“By the year 2040, 95% of purchases will be made online.” That is a huge motivation boost for ecommerce industry.
In 2017, ecommerce broke all previous sales records and earned $2.3 trillion worldwide. And by the end of 2021, this figure is likely to double and cross the 4.5 trillion mark.
Despite these speculations, many ecommerce businesses struggle to make it to their breakeven due to the sea of challenges they have to deal with every day. From gaining customer attention and ensuring superior customer experience to overtaking the competition and boosting sales – an ecommerce business has to do it all in order to grow.
All these goals can be achieved with the help of a modernistic approach on SEO. Apparently, search engine optimization (SEO) too has changed significantly in last few years. Some of the practices — for example: adding multiple links on local directories — that once were common and accepted — are now in the list deadly sins of SEO.
In 2020, old school isn’t of much benefit now. So, you need to focus on new innovations and best practices that are relevant for today. Here are some of the proven local SEO tips to help your ecommerce business grow –
1. Localize
Do you think your ecommerce business is ready for your target market and audience? Does your ecommerce website have that potential to connect with the local audience?
To connect with your exact audience well, you will need to localize your ecommerce website or app. It is the technique of adapting your website and operations (such as marketing and promotions) to the language and culture of your target audience and market.
Here you will need to understand that website localization is not just about translating your web page content in the language of your audience. It is also about localizing the context of your content and web pages – so the local audience can feel more attached to you. Plus, localization will also help your website gain visibility in local search queries.
2. Choose Your Keywords Cleverly
The very idea of keyword research is to find the keywords (or the words or set of words), using which your audience search for you (or your products) on Google and other search engines.
If you don’t optimize your ecommerce website and its content with those keywords, your website would not stand any chance in top search results and drive organic traffic.
Google Search Console and Google Keyword Planner are the best tools to find popular keywords related to your business and the number of people searching those keywords. There are other tools as well, such as SEMrush and MOZ, using which you can find popular and high-traffic keywords in your area.
To establish a strong presence in your target markets, make sure that your keywords include a mix of your product/service and country/state/city. Do not hesitate to choose long-tail keywords.
You could also go hyper-local and choose location specific keywords to improve the performance of your keywords and campaigns. Create hyper-local SEO campaigns to reach your people fit into the definition of your buyers within your target local market.
For example: An ecommerce business like iCustomLabel that custom designs stickers, labels, and logos for businesses can locate companies and individuals looking for their products in their US, UK and Canada – the countries they serve. This allows them to overlook the people who might not be interested in their products and avoid making efforts for areas where they do not deliver.
3. Create Your “Google My Page”
About 46% of all searches on Google are to find local information and 97% of people try to learn more about local companies online than anywhere else.
And when people search for local businesses, 88% of searches performed on a mobile device lead to a phone call or visit within 24 hours.
That’s why having a Google My Business Page for an ecommerce setup is crucial. Avoid making these common Google My Business mistakes.
4. Design Your Website for Smoother Shopping Experience
Website design has always been an undeniable part of SEO. To make your SEO work for your ecommerce business, your website design should be easy to use for your visitors and buyers. It not only creates a great user experience, but also supports your SEO implementations.
No matter if you offer the lowest prices in the market, if your website fails on the design part, it will not convince your users to buy from you.
Stick to the modern website design principles while designing your website. And if your website needs a remodel, go for it. Before getting a new ecommerce website template, check its SEO-readiness and user-friendliness.
5. Add Voice Search Feature
Does your website have a voice search feature? Just for your information, voice search is a feature that allows users to find products simply by tapping the tiny mic icon on your website and speaking what they are looking for.
If stats say that by the end of year 2020, 50% of all searches will be voice searches, doesn’t that mean you should optimize your website for voice search?
It is like an add-on to the customer experience. And it eventually feeds your SEO in the long-run.
6. Get Ready for Google Shopping Feed
Shopping feed is a file made up of list of products with groupings of attributes that define your products in a unique way.
Despite the fact that Amazon is the largest and most active shopping search engine, 35% of Americans still search for products to buy on Google.
Just create a shopping feed or a list of products with important information for Google, and Google will automatically fetch them and put your product(s) for ad display, whenever related and relevant search query is received.
7. Streamline Your URLs
Avoid keeping cluttered and confusing URLs. Create keyword-based URLs instead. This will help drive organic traffic and improve the visibility of your ecommerce business on search engines.
When you create a page, the development platform gives it a random URL with a big amount of information that, for users and search engine bots, is unclear and confusing.
Try to keep your URL short, and keyword-rich that can be deciphered by search engines as well as is easier for users to remember.
Here’s how to optimize your website and web page URLs.
Bottom Line
Apart from these, do work on your ecommerce website’s on-page SEO. It involves META Title, META Description, Heading Tags, and ALT Tags and Descriptions.
Ecommerce websites are more a game play of high quality images rather than text content. So, when readying your product pages, make sure that you provide ALT tags with each image.
Last but not the least, do not spam while implementing your SEO strategies. This will harshly penalize your ecommerce website.
