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How To Use SEO Strategies To Increase eCommerce Sales

How To Use SEO Strategies To Increase Ecommerce Sales
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The eCommerce space is extremely competitive due to how popular it is to shop online.

According to Statista, 20% of their respondents shop online every week, 40% every month, 15% once a month, 23% several times per year, and 2% once per year.

how often do you shop online
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Image Source: Statista.com

According to Disruptive Advertising, in 2017, eCommerce websites generated around 2.3 trillion dollars in sales and is expected to reach 4.5 trillion dollars in 2021. This trend is not expected to slow down any time soon.

It’s just so much easier to shop online especially now since you can choose next day shipping from most companies.

Even though there are online giants like eBay and Amazon, many consumers are actually buying from eCommerce websites. With so many options to choose from, eCommerce websites will need to think outside the box if one wants to survive in this competitive space.

Generating one or two sales is not so difficult. The hardest part is sustainability and growth. A company that is not sustainable or not growing is a ticking time bomb. You might generate a sale here and there, but then most of the time, you’re struggling to make ends meet.

Once someone lands on your eCommerce website, it’s easy to convince them through discounts and various payment options. But what about driving for new customers?

This is where SEO comes in!

According to Search Engine Land, a whopping 85% of consumers use Google to find product ideas and information before making a purchase. So what does this mean for you and your eCommerce business?

Basically, if your eCommerce website is not ranked on Google, you won’t generate new leads and sales organically (free traffic). And that’s why you need to utilize SEO.

In this article, I will go over tips on how to use SEO strategies to increase eCommerce sales. Without further ado, let’s get started!

Tip #1. Start A Blog

Do you have a blog for your eCommerce store? If you’re using Shopify as your eCommerce platform, you can start a blog without using another platform.

Sure, you can add keywords to your product pages, descriptions, etc. But that’s not enough!

Text-based content ranks very well, but product descriptions are usually short and straightforward. According to Backlinko, the average Google first page result contains around 1,890 words.

If your product descriptions are around 1,890 words, it’s far too long. And that’s exactly why you need to start a blog.

Having a blog, you’ll have the opportunity to use keywords that you want to rank for. It will also help you build links that point back to your website from other sources.

Or you can internally link your pages to direct traffic to other parts of your website. When combined, your internal and external links will help improve your search engine ranking.

Tip #2. Do Keyword Research

Keywords are what users type into the search bar when looking for information. This is why Google is the most popular website on the internet. If you want to rank well using SEO, you’ll need to start off with keyword research.

Keyword research will help you understand how much search traffic you can expect if you rank on the first page. It will also help you understand the different search phrases that your customers may be typing in when conducting product research on what you’re selling.

google keyword planner
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Google keyword planner is a great tool to start with. It’s completely free and it’s provided to you by none other than Google themselves. To use this tool, you’ll need to have a Gmail account.

After finding keywords or key phrases that relate to your product or service, write it down on a notepad. With this information, you can adjust your text-content based on your findings. This will help get your content ranked for those specific keywords on the search engines.

Overtime (not immediately), you’ll start ranking on Google as long as you publish high-quality content. Eventually, you will start receiving organic search traffics that is highly targeted. Which means you no longer have to depend on paid advertisements to generate sales.

Tip #3. Use Long-Tail Keywords

If you just started your blog, you’re going to find it rather difficult to rank for competitive terms. For example, car insurance is an extremely difficult keyword to rank for. Many websites with high authorities will outrank you, so that’s why you need to use long-tail keywords.

Long-tail keywords are longer phrases.

For example, instead of trying to rank for car insurance, you’ll have a better chance of ranking for cheap car insurance in 2019.

Here’s an example from using Jaaxy Keyword Research Tool:

jaaxy keyword research tool
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As you can see from the image above if I want to create a make money online website. It’s much easier to rank for key phrases like making money online fast or ways to make money online compared to make money.

Long-tail keywords are less competitive, but it also doesn’t have a high search volume. This means you’ll generate less traffic, but they are more specific which means your conversion rate increases.

Besides using long-tail keywords in your blog, you can also include long-tail keywords in your product name and your product descriptions.

By including long-tail keywords in your product name and product description, you’ll also make it easier for your customers. Instead of manually going through your product list, they can just search for a specific name.

And since you’re showing your customers exactly what they’re searching for. It increases the chance of a sale.

Tip #4. Optimize Your Website For Mobile Devices

smartphone users in the world
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Image Source: Statista.com

According to Outerbox design, 79% of smartphone owners have made purchases online using their devices. As of 2019, approximately, 2.71 billion people in the world use a smartphone.

So if your eCommerce website is not mobile-friendly, you won’t rank very well on search engines. This is because people who use their mobile devices to conduct Google search will bounce off of your website right away.

The good news is, most website themes (website design) are mobile-friendly right out of the box. This is definitely the case if you use Shopify as your eCommerce platform.

Not only will optimizing your eCommerce website help with search engine rankings, but it will also help you generate more sales from mobile users.

Tip #5. Have A Blazing Fast Website

A slow website delivers poor user experience and that directly impacts your search engine rankings. In the modern age, speed means everything. If it takes more than 3 seconds to load a page, your potential customers would leave and go elsewhere.

There are ways to make your website blazing fast:

  • Upgrade your website to a better web hosting provider.
  • Use cache plugins like W3 Total Cache or WP Rocket.
  • Remove plugins that you don’t need or use.
  • Choose a premium theme (usually coded by someone with more experience).

The objective is to create a blazing fast website. By doing so, you’ll improve your search engine rankings for having a positive user experience as well as an increase in sales.

Tip #6. Simplify Your Website

Since I mentioned website speed, I figured it’s important to point out the design of your website. Often times, free can actually cost you. When I first started blogging, I used a free design. It wasn’t the worst, but it certainly wasn’t great.

Sometimes the way your theme is coded can impact the speed of your website. Or, your website is just too complex with images and videos everywhere.

I remember trying to buy fidget spinners for my little cousin. I found a website that claims to carry a great variety, but his or her website was very complicated. I couldn’t find a search bar anywhere and each page was full of unnecessary details.

Not only did I not buy, but I also left quite fast which shows Google that the website I landed on was not helpful in what I was searching for. That alone will tell Google to rank this website lower.

Remember, your website is your first impression to potential customers!

Tip #7. Add Meta Descriptions To Your Pages And Blog Posts

meta description example
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Meta descriptions are short summaries of your pages and posts. They are displayed right underneath the blog’s title to provide more information about what to expect.

You will come across this each time you make a search on Google, Yahoo, or Bing. For example, when you search for something on Google, you’ll find a brief description of each search result.

Now it’s debatable whether your meta description will directly impact your SEO, but it will definitely help increase the likelihood of someone clicking on your link.

I recommend that you include the keywords that you want to rank for within your meta description. This will further entice someone to click on your link.

In Conclusion

Unless you have a huge marketing budget, you’ll want to take advantage of targeted organic traffic because it’s free. And to do so, you’ll need to optimize your eCommerce website for search engines.

Just to recap on the tips that I provided above:

  • Start a blog because you can create content that ranks for specific keywords.
  • Do keyword research to find the right key phrases to rank for.
  • Use long-tail keywords to drive customers that are looking for something specific.
  • Optimize your website for mobile devices, so you don’t miss out on mobile sales.
  • Check and optimize your website for speed.
  • Simplify your website, people will leave if it’s too complicated to navigate.
  • Lastly, add meta descriptions to your pages and posts to further entice someone to visit your website.

Hopefully, this article was easy to follow. And do use it as a reference on how to use SEO strategies to increase eCommerce sales. And if you have any questions, please leave them in the comment section below.

How are you driving traffic to your eCommerce website? Have you ever considered using SEO?

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Eric Chen

A regular person who envisions his success from helping you become successful. He is not featured in the New York Times, but we all start somewhere, right?Life Motto: Nobody will ever pay you, the way you pay yourself. Be your own boss and control your own income.

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