The pandemic has made e-commerce more popular than ever before. Over the last two years, there is a 47% increase in the market share of eCommerce brands. The only logical conclusion and prediction we can draw from here is that this will be the most popular way to shop very soon.
That being said, the market is getting more and more competitive day by day. As more and more established brands are shifting to ecommerce platforms, it is tougher to ensure and convert new customers. The best way to gain customers is by increasing visibility that would provide a rise in traffic and ultimately more customers. It is where search engine optimization or SEO comes into the scene.
Most ecommerce customers get to specific pages by simple Google searches. So, if the search engine is optimized, the likelihood of your website popping up with relevant searches increases manifold. For this reason, it is essential to ensure search engine optimization. Here are a few tactics that will improve your position and help your website by directing more traffic.
1. Update Business Listing
While many businesses do take care to optimize their website and even put out Google ads for greater visibility, most forget to optimize the Google My Business listing. GMB is a great way to improve engagement. Once your business pops up from a Google search, the customer does not even have to visit your website. The complete relevant information is right there on the first page, which boosts the business’s local ranking. Ultimately, this converts directly to more customers.
Suppose you are looking for a good SEO strategy to deploy for your business; ask for GMB optimization from your automotive SEO companies. This is an excellent way to interact with customers and help attain visibility.
2. Change any Non-Descriptive URLs
A product URL should be just as descriptive as possible. When you go to a company website or a product, and the URL is a mishmash of numbers and characters, it does not say anything to you. Just as useless as it is for human users, even automated searches are less likely to pick up on the product if the URL is non-descriptive.
When the URL follows the title tag and site navigation, users are more likely to click on it. Data even indicates that most users do not even read the meta description. Instead, they click based on the URL.
3. Undertake a Technical Audit
Sometimes, even when everything is optimized, the site might get less traffic due to poor user experience. Performing a technical audit fixes all the problems the users face. Sometimes sites are not built with the best practices. The audit can catch that and make sure the mistakes are corrected. It can include improving loading time, proper use of redirecting, and even XML sitemaps updating. Fixing bad URLs also happens in this process.
Another important thing that gets caught in technical audit is duplicate content. This has been known to hurt site traffic particularly. Redirecting is also a significant issue with many websites. A good redirecting strategy is essential for customer retention. Many companies have a system that deletes a page in case a product is out of stock. That is an incorrect practice.
Other than that, heavy images tend to slow down websites which bring down the user experience. eCommerce site owners should rectify this by audits.
4. Use HTTPS
Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure is a vital touch to have, especially for online websites that require users to make a purchase. This is the more secure version of HTTP. Given the conversation around data security, more and more users are conscious about the websites they access and the user information they provide. A user will not be willing to spend money on a website that does not seem reliable.
Protecting the privacy and sensitive user information is a part of the obligation that businesses owe to their users. Even Google prefers to secure sites over unsecured ones for apparent reasons. So, between an unsecured and a secure site trying to compete for a search result position, the secure one is preferable. It directly translates to higher optimization. The best part about this entire argument here is that it is cheap and easy to do.
5. Address User Queries
Putting out SEO content is an integral part of attracting traffic. But it is essential to keep in mind the kind of query the user might have when searching for your product. By targeting these questions in your company’s content, the information you provide becomes organized and thus more accessible.
The other important idea to focus on is to ensure quality content more so than high frequency. It builds reliability for your brand. Putting out uninspired content just for the algorithm will end up hurting your image more than uplifting it.
The Bottom Line
That is it for today! Having an overarching brand image and boosting your eCommerce site is possible with the five tips shared above. SEO is a space that is changing and evolving constantly. It is essential to keep updated with all the strategies and changes for a fruitful experience. Adaptability is critical when it comes to online success, and those who can mold themselves without losing their ethos are the ones who succeed.
