Time to read: 16 minutes
Are You Doing What It Takes to Be Featured in Search Results and AI Shopping Conversations?
Did you know that by this year, ecommerce will make up 24% of global retail sales? So now, more than ever, is the time to invest in how your store appears online — and that starts with a solid strategy to ensure it ranks well online.
If you are looking for answers to your most need-to-know questions when it comes to formulating a strategy, implementing tactics, and more that can help your online store get results, you’ve come to the right place. We want to educate you on everything you need to know for crafting a custom ecommerce SEO strategy for your store.
Let’s get started.
But First, How to Adapt to the Rise of AI and Its Impact on Ecommerce
Before we dive in, it’s important that you learn about how much AI is shifting the way people are searching and buying products. A lot has changed in the past few years, so here are some of the top things you should know about that might be impacting your store’s online visibility:
- Buying Directly in Chats – Advancements like ChatGPT’s instant checkout and Google’s recent updates to AI mode shopping enabled store owners to take action to integrate with these features, such as signing up for Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol. So be sure to check if you are eligible to be included, so you don’t miss out on potential sales.
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Entity-Based Answers – LLMs don’t just read words on a page; they use various sources to gather information. This is due to their query fan outs, which are where one question leads AI to search for a handful of variations to answer your question. This means that your entire presence online is just as important as your own website. Taking a closer look at your mentions on other websites, directory listings, and social media profiles can help.
- Fewer Website Clicks – Google’s AI Overviews (AIO) now answer roughly 14-49% of shopping queries directly on the search page, which means more people are getting answers without even clicking to a website. Ensuring your website is optimized to the fullest extent can help you get featured in these overviews.
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Conversational Shopping – In the past, a searcher may have just typed “walking shoes” into a search engine to browse their options. Now, online shoppers can ask more complex questions to AI chatbots and get real answers, such as “What’s the best walking shoe for visiting Italy in the summer?” To help your products appear in AI answers for those questions, make sure you’re targeting long-tail keywords on your site as well.
Featured Post: Why Shopify Plus Is the Upgrade Your Ecommerce Store Needs
10 Things You Need to Do to Help Your Online Store Increase Visibility (and Get More Sales)
To help your business’s site drive more purchases, you will need to craft a custom ecommerce SEO strategy based on your site’s unique needs, your competitors’ actions, and tactics you haven’t implemented before. We find most online stores need help with the following.
1. Sign Up for Google Merchant Center
One free and great way online stores can improve their appearance on search engines is by signing up for Google Merchant Center. When you put your products on the merchant center, it will add your products to the Shopping tab in Google, which helps enhance your visibility. Some brands have even seen 400% revenue growth just from their free listings!
2. Do Thorough Keyword Planning
Be sure to research the key terms you want your site to show up for, find out which ones have the most potential to bring you traffic, and incorporate them into your ecommerce SEO strategy to be used in content, link building, and more. For example, if your online store sells rugs, be sure to see if broader terms such as “rugs for sale” or more niche terms such as “oriental pattern rugs” would be easier for you to rank for.
3. Conduct a Competitor Analysis
To better understand what your business is up against, take a hard look at your competitors’ websites, and analyze their content, backlinks, and structure to see where we can fill in the gaps on your own site. You can do this by manually searching for your products on a broader scale, seeing what brands Google is ranking above you, and seeing what elements their product pages have that yours don’t.
4. Write Detailed and Helpful Content
Did you know that 88% of customers think detailed product pages are crucial for purchasing? In order to help gain the attention of not only customers, but Google as well, you need captivating copy on your website that incorporates the terms you wish to rank for most. For instance, ensure that you are adding the key terms and information of your products to the meta title and description, headers, and page copy.
5. Implement Technical Optimization
There are numerous other ways to optimize your site outside of changing your page copy. From metadata writing to schema markup and more, you should give your website the attention it needs from top to bottom. Ensuring you have rich snippet data and schema markup can make your pages appear more prominently in search results and help search engines better understand your store and its products.
Schema markup in particular is worth calling out. Most website builders, such as Shopify, will have basic schema built in, but it’s important to check and see what kind of schema is already on your site before adding more. Some types of schema you want to have within your ecommerce website include:
- Product markup
- BreadcrumbList markup
- Review markup
- Offer markup
6. Prioritize Your Product Photos
When a shopper has a specific look for a product in mind and wants to be able to view a variety of options at once, they often turn to image search. Having your products show up in image search can be relatively simple if you take the time to properly add alt and title info to photos. Be sure to be descriptive, adding things such as color, material, and other aspects that describe the product with as much detail as you can.
7. Build Authoritative Backlinks
In order to help your website gain strength and become more authoritative, spend time building backlinks that point to your site from other reputable locations such as news sites, directories, and more. Getting links as an online retailer can be tough, but you can utilize digital PR tools like Qwoted or Featured to answer questions asked by reporters that are relevant to your niche. In turn, these reporters can give your site a link in a post!
8. Take Advantage of Your Blog
Google loves sites that keep their content fresh and updated, and if you aren’t constantly adding new products, this can be tough. A well-maintained blog opens the doors to rank for various types of keywords and brings in new customers over time. For instance, a site that makes leather goods could write about the “10 Best Gifts for Father’s Day” and feature their own products.
Pro tip: Be sure to utilize Google Trends to see what types of topics are popular at the moment for content ideas.
9. Enhance Your Design for Conversion
Something we often see many companies overlooking is having conversion rate optimization in place on their websites, meaning that once visitors come to a site, there is a clear and easy way to make purchases, email you, or call you. And since cart abandonment is something very common for ecommerce stores, you will want to ensure that potential customers don’t need to jump through hoops to buy your product.
10. Make Adjustments for User Experience
There can also be various issues going on behind the scenes of your website that are causing limitations to your marketing. Slow loading, poorly optimized images, and non-HTTPS formats are just a few examples of things that could be holding your site back from ranking higher. Tools such as Google’s PageSpeed Insights or Pingdom can give you a rundown on ways you can improve your user experience.
Accessibility is also a key piece of user experience that ecommerce sites often overlook. Not only will having an accessible website ensure there are no barriers to customers trying to visit your site, but it’s something Google’s algorithm examines for rankings as well. Some best practices include:
- Ensuring all content, including downloadable files if you supply any, is accessible
- Using alt and title tags on pictures to describe what they show, possibly along with captions, to aid customers using screen readers
- Avoiding excessively flashing or “blinking” components, as these can induce seizures in some individuals
- Avoid linking text such as “here,” “click here,” “this page,” and other noninformative possibilities, as they make navigation difficult for those using screen readers
- Including consistent navigational elements such as headers, titles, and lists
- Interlinking your site well to allow easy navigability
You will also want to ensure that your site is both mobile-friendly and responsive. Doing so will not only help those with disabilities but also any of your customers, as everyone benefits from a sleek and functional interface, and Google values these elements highly as well.
Diving Deeper: Frequently Asked Questions on SEO for Ecommerce
We know you have questions. We’ve got the answers. Here are some common questions asked pertaining to SEO for ecommerce and our advice.
How Can I Assess How My Store Is Currently Performing?
The best way to ensure the highest performance for your website is by practicing various ecommerce SEO tactics to achieve these goals. In terms of on-page SEO, here are just some things that we advise trying out on your site:
- Applying canonical tags to coincide with product colors, fit, and sizes
- Optimizing both the meta title and meta description for each page
- Placing keywords strategically throughout your product copy (but not going overboard!)
- Including breadcrumbs to help website visitors navigate your site
- Showcasing product reviews and user-generated content when applicable
- Featuring helpful content about each product, its benefits, and more
Through these suggestions for improving your ecommerce SEO initiatives, you should see an increase in organic traffic, sales, leads, and beyond.
How Can I See Data on Different Ecommerce Features on Google?
With the recent increase in user accessibility and advanced features on SERPs, there are a plethora of ways to view shop listings and various ecommerce features online. If you own an online store and are looking to get your products or services listed on Google’s SERPs, you can now track product snippets and merchant listing performance in Google Search Console.
(Source: Brodie Clark. He has an excellent article about this topic!)
With the emergence of this new feature, ecommerce businesses will now be able to accurately assess the overall performance of their products (both on mobile and desktop) in popular SERP features, such as carousels, product grids, and product knowledge panels. Before this update was introduced to Search Console to enhance SEO performance analytics, there was no accurate way of tracking a product’s performance.
What Should I Do About Out-of-Stock Products on My Website?
There are two ways to go about out-of-stock product pages. If the product will be coming back into stock soon, keep the URL live and leave a message on your page saying that customers can fill out a form to be notified when the product is back in stock. This keeps the page useful and sets up potential customers. However, if the product is not coming back, the page should be deleted or redirected so you don’t hurt the user experience on your website. But if you delete a page, you need to take the proper steps after you do so, as it’s important to keep 404 error pages at a minimum.
Since store websites generally have a lot of product pages, it can be hard to keep track of all of them. When you have many broken pages on your site, it can lead to:
- Negative user experiences – If users constantly encounter 404 error pages, it can be frustrating and negatively impact the perceived quality of your website.
- Increased bounce rates – Similar to the above, users are most likely to click away from your site due to the inconvenience of encountering dead pages.
- Drops in keyword rankings – Search engines rely on the content on your website to understand its relevancy, so many 404 error pages will negatively impact your associated keywords.
To minimize the amount of 404 pages on your site, be sure to keep an eye on them in Google Search Console and implement 301 redirects for any impacted pages.
What Should I Do About Seasonal Collections Pages?
When it comes to seasonal collection pages, you don’t want to completely delete them when the season is over, but you also don’t want to leave your customers confused about what the page is. We recommend removing them from the main navigation page and adding a message saying that products will return for next season. This is a great place to promote similar products for the current season or any other newer products you are trying to increase exposure to. But again, if you decide to delete the page, follow the proper protocol for redirecting the page as we went over earlier.
How Can I Get Seasonal Products to Rank?
According to Google’s John Mueller, the best way to get seasonal products to rank is by highlighting these products on the most prominent pages on your website. This means if you’re looking to feature a product or service for an upcoming holiday, our team advises you to ensure it is noticeably linked on one of the key pages on your website, whether that is the homepage itself or on one of the main category pages located in your main navigation. John Mueller also advises that ecommerce businesses should be adding schema to these products so Google can read specific product and collection pages more efficiently. It’s also important to note that these guidelines apply to any product you’re looking to improve in Google search results, so try these quick tips and see how they work for your company!
Do Product Titles Matter for Ecommerce SEO?
For users of Google Merchant Center, titles can be considered one of the top-ranking factors when optimizing and posting a product listing. Some quick tips and tricks for getting the most out of your Merchant Center listings include:
- Using relevant keywords, which can be found through conducting thorough keyword research on platforms like Google Keyword Planner, Semrush, and Ahrefs
- Keeping product titles concise, making sure to emphasize the most prominent features of your product, like color, size, brand, and more
- Steering clear of including punctuation and other symbols on titles because, if they’re used in excess, it could come across as either low quality or misleading
As always, it’s incredibly important to avoid keyword stuffing in your product titles since adding as many keywords as possible to the parameters of a product title can come across as spammy to both customers and Google alike.
How Do I Earn the Top Quality Badge on Google Shopping?
We know every ecommerce business is looking for a Top Quality Store badge of approval from Google. With that in mind, here are Google’s guidelines when it comes to qualifying for the badge:
- Incorporating experience categories into your website, such as including shipping and return policies, so customers know what to expect when purchasing from your online store
- Featuring user ratings or other user-generated content (UGC) so Google can measure the quality of your products and services
- Showcasing a high-quality and accessible website that is easily navigable and promotes a positive user experience
Based on these specifications, online stores with the highest ratings will earn the Top Quality Badge from Google.
What Types of Promotions Can I Run in Google Merchant Center?
Google states that promotions are available for businesses that maintain an active product feed in the Google Merchant Center. Then, Google gives you the option to activate and utilize their promotional offerings, which include:
- Discounts
- Shipping
- Free gifts
It’s important to note that Google will reject promotions that exclude a majority of a given audience. This can include offerings such as military discounts, student discounts, and more.
Do Product Reviews Matter for SEO?
Yes! Reviews impact your online presence in numerous ways, but chief among them is that they are a ranking factor on Google. Strong reviews as part of a Google Business Profile can give you an edge over competitors when it comes to rankings, while too many bad reviews can cause harm, lowering your prominence in search results. It’s also likely that Google utilizes third-party reviews as a ranking factor as well, because some evidence suggests this, but the search engine has made no clear statement on the matter. Platforms like Amazon, Yelp, Facebook, Better Business Bureau, and others likely play a part in determining a business’s ranking.
But beyond rankings, strong reviews go a long way in helping potential customers to trust an online retailer or brand, which can, in turn, lead to greater sales. We’ve written previously about many online reviews and reputation statistics, and here are a few relevant ones:
- 89% of consumers make checking the reviews of a company an aspect of their purchasing process (Trustpilot)
- 55% of shoppers say they would feel good about a business if the owner were to respond to their review (PWC)
- 92% of consumers looking for B2B services are more likely to purchase from a business after they have read some worthwhile reviews (Northwestern)
- 71% of consumers are more comfortable buying from a company that features reviews compared to one that lacks them (Reputation X)
