An Advanced Guide to Product -Based SEO to help eCommerce

eCommerce retailers have two fundamental methods to assist customers in finding their merchandise online. One is to purchase advertisements or boost search ranking. One of the most affordable options is to use search engine optimization (SEO). And while it takes time and effort to ensure that organic search is working for you however, it is much more long-term than a traditional paid advertising method.

Effective SEO concentrates on your business. Why? Because, in most cases, people who are ready to buy -- those customers you'd like to find your site are searching for the product they're looking for. If someone is looking for a facial cream but they don't search for "makeup" and "beauty items" into a search engine. The search results will include "facial cream," "face lotion" "skin lotion" or "facial Ointment." For your products to be found in the search results, your pages for products should be constructed around specific, buyer-optimized keywords that are relevant to the products you offer.

Here, you'll find detailed methods to achieve this, and help shoppers find your products via organic search. Set aside time every week to work through the entire list; it will be well worth the time you invest.

1. Increase local SEO

Local SEO focuses specifically on achieving a high ranking in the area you are located. Whether you have physically-located storefronts or sell on the internet, virtually every business is tied to a community of a particular locale in some way. It is possible to use local supplier chains, provide services in person or a special delivery option, or sell non-perishable goods to specific ZIP areas. A massage salon that provides services and sells products online requires an effective local SEO so that it can show up in search results for its ideal customers -- people nearby who need massages.

There are a few strategies to enhance your local SEO comprise:

• Claim your Google My Business page. It is the initial and most straightforward step, as it places you on the map that is Google Maps.
• Add location-specific keywords to your web page in page titles, meta descriptions, image alt text, and URLs.
• Write blog posts specifically focused on the location you are in.

Suppose you ship dog bowls nationwide, but your base is in Atlanta and you wish to establish yourself as an Atlanta-area business. Alongside making your Google account, you may:

1. Upload a picture of your facility to your About page and write "The Atlanta production site where we make dog bowls" in the alt text.
2. Add the phrase "Atlanta" in your Meta description.
3. Make the page title for your About page "Atlanta's Top Supplier of Dog Bowls."
4. Blog posts such as "How We Manufacture Dog Bowls in Atlanta" or "The Best Dog Parks in Atlanta."

Don't overdo it! There's no need to put your city name on every page on your site, this will be unnatural and not natural. Use it only in places where it makes contextual sense for example, the Contact page.

2. Help promote review of products

Reviews show up in search results and influence which companies Google decides to show for specific queries. Also, they can make customers more likely to go to your site and purchase your items.

What can you do to get more reviews? Dedicate some of your marketing budget getting reviews from your existing and new customers.

Here are some methods to read more reviews:

• If you send out goods, you should include a flyer or card soliciting reviews. Also, inform them of which address to visit and the best way to send a review.

Where should you prompt your customers to write reviews? Begin with Google My Business as well as the pages for products on your website. Reviews on Google are the basis for the stars displayed on Google Maps and the listing that appears for your business. Product reviews on your site which are properly include schema marksup (keep reading for details on setting this up) will boost your pages' search engine ranking and improve the conversion rate.

After you've established yourself within these areas, you might be interested in reviewing reviews on social media platforms or industry-specific sites such as Houzz.com and WeddingWire.com.

The more better your instructions are, the greater number and better quality of reviews you'll get. Don't expect customers to select "five stars" without writing anything. You want them to write abouthow they are enjoying your service, business or products. Ask your customers to write two sentences. But more than that is better!

While you may promote reviews, you shouldn't make a big deal of them. Fakers are found out eventually and the impact on your brand can be devastating.

3. Use keywords effectively

Pay attention to these details to optimize the use of keywords and increase traffic to your website pages:

Diversify your keywords

Each product page should focus on a different key word. If you allocate multiple pages for the same topic and you're competing with your competitors, it's a risk and your rankings are likely to be affected.

If every page of your online store for clothing says, "Men's Shirts for Sale" in the title, Google may think that each of your websites sells identical items. Each page should have a distinct name with relevant search terms.

The best keyword to concentrate on, as an example it could be "men's blue slim fitting polo." It's unique to the specific product, and doesn't have the potential to compete with any other product or page.

Don't stuff keywords

It's not the intention to fill your pages full of keyword phrases. In other words, don't make the following mistakes:

"We offer men's dress shirts for sale. Find below men's dress shirts that are best for you. There are all sizes and colors of shirt for dressy men."

See the problem? It doesn't sound natural. Google recognizes how to spot keyword stuffing, and it may actually harm your ranking. Don't do it. The method doesn't work. It's better to do it this way:

Strategically place keywords

When appropriate, add the primary keyword in title of pages, section headers, URLs, meta descriptions, alt text and pages' content. Also, consider using a couple different variations. If the keyword you are targeting is "Texas flag T-shirt" you might also want to include "Texas the state flag T-shirt" as well as "Texas flag t-shirt."

Profit from the headlines

The only thing you need to do is put an H1 tag for each page . It is the way Google determines what your page will be about. For product pages, this would be the product name. On category pages, it will be the name for the category.

Suppose you sell a specific kind of sportswear. A good category page headline could be "USA Women's Volleyball Jerseys." Notice how precise this is? Not just volleyball jerseys -- women's volleyball. And not just women's volleyball -- USA female volleyball.

Compare that to headlines appearing on numerous eCommerce product pages, like "Products" or "Volleyball apparel." The average person probably won't use the word "apparel" in their searches on the internet. Instead, they'll search for words like "shirts" and "jerseys." Avoid using industry jargon in your headlines. Make use of words that people who are those who buy from you.

Write detailed product descriptions

Many product pages are too brief. Some just mention the product's name with no additional information which is not good for SEO.

Describe your product using words that consumers will look for. Again, details like shirt sizes, serving sizes, fabric types, model numbers, quality grades and the types of ingredients you use can help buyers find your products and ultimately choose to buy them.

Keywords should be added to every image.

Every product page should have a photo. If you're selling a book make sure you include a photo of the book's cover. If you're selling a service, add a photo of your employees performing.

Also include keywords in the names of your images. Don't call your image "img34546.jpg" or "product1035.gif." Call it "womens-jersey-blue.jpg," "8oz-yogurt-strawberry.png," or "Nisha-personal-trainer.jpg."

All of these small improvements make it crystal easy for Google what each of your page's categories and products are selling.

4. Create pages for your products around the keywords you want to target

What's the purpose behind a keyword? If someone is searching online, the way they word their search may give an indication of what stage they're in during the buying procedure. A person who typed "how can I shed weight," probably isn't ready to purchase a particular item and might not even have an idea of what they're seeking. Someone who is searching for "personal trainers near me" will definitely be seeking a person to work with. They are aware of what they need and are actively searching.

When creating pages for your products take note of how headlines title of the page, page titles and alt texts, meta descriptions and URLs are related to search terms with high buyer intent.

What is important here is the specificity. The more specific you are then the higher the likelihood that those who will be the most interested buyers discover your site. This could mean including model numbers, flavors and sizes. Your category and product pages must be specific to your products.

This information should be included on each product's page, and the primary information must be included in the name.

5. Create a strategy for content

Google's mission is to deliver top-quality, pertinent content for their users. When you regularly post high-quality content that fulfills the expectations of your target audience, it proves to Google that you're an expert in your field , and have a lot to offer.

It's ideal to start with providing solutions to problems and answers to queries.

* I love dairy but my doctor tells me I have to cut down. How can I help?

* What's good to wear to a wedding of a close friend in a hot place?

* How do I know which part of my car has leaking oil?

* What kind of shoes will be the best ones for running marathons?

There's absolutely no limit to the number of questions people have. It's up to you to determine which questions the ideal clients are asking and what they are asking about your offerings and services.

Use that data, create blog posts about it and then connect those blog posts to the relevant product pages , the specific page or pages that are related to the problem you're solving.

If you're struggling to figure out what others may be looking for, try these strategies:

• Use tools like Ubersuggest, Moz, or Google Keyword Planner.
• Pay attention to inquiries you've already received. Be attentive to email support tickets, emails and social media questions.
• Talk to the people who deal directly with clients. According to your company, this may include a sales representative or customer support representative, or even an installer.
• Make use of surveys to connect with your audience and learn more about what they're searching for. It is possible to send surveys by email, or ask questions via social media stories You can also use tools such as Crowdsignal directly within WordPress.

For further details For more details, take a look at Yoast's guide to Keyword study.

6. Add rich snippets

Rich snippets allow you to give search engines extra detail on specific types of content such as items, reviews, recipes or events. to help them better understand what your pages focus on. Additional information can appear in the search results and has been shown to increase click-through rates.

If, for instance, you type in Magna-Tiles You'll find the carousel of images of products catalogs with prices and reviews.

You'll also see that details like stock and price will be displayed in the typical results of a search.

If you're a consumer on the internet, wouldn't you be more likely to click on one of these listings than one without this valuable data? Below are some types of rich content you could add to your website and some of the details you can add to every one of them:

• Prices: Pictures, images and availability. Brand, ratings, and reviews
• Time for cooking, nutritional value, reviews and time for preparation
• Ratings and reviews: number of stars, total rating as well as the the number of votes
• Videos: Thumbnail images, description, duration, as well as upload date
• Event Dates: Date, time, name, and the venue
• Blog posts: Image title, headline, publication date as well as the name of the author.

However none of these are applicable to all businesses So, you must decide which you will focus on according to your product offerings.

For rich snippets of text in your posts, you can either create them manually or employ a plugin such as All in One Schema Rich Snippets.

7. Repair crawl error

Crawl errors happen in the event that Google bots face issues when trying to view your contents. If search engines can't connect to all your pages, products, and categories, then they won't be indexed or show up in the search results.

But how do you know whether there's a crawl error? The first step is creating a Google Search Console account that will permit users to directly connect with Google, troubleshoot any issues and access valuable information. When you set up a new account it may take a bit to get information into Search Console and it could take a few days before taking these steps:

1. Navigate to https://search.google.com/search-console.

2. Choose your site by clicking the "Properties" dropdown to the left side of the page.

3. From the menu on the left side, click "Coverage" in the left-hand menu.

4. Under Details, you'll see an overview of all current crawler errors. You can click on any of them for more details and the specific pages it's applicable to.

Here are some common crawl errors and how you can fix these:

Submitted URL has crawl issue

This happens when images, CSS, or Javascript don't load properly in the event that Google tries to crawl your website -- it's typically temporary. Reload the page with the issue and check what happens.

If the page does not load you need to click the URL in Google Search Console, and then select Inspect URL to Request Indexing. This will ask Google to open the page again. Finally, go back to the original page and press the button which says Validate Fix. In a couple of days, Google will send you an email that contains the results of the new crawl.

Submitted URL not found (404)

The error 404 occurs when a URL no more exists -- you may delete a page, or modified the URL without the creation of an redirect. There are two possibilities:

1. If the page is no longer in existence and there's no similar, related page, simply delete the error. Google will cease to rank the page.

2. If you changed the URL , or moved the content to another page you can create a redirect from the old URL to the brand new. It is possible to create the redirect in your .htaccess file or by using an extension plugin.

Once you've fixed the error, validate the fix as mentioned above.

Server error (5xx)

The error will be intermittent and is most likely to mean that your site or server was down the last time Google tried to crawl it. Just request indexing and confirm your fix in the manner described above.

8. Make improvements to the site's structure

A good website structure leads to a good user experience. When it comes down to the matter, Google prioritizes the experience users have on your site. It is a neglected area of search engine optimization but extremely important, particularly when you've got many products or blog entries. A well-structured website aids in getting links from Google, so it will include a number of internal links beneath the primary URL.

Start by considering your overall site organization. Can customers easily get from one page to another or back? A typical eCommerce hierarchy may be:

• Home Page:
• Category One
• Product One
• Product Two
• Three Product
• Category Two
• Product Four
• Product Five
• Category Three
• Product Six
• Product Seven
• Product Eight

Then, create URLs that match this hierarchy; a product URL might be example.com/category-one/product-two. Don't add extra terms or phrases in your URLs -- they should be straightforward and self-explanatory. It is also possible to include any important keywords.

Also, use internal links for connecting to your website's pages or posts to products. These links can help visitors discover related content, provide details about the hierarchy of your website to search engines, and help spread the power of ranking around your website. In general, every page of your site should link to and from another page.

9. Create backlinks

Backlinks are created when another website hyperlinks to yours. Google sees them as an indication of trust in the quality of your content. However, not every backlink is created equalthey are not all equal. Google does not value the link of a smaller blog with a few hundred visitors a month more than one from a popular site like Entrepreneur.com and WeddingWire.com.

You should notbuy links or pay for the right to place your website in spammy directories. Backlinks that are not legitimate break Google's guidelines on link quality and may ultimately lower site rankings.

Create high-quality, authentic backlinks by:

• Guest posts are written by guest bloggers. Reach out to influential industry websites or influencers and request an article for them as a reward for linking. Be sure to include topic ideas, and also explain how the content you write can benefit the audience.
• Creating high-quality, unique content. The more appealing your content and the better it is, the greater chance that it will be linked to and shared on social media. Make sure that blog posts or products are useful and valuable to your readers.
• Providing valuable information for reporters. Tools like Help a Reporter Out provide journalists in need of sources with experts in a variety of fields. As a source, you'll get the chance to address questions in exchange for the opportunity to share your website.
• Making a newsworthy announcement. Press can be the perfect way to earn top-quality websites, and the attention that your company deserves for its brand. Press outlets could report on a new product release, a charitable event and/or a contest or even a major prize. Forbes is a fantastic resource to help you with writing an effective press release.
• Connecting to your local community. Get involved in local events, organizations, workshops, and charities. Establish genuine connections with other businesses and build connections in a genuine mutual way.

Moz gives a comprehensive, in-depth guide to linking to help your business get off onto the right foot.

Another option is advertisements that are paid for

Paid advertisement, though can be a good alternative for stores that sell online. Though it costs money, it gets your brand in front of potential customers more quickly than SEO, which is a long-term strategy.

There are a variety of options for online ads which include:

• Advertisements. Make ads that mix text, images, and links to grab interest and increase clicks. Place them on a list of websites your intended viewers visit.
• Social media ads. Adverts on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Reach potential customers or existing followers.
• Search advertisements. This will push your website to the top of Google results for particular keywords. It's a great means of reaching people who are looking for what you have to offer.
• Advertising for shopping. These include rich product information including images, pricing, and the name of the brand. They show up in a product carousel near the top of the search results. They are an excellent way to promote retailers selling eCommerce products.

Spend time regularly on Search engine optimization

Search engine optimization is an ongoing process and will require constant work. It's important to regularly create content, evaluate your user experienceand keep updated on any modifications to Google's algorithms for searching. SEO can be a lot of effort!

But when it comes down to it, a successfully-executed search engine optimization strategy is invaluable for your online store. It can lead to increased web visitors from those who really are attracted to your product and, ultimately, more sales.