Building a Modern Day  E-commerce SEO Strategy

#ecommerceseo at #ecommercesummit by @aleyda from @orainti
Building a
Modern Day
E-commerce
SEO Strategy

Organic search continues to be one of the
biggest traffic drivers to online retailers
semrush

It will only become
more important
with Google now
shifting to a free
merchant
marketplace with a
+35B product
Shopping Graph
https://blog.google/products/shopping/buy-on-google-is-zero-commission/

Giving product
detail pages
more organic
visibility with
new search
results features
Popular Products
Shopping Knowledge Panel

Recently
introducing a
new shopping
experience
with the
“shop” term
https://blog.google/products/shopping/search-on-2022-shopping/

All this, while
facilitating
product
integration with
popular
E-commerce
platforms

Which have also
now introduced
more SEO
functionalities

Best time to do E-commerce SEO ever!
Can we go now?

Not so fast. E-commerce SEO is also getting
harder, it’s more challenging to achieve goals

There’s not only
a higher SEO
competition but
challenges to
stand-out to
grab traffic in
SERPs like this
Ads
Local Pack
Organic
Organic
PAA
Organic
Organic
Popular Products

Google is now more sophisticated and a better
search experience & quality are needed to rank
Scary Dip

E-commerce sites nature make also SEO execution
harder and often most efforts go to fixing bugs
A high number
of pages due to
product volume
Complex
categorization
Dynamic
inventory
causing
constantly
changing
URLs
The same
product info as
other sites

The Pyramid of SEO Success
We then get stuck on fixing issues, rather than
building, which is what achieves real growth
FIXING
IMPROVING
BUILDING
Creating content to target new
relevant queries through user
search journey
Optimizing existing content for
already targeted relevant
queries
Minimizing tech debt to avoid
crawlability, indexability and
page experience issues

E-commerce SEO is full of opportunities
but also common challenges

Let’s tackle these E-commerce SEO challenges
w/ 3 key actions to integrate in your strategy
Look at the SERPs,
their features and
intent to drive your
content
optimization &
maximize visibility
through the full
search journey
Prioritize SEO
activities based on
your e-commerce
goals’ impact and
effort
Establish an SEO
quality framework to
avoid issues that hold
execution back
1. 2. 3.

1. Look at the
SERPs to drive
your content
optimization &
maximize
visibility
through the full
search journey

Many online stores
focus on
commercial &
transactional
queries but industry
leaders establish
their authority
ranking across the
full search journey

https://www.sistrix.com/visibility-leaders/retail-2022-overview
This has been
highlighted in
retail search
visibility studies,
like the Sistrix one,
finding retailers
missing on
informational
opportunities

For example, REI
does this with
their Learn section,
establishing
authority while
attracting top-of-
the-funnel traffic
for popular topics

With useful complementary guides that answer
common questions while attracting backlinks

This also impacts trust & conversion! You need to
connect through the full journey to establish authority
To attract
this
You
need to
target &
establish
yourself here
…

GUIDES
PDPS
PLPS
SERPs are more
blended than ever
too! Informational
products SERPs
are now also
featuring PLPs &
PDPs. Stop
assuming there’s
no value in them.

Guides are now also ranked for “buy” terms too.
Stop only focusing on optimizing PLPs/PDPs.
Buy White Jeans Buy women’s running shoes Buy women leather jacket

And even
if you’re now
investing in
content across the
search journey:
Are you
optimizing it to
maximize visibility
& CTR via shown
SERP features?
THEY DON’T
THEY DO

Target relevant
product queries
across the whole
search journey
Create and
optimize different
type of content to
target intent across
the whole journey
Optimize
content to
effectively leverage
search results
features to
maximize
visibility
It’s time to look at the SERPs to reassess what you
target and how you do it to maximize your traffic
Expand Target
Create content to
satisfy each intent type
Leverage Search
Features

Identify relevant
queries to better
target with
guides by
detecting
informational
sites outranking
you for top terms
in search results
Sistrix

Identify
keyword gap vs
these sites to see
which are the
relevant high
search volume
queries that you’re
not targeting, to
assess for guides
Semrush

Take a look at the
top traffic pages
within the
publications’
“shop” sections to
assess further
topics
opportunities
Semrush

Need further inspiration for topics & design? See
Sistrix’s best-performing retail sites content hubs
https://www.sistrix.com/visibility-leaders/

Check the type of ranked pages and intent in bulk to
see the need to further optimize PLPs/PDPs for them
Semrush

Many PLPs
only feature links
to products,
without any
descriptive text,
making them hard
to rank

Start by featuring as
many products per
page as viable, with
longer descriptions,
to show more
relevant content
Product 1 Product 2
Product 3 Product 4
Product 5 Product 6
CATEGORY A
Pages: 1, 2, 3… 100
Product 1 Product 2
Product 3 Product 4
Product 5 Product 6
CATEGORY B
Pages: 1, 2, 3… 60
<
Product 7 Product 8
Product 9 Product 10
* Explain why you’re
in the best place to
buy these products
* Clarify common
doubts of
customers when
buying these types
of products

From Products FAQs, Q&As to Facts, integrate them
within categories/facets pages to support sales too
Reassure users
that the products
they’re seeing are
the best for their
scenario
Mitigate any
doubts around
the use and
characteristics of
the products
Show why
they’re in the best
place to buy these
products
…

Blend with
the products listing
design to make
them visible and
helpful to users,
rather than hiding
them at the bottom

Establish patterns to generate at scale leveraging
content automation tools to help writers
FAQs:
• Are these boots made
from real leather?
• Do these boots have a
good transpiration
system?
• What are the best pants
to wear with knee-high
boots?
Surfer, NeuralText

Monitor the
targeted queries
SERPs to asses
visibility
opportunities, and
search features
you’re not yet
leveraging

Use rank
trackers like AWR
showing pixel
position and
product search
features w/ SERP
screenshots to
assess potential
Advanced Web Ranking

Assess which are
the search
features
influencing your
targeted SERPs
that are relevant
and feasible for
you to leverage

Not all are
triggered by
structured data
anymore, content
format and
merchant feeds
influence what
Google highlights
in snippets
https://brodieclark.com/little-known-rich-results-ecommerce/

https://brodieclark.com/google-image-thumbnails/
As well as image
optimization
-indexing,
relevance,
organization- for
the popular image
thumbnails in
listings

Ryte
Monitor
your audience’s
new searches to
frequently
identify content
opportunities &
expand
accordingly

Denim
Leather
Jean
Men
Women
Jeans
Pants
Shorts
Jacket
Shirt
T-shirt
Dress
Skirt
Jumpsuit
Bootcut
Straight
Wide
Slim
Crop
Flare
Skinny
Black
Blue
White
Red
Product
Characteristics
Type
Audience
+ + +
Modifiers
+
Buy
Shop
Best
Top
Cheap
Children
It’s about maximizing your e-commerce search
visibility share through the full customer journey
Home Brand Categories Sub-categories Filters Comparison Guides Deals …

https://bit.ly/3wKdCTe
Here’s a reference for e-commerce sites, to
avoid forgetting any query & content types

2. Prioritize
SEO activities
based on your
e-commerce
goals’ impact
and effort

You always have limited resources and timelines
to execute SEO activities and achieve goals

It’s why you can’t
just follow “SEO
best practices” or
“checklists”, which
are great to avoid
missing things,
but not to drive
your SEO strategy
https://developers.google.com/search/docs/specialty/ecommerce?hl=en

CLOTHING ONLINE STORE
INCREASE 150% SALES OF WINTER BOOTS FOR WOMEN AND MEN
INCREASE 400% TRAFFIC TO MID-BOTTOM OF THE FUNNEL CONTENT
OF WINTER BOOTS FOR BOTH WOMEN AND MEN
GROW 250% ORGANIC SEARCH TRAFFIC TO WINTER BOOTS
LISTINGS, COMPARISONS, REVIEWS, GUIDES AND PRODUCTS
PAGES
TAKE INTO TOP 3 POSITIONS OF CURRENT
TOP 10 FOR MID-BOTTOM OF THE FUNNEL
QUERIES TARGETED BY WINTER BOOTS
LISTINGS AND COMPARISONS PAGES
TAKE INTO TOP 10
PILLAR AND GUIDES
PAGES OF WINTER
BOOTS FOR WOMEN
AND MEN
….
1. YOU’RE TRYING TO GET THIS
2. TO OBTAIN THIS!
Biz Goals
[What Decision
Makers care
About]
SEO goals
[What SEOs care about]
Start by establishing top-to-down SEO goals for your
e-commerce that connect with your business ones

INCREASE 400% TRAFFIC TO MID-BOTTOM OF THE FUNNEL CONTENT OF WINTER
BOOTS FOR BOTH WOMEN AND MEN
….
TOP-TO-DOWN SEO GOALS
GROW 250% ORGANIC SEARCH TRAFFIC TO WINTER BOOTS LISTINGS,
COMPARISONS, REVIEWS, GUIDES AND PRODUCTS PAGES
TAKE INTO TOP 3 POSITIONS OF CURRENT TOP 10
FOR MID-BOTTOM OF THE FUNNEL QUERIES
TARGETED BY WINTER BOOTS LISTINGS AND
COMPARISONS PAGES
TAKE INTO TOP 10 PILLAR
AND GUIDES PAGES OF
WINTER BOOTS FOR
WOMEN AND MEN
This will help to tie each SEO action to business goals,
allowing to focus on meaningful SEO execution
1. RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE X
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
HOW DOES IT AFFECT THE SITE RANKINGS?
WHERE HAS BEEN FOUND AND IS GENERATED?
Screens
hot
SCENARIO 1
HOW CAN IT BE FIXED?
Screens
hot
SCENARIO 1
Screens
hot
SEO
Effect
Affected
Areas
Business
Importance
Optimization
Status
Execution
Difficulty
Required
resources
Priority
High Paginations Medium Low Low Technical High
1. WILL HELP TO
ACHIEVE THIS
2. TO OBTAIN THIS

Specific [Significant]: Will allow to achieve the desired business goals (+150% sales)
Measurable [Meaningful]: Organic search revenue, traffic and rankings can be tracked
Attainable [Action Oriented]: You’ll have reasonable time to see results (1 year)
Relevant [Rewarding]: It will impact the relevant areas/sections to achieve sales goals
Time-Bound [Trackable]: It should be achieved during a specific time (1 year)
Evaluated [Ethical]: Its evolution will be assessed at the end of each month
Reviewed [Rewarding]: Its activities will be reviewed based on their impact
When establishing SEO goals use the SMARTER
principles, to ensure impact and meaningfulness
“Grow 150% organic search conversions YoY of X, Y, Z product lines”

Run forecasts to establish different SEO results
scenarios, showing impact on revenue

While seeing how much it would cost to bring those
visits w/ paid search ads, and results if nothing is done

You can use tools like AWR or Forecast Forge to
develop your rankings, traffic & conversions forecast
Forecast Forge

IMPACT
EFFORT
1.
To Execute
Don’t Do
2.
To Assess
& Prioritize
2.
To Assess
& Prioritize
Recommendation Impact [0-10] Effort [0-10] To Prioritize Higher
Medium impacting
with high effort
6 4 12
Low impacting with
high effort
4 4 8
Low impacting with
very high effort
4 2 6
Very low impacting
with very high effort
2 2 4
Prioritize your SEO activities with higher
impact/lower effort to achieve your goals

Use this SEO Recommendations Prioritization
Template in Google Sheets to easily do it
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15dD2VFzE203ZIKD-vTqlg3Wg-YQY9a-HS5J7AT-S4jA/view

Can’t tie an SEO recommendation to a SMARTER SEO
goal? It’s a non-problem and shouldn’t be prioritized
INCREASE 400% TRAFFIC TO MID-BOTTOM OF THE FUNNEL CONTENT OF WINTER
BOOTS FOR BOTH WOMEN AND MEN
….
TOP-TO-DOWN SEO GOALS
GROW 250% ORGANIC SEARCH TRAFFIC TO WINTER BOOTS LISTINGS,
COMPARISONS, REVIEWS, GUIDES AND PRODUCTS PAGES
TAKE INTO TOP 3 POSITIONS OF CURRENT TOP 10
FOR MID-BOTTOM OF THE FUNNEL QUERIES
TARGETED BY WINTER BOOTS LISTINGS AND
COMPARISONS PAGES
TAKE INTO TOP 10 PILLAR
AND GUIDES PAGES OF
WINTER BOOTS FOR
WOMEN AND MEN
1. RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE X
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
HOW DOES IT AFFECT THE SITE RANKINGS?
WHERE HAS BEEN FOUND AND IS GENERATED?
Screens
hot
SCENARIO 1
HOW CAN IT BE FIXED?
Screens
hot
SCENARIO 1
Screens
hot
SEO
Effect
Affected
Areas
Business
Importance
Optimization
Status
Execution
Difficulty
Required
resources
Priority
High Paginations Medium Low Low Technical High
1. WILL HELP TO
ACHIEVE THIS?
2. TO OBTAIN THIS?
X

What happens when you have activities that
seem to have similar effort and impact?

Use second-order thinking to select the one with
more positive implications for goals achievement
https://fs.blog/2016/04/second-order-thinking/

Prioritize the task
with the biggest
overall impact on
the business
beyond SEO
https://www.aleydasolis.com/en/search-engine-optimization/seo-product-triangle/

Select a few categories to
implement fast and assess
impact vs similar
unchanged ones:
* Positive result? Replicate
to rest.
* Negative outcome? Move
to other implementations!
Unsure about
impact? Run
tests to assess
their impact in
your context or
see if there are
better alternate
ways to achieve
results

Leverage SEO testing tools to execute different
types of SEO tests, from group to split tests
SEOtesting, Ryte, Zippy, Splitsignal

You can integrate directly with CDN workers
to implement SEO test changes fast

You can also create
your own SEO A/B
Split Tests for Free
by using Google
Tag Manager as
Chris shows here
https://www.slideshare.net/chr156r33n/how-to-construct-your-own-seo-a-b-split-tests-for-free

This will allow
you to assess and
change fast what
is not impactful
and identify
opportunities to
leverage to
achieve goals

3. Establish an
SEO quality
framework to
avoid issues
that hold
execution back

SEO auditing
should be a
recurrent activity
to prevent issues
and identify
opportunities on
an on-going basis

There are too common SEO horror stories in
e-commerce that are completely preventable
Internal search
results cannibalizing
categories
Noindexing
categories pages
with search
potential
Lack of unique
commercial content
in categories
Product pages
with poor
unique descriptive
content
Product pages
with traffic
but inconsistent
status
Seasonal pages
with traffic
but inconsistent
status
Overlooking
informational
content and
resources

Like noindexing or canonicalizing facets with
product inventory and search traffic potential

Or temporarily
unavailable
products pages
triggering errors,
being noindexed
or erroneously
redirected

I’ve presented
about it, so you
can take a look at
the different
solutions
alternatives here
https://www.slideshare.net/aleydasolis/ecommerce-seo-horror-stories-how-to-tackle-the-most-common-issues-at-scale-and-avoid-an-seo-nightmare-mozcon

SEO RECOS ONGOING SEO IMPLEMENTATION
SEO QUALITY ASSURANCE FRAMEWORK
That’s why SEO reco’s should set ongoing
SEO quality assurance measures for the process

SEO RECOS ONGOING SEO IMPLEMENTATION
SEO QUALITY ASSURANCE FRAMEWORK
EDUCATION
To prevent SEO
mistakes
VALIDATION
To avoid launching
SEO Errors
MONITORING
To catch SEO incidents
fast
With ongoing SEO education, validation and
monitoring measures for an optimal execution

COMPANY CONTENT OPTIMIZATION & TECH SEO GUIDELINES/
WIKI
ONLINE SEO TRAINING AND Q&AS FOR TECH/CONTENT/
[STAKEHOLDERS] TEAMS
RECOMMENDATIONS AND REPORTS FEATURING SEO CONCEPTS &
IMPORTANCE TOWARDS GOALS
INCLUDE A “WHY DOES THIS
MATTER” SECTION IN AUDIT &
REPORTS
CREATE PERSONALIZED GUIDELINES
WITHIN WIKI/PM PLATFORM
DO LIVE (AND RECORD) WEBINARS
& Q&AS WITH INVOLVED TEAMS
A base of SEO education across teams is
fundamental to establish understanding

Developing and
recording SEO
trainings so
videos can be
played to new
team members

Creating a company
SEOWiki w/ content
& tech SEO best
practices that you can
easily refer

WEB PLATFORM CONFIGURATION/SETTINGS CHANGES
INTEGRATED VALIDATION
CONTENT OPTIMIZATION & TECH SEO CONFIGURATION
CHECKLIST FOR COMMON WORKFLOWS
RECURRING / ONGOING SEO TECH/CONTENT VALIDATION PRE &
POST WEB RELEASES
SET RECURRING CRAWLS
WITH SEO CRAWLERS
WEB PLATFORMS SEO
CONFIGURATION CHECKS
CREATE EASY TO FOLLOW/USE
CHECKLISTS FOR USUAL ACTIVITIES
Strengthen your SEO Quality Framework with
a seamless SEO execution validation workflow

Set and agree with
teams the use of
content & tech
configuration
checklist for
common workflows
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LGc9RxurRTv2K0Zsckh1cirEQ9E9rP7-04k1wnVIkhg/edit?usp=sharing

PRE-RELEASE SEO
VALIDATION: OK?
SEO IMPLEMENTATION
YES
NO
YES
ON-GOING SEO
VALIDATION
SEO RELEASE
NO
FIX
POST-RELEASE SEO
VALIDATION: OK?
YES
NO
FIX
ON-GOING SEO
VALIDATION: OK?
YES
NO
FIX IN LESS
24H
REVERSE
IMPLEMENTATION
Agree on release validations workflow with devs
taking into consideration “what-if” scenarios

SEO validations are
only going to be as
strong as the
alignment of SEOs
with the team
executing changes

WEB CONTENT & TECHNICAL CONFIGURATION CHANGES
ALERTS
WEBSITE SEARCH CRAWLING ISSUES ALERTS
WEB RANKINGS DECREASE/INCREASE ALERTS
ORGANIC SEARCH TRAFFIC & CONVERSIONS DECREASE/
INCREASE ALERTS
QUERIES SEARCH POPULARITY DECREASE/INCREASE ALERTS
MENTIONS & BACKLINKS ALERTS
SPAM OR MANUAL ACTIONS ALERTS
WEB ANALYTICS TOOLS
SEO CONFIGURATION ALERTS TOOLS
(LITTLE WARDEN, CONTENTKING)
WEB SERVER LOG MONITORING TOOL
AND SEARCH CONSOLE
RANK TRACKERS
SEARCH TRENDS TOOLS
MENTIONS/BACKLINKS TOOLS
GOOGLE SEARCH CONSOLE
Catch critical SEO configurations and KPIs
changes fast to take action before it’s too late

MENTIONS & BACKLINKS
SPAM & MANUAL ACTIONS
ORGANIC SEARCH TRAFFIC & CONVERSIONS
SEARCH TRENDS CHANGES
WEB RANKINGS & SERPS CTR
CONTENT OPTIMIZATION
CRAWLABILITY & INDEXABILITY CONFIGURATIONS
Monitor it all: From Crawlability and Indexability,
Rankings, Traffic, to Backlinks & Manual Actions

Use real-time SEO crawlers like ContentKing or
LittleWarden to identify SEO changes in real time
LITTLE WARDEN, CONTENTKING

Configure your real-time monitoring to catch when
meaningful tech & content configurations change

Too many pages updating all the time? Monitor
Critical URLs of each type with your own criteria

Configure the alerts to go to the relevant email,
slack or project management tool to not be missed

WEB PLATFORM CONFIGURATION/SETTINGS CHANGES INTEGRATED VALIDATION
ORGANIC SEARCH TRAFFIC & CONVERSIONS DECREASE/INCREASE ALERTS
WEB RANKINGS DECREASE/INCREASE ALERTS
QUERIES SEARCH POPULARITY DECREASE/INCREASE ALERTS
WEB CONTENT & TECHNICAL CONFIGURATION CHANGES ALERTS
CONTENT OPTIMIZATION & TECH SEO CONFIGURATION CHECKLIST FOR COMMON WORKFLOWS
COMPANY CONTENT OPTIMIZATION & TECH SEO GUIDELINES/WIKI
ONLINE SEO TRAINING AND Q&AS FOR TECH/CONTENT/[STAKEHOLDERS] TEAMS
RECURRING / ONGOING SEO TECH/CONTENT VALIDATION PRE & POST WEB RELEASES
EDUCATION
VALIDATION
MONITORING
MENTIONS & BACKLINKS ALERTS
WEBSITE SEARCH CRAWLING ISSUES ALERTS
SPAM OR MANUAL ACTIONS ALERTS
SEO QUALITYASSURANCE FRAMEWORK
RECOMMENDATIONS AND REPORTS FEATURING SEO CONCEPTS & IMPORTANCE TOWARDS GOALS
This is how you
say goodbye to
continuous
SEO errors that
hold your
execution back

Learn more about
setting a Quality
Assurance
Framework in this
presentation
https://www.slideshare.net/aleydasolis/goodbye-seo-fck-ups-learn-to-set-an-seo-quality-assurance-frameworkpdf

It shouldn’t be only a matter of catching
errors faster, you should prevent them

Too much work?

These are just 3 keys activities to incorporate
into your E-commerce SEO strategy for success
Look at the SERPs,
their features and
intent to drive your
content
optimization &
maximize visibility
through the full
search journey
Prioritize SEO
activities based on
your e-commerce
goals’ impact and
effort
Establish an SEO
quality framework to
avoid issues that hold
execution back
1. 2. 3.

POPULAR &
AUTHORITATIVE
RELEVANT &
TRUSTWORTHY
CRAWLABLE &
INDEXABLE
GREAT USER
EXPERIENCE
RANKABLE
FOR RELEVANT
QUERIES
>
YOUR PAGE
YOUR COMPETITORS PAGES
These will
help to stay
ahead of
competitors,
minimizing
errors,
identifying and
executing
faster what
obtains goals
SEARCH BEHAVIOR SEARCH RESULTS

This makes it worth it! Achievable with consistent,
and error-free SEO execution of what matters

It’s all about e-commerce organic search growth,
revenue, and ultimately, SEO ROI

I’m Aleyda Solis
* SEO Consultant & Founder at Orainti
* SEO Speaker at +100 Events in +20 countries
* Author “SEO. Las Claves Esenciales.”
* Crawling Mondays Video & Podcast Series Host
* #SEOFOMO Newsletter Wrangler
* Maker LearningSEO.io
* European Search Personality of the Year in 2018
* remoters.net Co-Founder
orainti.com
Thanks! Questions?
orainti.com

Building a Modern Day  E-commerce SEO Strategy

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