Ecommerce SEO: Planning, Building & Driving More SEO Traffic

@jasonmun
E-commerce is BOOMING

@jasonmun
Overdose Digital // Digital Commerce Agency
Jason Mun
Director of Search & Insights
@jasonmun / jasonmun.com
https://overdose.digital
http://au.linkedin.com/in/jason-mun-8698a13

@jasonmun
Blueprint to Driving MORE Organic Traffic to Your
E-commerce Website

@jasonmun
Determine total
size of market

@jasonmun
Identify the size of
your opportunity

@jasonmun
Determine $$$
opportunity

@jasonmun
Prioritise opportunities
based on effort & impact
$$$
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5
6

@jasonmun
Develop a Strategy
• What do you need to do to improve?
• On-site, Technical, Content, Off-site
• How much effort is it going to take?
• Breakdown monthly optimisation tasks
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2
3
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5
6
M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6

@jasonmun
Use Data to Forecast Traffic & Revenue Potential

@jasonmun
Search Volume x SERP CTR% = Potential Traffic

@jasonmun
Potential Traffic x Avg COV% x AOV = Potential $$$

@jasonmun
STEP 1 – Keyword Research

@jasonmun
https://backlinko.com/keyword-research
Gather all your findings and data in an Excel sheet.
• Plenty of tools at your disposal
• Use avg monthly search volume as barometer
• Be realistic, be relevant, be specific
• Don’t discount low search volume keywords
• Pick keywords for every “transactional” page on your website
Start with Keyword & Topic Research

@jasonmun
When choosing keywords
CONTEXT and INTENT matters

@jasonmun
When I say “NOTEBOOK”
What am I referring to?

@jasonmun
This is What Google Thinks

@jasonmun
Will This Page Ever Rank?

@jasonmun
Speed Up Keyword Selection with Intersect
Multiple websites ranking,
HYPER relevant keywords

@jasonmun
SEMrush Keyword Gap Tool

@jasonmun
Prioritise HIGH Purchase Intent Keywords
Identify keywords that triggers
Google Shopping (PLA) ads

@jasonmun
Use Your Favourite Tools
Filter keywords by “SERP Features = Shopping”

@jasonmun
Keywords Search Volume Category URL Current Rank Target Rank SERP CTR% Est Traffic Est Conversions Est Revenue
Keyword 1 10000 Topic 1 /category 10
Keyword 2 5400 Topic 1 /category/sub-category 25
Keyword 4 250 Topic 1 /product-1 20

@jasonmun
Next…complete the rest of the
columns

@jasonmun
STEP 2 – Determining SERP CTR%

@jasonmun
What is SERP CTR%
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10
Estimated click-through-rate based on rank position
50%
30%
28%
20%
15%
12%
10%
8%
6%
3%

@jasonmun
Using Industry CTR Studies
https://www.advancedwebranking.com/ctrstudy/
Source: https://moz.com/blog/google-organic-click-through-rates-in-2014
Useful but wildly inaccurate due to difference in
niches/regions/user behaviour

@jasonmun
Find Out Your Website’s SERP CTR% Using Your OWN Data
16 months worth of search
query data!!!

@jasonmun
Export 16 Months Worth of Data in to Sheets
https://searchanalyticsforsheets.com/
Bypass the 1,000 rows export limit of GSC interface

@jasonmun
Remove Brand & Low Traffic
1. Add a new sheet
2. In column A1, enter the following formula:
=query(RAW!A1:E,"select * where NOT A contains ‘brand’ and B > 3")
*swap your brand in. eg, nike
3. Search Query data is now filtered to remove “brand” related queries and
queries with less than 3 clicks
4. Copy the filtered data to a new sheet and “paste as values”
1
2

@jasonmun
Calculate Average CTR by Position
1. Add a new column, F
2. In column F, enter the following formula:
=AVERAGEIF(E$2:E,E2,D$2:D)
3. This is going to calculate the average CTR% based on each query
position
4. Copy data in columns E and F, paste as values in to new sheet
12

@jasonmun
Your Very Own SERP CTR%
1. Sort data by Position
2. Remove duplicates by using this formula in column D1:
=UNIQUE(A1:B8692)
3. Chart it up if you like!
1
2
3

@jasonmun
Keyword 1 10000 Topic 1 /category 10 5 10.7% 1070 21 $ 3,210
Keyword 2 5400 Topic 1 /category/sub-category 25 5 10.7% 578 12 $ 1,733
Keyword 4 250 Topic 1 /product-1 20 5 10.7% 27 1 $ 80

@jasonmun
Est Traffic = SERP CTR x Search Volume
Est Conversions = Traffic x Website Conversion %
Est Revenue = Conversions x AOV$

@jasonmun
Automate the Process
https://you.algoroo.com/

@jasonmun
Automate the Process
https://you.algoroo.com/
FREE to test now – tweet at @dejanseo

@jasonmun
Develop a Strategy
• What do you need to do to improve?
• On-site, Technical, Content, Off-site
• How much effort is it going to take?
• Breakdown monthly optimisation tasks
1
2
3
4
5
6
M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6
Start Putting Your Strategy Together

@jasonmun
With a roadmap for growth. Time to put in the work!

@jasonmun
Start with the Basics

@jasonmun
Intuitive Information Architecture
Homepage
Category Category
Sub-categorySub-categorySub-category
ProductProductProductProduct Product
Category Blog
Blog Posts
Use keywords research to decide how to group pages in to “silos”

@jasonmun
Good Article on Siloing
https://www.bruceclay.com/au/seo/silo/

@jasonmun
Identify Gaps & Plug Them
Find out what
keywords/pages your
competitors are ranking for
that’s missing from your
website
Your Website

@jasonmun
Identify Gaps & Plug Them
Find out what UNIQUE
opportunities competitors Your Website

@jasonmun
Plug the Gaps
Homepage
Category Category
Sub-categorySub-categorySub-category
ProductProductProductProduct Product
Category Blog
Blog Posts
NEW Category
NEW Sub-category
Expand your IA to
target more
keywords

@jasonmun
Here’s WHY
Type of page % of Traffic Example URL
Category pages 7% yourwebsite.com.au/jeans
Sub-Category pages 35% yourwebsite.com.au/jeans/skinny-jeans
Homepage 40% yourwebsite.com.au
Misc. pages 5% yourwebsite.com.au/about-us
Product pages 13% yourwebsite.com.au/levis-501-mens-skinny-jeans
Aggregated data of 50 e-commerce websites in various niches

@jasonmun
Type of page % of Traffic Example URL
Category pages 7% yourwebsite.com.au/jeans
Sub-Category pages 35% yourwebsite.com.au/jeans/skinny-jeans
Homepage 40% yourwebsite.com.au
Misc. pages 5% yourwebsite.com.au/about-us
Product pages 13% yourwebsite.com.au/levis-501-mens-skinny-jeans
(Sub)Category Pages are Huge Traffic Drivers
Aggregated data of 50 e-commerce websites in various niches

@jasonmun
Map Keywords to Pages
Page Keyword Map Title Tag Meta Description H1 Heading
/ streetwear fashion (5,000)
/jeans jeans (9,900)
/jeans/skinny skinny jeans (1,600)
/jeans/bootcut bootcut jeans (1,300)
/jeans/coloured coloured jeans (210)
/jeans/ripped-distressed ripped jeans (6,600)
distressed jeans (1,000)
/hats hats (14,800)
/hats/beanies beanies (9,900)
/hats/fedoras fedoras (12,100)
/hats/snapback snapback hats (1,300)

@jasonmun
It is the first interaction a user has with your website in the SERPs.
An opportunity to elevator pitch and encourage them to click-through
• Target keyword in the title tag
• Title tag limit: 60 characters
• Meta description limit: 155 characters
• Include unique selling propositions
• Have strong call-to-actions
• Communicate intent
• Every page should have UNIQUE meta-data
Title Tag & Meta Description Optimisation
OLD:
NEW:

@jasonmun
Scaling Title Tag Sitewide
Page Type Format Example
Category Pages Category Online in Country - Website Women’s Dresses Online in Australia – Prinzess
Category by Brand - Website Women’s Sneakers by Nike – Prinzess
CTA + Category – Website Shop Women’s Dresses Online in Australia – Prinzess
Category | USP - Website Women’s Sneakers by Nike | FREE Shipping - Prinzess
Product Pages CTA + Product Name – Website Shop Levi’s Mile High Super Skinny Jeans - Prinzess
Product Name | USP – Website Levi’s Mile High Super Skinny Jeans | FREE Shipping
CTA + Product Name by Brand – Website Shop Mile High Super Skinny Jean by Levi’s – Prinzess
CTA + Product Name | Serial Number - Website Shop Sony Bravia 50” LED TV | SB2364 - MyNextTelly
Repeat the same for meta-descriptions

@jasonmun
Enforce SEO Technical Best Practices

@jasonmun
Fix Up Technical Kinks
https://www.slideshare.net/jasonmun1/technical-seo-for-ecommerce-websites
• Technical SEO is extremely important, especially with websites
that have thousands of pages
• There isn’t an E-commerce platform out there that is perfect
from a SEO perspective
• Most important issues to look out for:
1. Crawl budget and indexation issues
2. Duplicate and thin content
3. Structured data & rich snippets
4. Automatic IP Redirect
5. Hreflang tags
6. 404 errors
7. PageSpeed
8. Mobile friendliness

@jasonmun
Run Periodic Crawls to Avoid Surprises
Compare month-on-month, address new issues

@jasonmun
Monitor Crawling Behaviour
Investigate irregular
crawl behaviour with
log file analysis. Make
sure crawl budget is
not wasted

@jasonmun
Monitor Indexation
Check for irregular spikes
and declines
Don’t ignore these, they
provide a new level of
insight in to indexation
issues

@jasonmun
Read These…
https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/how-to-find-true-size-of-your-site-index-coverage-reporting/ http://www.blindfiveyearold.com/google-index-coverage-report

@jasonmun
Control the Bots
Homepage Category Sub-Category Faceted / Filtering Internal Search Result Pages
4 84 4 8
Crawl
&
Index
Crawl
&
Index
Crawl
&
Index
DO NOT
Crawl & Index
DO NOT
Crawl & Index

@jasonmun
Herd the bots, lead them to where you want them to go

@jasonmun
Implementation
Difficulty
High
Low
Product descriptions, category
descriptions, reviews, etc
A series of content specifically
aimed at a specific topic
Content that attracts huge visitors that you
invest alot of $$$ and time.
Viral and evergreen
Hero
Hub
Hygiene

@jasonmun
Implementation
Difficulty
High
Low
Hero
Hub
Hygiene Start here
Build up more topical
relevance

@jasonmun
Product Descriptions
Treat your product pages the same you would a landing page,
make it the best landing page of the planet
Demonstrate strong Expertise-Authority-Trustworthiness
• DO NOT use default descriptions from manufacturers
• Unique write up of product / service
• Detailed description of what to expect
• Encourage testimonials or reviews
• Good quality images and videos
• Answer most commonly asked questions
• Mark it up with Schema for rich snippets
This is how you increase content depth
https://www.snapagency.com/ecommerce-web-design-guide

@jasonmun
Content Helps You Rank & Convert
Let’s compare
these pages

@jasonmun
• 366 words of product description
• Multiple high quality images
• 43x product reviews
• Frequently asked questions
• Product video
• 137 words of product description
• Single product image

@jasonmun
Category Descriptions
Category and sub-category pages of an E-commerce website are
where you target popular and high search volume keywords.
Category descriptions help search engines determine relevance
and keyword targeting
• Aim for 150 – 200 words
• Include target keyword and semantically relevant secondary
keywords
• Explain product offering and explain why users should buy
from you
• Detail down unique selling propositions and call-to-actions
• Keep it short & punchy!
• Internal link to relevant & complimentary categories and
products
https://www.snapagency.com/ecommerce-web-design-guide

@jasonmun
https://www.theiconic.com.au/womens-clothing-dresses/ https://www.showpo.com/shop/dresses-party-dress.html

@jasonmun
Don’t Go Overboard
https://www.wayfair.com/pet/cat/dog-beds-c409475.html

@jasonmun
Invest in MORE Content

@jasonmun
Taking Advantage of the Long-Tail

@jasonmun
Implementation
Difficulty
High
Low
Hero
Hub
Hygiene
Level UP on content

@jasonmun
Building Out More Content
https://blog.hubspot.com/news-trends/topic-clusters-seo

@jasonmun
How to Apply to an E-commerce Website

@jasonmun
How to Apply to an E-commerce Website
Links
Links

@jasonmun
Long-Tail & Content Research
Answerthepublic.com

@jasonmun
Endless Content Ideas
Ahrefs Content Explorer Buzz Sumo

@jasonmun
Content Hubs
Jeans
Skinny Jeans vs Straight Jeans
How to Wear Boyfriend Jeans
How to Wear Ripped Jeans Like a Celebrity
How to Wash Your Jeans
Content hubs or buying guides are great additions to an E-
commerce website. They add depth, expertise and authority to
the website.
• Content topics should be RELEVANT
• Content topics have to be USEFUL
• Convince and help users to make an informed decision
• Inspire users to WANT
• Internal link to relevant category and product pages of the
website
Build out content hubs based on your growth forecast and priority!

@jasonmun
Jewellery E-commerce Store
Background:
• Shopify platform
• ~80 product SKU’s
• Targeting USA
Results:
• Organic search traffic +175% year-on-year
• Organic search revenue +95% year-on-year
• Total page 1 rankings +228% year-on-year

@jasonmun
Fashion E-commerce Store
Background:
• Magento platform
• ~2000 product SKU’s
• Targeting AUS
Results:
• Organic search traffic +107% year-on-year
• Organic search revenue +45% year-on-year
• Total page 1 rankings +54% year-on-year

@jasonmun
Overdose Digital // Digital Commerce Agency
Jason Mun
Director of Search & Insights
@jasonmun / jasonmun.com
https://overdose.digital
http://au.linkedin.com/in/jason-mun-8698a13
Slides Available at
jasonmun.com/sms19

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