How Do I Improve SEO On My Website To Supercharge My Online Store?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a huge deal for any online business. After all, your visibility on search engines plays a huge role in determining whether your customers are able to find you or not. And if they can’t find you - they can’t shop with you.

Did you know, for example, that a staggering 93% of all online experiences begin with a search engine…and 75% of users never scroll past the first page of results? [source]

Even within that coveted first page, competition is intense; studies show that the click-through rate for sites ranked first on Google is around 35%, while those in tenth position get just 2%.[source]

These numbers say it all; You need to get on that first page, and, ideally, you need to rank #1. Failing to pay attention to SEO can cost you valuable clicks, leads and sales!

Let’s start by asking two vital questions.

What are search engines looking for?

The goal of search engines is quite simple. They aim to provide the best, most authoritative, trusted, unique and interesting content on the web for their searchers.

How do they decide which pages to rank?

By and large, search engines do this by using automated software agents - called ‘crawlers’ - which visit a website and collect and index a range of information, including all its content and meta tags. They then periodically re-visit the site to pick up any changes.

So, how do we go about improving your SEO and cashing in on its many benefits?

1. Keyword research

Deciding which Keywords you want to rank for is one of the most important decisions you’ll make, so don’t just guess or go with your gut! You can utilise awesome resources like Google Adwords Keywords Planner to give you a leg up. It's also helpful to do some research on your competitors’ keyword choices.

2. Include product keywords in URL

Long, messy URLs which are full of numbers and random letters are not great for your users - and they’re also not great for SEO. URLs are there to describe a page to your visitors and search engines, and if they’re messy, cluttered and confusing, you’re going to struggle to get your pages to rank.

Check out this really useful article about what makes an SEO-friendly URL!

3. Review your site structure

The better search engines are able to understand your site structure, the better your ranking is likely to be. If crawlers are unable to find their way around your site, then they won’t be able to index your content for display through the search engines, so this is a pretty big deal. And if an automated robot can’t find its way through your site, odds are your customers will struggle too!

As a rule of thumb, try to keep each of your pages no more than 3 clicks away from your home page. 

4.Embrace content marketing

Since many of the old, manipulative SEO techniques have died out, an increasing number of businesses are turning to content marketing to improve their SEO (as well as unlocking many other benefits.)

By developing informative, useful content - blogs, articles etc. - you can develop a deeper relationship with your audience, share your expertise and develop an authoritative voice on your chosen subject.

Not only does this add value to your customer experience, the data suggests that it’s great for SEO, link-building and lead generation. For example, companies that blog have 97% more inbound links, and a phenomenal 434% more indexed pages.(HubSpot State of Inbound Marketing Lead Generation Report, 2010)

5. Use unique titles and meta descriptions

Titles and meta descriptions both play a big role in how visible your products are through search engines. It’s important to choose a unique - and accurate - title for your product pages, while your meta descriptions should be concise, relevant and unique. Both should accurately describe the product and page. The optimal length for a title is 70 characters or less, while you have around 155 characters for your description.

6. Flesh out your Product pages

Product pages perform a crucial double role - not only do they offer a powerful chance to persuasively sell features and benefits to prospective customers, they also provide vital information to search engines.

Now, don’t forget, search engines can’t see images and videos, so however amazing your product pages look, they’re not going to rank unless they include compelling and accurate descriptive copy.

If it’s at all possible, avoid duplicating content from elsewhere - after all, you want your site to stand out as unique.

7. Utilise the power of social

You don’t need us to tell you that social media is everywhere these days, and you can really harness that power to give your SEO a boost. Consider using social sharing buttons for each of your products - not only does this raise brand awareness and generate new leads, social signals also mark your site out as being trustworthy which increases your chances of being ranked.

We can help!

Here at AmeriCommerce, we’re all about helping you sell more…and our offering includes a huge emphasis on SEO! Our software includes powerful SEO and marketing tools so you can promote yourself and your products. We’d love to discuss this in more detail, so why not get in touch with us and we can talk about how we can help!