SEO online store ranking
An online store is a constantly evolving business model. If you want to reach your potential customers from anywhere, you are well positioned and can operate across regions compared to locally based stores. COVID-19 has also shown us how vital an online presence can be for a company’s survival. But what if thousands and thousands of people are selling the same products/services and you want to launch your online store from scratch? Competition and visibility become a clear problem that needs to be solved. After all, e-commerce is currently one of the biggest sales factors – and the trend is rising. And purchases continue to be made predominantly online, especially due to COVID-19. That’s why we present important SEO measures that are relevant for the ranking of an online store here.
Keywords
Keywords are search terms that are aimed at the user’s search intention. In short, we want to offer the ideal answer to the searcher’s needs. There are a few factors to consider. Firstly, it must be clearly defined for which keywords you want to rank (main and secondary keyword). Ideally in the form of an extensive competitor analysis and in relation to your own service/product or problem solution. This means that keywords such as “rose bush” or “flower vase” should be established on the one hand, and “Valentine’s Day” or “easy-care house plants” should be used on the other. This is because not every user is often looking for specific products, sometimes it is very general questions to which you can provide the specific answer in the best case.
Competitor analysis
There’s also no shame in being oriented towards the high competition. On the contrary. If you don’t do it, someone else certainly will and it is not a bad idea to look for inspiration for possible keywords and to find out which of them rank particularly well or have little competition and therefore have a certain potential for exploitation.
Seasonal and short-term offers
You should also keep an eye on seasonal products. Many store owners ask themselves from time to time how to optimize when some items are specific to different seasons. For example, the bouquet of “Valentine’s roses” or “Cupid’s tulips”. Our SEO tip: Optimize in categories. In fact, the effectiveness of SEO only becomes apparent after a few months, as it is a long-term process. We are talking about four to six months. Valentine’s Day is a little too short for that, as the products are already out of the range again. However, specific offers that may be replaced, have limited availability, etc. will also be confronted with SEO problems.
That’s why the categories come into play. It is not worth investing all your SEO energy in every single product. Nobody likes to invest time and effort in vain. Even if a product is only sold out once. Therefore, the category should be optimized. These can be “bouquets”, “house plants”, “garden supplies”, “Valentine’s Day” etc. and subcategories can also help. It is also helpful if you leave categories online all year round and have some products/services that are still offered there. For example, it makes sense to adapt the homepage according to the season and link to it accordingly or to draw attention to special new products/services via a link, text and image.
The texts
In general, it can be said that texts are a very complex topic in their own right, the depth of which is beyond the scope of this blog post. Therefore, the most important thing to start with is to focus on the target group. Many people make the mistake of thinking that SEO measures apply to the Google search engine in order to achieve a good ranking. This is not fundamentally wrong, but Google is primarily concerned with providing an ideal user experience. So to please Google, you have to please the target group. This means that the USP must be clear, the approach must be appropriate and the content should match the intended search query. And it doesn’t always have to be a novel, especially when it comes to the homepage (the homepage is usually the page that is accessed the least). It always depends on what you want to achieve. The user is happy to receive information quickly and concisely, preferably containing the keyword they searched for and at least the answer.
Duplicate and unique content
When it comes to article descriptions in particular, many store owners ask themselves whether unique content needs to be used every time and whether duplicate content will affect their ranking positions and perhaps even incur a penalty. In principle, unique content is always a good idea. It can stand out from the competition, convince the target group and strengthen the brand image. Nevertheless, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel for product descriptions and the like and write the text par excellence for every bouquet every time. A certain structure is important and orientation also benefits from duplicate content. Google sees it the same way. Whether it is the footer that appears repeatedly on the page or a product that you are not the only website to offer. Google will not lower your ranking because of this.
It is only important that you describe the product in full and clearly disclose all important information to the customer. You are well advised not to take the texts from the manufacturer, but to write your own text and maintain the contents accordingly (are they up-to-date, are there any changes, for example).
The online store on all devices
Did you know that most users mainly use their cell phones for their search queries? This is precisely why Google attaches great importance to responsive design. A website that is only designed for the computer screen is an outdated measure that will cause you to lose sales and ranking. It is frustrating when the user is on your website and cannot reach the navigation because the cell phone is too narrow. A website must work on a PC, cell phone, tablet, etc. In this way, you also cover a large number of potential customers who are more likely to choose you.
In addition to the landing page (blogs etc.)
Almost every store owner is aware of the importance of the landing page. Through certain campaigns, the user is redirected to these and should be actively persuaded to make a purchase. However, in addition to such pages, there are also pages that do not serve commercial purposes but still drive the ranking. We are talking about blogs, encyclopaedias, guidebooks and much more. Here you want to cover informative keywords, e.g. if a user asks “non-toxic plants for cats”, they will be redirected to your site without having specifically searched for one of your products/services. They will still associate this positively with your brand.
In addition, this does not mean that you cannot link suitable product suggestions here. On the contrary, the information they receive may make them feel even more inclined to buy, and if you have included the right product in the post, there is a good chance that they will buy it from you. So non-commercial sites can certainly generate revenue.
Further aspects
Of course, these points are not enough, there are many comprehensive areas that SEO covers. For this reason, here are other important aspects that you should definitely consider for your online store:
- HTTPS
- Reasonable HTML structure
- ALT tags for images
- Meta descriptions
- Loading speed of the page
- Link structure/ link hierarchy
- Backlink generation
- Indexing
- URL structure
- 404 pages
- SEO tools and much more.
E-commerce sales through SEO
Those who take SEO techniques into account will be well positioned in the future. A high ranking is closely linked to high traffic figures and an equally high conversion rate. All of this is ultimately aimed at your sales. But SEO know-how should not be underestimated. Because it is a constantly changing industry. What is still highly topical in 2021 may be outdated again next year. Some measures sound logical, but may be severely penalized by Google. If you are not 100% sure about your search engine optimization measures, it is always a sensible step to hire an SEO expert or an SEO agency. Not only will you have a well-maintained website after this optimization, but you can also concentrate on other forms and goals of your company/website during this time.
