Top 5 SEO Tips for eCommerce Websites

May 24th 2013

In a recent SXSW conference held in the month of March 2013, Matt Cutts, the head of Google Web Spam team, clearly stated that very soon Google would be rolling out the Penguin update. He also said that the upcoming algorithm update would target the ecommerce websites. So it would be better if you prepare your ecommerce website to survive the upcoming tornado from the Google. And to make your website able to stand firm and maintain its rank on search engine even after the release of an upcoming algorithm update, here we present you with top 5 SEO tips for ecommerce websites.

1. Create a user-friendly website with optimum page loading speed

At first, you must analyze the overall design structure of your website, and check its page loading speed. As this is what would bring the most out of your each web visitor. In other words, a user-friendly design and optimum page loading speed is directly proportional to enhanced conversion rate. For this, you can work on the listed parameters.

Make an attractive site design keeping all important elements above the fold for higher conversion rate.
Keep page load time as low as possible so that users don’t move away you’re your website before it even loads on the web browser.
Try and remove clutter from the site, and keep your visitors focused on what they want.
Shorten the process of signing up & check out.

2. Fresh Content

In an eCommerce store there’s a strong possibility that you may have multiple products in same category and from the same merchant (if you are selling other brands product). Due to this, there might be a clash between the similar products’ content. So it would be wise to keep the product description or content fresh and unique, or else Google may treat your website as a source with duplicate content, which might eventually result in removal from the searches. To avoid this, you can follow these preventive measures.

Avoid using pre-built template product descriptions, which are generally provided by the product manufacturer.
Use fresh and unique content for each of your listed product.
If you feel that creating unique content for each and every listed product is very hectic and looks like an impossible task to attain within a short span then use the no-index tag for the respective pages, and start creating unique content for the product category pages.

3. Avoid using keywords in excess

Stuffing keywords in the site’s title, content, description, and alt tags, and also interlink all of your pages using the keywords is like giving a clear indication to Google that your website is built for search engines instead of users.

Though, it is still not a bad practice to list your keywords in the title tag, but using them all over the webpage is not worth anymore. That’s because Google has shifted its strategy from giving priority links and keywords to statistical data and co-citation. Therefore, website owners must focus on giving valuable information to their users without stuffing keywords.

4. Leverage social media

In today’s time, we can classify the leading ecommerce sites into three categories, which are;

Companies that are diving deeper and deeper into social media, and making users to engage with and share it in their network.
“In transition” sites. These websites perform well on social media platforms, and also uses additional strategies to capture a space on their consumers mind.
Companies that goes viral with any of its product on social platforms and draws referral traffic in return.

Being successful on social networks is not just a fluke, but in fact it is more effective and provides great conversion rate, as successful social media strategies encourage people to post their reviews and feedbacks in communities, and photo sharing, which eventually drive more people to the website that are already interested to buy the offered products.

The key thing to run a successful campaign on social media platforms is not to share your posts, pictures, and links on sites like Facebook, Google+, Twitter, or Pinterest, but it is to get involved and interact with your targeted audience.

5. Keep your site penguin friendly

To keep your site penguin friendly, we would suggest you certain steps which you can follow and ensure long life on Google, and other search engines as well.

Earn links from other sites using keywords, branded term, and long phrases.
Try and get links from websites/blogs that check and approve them manually.
Don’t buy links from anyone.
Concentrate more on content marketing.
Use top-notch tools
Keep an eye on your link profile
Build links at a slow or constant rate rather than building mass links.
Start using social media (if you are not) and build long lasting relationships that may result in natural link.