eCommerce SEO

1. eCommerce SEO

3. Keyword Research Similar to regular SEO, keyword research should be a core part of your marketing plan. You have to know what buyers are searching for so know how best to position your products. Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved Common Problems: Online store launched without any keyword research Haphazard or quick keyword review Very broad keywords that are diﬃcult to rank Keywords that not relevant to actual buyers Best Prac1ce: Research products, manufactures, and compe@tors Create a seed list for products, categories, and topics Pull search volumes for possible keywords Rank keywords for relevance Helpful Tools: Google Adwords Keyword Planner Moz Keyword Explorer KW Finder semrush SpyFu

4. Site Mapping Site mapping is critical for ecommerce based websites, because it is very easy to compete with yourself due to the cross over of products, categories, tags, and topical areas. Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved Common Problems: Lack of structure and planning Primary keywords are assigned to products Keyword phrase used more than once as focus Best Prac1ce: Assign highest priority keywords to categories Create topical areas for seasonal or clearance items Extend usage into comparison and buyer guides Keep overall structure no more then 3 clicks deep Helpful Tools: DynoMapper WriteMaps Screaming Frog SEO Spider Tool

6. SEO Friendly URLs SEO friendly URLs help search engines understand a website’s architecture and the structure of the content. They also help users quickly find products. Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved Common Problems: Convoluted URLs without structure Constantly changing URLs due to category modiﬁca@ons Extremely long URLs with mul@ple layers Best Prac1ce: Human readable URLs Focused keyword phrase within URL Set limit at three levels deep Consistent usage or use of 301 redirects Helpful Tools: DynoMapper WriteMaps Screaming Frog SEO Spider Tool

7. Duplicate Content Duplicate content (in this case) refers to the same content displayed under different URLs within the same website. Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved Common Problems: Non-canonical URLs Session IDs Duplicate URL paths due to mul@ple categories Best Prac1ce: Keep URLs clean Set any areas of duplica@ons as no index Watch category usage within URLs carefully Helpful Tools: DynoMapper Screaming Frog SEO Spider Tool Winter Boots Adirondack II /winter-boots/adirondack-ii/ Snow Boots Adirondack II /snow-boots/adirondack-ii/

8. Product Descriptions If you want your store to rank over other stores, you have to give search engines a reason to elevate you in search. One way to accomplish this task is through high quality product descriptions. Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved Common Problems: Limited product descrip@ons Manufacturer’s descrip@on as only content Bullet list of words and no actual sentences Best Prac1ce: Create unique, keyword rich descrip@ons U@lize manufacturer’s descrip@ons, but augment Review compe@tor websites and write beZer, more descrip@ve content Helpful Tools: Google Search Console DynoMapper

9. Category pages also need descriptions. Don’t just list products. Tell search engines and users what is listed on the page. ! Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved

10. Manufacturer Part Numbers Consumers search for manufacturer part numbers when needing specific products. Optimizing for these data points will help increase search and shorten the sales cycle. Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved Common Problems: Missing or incomplete manufacturer part numbers Best Prac1ce: Include complete manufacturer part numbers in one or more of the following places: - Descrip@on - Product name - H1 - URL - Meta @tle and descrip@on - Short descrip@ons for list based pages - Image ﬁle name and alt text

11. Meta Titles and Descriptions Meta titles and descriptions give search engines and users an idea of what the page is about and what they should expect to see as they digest the content. These data points appears in search engines result pages. Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved Common Problems: Duplicate meta @tles and descrip@ons across products Keyword stuﬃng within meta @tles and descrip@ons Best Prac1ce: Create unique meta for each product Include focused keyword if applicable Add in oﬀers to help set you apart in SERPs Helpful Tools: Yoast SEO All in One SEO DynoMapper Screaming Frog SEO Spider Tool Mozbar Google Search Console

12. Meta Search Phrase site:ugg.com/uk/ womens boots Ask yourself this: Can you tell the difference between the search results? You can, because good meta titles and descriptions make that possible. Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved

13. Breadcrumbs ü  Improved usability and helps eliminates additional clicks ü  Shows hierarchy ü  Reduces bounce rates ü  Helps with search engine optimization Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved Common Problems: 23% don’t have breadcrumbs at all 68% suﬀer from sub-par breadcrumb implementa@ons Best Prac1ce: Implement breadcrumbs on category and product pages Style so they are easy to read and use Check mobile devices to make sure they are usable Helpful Tools: Breadcrumb NavXTb Yoast SEO

14. Link Building ü  Internal linking is important because it tells search engines which content is most important ü  Inbound linking is important because it demonstrates authority and relevance Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved Common Problems: Limited inbound linking strategy Broken links Lack of 301 redirect usage Limited or no inbound linking eﬀorts Best Prac1ce: Use internal linking to support top SEO focused content Use 301 redirects and use them wisely Build inbound links to support top SEO focused content Helpful Tools: SpyFu Ahrefs Moz Open Site Explorer

15. Social Media ü  Facebook dominates social media traffic and conversions ü  Facebook accounts for 50% of social referrals and 64% of total social revenue ü  87% of Pinterest users have purchased an item because of Pinterest Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved Common Problems: Dormant social accounts with liZle ac@vity Lack of social sharing icons for visitors to use on products Failure to build communi@es and engagement Best Prac1ce: Ac@vely engage with social media users Ac@vely share content from the en@re website and store Build a community ﬁrst and sell second Helpful Tools: AddThis Share BuZons Shareaholic Ul@mate Social Media Mashshare Hootsuite

16. Schema and Rich Snippets ü  Structured data helps Google understand the content on your site, which can be used to display rich snippets in search results. ü  Rich snippets can also help with click through rates. Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved Common Problems: No schema Incorrectly applied schema Best Prac1ce: Allow product reviews Apply product based schema Validate schema is correct via external sources Helpful Tools: Google’s Structured Data Tes@ng Tool Yoast WooCommerce SEO Schema WooCommerce Plugin by Schema App

17. XML Sitemaps An XML sitemap is a file where you can list the content within your site to tell Google and other search engines about the organization of your content. Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved Common Problems: Missing Incomplete Errors Best Prac1ce: Set XML map to automa@cally update Connect to Google, Bing, and other search engines Include products, categories, tags, and topic areas Validate and check for errors Helpful Tools: Yoast SEO All in One SEO Google Search Console Bing Webmaster Tools hZp://tools.seochat.com/tools/site-validator/

18. Mobile Responsive ü  Mobile commerce is now 30% of all U.S. ecommerce ü  By 2020, mobile commerce will make up 45 percent of total ecommerce Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved Common Problems: Lack of mobile website Unexpected redirects to desktop site Hidden or lack of informa@on Large images which impact performance Checkout processes that are not op@mized Best Prac1ce: Op@mize the checkout process for mobile Make user reviewed easy to locate Compress images to improve page speed Helpful Tools: hZp://ready.mobi/ hZps://crossbrowsertes@ng.com/ hZp://ami.responsivedesign.is/

19. Speed and Performance ü  40% of people abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load ü  A 1 second delay in page response can reduce conversions 7% ü  If an ecommerce site is making $100,000 per day, a 1 second page delay could potentially cost you $2.5 million in lost sales every year Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved Common Problems: Slow and sluggish page loads due to large images, poor code, or cheap website hos@ng Best Prac1ce: Use cache plugins Use CDNs Compress images Purchase high quality hos@ng Helpful Tools: Google PageSpeed Insights Pingdom Tools GTmetrix WP Engine WordPress Speed Test

eCommerce SEO

Rebecca Gill

eCommerce SEO