SEO is important if you want to succeed as an online seller. Whatever content you produce, whether it’s blog posts, video content, webinars, or more, you need to make sure that content is visible to searchers.
Why? Studies show 97 percent of consumers conduct research about products and services online before making a purchase.
That means if your site isn’t optimized to reach those curious searchers, your resources spent, including time, money, research, and more, are all wasted.
Today, we’re showing you how you can improve SEO for your online store, making it more visible to searchers to help you increase sales and maximize profit.
Why Getting Your Store to Rank First on Google Is a Big Deal
Research shows that the very first result on a search results page gets over 44 percent of total clicks. The first three results combined get a total of 60 percent of clicks.
On the other hand, the last result on the first page only gets two percent of clicks.
We’ve known that the further down a site is listed within search results, the lower that site’s chances are of being clicked on. And though clicks aren’t the end-all, be-all metric for brands, they are a solid indicator of consumer interest and can have a very major effect on conversion rates. Think about it. If no one is clicking on your site, they can’t buy anything from your store!
Factors That Influence Search Engine Ranking
Search engines use automated robots called crawlers that crawl the internet looking for websites and analyzing their content. Those sites are indexed and stored in the search engine’s memory and, when a user searches for a relevant phrase or topic, algorithms pull up the pages they think will most closely answer the user’s question.
How do these algorithms know what sites will fulfill a searcher’s desires best? They actually use a number of factors, including popularity and relevance to rank results – but they can only do so much.
It becomes your job then to make sure your website is being properly crawled and properly analyzed. And the more useful, relevant content you publish, the more accurate your site rank and the higher your popularity.
Here are some of the SEO tools you can start implementing to boost your site’s overall SEO.
Video
Video alone doesn’t innately boost your SEO ranking, but the effects video can have on your site overall do.
Video content helps increase your page’s click-through rates, lower your page’s bounce rates, increase time spent on page, and help you create quality backlinks – all of which boost how search engines like Google rank your site.
This is thanks to the extra value video provides. Video can communicate complex information simply and maintain a user’s attention for longer, all great things when you’re trying to convince users that you’re a credible source.
Title Tags
When you search for something on search engines, the clickable headline that appears in the results page is known as the title tag, and it’s probably the most impactful thing you can edit to drive better SEO.
Your title tag should be written for both search engines and humans. They have to be clear enough for humans to want to click to learn more, while also containing words that’ll help search engines make the proper search term associations.
The best way to do that? Include your targeted keywords in the title tag.
According to Moz, Google typically displays the first 50–60 characters of a title tag, so make sure to keep it within that range.
Meta Description
The meta description is the text below the title tag that gives more information about what your page or site is about.
Just like the title tag, the meta description should also be written for humans and search engines, making users want to click and search engines properly categorize. Both should be written in clear and concise language and should incite curiosity in anyone who reads them.
Images
Images are very important when it comes to on-page SEO. According to a study, content with at least one image significantly outperforms content without any images. That’s probably because images, like graphics, photographs, charts, and more, captivate users more than simple words do. Images help users visualize what they’re reading, so including them can help boost your SEO efforts just like video can, though not as long.
Remember, though: you’ll want your images to be large and clear, but not so large they slow your site’s speed. You’ll also want to include a title, caption, and ALT text for every image you use, so these images can be crawled by search engines just like your text can.
Link Building
One of the most important ways you can build off-page SEO is through leveraging organic links. This happens when another website finds your content and links to your pages as a source of information. It not only helps establish you as an industry thought leader, but expands your audience and builds your online credibility, spreading your reach even further.
To get started, try reaching out for guest blogging opportunities (similar to what we’re doing here on Lemonlight’s site!), get customers to share your links, post on relevant forums, try link exchanges, or ask influencers to share your content.
Social Media Marketing
Engaging your customers on your social media platforms is also a great way to promote your site, which can generate traffic and ultimately enhance your site’s SEO.
Posting compelling and interactive social media content encourages your fans to visit your website. This boost in traffic, engagement, and shares can enhance your organic search ranking, while also helping grow your social presence and fanbase.
Conclusion
Succeeding as an ecommerce retailer requires implementing the right ecommerce strategies. That’s why you need a dedicated plan to make your online store and site easily discoverable to searchers. How long it ultimately takes for your content to rank will depend on how quickly you can implement these strategies, so give it a shot and see your ecommerce business grow.
By Abdul-Karim Awaf of Kudobuzz
Social Video
Video Marketing Strategy
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