How does SEO effect ecommerce stores in 2024?

Google accounts for 91.54% of global online traffic. To garner some of that traffic to your online store, you have to increase your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) which can boost your websites visibility.

It is no longer having a website with products and they will come. Every day a new ecommerce store is launched and the competition is fierce. It takes consistent efforts to gain any organic traffic and get some sales.

Why should we be worried about Google updates?

Google is the largest search engine worldwide. In fact, as of January 2022, Google held 91.9% of the market share (GS Statcounter, 2022).  In comparison, Bing has 10.47% (which was 2.46% in 2022) according to Statista.

With the latest updates in Google algorithm that affects the flow of traffic to our websites, and a strategic content marketing plan is essential.

Now more than ever, creating fresh, relevant, and targeted content is important.

Why can't the search engines figure out my site without SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?

1. Develop Relevant Quality Content

They say "Content is King". What you put online can make or break whether a person comes back to your site or not. Good content with interesting information will ensure your visitors spend more time on your site.

When your site is poorly optimized, visitors tend to move on and forget you existed. 

The number one rule is content has to be relevant to your visitor and satisfy their search intent. The search engine will quickly determine what your customer experience is on your website. 

Content goes beyond just a blog. Content in an eCommerce store includes everything from the home page to the product pages, FAQ, shipping information, how-to pages, etc.

Quality content includes relevant images and videos to enhance the visitor experience.

If you optimize well, your content will also improve other aspects of the site. A site with good content is often shared on social platforms, which boosts your traffic.

Visitors who visit a well-marketed site with low-quality content feel cheated and never return.

Here is a great video to write content with AI.

Andrew Lane from Copy.ai

2. Web Page Speed Optimization

Many search engines monitor the amount of time taken to load a page. If a page takes longer to load, Google will rank it lower. Which means your page will disappear from the main search pages.

Statistics have shown that most people check only the first two pages of their search results and if your site is ranked lower, your traffic will be low.

The web speed is calculated by many factors including the speed of opening a page when you click a link or the time taken to download an image. The faster the metrics for speed are, the higher Google will rank you.

Here are some tips how to improve your load speed:

1. Only include one short video per page, because video impacts the download speeds of your website.

2. Compress your image files to a lower quality without impacting the visual experience.

3. Try to only use apps that are essential for your website. All the different apps add coding to your page which slows the download speed.

Canva.com is a great tool to use for images and also great for compressing images files for your website.

3. Use of Keywords Tops all SEO Tactics

Keywords are still important. Keywords are a set of words that people use in search engines and in social media to find relevant information.

A better strategy is a combination of words known as long-tail keywords which when searched through search engines links to your website.

Research has shown that the majority of people use at least three words in a search engine. Therefore, it’s advisable to use an average of three or four words as keyword phrase.

A product description should use the language your new customer uses to search for products like the one you’re selling — think keyword phrase research. It should present this information in a way that is unique to your site and your brand.

If SEO is your goal, it is almost never acceptable to use a manufacturer’s product description. Your manufacturer's description will probably not attract your ideal customer either.

This action makes it easier for users to find your site.

Avoid overusing keywords; they should look natural and not crafted for the sake of SEO.

Using relevant keywords in your Facebook posts can make it easier for relevant searchers to find those posts.

Write an interesting description of the content you share and include the right keywords.

This means people looking for posts related to your keywords will be able to easily find the post, click on it, and read the information on your website.

Tool for related keywords:

SEO Keyword tool - SEO Minion - is a Chrome & Firefox Extension and so much more than just a keyword tool.

• On Page SEO Checker
• Check Broken Links
• Simulate Multi-Location SERP
• Check Redirects
• SERP Preview Tool
• Hreflang Checker

 It will actually grab all the listings on the SERP (Search Engine Results page) for your research.

Check out the video here about SEO Minion.

4. A Selling Title or Unique Title

Titles should describe the page’s content accurately and concisely so interested folks are attracted and people not interested are spared a wasted click (and one you don't need to pay for).

The more accurate and concise a page title is, the better job it may do in encouraging clicks from shoppers who will actually buy the product the page promotes.

The key takeaway here is that page titles are not just for search engines. They are are for your customers.

Suggested character counts range from about 35 to 70 characters.

If the page title is too long, search engines will truncate it and add ellipses on a search results page.

The aim is to include the keywords your potential customers are likely to use when they search for this product on Google, Bing, or similar.

Titles are important in search engine reports. This is the first line of defense in your optimization.

5. Break Up Your Article with Subheads and Use at least one Keyword

Subheadings break up the content for the reader. This means the article is easily scannable for relevant content.

For maximum benefits, use keywords in the subheads. This helps improve website SEO as the keywords are picked up by search engines and improves how fair your site ranks.

Tools for keywords:

Keyword Everywhere is a Chrome Extension and free. Here are all the keyword options they offer when you do a search on Google.

• Trend Data For "how to improve traffic on you website" (Global)
• Related Keywords
• Long-Tail Keywords
• People Also Search For

Keyword Anywhere will also show you the monthly traffic for the URL and also for the whole website for the month, including keywords ranking.

6. Backlinking

Backlinking is a complicated way of ensuring that search engines rank you high. This is achieved by letting other, trusted websites, to post your articles or links in their article. This way, you can either get more clinks by visitors of the back-linking site or Google will rank you based on the origin of the visitors.

If you are wondering how to improve SEO for your site, consider which site you link and the value it brings to your site. This is one of the SEO help points you can evaluate as some sites require quite a lot of money and if your budget is not quite there it can affect your goals.

Research your competitors online and check out their backlinks to look for opportunities to back link.

Tool for Back Links:

Backlink Tool - Ubersuggest.com has a great Chrome Extension and you can quickly research who backlinks to where.

7. Use Internal and External Links

Links are always an important way to build your article on a site. When a site refers to an external site, it shows the article is well researched and you don't rely on your thoughts alone. When you use internal links, you build your authority about a topic as there are several articles already written about the same topic.

An internal link also helps guide the reader to other content that the writer or the blogger would want people to read. This serves two purposes. One, you gain the reader's confidence by offering more relevant articles to read, and secondly, it keeps a reader within your site longer.

8. Create Longer Posts for Google Ranking

Interesting research by an SEO analyst site Backlinko showed that longer stories ranked higher on Google than shorter ones. This means search engines recognize that a longer post will likely keep readers on the site for a longer time. Ensure that your articles are in the range of 750-1500 words to ensure that the rank can rise.

Longer content should have the right kind of treatment to keep the reader locked in. This involves the use of photos, engaging queries, well-written pieces, and the use of subheads.

9. Control Bounce Rate by Use of Engaging Text and Videos

A similar point to the one above is how to tame high bounce rates. High bounce rate means that readers are spending a shorter time on your site then they should. For example, a reader just went in, read the headline and a few sentences then left your page.

The idea is to keep them reading to the end of the article, or at worst, two-thirds of it. Videos are one of the ways that SEO managers use to keep readers on a site for a longer time. The videos and photos/ illustrations should be relevant to the site.

Soona.co is a new discovery for me and I think they are amazing. 

They create photos & videos for brands with your own products!

10. Use Shorter URLs

Urls are the links in your site that search engine crawlers pick in order to rank your site. Research has shown that the shorter the URLs, the higher they are likely to rank in Google. Ensure your URLs have all the keywords you're targeting but also make sure it isn't too long.

The risk associated with long URLs is that readers can accidentally break them hence losing the link to your article. By having shorter URLs, a reader can see exactly how the site link looks.

11. Use of Alt Text, Metadata and Meta Description

Alt text is a form of statement that is used in websites and mainly for images to promote visibility and web accessibility. Visually impaired users using screen readers will be read an alt attribute to better understand an on-page image.

Alt text is the image context and descriptions to search engine crawlers, helping them to index an image properly.

What is metadata? It provides information about a certain item's content.

Think of the metadata on your site’s product detail pages like a little ad that will show up on a search engine’s results page and entice folks to click on your organic listing over another store’s listing.

You will find this at the bottom of your product detail page in your ecommerce store..

Use active verbs, and include a call to action meant to encourage a click.

Description Meta Tag

The description meta tag is another important on-page item that search engines look at closely when ranking your site. The meta description is not seen by the users when they visit your site, however, search engines like Google display the meta description on search result pages. In Google’s case, the meta description is displayed below the title of the page.

Meta descriptions help search engines and users quickly understand what a page is about. The description is a brief explanation of what a user will find on that page and why it matters. This is where you sell the users on why they should click into your site.

Your description needs to be something compelling, truthful, unique, and contain the key phrases that people would use to find this page. You need to do this in 160 characters or less (only 20 more characters than a tweet). Do not worry; it is not as hard as it sounds once you get the hang of it!

Use strategically placed keywords by Wordstream

12. Optimize Your Content for Mobile Devices

Statistics show that 80 percent of Google searches emanate from a mobile phone. This means that the majority of people will likely make relevant searches from the comfort of their mobile phones or tablets. Therefore, it’s ideal to make your site as mobile-friendly as possible.

You can do this when developing your site by ensuring it’s adaptable to the mobile phone. You can optimize this by adding social media links like Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter. These are better accessed through a mobile phone than Facebook.

13. Index Your Content on Google Search Console

 Google Search Console is a free tool which helps you track the performance of your website on Google and which, in turn, helps you fine-tune your SEO strategy and grow your blog traffic.

Every time you create a piece of content, ask GSC to index the page.

Once you have optimized the content, repurpose and reuse your content!

See our 20+ ways to reuse and repurpose your content to get more traffic!

Optimizing Your SEO Is Complex but Quite Achievable

When it comes to deploying your SEO tactics, you can never be 100% sure of the best practices. It’s a combination of several inputs that keep your ranking going higher. This can be done on the writer’s side by creating worthy content, ensuring the articles are long, and carry all the keywords and tags that are required.

It can also be on the back-end where the technical personnel is able to do link-ups with other sites and edit to shorter URLs. They can also make good use of analytics.