Search engine optimization (SEO) is an essential part of any successful e-commerce website. By optimizing your website for search engines, you can drive customers to your e-commerce store and increase sales.
Any successful e-commerce website needs to understand the basics of SEO and learn how to optimize its website accordingly. Here are some dos and don’ts of SEO for e-commerce websites.
Top 6 dos of SEO for e-commerce websites
How to start your e-commerce journey successfully? Here is everything that will help you raise the bar for a winning e-commerce website.
Do create high-quality content
Creating high-quality content is one of the key elements of successful SEO. When you provide valuable information to your customers, they’ll be more likely to stay on your website longer, which can help boost your rankings in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
Even if you do everything else properly and fail to provide valuable content, your SEO efforts will be wasted. That is why your content needs to be well-researched, relevant, and interesting.
Do optimize your images
Images play an important role in SEO. They can help boost your website’s visibility in the SERPs and improve user experience. Optimizing your images can also help with page load times, which is another factor that search engines take into account when ranking websites.
Make sure to use descriptive file names and ALT tags when uploading images to your website, as this will make them easier for search engines to index.
Do create a sitemap
A sitemap is an XML document that lists all the URLs on your website. It helps search engines easily find and index all the pages on your site. Creating a sitemap and submitting it to search engines like Google will help them crawl and index your website more efficiently.
How to create a sitemap? You can use tools like XML-Sitemaps and Screaming Frog SEO Spider to generate sitemaps for your website. You might also want to consider using Google Search Console, which helps you understand how search engines view your website and make improvements accordingly.
Do use a mobile-friendly design
Mobile devices are becoming increasingly popular, so it’s essential that you optimize your website for them. Make sure your site is responsive or has a dedicated mobile version to ensure the best user experience for all visitors.
Mobile-friendliness is also a ranking factor, so having a mobile-friendly design can help improve your website’s visibility in the SERPs.
Do use social media for promotion
Social media can be a powerful tool for increasing awareness of your e-commerce website and driving traffic to it. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram are great for engaging with customers and increasing brand visibility.
When it comes to social medial, it’s important to be active and provide relevant content that resonates with your audience. You can also use social media for customer service and take advantage of the features these platforms offer to promote your products and services.
Do research your keywords carefully
Knowing what keywords to target is essential in creating an effective SEO strategy. Choose targeted keywords related to your products, services, or niche and use them throughout your website’s content.
To do the keyword research properly, you should start by using a keyword research tool. With a trustworthy SEO company, you will get an in-depth keyword analysis of your chosen keywords that can help inform your SEO strategy.
Top 6 don’ts of SEO for e-commerce websites
SEO can be a complex process, so it’s important to avoid common mistakes that could hurt your website’s rankings in the SERPs. Now that you know some of the do’s of SEO for e-commerce websites, let’s look at some of the don’ts.
Don’t use too many keywords in your content
Keyword stuffing is an outdated SEO practice that can actually hurt your website’s rankings. You should only use a few targeted keywords in your content and make sure they are used naturally throughout the text.
For instance, if one of your targeted keywords is “shoes”, you should avoid using that word too many times in a single post and instead use related words such as “sneakers” or “footwear” to diversify your content.
Don’t copy content from other websites
Another SEO mistake is to copy content from other websites. Duplicate content can have a negative impact on your website’s rankings and it also doesn’t provide any value for your customers.
Make sure all the content on your website is original and has been written specifically for your audience.
Don’t use hidden text
Hidden text is any text that is placed on a page in a manner so as to be invisible to visitors. This was an old SEO practice used by marketers to include targeted keywords without making them visible to the user.
However, this practice can lead to penalties from search engines, so it’s best to avoid it altogether. A better solution is to focus on crafting high-quality content that appeals to both users and search engines.
Don’t rely too much on link building
Link building is an important part of SEO, but it should not be your only focus. Quality content is still the most important factor when it comes to ranking in the SERPs. Moreover, search engines are getting better at detecting low-quality links and discounting them from their algorithm.
For best results, focus on creating content that is helpful to users and adding links from relevant websites.
Don’t forget about technical SEO
Technical SEO involves optimizing your website’s infrastructure for better crawlability and indexing by search engines. This includes optimizing page loading speeds, using proper HTML tags, and having a well-structured sitemap.
Make sure you are following best practices when it comes to technical SEO, as this can help your website rank higher in the SERPs.
Don’t automate optimization
Finally, it’s important to avoid automated SEO techniques. Automated SEO tools can do more harm than good and can even lead to penalties from search engines.
For best results, focus on optimizing your website manually and make sure you are following all the guidelines set by search engines. This will ensure that your website is optimized properly and won’t get penalized by the search engines.
Read also: Why You Ought to Have a Blog on Your Site
Conclusion
By following these tips and taking advantage of SEO best practices, you can ensure that your e-commerce website is properly optimized and will rank higher in the SERPs. This will help you increase traffic to your website and maximize conversions.
