The Ultimate 10-Point Checklist for E-commerce SEO

If you're feeling overwhelmed by the intricacies of ecommerce SEO, you're not alone. However, there are steps you can take to ensure that your strategy is on track. As we move into a new decade, it's a great time to reassess your ecommerce website's SEO approach. When a prospective customer starts their shopping journey, it often begins with a search engine query on platforms such as Google, Bing, or Yahoo. Therefore, it's essential to employ effective SEO techniques that make a positive first impression.

While SEO can be a daunting area to navigate, especially in the realm of ecommerce, the following 10-point Ecommerce SEO guide will help keep you on track and moving in the right direction.

A Comprehensive Technical Ecommerce SEO Checklist

To guarantee a successful SEO plan, it is crucial to establish a strong technical SEO foundation. To achieve this, you should adhere to the subsequent steps to ensure your technical SEO is flawless.

Ensure Proper Site Crawling and Indexing

If your website is not accessible to search engines, then your content will not be ranked. This includes your products, which will not appear in search results. Technical SEO involves several crucial components, such as indexability, crawl ability, site speed, content, schema markup, and user-friendliness. These elements must be properly configured in order to ensure the success of your ecommerce SEO strategy. Once they are in place, the rest of your strategy can be implemented with ease. You can check it from the crawl ability checker tool.

Resolve 4XX Errors Like a Pro.

The Google Search Console proves to be an extremely advantageous instrument for all types of websites. Upon successfully verifying your site, the initial action you should take involves resolving any problematic pages that may arise. These broken pages are those that cannot be crawled by Google and are frequently caused by an outdated sitemap, out-of-stock products, or a temporary server malfunction. You can check them through the broken link finder tool.

Double-Check Your Excluded Pages Now

It is important to review your excluded pages, as Google is unable to index them due to the code in your robots.txt file. While many of these pages may not need to be crawled by search engines, such as the cart, or customer profile page, it is still necessary to verify that no critical pages are being blocked by crawlers.

Try Adding Schema Markup to Your Website

Schema markup comprises a series of HTML tags that enable Google to showcase essential product information such as price, rating, and availability on the search results page. Integrating it into your website is a straightforward process, and it's crucial that you take this step. By doing so, your products become more attractive when displayed on the first page of search results and in Google's shopping tab. You can easily review your existing schema markup configuration by accessing the products report on Google Search Console.

Choose Specific & Sales Driven Keywords

One of the most significant errors that ecommerce entrepreneurs commit is focusing on incorrect keywords. A lot of them target terms that have high search volume associated with their brand, but it's not always the best approach. The truth is, it's the less common and specific keywords that can generate the most conversions. For instance, "2017 Subaru Crosstrek rims" may not have the same impressive search volume as "Subaru rims" or "rims." However, by using the related but more specific term, you can lead searchers directly to your product page. This way, they can find precisely what they are searching for without any confusion.

Pay Attention to Keyword Intent

It is important to make sure that the keywords you are focusing on are aligned with the searcher's intention. Google's RankBrain plays a role in identifying if a search query is transactional or informational. As an online store, it is crucial to prioritize transactional keywords. One way to determine the type of keyword is by searching it in private browsing mode and examining the search results. If the results mainly display product pages, then you are headed in the right direction.

Never Think of competing with Yourself

After identifying the keywords that drive transactions and sales, it is important to avoid overlap in ranking for those terms across multiple pages. When multiple pages rank for the same query, Google may not know which one to prioritize or display at all. It would be frustrating to conduct extensive research on transactional keywords and then have users redirected to the homepage instead of the product page.

By utilizing Google Search Console, you can determine the ranking position, clicks, impressions, and CTR of your website's pages to identify any internal competition for specific keywords.

Keep Away From Duplicate Away

Google is committed to promoting exceptional and original content, and any website that has copied content will be penalized. If more than 60% of the content on a page is identical to another page, Google might classify it as replicated.

Regarding ecommerce, if you have individual pages for the same product but with different colors or sizes, Google might see them as duplicates.

To remedy this, it's best to consolidate all of these variations onto a single page, which will not only resolve the issue but also improve your site's usability and responsiveness.

Try Improving Your Content

Google is actively searching for pages that lack substantial content. This means that if a product page fails to provide a comprehensive depiction of the item, complete with relevant images, it may not get indexed. The rationale behind this is that Google doesn't think the page will meet the user's search requirements if it doesn't offer sufficient information.

To avoid this issue, make sure that all of your products include a detailed description, specifications, images, and other crucial information that is easy for visitors to locate and understand.

Mobile-First Index

Google now relies on mobile-first indexing for ranking your website on search results. This means that the content on your mobile site is more important than that on the desktop version, as mobile searches now far outnumber desktop searches. To make the most of this trend, you need to ensure that your website and products are optimized for mobile devices. Further, to do so, you can use our service. We will provide you a manual SEO audit, that gives an in-depth report related to your website SEO. To attract potential buyers, it's essential to have detailed and visible content on your mobile site. One of the best ways to achieve this is by having a responsive ecommerce website. This ensures that your site adjusts to the screen size of the user's device, making mobile-first indexing a minor concern.

Conclusion

After reading this article, keep these key points in mind: Technical SEO should not be underestimated when it comes to your site's rankings. Elements such as crawl ability and schema markup are crucial for success. Make sure you understand the difference between transactional and informational queries and target keywords that will lead to increased sales. Don't overlook thin or duplicated content on your website. It can significantly harm your site's chances of ranking well. You should also optimize your website for Google's mobile-first indexing. By focusing on these areas, you'll be able to transform your ecommerce website into an SEO powerhouse this year.