What is SEO and Why Do I Need it For My E-Commerce Website?

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the practice of enhancing your website to improve its visibility when people search for products or services related to your business in search engines like Google. The goal of SEO is to get your website to appear higher up in the search results, which can significantly increase the likelihood of attracting more traffic to your e-commerce website.

Why SEO is Essential for Your E-Commerce Website

1. SEO boosts your rankings for product/service keywords, driving more potential customers to your site.

2. Well-optimized sites attract more free, organic traffic from search engines – hello, increased sales!

3. SEO best practices enhance user experience through better site structure, content, and speed – keeping visitors engaged.

4. Prominent search rankings build brand credibility and authority in your market.

5. Cost-effective SEO provides lasting benefits, continually attracting visitors without endless ad spend.

6. Keyword research reveals how customers search, allowing you to create content that reaches the right audiences.

How to Get Your E-Commerce Site to Rank Higher on Search Engines

Ranking higher on search engines through SEO involves a mix of technical improvements, content optimization, and building your site’s reputation. You want Google to be able to easily find and favor your site — that’s how you attract potential customers and make sales. 

Here are nine key strategies to help you improve your search engine rankings:

1. Keyword Research

Identify the keywords that potential customers use to find similar products or services. Tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Ahrefs can help you find relevant keywords. Then, use these keywords to optimize your website’s content, including titles, headings, and descriptions.

2. On-Page SEO

Each page of your website needs to be optimized for SEO. 

Title Tags and Meta Descriptions: Write unique and descriptive titles and meta descriptions for each page using relevant keywords.

Header Tags: Organize content using header tags (H1, H2, H3) to help search engines understand the structure of your content.

Alt Text for Images: Use alt tags to describe images, incorporating keywords where appropriate. This helps with SEO and website accessibility. Google’s image search receives over 1 billion page views a day, so this SEO practice is one you can’t skip out on. 

URL Structure: Create clean, descriptive URLs that include keywords. Avoid long URLs with unnecessary parameters.

3. High-Quality Content

Create relevant, valuable content that answers users’ questions and provides solutions. Use the keywords from your research when creating content to make sure Google is picking up your site and directing online users to you. Remember to update your content to keep it fresh and relevant regularly. 

4. Mobile Optimization

Nearly everyone has a smartphone, so please (we’re begging you) make sure your website is responsive and works well on mobile devices. Google uses mobile-first indexing, meaning it predominantly uses the mobile version of the content for indexing and ranking.

5. Site Speed

We’ve said it multiple times, and we’ll keep saying it —improve your website’s loading speed. Slow sites can negatively impact user experience and rankings, which is bad news for your e-commerce site. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to analyze and optimize your site’s performance and keep users around. 

6. Internal Linking

Internal links help search engines understand your site’s structure and distribute page authority and ranking power. This also helps users navigate your site more effectively, ensuring they stay on it and don’t leave because they’re confused. 

7. External Linking

Backlinks from reputable sites can significantly boost your SEO by showing search engines that your content is valuable and credible. Focus on building relationships with other site owners, creating shareable content, and possibly guest blogging. 

Check out our backlink example in #8. 

8. Social Signals

While social media may not directly influence rankings, social signals (likes, shares) can increase your content’s visibility. As more people see and interact with your content on social media,  brand awareness increases. 

This awareness can lead to more searches for your brand on search engines, indirectly boosting your SEO by showing an increased interest and relevance to search engines. Just ask our friends at Breezy Content. They’re professionals at creating a content strategy that optimizes SEO on your social platforms and blogs, leading online users right to your website. 

(Did you find the backlink example?)

9. Regular SEO Audits

Conduct SEO audits to identify and rectify issues related to website structure, content, and outbound links. Breezy Sites offers free website audits, so you’ll know if your website is optimized for SEO. 

Remember: SEO is an ongoing process, not a one-time fix, and requires continuous effort and monitoring to maintain and improve rankings.

TL;DR – Why SEO Matters for Your E-Commerce Site

1. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) helps improve your website’s visibility and ranking on search engines for relevant keywords related to your products/services.

2. Higher rankings lead to more organic traffic, increased brand awareness, and potential sales/revenue for your e-commerce business.

3. Key SEO strategies include:

   – Thorough keyword research to identify relevant search terms

   – On-page optimization (titles, descriptions, headings, images, etc.)

   – Creating high-quality, relevant content

   – Ensuring mobile-friendliness and fast page load times

   – Building internal and external links

   – Conducting regular SEO audits to identify and improve issues

4. SEO is an ongoing process that requires consistent effort but can provide a cost-effective way to drive targeted traffic and sales to your e-commerce website over the long term.

Make Sure Your Website is Set Up for Google

Rising to the top of search rankings is a challenging task, but BreezySites is here to help. Our Search Optimization service uses strategic techniques to enhance your website’s visibility. 

Each month, we’ll provide a report outlining improvements to boost your rankings and implement them for you. Ready to get started? Reach out today!