have to make a large investment to get started.

14.) Update the Imagery on Your Site

If you are aiming to improve your Google ranking, consider changing up the imagery on your site. Images do a lot more than break up text content, they help tell your story and should be unique to your brand. Perhaps you hosted an event, or you hired a new team member–your audience wants to see it, share it with them.

15.) Give Your Images the Proper Alt Tags

Alt tags or alt descriptions are the written pieces of text that describe images and their purpose to website visitors who are unable to see the image itself. When inserting media into a post or page, always be sure to add alt tags and convey the “why’ of the image in terms of content within that page. Google expects that websites are accessible to all users, and will penalize websites that are not.

16.) Ensure your Ecommerce Site is Meeting Accessibility Standards

As mentioned before in the previous tip, Google expects websites to be accessible to all users. For more information about making websites accessible and what Google expects, visit this blog we published about Meeting Web Accessibility Standards.

17.) Evaluate your Ecommerce Website’s Navigation

When a new user arrives at your homepage, what is their next step? Where do you want them to go? How do they get there? These are all questions surrounding your website’s navigation. Users and search engines should be able to easily navigate your website without confusion. A smooth and simple layout will allow users to find what they need, interact more with your site, and stay on it longer.

18.) Mix up the Type of Content on Your Website

Take a look at your website’s content display. How are users interacting with it? If you are looking to improve your Google ranking, consider doing an audit of your website content and mixing up your strategy. Perhaps a paragraph of text can be more effective as an infographic, or a gif. In 2019, HubSpot found that 51% of B2B marketers prioritize creating visual assets as part of their content marketing strategy [5]. Search engines will think your website is active if you frequently update and freshen up your content. This has positive a impact on your Google ranking.

19.) Set Up a Google Business Account

Setting your business up with a Google Business account allows you to have a business profile right on the search results page [6].

This feature allows users to easily access the most information about your business. Right from the Google search results, users can find your business location, contact information, and hours, and access your website all with one click. They can also read reviews of the products or services other users have left about your business. Google Business also gives you local exposure to organic results in your community.