Ultimate Guide to Ecommerce SEO for Small Businesses

The importance of SEO for small ecommerce stores

SEO, or search engine optimisation, plays a pivotal role in improving your website’s visibility, driving organic traffic and generating new customers.

By optimising your ecommerce website for search engines, you can increase your chances of attracting potential customers who are actively searching for products or services similar to what you offer.

Investing in SEO is a cost-effective, long-term strategy and unlike paid advertising, which can be expensive and provide temporary results, SEO helps you establish a strong foundation that can generate organic traffic and sales for many years to come.

Adapting to changes in consumer behaviour

There has been some notable shifts in online consumer search and buying behavior in recent years, more so since the Pandemic.

We are buying many more products online now than ever before, but we are also getting more price savvy. We research products more than we used to. We compare like for like, seeking the best deal available. When consumers are in this research phase, they want information quickly. This means your website needs to provide the best possible user experience to keep them engaged, so they stay on your site and connect with your brand.

Competing with the ecommerce giants

But as we know, Google is a hugely competitive marketplace, so how can your small online store compete with ecommerce giants Amazon and Ebay and other high authority brands that dominate search results?

There is plenty of opportunity for your small ecommerce website to thrive!

As Google launches the new AI search engine in 2024, this will deliver a much more personalised user experience.

Although Amazon and Ebay sell products in all imaginable categories, they can’t provide a truly personalised experience. These giant merchant sites provide a convenient and transactional experience. They can’t claim to be experts in any niche due the diversity of their product catalogues. The generic packaging also doesn’t provide the bespoke, personalised ‘unboxing experience’ that an independent online retailer can deliver. But you can!

If you focus on creating a personalised customer experience and becoming an authority in your niche, will give your online store an opportunity to gain competitive edge in the new AI landscape.

In the next sections of this guide, we will explore the key strategies and techniques that will help you unlock the secrets of ecommerce SEO and drive targeted traffic to your website.

Recommended ecommerce platforms for independent online retailers

If you are planning on setting up an online store, you will need an ecommerce platform in which to build it, manage your product inventory and process payments.
There are quite a few platforms to choose from, but for a small ecommerce site, Shopify or WooCommerce (for wordpress websites) are ideal, easy to manage and both have customisable inventory and SEO tools.

Key elements of an effective ecommerce SEO strategy

Key elements of an effective Ecommerce SEO strategy

An effective ecommerce SEO strategy is crucial for driving organic traffic to your online store and improving your visibility in search engine results.

Here’s a bit more info on key elements to consider:

Keyword Research

Identify relevant keywords for your products and target audience.
Focus on long-tail keywords that reflect user intent.
Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Search Console, Answer the Public, or Ahrefs to find relevant keywords.

On-Page Optimisation

Optimise product pages with unique and compelling product descriptions.
Include target keywords in titles, headings, meta descriptions, and image alt tags.
Ensure a clean and user-friendly URL structure.

Technical SEO

Optimise site speed for a better user experience and search engine ranking.
Implement mobile-friendly design (responsive design) for mobile users.
Create a hierarchical site structure for your products with no more than 3 levels.
Add product structured data markup
Use HTTPS for a secure connection.
Create and submit a sitemap to search engines.

Quality Content

Develop high-quality, unique, and engaging content.
Regularly update product descriptions, blog posts, and other content.
Use multimedia elements like images and videos to enhance content.

Backlink Building

Build high-quality backlinks from reputable websites in your industry.
Guest posting, influencer collaborations, and content partnerships can help in acquiring backlinks.
Focus on earning natural and relevant links.

User Experience (UX)

Improve website navigation and structure for a positive user experience.
Ensure clear calls-to-action (CTAs) and a smooth checkout process.
Optimise for mobile users, as an increasing number of shoppers use mobile devices.

Local SEO

Optimise for local search if you have a physical store.
Claim and optimise your Google Business Profile listing.
Encourage customer reviews and respond to them.

Social Media Integration

Leverage social media platforms to promote products and engage with customers.
Social signals can indirectly impact SEO, so maintain an active presence.

Monitoring and Analytics

Use tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and other SEO software to monitor website performance.
Analyse user behavior, track key metrics, and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Website Security

Ensure your eCommerce site is secure to build trust with users and search engines.
Regularly update software, use secure payment gateways, and implement SSL certificates.

Customer Reviews and Ratings

Encourage and showcase customer and product reviews and ratings.
Positive reviews can enhance your search engine visibility and build trust with potential customers.

Remember that SEO is an ongoing process, and it’s important to adapt your strategy based on changes in search engine algorithms, industry trends, and customer behaviour.

Regularly analyse your performance and make adjustments accordingly.

These are just some of the basic principles that underpin successful ecommerce SEO.

In the following sections, we will dig deeper, providing you with actionable tips and best practices to optimise your ecommerce website for search engines.

Keyword research for ecommerce websites

You can’t create a successful SEO strategy without conducting comprehensive keyword research.

This involves identifying the keywords and phrases that your target audience is using to search for products or services similar to what you offer.

By understanding the search intent behind these keywords, you can optimise your website’s content to match the needs and expectations of your potential customers.

How to do keyword research for ecommerce SEO

When conducting keyword research for your ecommerce website, it’s important to consider both the search volume and the competition for each keyword.

High search volume indicates that there is a significant demand for a particular keyword, while high competition means that many websites are already targeting that keyword.

Once you have identified the target keywords for your ecommerce website, it’s important to strategically incorporate them into your website’s content.

This includes optimising your product titles and descriptions, category pages, landing pages and blog posts with the target keywords, while ensuring that the content remains natural and informative for your potential customers.

Top Tip ** To find the right keywords for your ecommerce website, you can use various keyword research tools, such as:

Google Keyword Planner
SEMrush
Ahrefs
Answer the Public
Google Trends

These tools provide valuable insights into the search volume, competition, and related keywords for each query, helping you identify the most relevant and valuable keywords for your business.

Long Tail keywords

In addition to targeting specific keywords, it’s also important to consider long-tail keywords. These are longer and more specific keyword phrases that typically have lower search volume but higher conversion rates.

For example, ‘what is coffee?’ will show much higher search volume and will be a more competitive keyword and harder to rank for than a specific question such as ‘will coffee increase your blood pressure?’ . It will attract lower search volume, however, as it is much more specific to the product you are selling, you are much more likely to rank for this long-tail keyword. By including long-tail keywords in your SEO Strategy, you can start to build topical authority, and attract highly targeted traffic. This will increase your chances of converting visitors into customers.
keyword visualisation around the word coffee

This is a keyword visualisation diagram generated from Ubersuggest, showing a huge number of questions people type into Google that are related to the word ‘coffee’.

Remember, keyword research is an ongoing process. As consumer behavior and search trends evolve, it’s important to regularly revisit and update your keyword strategy to ensure that you’re targeting the most relevant and valuable keywords for your ecommerce website.

Top Tip** Make sure you get the whole picture when analysing keywords! It’s a good idea to check out your competition on your most important keywords – if your competitors are attracting more traffic, then take a look at the type of content they are posting – and do what they are doing, but do it better!

On-site optimisation techniques for ecommerce SEO

In addition to keyword research, how you structure your online store and how you apply on-page optimisation are both crucial elements of ecommerce SEO.

The structure of your ecommerce website is really important as a clear, logical structure will deliver a much better user experience and search engines will be able to crawl the website faster and discover more pages.

By creating a hierarchy for your categories and products and creating SEO-friendly urls, you will improve its crawlability and ensure that search engines can easily index and rank your webpages.

On-page optimisation also plays a critical role in improving your ecommerce website’s visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs).

By optimising various on-page elements, you can make it easier for search engines to understand the content and context of your webpages, ultimately improving your chances of ranking higher.

On-page SEO involves optimising various on-page elements, such as meta tags, product titles, descriptions, page headings, and image alt tags, to make it easier for search engines to understand the content and context of your webpages.

Title Tag

One of the most important on-page elements to optimise is the title tag. The meta title tag is the HTML element that defines the title of a webpage and appears as the clickable headline on search engine results pages. It’s important to include your target keywords in the title tag, preferably towards the beginning, to improve the relevance and visibility of your webpages.

Top Tip ** Make sure you keep within the 60 character limit otherwise Google may generate a generic title tag rather than using your optimised one.

Meta Description Tag

Another crucial on-page element to optimise is the meta description. The meta description is a brief summary of a webpage’s content that appears below the title tag on search engine results pages.

While meta descriptions don’t directly impact rankings, they can influence click-through rates, making them an important element to optimise.

By crafting compelling and informative meta descriptions that include your target keywords, you can increase the likelihood of attracting clicks from potential customers.

Top Tip** You can use AI tools to help you create optimised meta descriptions. Try Chat GPT or Google Bard. Use the prompt: Generate an optimised meta description for this [insert url].

Product Structured Data Markup

Product Structured Data Markup (or Schema Markup) will enhance your product search result appearance. This special code markup helps voice assistants like Google Assistant and Alexa better comprehend product information, ensuring your products are featured in relevant voice search results. It will also be vital for product visibility in the new Google AI search engine.

As well as improving product visibility in organic search results, it will also help you to drive more organic traffic to your product pages and boost CTR.

Top Tip** If your online store is built in WooCommerce or Shopify, these platforms have plugins and apps that make adding structured data markup really easy. Structured Data Markup can be applied manually, but it will require some knowledge of coding and html. Once applied, it should then be validated using the schema testing tool at https://validator.schema.org/

Content optimisation

When optimising your ecommerce website’s content, it’s important to strike a balance between search engine optimisation and user experience.

While it’s crucial to include target keywords strategically, it’s equally important to create valuable and informative content that resonates with your potential customers.

By adopting a user-centric approach to content creation, you can improve engagement metrics, such as user engagement rate, which can indirectly impact your website’s rankings.

As well as optimising body content, its important to optimise other on-page elements such as page and content headings (H1, H2, etc.), product titles, product descriptions, internal link text and image alt tags. These elements provide additional context to search engines and help improve the overall crawlability and indexability of your ecommerce website.

Top Tip** Remember, search engines are becoming increasingly sophisticated at understanding the nuances of human language and intent. Focus on creating content that resonates with your audience on a deeper level, and you’ll be well-positioned for success in the AI-powered future of search.

Off-page optimisation strategies for ecommerce SEO

Off-page optimisation, on the other hand, focuses on building high-quality backlinks to your ecommerce website.

Building Backlinks

Building high-quality backlinks is crucial for improving your ecommerce website’s domain authority and increasing its chances of ranking higher on search engine results pages. However, not all backlinks are created equal. It’s important to focus on acquiring backlinks from authoritative websites in your industry that have a high domain authority themselves.

Guest Blogging

One effective way to acquire backlinks is through guest blogging. Guest blogging involves writing and publishing articles on external websites in exchange for a backlink to your ecommerce website. By contributing valuable and informative content to authoritative websites, you can not only build backlinks but also establish yourself as an expert in your industry and attract targeted traffic to your website.

Influencer Outreach

Another strategy for acquiring backlinks is through influencer outreach. Identify influencers in your industry who have a significant following and engage with them to promote your products or services. By leveraging the reach and authority of influencers, you can attract high-quality backlinks and increase your ecommerce website’s visibility.

Get Social

Social media platforms also play a role in off-page optimisation. By actively engaging with your target audience on social media and sharing valuable content, you can increase the chances of your content being shared and linked to by others. Social signals, such as likes, shares, and comments, can indirectly impact your website’s rankings and visibility on search engine results pages.

Top Tip ** It’s important to note that building high-quality backlinks is a long-term process that requires patience and persistence. It’s crucial to focus on quality rather than quantity when it comes to backlinks. A few high-quality backlinks from authoritative websites can have a greater impact on your ecommerce website’s rankings than numerous low-quality backlinks.

Technical SEO for ecommerce websites

Technical SEO refers to the optimisation of various technical aspects of your ecommerce website to improve its crawlability, indexability, and overall performance on search engines. While technical SEO can be complex and intimidating, it’s crucial to get it right to ensure that search engines can properly understand and rank your webpages.

Speed optimisation

One of the most important technical aspects to optimise is website speed.

Slow-loading websites can negatively impact user experience and increase bounce rates, which can, in turn, affect your website’s rankings. To improve website speed, you can compress images, minify CSS and JavaScript files, leverage browser caching, and utilise content delivery networks (CDNs).

Google’s Pagespeed Insights Tool is a free speed test tool which shows scores for both mobile and desktop for page urls. It also provides insights on what elements are causing the lag so they are easily resolved.

Mobile Friendly

Another important technical aspect to optimise is mobile-friendliness. With the increasing use of mobile devices to browse the internet, it’s crucial to ensure that your ecommerce website is responsive and mobile-friendly. You can also use Googles Pagespeed Insights Tool to check if your site passes the mobile-friendly test.

Mobile-friendly websites not only provide a better user experience but also receive a ranking boost from search engines.

URL structure

Optimising your ecommerce website’s URL structure is another important technical aspect of SEO.

Use descriptive and keyword-rich URLs that accurately reflect the content of your webpages.

Avoid using generic and meaningless URLs, such as “www.example.com/page1,” and instead opt for URLs that provide valuable information to both search engines and users, such as www.example.com/category/product-name.

Structured data markup

We covered product structured data markup above, but there are more schemas that you can apply to make sure other important content is given some prominence, which will increase the chances of more visibility, traffic and CTR.

Its worth exploring the different types of schema that could apply to your business. Go to the Schema.org For ecommerce sites, we recommend product and product review schema markup s a priority, but you may also like to consider the various sector-specific schemas, event schema, video scheme or perhaps even recipe schema if you are in the food and beverage sector.

For AI search, it is going to be vital to incorporate structured data markup into your Ecommerce SEO strategy. If you are using WooCommerce or Shopify you will be able to download a plugin or app so you can easily integrate product and review schema into your pages.

Top Tip ** Regularly monitoring and fixing technical SEO issues is crucial for maintaining the health and performance of your ecommerce website. Conduct regular audits using tools like Google Search Console or Screaming Frog to identify any technical issues, such as broken links, duplicate content, or crawl errors, and take appropriate measures to fix them.

Content marketing for ecommerce SEO

Content marketing plays a crucial role in ecommerce SEO by providing valuable and informative content that attracts and engages potential customers.

By creating high-quality content, you can establish yourself as an authority in your industry, attract backlinks, and improve your website’s visibility on search engine results pages.

Get blogging!

One effective content marketing strategy for ecommerce websites is blogging. By regularly publishing informative and engaging blog posts, you can attract targeted traffic and increase the chances of converting visitors into customers.

Blogging also provides an opportunity to target long-tail keywords and answer commonly asked questions in your industry, further increasing your website’s visibility on search engines.

Unique product descriptions

In addition to blogging, creating high-quality product descriptions is crucial for ecommerce SEO. Product descriptions should be unique, informative, and optimised with target keywords. By providing detailed and accurate information about your products, you can improve the user experience and increase the chances of converting visitors into customers.

High quality images and videos

Visual content, such as images and videos, also plays a role in content marketing for ecommerce SEO.

High-quality product images and videos can enhance the user experience and improve engagement metrics, such as time on page and bounce rate. Additionally, optimising image alt tags with target keywords can improve the visibility of your ecommerce website on image search results.

User-generated Content

User-generated content (UGC) is another powerful content marketing strategy for ecommerce websites.

UGC includes customer reviews, testimonials, and social media posts related to your products or services. By leveraging UGC, you can build trust and credibility, attract backlinks, and improve your website’s visibility on search engine results pages.

Top Tip** Remember, content marketing is an ongoing process that requires regular updates and optimisation. By consistently producing high-quality content and promoting it through various channels, you can build brand awareness, attract targeted traffic, and improve your ecommerce website’s rankings.

Tracking and measuring ecommerce SEO success

Tracking and measuring the success of your ecommerce SEO efforts is crucial for understanding the impact of your optimisation strategies and making informed decisions to improve your website’s performance.

Data analysis for ecommerce seo

Organic Traffic

One of the most important metrics to track is organic traffic. Organic traffic refers to the visitors who land on your website through unpaid search results.

By monitoring your website’s organic traffic, you can gauge the effectiveness of your SEO efforts and identify any fluctuations or trends that may require further investigation.

Keyword Rankings

In addition to organic traffic, it’s important to track keyword rankings. Keyword rankings provide insights into how your website is performing on search engine results pages for specific queries.

By monitoring your keyword rankings, you can identify opportunities for improvement, as well as any potential threats from competitors.

User Engagement

With the emergence of AI Search, Google is focusing much more on engagement metrics for ranking. Google will reward sites with high engagement rates as it indicates the site is delivering a great user experience.

Engagement metrics, such as user engagement rate, time on page and conversion rate, are important indicators of your website’s performance. These metrics provide insights into how users are interacting with your website and whether they are finding the information they need.

By analysing engagement metrics, you can identify areas for improvement and optimise your website’s content and user experience.

Conversion Tracking

Conversion tracking is crucial for ecommerce websites. By setting up conversion tracking, you can measure the number of visitors who complete a desired action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter.

Conversion tracking provides valuable insights into the effectiveness of your SEO efforts in driving revenue and growing your small business.

The Wrap Up

Ecommerce SEO is a complex and ever-evolving field, but by following the strategies outlined in this guide, you can significantly improve your website’s visibility and attract more targeted traffic.

By focusing on keyword research, on-page optimisation, off-page optimisation, technical SEO, content marketing, and tracking and measuring success, you can establish your ecommerce website as a leader in your industry and drive sustainable growth for your small business.

Remember, SEO is an ongoing process, and it’s essential to regularly adapt your strategies to stay ahead of the competition and the ever-changing landscape of search engine algorithms. By consistently implementing the best practices outlined in this guide, you can unlock the full potential of ecommerce SEO and achieve your business goals.