Getting more traffic is top of mind for any ecommerce business. But how do you attract visitors to your online store without spending big on ads and marketing? The answer: by knowing how to harness ecommerce SEO.
Ecommerce search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of fine-tuning your website to meet search engine best practices, which includes updating your content to reflect what your customers are searching for.
Benefits of SEO for store owners include increased visitors, brand awareness, and sales. But with constant search engine algorithm updates, knowing how to approach search optimization can be difficult.
This guide covers the basics of ecommerce SEO, including how to research keywords, structure your site, and create content for product pages. Equipped with this guide, and this SEO checklist, you’ll be set up to rank your store and reap some SEO rewards.
What is ecommerce SEO?
Ecommerce SEO is the process of increasing the visibility of an online store in search engine results pages (SERPs). Ecommerce websites use SEO as a strategy to generate more traffic, attracting visitors who input queries related to their products and brand.
The tasks involved in ecommerce SEO marketing are varied. For example, creating optimized website content is one SEO task you might undertake. Your content could show up in relevant search results that catch the attention of new customers and guide them to purchase. For example, an ecommerce store like True Classic, which sells t-shirts, could improve its website SEO by optimizing collection and product pages.
The most important ecommerce SEO functions
As you begin the process of optimizing your online store, the most essential ecommerce SEO tasks to prioritize include:
- Optimizing collection and product pages
- Making sure product feeds are submitted via Google Merchant Center
- Building new collection pages to target new queries
Other important tasks include: speeding up page load time, crafting detailed product descriptions, and doing backlink outreach.
After prioritizing these SEO activities, you can consider creating informational content to provide additional value and traffic sources. This informational content, like blog posts or help center articles, should target queries that a customer would likely ask before purchasing an item.
True Classic, for example, devotes an entire page to their different fabric options in detail so that shoppers can explore and get to know the products more deeply.
Why should ecommerce websites care about SEO?
When you search for something on Google, you’re taken to a search engine results page (SERP). There, you’ll find approximately 10 organic results:
These organic results appear below paid ads (orange) and Google Shopping ads (purple):
Ecommerce SEO is all about ensuring your product pages appear among the top organic search results on the first page of Google. Websites that don’t rank within the top 10 are rarely visited, and even those in positions three to five receive far less traffic than the top results.
😲 Worth noting: SEO company Backlinko found that only 0.63% of searchers click on websites listed on page two of Google search results.
Backlinko also reported that the first result on a Google SERP gets 27.6% of all the clicks:
In other words: SEO matters. The name of the game is to rank as high as possible on the first page of search engines like Google and Bing—both for search terms related to your products, as well as searches within your ecommerce niche market.
How to create an ecommerce SEO strategy
If you’re new to search engine optimization and want to increase your store’s ranking on Google, take a look at these six steps. They provide actionable tips for setting up good, basic ecommerce SEO on your website.
- Ecommerce keyword research
- On-page SEO for ecommerce
- Site architecture for ecommerce
- Technical SEO
- Google Merchant Center product feeds
- Publishing relevant informational content
- Link building
1. Ecommerce keyword research
The first step in any ecommerce SEO strategy is to identify high-value search terms that your potential customers are using. You can do that through ecommerce keyword research, which can be conducted in a number of ways.
Ecommerce keyword research is slightly different from traditional keyword research. While most sites care only about informational keywords, you’ll want to target a mix of informational and commercial keywords, like this:
Informational keyword searchers are looking for answers, guides, and explanations. Blogs and content-heavy sites care most about these keywords. Many Shopify stores and other ecommerce sites have blogs too, but they also target keywords that show buying intent, like “raincoats for dogs.”
Amazon and Google autocomplete predictions
When you start to type a search query into Google, its autocomplete feature suggests relevant queries:
These autocomplete suggestions can be a gold mine for keyword ideas, especially when you already have a few basic keywords in mind. (Don’t forget to check the related search queries at the bottom of the SERP, too.)
Amazon autocomplete predictions
You can complete a similar process on Amazon. The great thing about Amazon suggestions is that, unlike Google, they’re product-focused and can include filterable details such as price.
Pay particular attention to long-tail keywords, which are longer and describe more specific items. The longer the keyword, the more specific it is. That means lower competition and, often, higher conversion rates.
You can also check how Amazon (and other major ecommerce sites) structure content for visibility in search. Take a look at relevant product menus for keyword category ideas.
Let’s say you sell women’s fashion items. If you find that category on Amazon, you can see all of the different ways Amazon sorts and organizes its products in that niche:
Repeat this process for any other major competitors.
Keyword research tools
For more advanced keyword research, you’ll need a free SEO tool. The most popular is Ahrefs. These tools provide the ability to research and analyze keywords en masse.
Let’s say you compete with BustedTees, a geeky t-shirt ecommerce store. Enter its domain into a keyword research tool like Ahrefs and click Organic keywords at the top:
Scroll down to see all the keywords BustedTees currently ranks for. You’ll also find metrics like search volume and rank position. With an overview of your competitor’s SERP coverage, you can make an informed decision about where to compete for keywords.
Choosing the right keywords for your store
No ecommerce website can target every keyword. Based on your customers and products, you’ll need to decide which keywords to try to rank for.
Consider the following factors:
Long-tail versus head term keywords
Head term keywords are very broad and usually very competitive. On the other hand, long tail keywords are more specific and have less competition, with usually a higher likelihood for conversion because of their relevance.
Volume
The higher a keyword’s search volume, the more potential traffic to your site. You can discover keyword search volume using Ahrefs or a free tool like Google Keyword Planner.
Competition
The lower the competition, the more likely you are to rank for a keyword. SEO tools will show you keyword difficulty/competition (KD).
Relevancy
How relevant is your product page or category page to the search term? This is a huge ranking factor that’s often neglected. Stick to keywords that your products would genuinely satisfy. You’re not foolin’ Google (and you shouldn’t try to trick your customers either).
Intent
Target keywords that show an intent to buy or learn about a product. Usually, you can evaluate search intent just by looking at a keyword. For example, if you own a bridal shop, which search has the more relevant intent: “ball gown wedding dresses” or “work dresses”? It’s also wise to look at what other sites are currently ranking for a search term; that’ll help make sure your keyword usage has the same search intent.
Product types
If you sell more than three of the same product type, target relevant keywords with a collection. If you sell fewer than three of the same product type, target keywords with each individual product page.
💡 The ultimate keyword? A high volume, low competition term that aligns with the content on your website.
2. On-page SEO for ecommerce
Once you’ve done your keyword research and your site structure is ready to rock, it’s time to optimize the content on your two highest-value page types:
Ecommerce content basics
If you’re using Shopify, you likely know that Shopify stores include several SEO features.
Some are automatic:
- Canonical tags are included.
- Your website’s sitemap.xml and robots.txt files are generated.
- Themes generate title tags that include your store name.
- Themes have social media linking and sharing options.
But other features require you to manually optimize your site:
- Edit the title tags, meta tags, and meta descriptions to include your keywords.
- Edit the alt text of product images to ensure it accurately describes visuals.
- Make sure your file names include keywords.
- Think carefully about the URLs for blog posts, webpages, products, and collections.
When optimizing your title tags and descriptions, note that these are Google-facing. The primary goal is ranking on the first page. The secondary goal is convincing searchers to click through to your site.
Modifiers like Deals, 20% Off, Free Shipping, Wide Selection, etc., can give you a boost when placed in the meta description (or title, if it fits) and help you tackle long-tail keywords.
Ecommerce product descriptions
In ecommerce SEO, Google and other search engines use the content on your page to decide which keywords to rank your page for and how high your page should rank for each keyword.
If a product page has a short description and not much else, Google doesn’t have much to go on. Copying and pasting a description from a manufacturer or supplier is called duplicate content and is also advised against.
Instead, write unique, comprehensive product descriptions that capture readers’ interest and contain lots of details about your items. Quality on-page content can help improve the ranking of your product pages and reduce overall thin content on your store.
That’s why, in higher-ranking search results, you’ll typically see product pages with longer descriptions, reviews, and more.
Try to include relevant keywords and subheadings in every section of your page to help Google understand what your content refers to.
If you can’t create content for every product, focus on those currently ranking on the bottom of the first page. Boosting these results can have the biggest impact on conversions, as they don’t have as far to climb up in rankings.
The more you write, the more accurate Google can be in ranking your page. Your customers won’t hate the extra product info either—it might even help persuade them to buy.
Take advantage of related keywords
Related keywords are exactly what they seem: They’re similar to your main keyword. Enter your keyword into Google Keyword Planner to find related terms and phrases that you can pursue with your content.
You can also find related keywords through an Amazon search. Look up your main keyword and check for secondary keywords that repeatedly appear.
For example, let’s say you’re trying to sell a blender. The terms “14 Speed,” “450W,” and “48oz Glass Jar” all appear multiple times, indicating they’re strong selling factors and likely common elements of search terms.
If you’re getting traffic from a main keyword, try to slide onto the first page for related secondary keywords as well. Use related keywords in your content whenever they make sense.
Create internal links
The longer you can keep your visitors browsing your content, the more chance you have of making a sale. Relevant internal links to other pages on your site help potential customers browse and discover information or products.
In your anchor text (the words that you place the internal link in), make sure you include the target keyword verbatim. Internal linking can be used to drive customers to relevant product pages, category pages, and educational content.
Don’t get too wild with internal linking. One or two links every few hundred words is enough.
💡 Pro tip: If you understand your audience’s decision-making process, you can develop content that helps them through the various stages in their buying journey.
3. Site architecture for ecommerce
When it comes to SEO ecommerce, how the pages on your site are organized and structured affects your search engine rankings.
Site structure also impacts your user experience (UX). You need to make it easy for visitors and search engines bots to navigate content in your store.
As you add and remove products and categories, site structure can get complicated. Before you progress too far with developing your website, ensure:
- You link to your most important collections from the main navigation menu.
- Any remaining collections are linked from non-navigation links on collections, products, and/or blog posts.
- All products are linked from a parent collection (this usually happens automatically).
- Your site structure is simple and easy to scale as your store grows.
- Every page of your site is reachable from the main structure within a few, intuitive clicks.
Simplicity is underrated. You don’t want to have visitors relying on the back button to get around your site, running in circles trying to find what they’re looking for. You also don’t want to have to reorganize and rearrange your site structure every time you add a new product category.
Most of your SEO link authority is on your homepage, because that’s the most common page other businesses link to when referring to your website. So, the more clicks away from your homepage a product page is, the less authority it has.
Page indexing
As you implement SEO on your website, you’ll want to make strategic choices about which webpages you choose to index and rank.
Index is another name for the database used by a search engine. So to index a page is to have it added to that database. In other words, Google has discovered your page and added it to its search results:
For advice on page indexing, take a look at these tips from Aleyda Solis, founder of SEO consultancy Orainti:
Aleyda recommends identifying which page types are worth indexing and optimizing. Those pages should fulfill a real audience demand.
“One of the most common issues for ecommerce sites is thin content, as well as content duplication,” Aleyda says.
“Thin content is the idea that there’s not much actual text on an ecommerce site compared to, say, a blog or software site. Content duplication occurs when the same content appears on multiple product and category pages.
“Adding blog content to your online store’s website is a good way to help counter thin content.”
The easiest way to handle content duplication is to hide a page from search engines, known as noindex-ing. However, you can also create useful content for those pages to make them different, relevant, and competitive.
You can also canonicalize pages. Canonicalizing a page is a way of telling Google that a URL is the “master version” you’d like to display in search results. This is helpful in duplicate content situations, because without canonical tags, Google might:
- Miss unique content while wading through duplicate content.
- Dilute your ranking ability.
- Choose the wrong master version for you.
💡 Good to know: If you’re using Shopify, auto-generated canonical tags are added to pages to prevent duplicate content from appearing in search results.
Aleyda suggests going beyond noindex or canonicalization when you’re ready.
“Assess if there are enough search queries around a product’s characteristics to identify whether to index its page,” she says.
“If you do index a page, ask yourself if there’s enough content on the page and if it’s aligned with the way the users are searching. You may need to expand and optimize the page to keep it relevant and competitive.”
Aleyda shared this handy chart to help visualize the indexing decision process:
The big takeaway? Not every level of your site structure is worth indexing and optimizing, so be strategic and refer to the chart above.
💡 Pro tip: Add breadcrumbs to your product pages to improve website navigation for customers and Google. Breadcrumbs tell Google how your site is structured and let people know where they are within your store.
Notice how Allbirds uses breadcrumbs on its product pages to orient users. If someone decides they don’t want to purchase the Everyday sneakers, they can easily click back to Men’s Shoes or the homepage and look for a different product.
Use a third-party app like Category Breadcrumbs to show your customers the path they’ve navigated down through your category tree.
4. Technical SEO
Technical SEO is an under-the-hood type of search engine optimization. It’s unseen by shoppers, but ensures your website is optimized for crawlers, has ideal site speed, and works on mobile.
Strategic Technical SEO leads to:
- Better website engagement, because your site is fast and easy to access.
- More organic traffic because your site is easier to crawl.
Some ways to improve your technical SEO for ecommerce include the following:
- Create logical internal navigation with your menus.
- Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console.
- Optimize images to load quickly.
💡 Hire a technical SEO expert to run a site audit and optimize your store from the Shopify Experts marketplace.
5. Google Merchant Center product feeds
Ensure that your product feed is correctly verified in the Google Merchant Center so that your products appear in Google Shopping free listings and ads. This verification process confirms that your product data like titles, descriptions, prices, and availability is submitted accurately and meets Google's requirements.
Here’s how to get your products listed in Google Shopping feeds:
- Verify that you own your website. This might happen automatically if you already use other Google tools like Google Analytics. Manual routes to verify include: email, our ecommerce platform, Google Tag Manager, or adding an HTML tag to your site's code. Once you’re verified, claim your website URL in Google Merchant Center to establish a connection between your site and your Merchant Center account.
- Submit product data. Upload your product information to Google Merchant Center using a supported format, such as a spreadsheet or XML file. Ensure that your data includes all required attributes and adheres to Google's product data specifications.
- Monitor feed status. Monitor your feed's status in your Google Merchant Center dashboard. Google will review your data for compliance with its policies. This review typically takes up to three business days.
- Address issues. If there are any errors or disapprovals, Google will provide details. Common problems include mismatched availability, incorrect pricing, or missing identifiers. You’ll be able to find any issues you need to correct in the Needs attention tab. Correct these issues promptly to ensure your products are eligible to appear on Google.
A verified and accurate feed ensures that your products are discoverable by potential customers, enhances your visibility in search results, and contributes to a seamless shopping experience.
6. Publish relevant informational content
Next, consider publishing relevant informational content that supports purchasing decisions or otherwise speaks to shoppers in the market for what you sell.
This could be help center articles that cover common customer pre-purchase questions, About Us content that shares what makes your brand unique, or blog posts that target specific keywords that align with your audience’s interests and needs.
You’re using SEO to power an ongoing content strategy.
When it comes to blogging, every post published has the potential to:
- Build your reputation as a credible source.
- Improve your site’s authority.
- Increase visibility in organic search.
Imagine you were starting a company that sells running gear. You want to help potential customers understand your products, use them more effectively, and solve their running and fitness problems. If you want to get found in search engines like Google, blogging can help you get there.
A well-written blog gives your store a steady stream of original content. The more people who discover your content, the more reliable you’ll become as a source of information. This, in turn, helps you rank higher. Ecommerce businesses often struggle with blogging because it takes time, effort, and resources to get it right. Randomly publishing blog posts each month won’t bring traffic to your website.
However, there are many ecommerce businesses that do blogging well. For example, retailer Au Lit Fine Linens sells everything to help you get a good night’s sleep, including luxury sheets, pillows, bath linens, and more. The brand also has a blog, Between the Sheets, that regularly provides helpful articles about how readers can improve sleep quality.
The blog is SEO driven, meaning that its purpose is to rank in search engines. Posts often highlight a problem the reader is having, and offer Au Lit Fine Linens products as the solution—a fine balance between promotional and informational.
When starting a blog for ecommerce SEO, focus on the following three elements:
- Research what keywords to rank for. Publish content that targets keywords people are likely to search for when solving problems or making a buying decision.
- Optimize blog posts for SEO. Make sure each blog targets a specific keyword for SEO.
- Present your products as a solution to the problem. Every post doesn’t have to be about your products. But don’t be afraid to include a CTA and link out to a product page or two when appropriate.
7. Link building
One of the oldest components of the Google algorithm is PageRank. It’s a system that seeks to understand webpage quality by looking at how many links it receives from other websites.
Google uses the number, quality, and relevancy of a page’s links to judge its trustworthiness. As a result, new websites with few links have less authority in the eyes of search engines. While time can fix this, building quality backlinks can help Google recognize your authority more quickly.
Respected TLDs, like .com, .gov, and .edu, tend to provide the most authority when they give you a backlink. Links from large, well-ranking websites operating within your niche are particularly lucrative.
One of the best ways to approach building links is to focus on partnerships. Determine what content you can create that will provide value to other websites. If you can make something that others want to use, they’ll usually cite your content with a link.
Guest posts
Guest posting can be a functional way to build backlinks, provided the content you create for other websites is relevant to their users. Run some ecommerce keyword research and analyze backlinks with Ahrefs to find sites in your niche that are receptive to guest posts.
Press mentions
Another way to build backlinks to your ecommerce store is through press mentions. Building a press list or hiring a PR firm can be expensive, so here is a simple growth hack anyone can do.
Sign up for Help a B2B Writer and you will get a daily digest of reporter requests right to your email. When a lead matches your brand, reach out to the email address provided and pitch a story. If you get an interview, make sure to ask for a backlink to your website.
Best ecommerce SEO tools
Google Analytics
If you own a website, you’re going to use Google Analytics. This free SEO tool tracks and reports website traffic, giving you the insight to better understand customers, optimize your store for SEO, and improve marketing ROI. As a Shopify store owner, you can connect Google Analytics to Shopify Analytics and choose specific ecommerce data to track.
Ahrefs
You’ve seen Ahrefs at work in this post, but it’s worth looking deeper at some of its key features. Ecommerce marketing professionals use Ahrefs to create SEO campaigns and rank higher in Google.
Ahrefs is a competitor of Moz and Semrush, two other SEO software companies you’ll find when researching SEO tools.
Use Ahrefs to analyze a website’s link profile, keyword rank, and overall SEO performance. You can also use it to conduct keyword research for Google, Amazon, and YouTube.
Audit tools that can help with site hygiene
Avada SEO & Image Optimizer
Avada SEO is a plug-in to help ecommerce stores outrank competitors. It offers image compression, site speed optimization, schema markup, and other technical features that keep your website optimized for search. It also has 24/7 customer support.
SEOAnt
SEOAnt is a free tool you can use to run SEO checkup reports, fix broken links, and optimize image sizes. It also has AI features for writing meta and alt text.
Getting started with ecommerce SEO
Rankings are never static, so ecommerce SEO never stops. But the seven steps in this article should help you build a solid SEO foundation for your online store.
Remember to keep your content original and in-depth, regularly audit your site for technical issues, explore backlinking opportunities, and always look out for new keywords that match your brand and products.
Read more
- The Ultimate Guide To Dropshipping (2024)
- How To Source Products To Sell Online
- AliExpress Dropshipping- How to Dropship From AliExpress
- 24 Free Shopify Apps to Help You Build, Manage, and Grow Your Store
- Product Ideas: 17 Places To Find Profitable Products
- The 13 Best Dropshipping Suppliers in 2024
- How to Build a Business Website for Beginners
- How to Build Your Own Brand From Scratch in 7 Steps
- How to Grow Your Business With Giveaways and Viral Contests
- TikTok for Ecommerce: How To Sell on TikTok
Ecommerce SEO FAQ
What is ecommerce SEO?
Ecommerce SEO is the process of making changes to an online store to increase the visibility of its web pages and product listings in search engine results pages (SERPs).
How do I get SEO results for ecommerce?
- Build collection pages to target all of the ways that customers describe your product set.
- Optimize your product titles and descriptions for relevant keywords.
- Create useful content about your products, industry, or niche.
- Request backlinks from relevant websites to build your website’s authority.
- Add new content on a regular schedule to show that your website is active.
- Update your existing content regularly to keep information fresh and accurate.
Is SEO good for ecommerce?
SEO is a powerful tool for ecommerce businesses. It helps to increase organic traffic to your site, which can lead to higher visibility, more potential customers, and ultimately, increased sales. Additionally, SEO is a cost-effective marketing strategy as it targets users who are already looking for your products online.
What is the difference between SEO and ecommerce SEO?
The same principles apply to SEO and ecommerce SEO. However, ecommerce SEO strategies are tailored for online stores. The main goal of ecommerce SEO is to increase the visibility of products in search engine results to drive sales, while traditional SEO focuses on improving website content visibility to capture readers and attention. Tasks specific to ecommerce SEO include optimizing product pages and listings.
How much does it cost to do SEO?
The cost of doing SEO varies depending on the size of your website and the scope of your SEO goals. However, many aspects of SEO can be done at no cost. Tasks like keyword research, on-page optimization, and content creation are all essentially free, besides the time you invest. If you choose to hire an SEO professional or agency, costs will differ based on their expertise, the size of your website, and the extent of services required. Most businesses budget $1,500–$5,000 per month for intensive outsourced SEO projects.
Does Shopify do SEO for you?
Shopify stores have SEO features to help you optimize your content. For example, you can create optimized product titles, descriptions, alt text, and URLs. You can also harness the power of Shopify Magic to AI-generate optimized descriptions of your products. Other SEO features include the ability to submit your sitemap to Google Search Console and create a blog for your online store.
Adding a blog to a Shopify store can help it rank for relevant keywords that don’t compete with product pages. For example, a Shopify store selling birthday party supplies may rank for product-focused keywords such as “balloons,” “streamers,” and “gifts.” Adding some thoughtful blog posts to this website may enable it to appear in other queries from motivated users, such as “how to plan a birthday party.”
Is SEO worth it on Shopify?
It’s important to consider SEO for your Shopify store because it helps increase visibility in search engine result pages (SERPs). When you optimize a Shopify store for users (by creating pages that address queries and acquiring backlinks from relevant websites) it will rank higher in results. The more pages you do this for, the more pages start ranking. Getting website traffic from organic search results helps you attract customers and spend less on paid marketing.
