A client asked to run a checklist on his ecommerce website, we already ran a 'standard' SEO audit, the presentation is derived from the work we did. This e-commerce SEO checklist goes beyond SEO as you know it.
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5. Introduction
International e-shop
Loads of advertising (Google, FB, remarketing, …)
Quality products
Beautiful website and (technical) product photography
Professional and experienced inhouse team
6. Introduction
B2B wholesaler aiming for the B2C market
Lack of social trust
Lack of benefits
Lack of real life pictures where/how the product is used
Basic issues concerning SEO, CRO & UX
25. Trust Signals
UX / UI
Security
About us
What’s in it for me
SEO best practices for filtering, duplication and internationalization
Reviews
Top Selling and featured products
Links to blogs and video’s
26. SEO & Performance
Breadcrumbs
Page & meta titles and header tags
Product descriptions
Readable url’s
Optimised alt tags
Structured data
Sitemap
Duplication
Internationalization
Crawl budget
Download speed
Content Quality & quantity
As a preparation for a website relaunch More Fabrics asked us to do an SEO ecommerce checklist for their current website
holistische benadering van SEO (SEO bestaat niet, is een meta-laag bovenop alle andere kanalen en verweven. SEO = GOD) korte introductie
The site should encourage customers to sign up to More Fabrics and show the benefits of becoming a member. On the home page it highlights membership tiers:
When users choose products, they are added to their cart. When they want to check out, the user is asked to check out as a guest or login. In the screenshot there should be text about the benefits of becoming a member. The other benefits such as free delivery, (which are on the home page) should also be included in the check out process as it is not currently there.
On the bottom of the home page, there is an option to register but it does not show the benefits of becoming a member.
On the products page, there is no mention about the benefits of registering. As can be seen from the screenshot below, the customer can just see the products and not the benefits of registering.
Benefit. Benefit. Benefit.
Simple. Repeat the benefit.
Nike
Asana
Shopify
Everlane
The site should highlight the categories of More Fabrics. Currently they can only be accessed from the home page. There are the following:
Upholstery fabrics
Curtain fabrics
Outdoor fabrics
Fire retardant fabrics
When customers are not on the home page, users can browse by curtains, multipurpose and upholstery, but they cannot direct themselves to the 4 options on the home page which are upholstery fabrics, curtain fabrics, outdoor fabrics and fire retardant fabrics.
Action:
Organise the products according to type of room. For example "Curtains/Fabric for lounge" "Curtains/Fabric for "bedrooms" "Curtains/Fabric for kichens"
Allow customers to use the site search to find the fabric they want. Currently it does not work as best as it could, for example searching for "curtains" brings up all the fabrics.
If there is a sale on or there are special offers, put this on the site too, as you can see on the John Lewis example below:
Make the images of the fabrics bigger. With the patterned fabric, sometimes it looks harder to see all the details if it is within small square.
Right under the product, include the "you may also like" or "customers also viewed" and add other fabric options as John Lewis does below. This encourages customers to browse on the site and add more to their basket. Currently the page is very long and the "similar products" is below the fold with the user needing to scroll down.
Make the images of the fabrics bigger. With the patterned fabric, sometimes it looks harder to see all the details if it is within small square.
Right under the product, include the "you may also like" or "customers also viewed" and add other fabric options as John Lewis does below. This encourages customers to browse on the site and add more to their basket. Currently the page is very long and the "similar products" is below the fold with the user needing to scroll down.
Content Team:
Blog -> informational and navigational keywords
Product pages -> Transactional keywords
Add what you want
The product page should consist of not just the product name and description (as it does now) but also bullet list of features and a summary with a call to action. There should also be a link to the relevant content on the blog page.
The home page currently does not provide the answers a customer would want when ordering factor. It does not provide a solution to users' problems.
For example the home page should have content such as:
"Do you want to get a good night's sleep without the sun coming through the curtains?
Do you want to reupholster your sofa but not sure how?
Do you have kids and dogs and are you looking for hard wearing upholstery?"
Then sell the unique selling points (USPs) of More Fabrics.
"Then you have come to the right place. At More Fabrics we have all the fabric you would need for curtains, indoor and outdoor furniture that is hard wearing and suitable for families with children and pets."
UX + Content team
Don’t overcomplicate it
Put yourself in the customer’s standpoint
Add more filtering options
Make filtering SEO friendly (there was a no-index on the parameters)