Without a doubt, ranking higher than your ecommerce competitors is a must. The majority of consumers won’t go beyond the first page of Google results, and when you miss out on clicks, you miss out on sales, too. One study found that the first link in search engine page results had a 36.4% clickthrough rate, while the second position had 12.5% and the third had 9.5%.
You can easily see how the lower you are on the SERPs, the less likely your links are to be clicked. Search engine marketing (SEM) is key to putting your online business in the best position. With the right SEM for e-commerce, you’ll enjoy the fruits of your SEO labor. The following tips will help you do just that.
1.) Pay attention to duplicate content.
It’s easy to fall into the duplicate content trap when your store has a lot of content. Ecommerce owners falsely believe that by adding hundreds of products, their organic ranking will skyrocket. But most times, this isn’t the case. Some products may be a lot like others, and therefore the product descriptions are relatively the same. Unfortunately, Google’s algorithms do not differentiate between duplicate content across posts and duplicate content across products, and ecommerce owners will get penalized for the later.
One way to avoid this is to refrain from using manufacturer product descriptions. As tempting as it is, you’ll need to build your product database from scratch. Each product will require its own description if you have any chance of making it into the top 10 of SERPs. Each product page should have at least have a paragraph of unique text. If writing isn’t your strong suit, consider hiring an agency or freelancer.
2.) Put product reviews on your product pages.
When you have product reviews readily available on your product pages, your customer is much more likely to make a purchase. This is because 88% of buyers are searching online for reviews before they make a final purchase. These product reviews create a multitude of opportunities: they cater to audiences looking for product confirmation; create a sense of community among buyers; and create organic SEO for your product page (for free!)
3.) Use Unique Title Tags
If you spotted the trend here, you’re on target. Unique content across the board is necessary for organic SEO. Title tags tell search engines (and potential customers) what the page is about. And believe it or not, the title tags are one of the most important on-page SEO elements.
Duplicate title tags, like duplicate content, can be a big issue. This can get tricky when you sell multiple of the same type of product from the same brand, and search engine algorithms are smart enough to identify this. But the key lies in creating unique keyword phrases. To make it easier to add unique key phrases for a bulk of products, it’s safe to follow the same model across your website: Brand > Model > Item Type. Of course, not every product will fit neatly into this outline, but it gives you a good steering guide to what fits. To give you a solid idea of what works, check out these examples of good and bad title tags.
Don’t forget about PPC.
While no ecommerce owner should put all their money into PPC, it’s something you should pay attention to — in addition to organic SEO. Some people have found traction with PPC and soon after believe they no longer need it, and suddenly sales fall behind. The best strategy is a combination of PPC and organic SEO, and employing best practices in both is important.
Pay-per-click have proven very beneficial to many ecommerce brands over the past few years. Through PPC, you can reach a highly targeted audience, measure the success of your campaign, and use different platforms to attract potential buyers.
Don’t be quick to delete product pages for out-of-stock items.
If the item will be in stock at a later date, consider leaving the product page up (rather than deleting, hiding, or replacing it). This way, you’re still retaining the SEO work you’ve put into the page. Furthermore, consumers may still be able to access the link through other sources (such as blogs) and a link that doesn’t work can hurt your SEO.
If the product is completely sold out and won’t be returning, use widgets to offer a similar alternative. Give them the option to backorder the product, ensuring they’ll be the first to receive it when it becomes available. Some customers would rather just be notified of its availability — give them that option, too. Lastly, to soften the blow, consider offering a discount to those people who have serious interest in the product and intent to come back later and purchase.
Kidal Delonix is a contributor to Mr. Hoffman's blog. The views and opinions are entirely his/her own and may not reflect Mr Hoffman's views.
