Launching your e-commerce site without considering SEO is like opening a store without ever pulling up the blinds. People might be interested in your offerings without ever seeing what you have to offer.
To grow your business, it must be visible. Your target audience needs to be aware that you provide a solution to their problems or an answer to their requests!
One of the best levers today to increase visibility is to be present online. Over the years, search engines have become the major sources of global information. There are answers to all questions or needs posed by internet users; however, only a few websites manage to stand out in an overwhelmingly saturated market.
Today, we will explore how to properly position your products on search engine results pages (SERPs). However, it’s essential to remember that the results of a SEO strategy are visible in the long term (around 6 months). We'll give a brief overview of the basics of natural referencing for your online store.
The architecture to respect for an e-commerce site
An e-commerce site must have good architecture to guide customers through the purchasing process. Indeed, the structure of your site should be designed so that all your pages are accessible in 3 clicks or less. To achieve this, there is a common framework that nearly all online businesses follow.
A “good” site structure for your e-commerce involves developing your homepage, then your category and sub-category pages, and finally the product pages. This way, in a maximum of 3 clicks, a user can access all pages on your site.
How to build your e-commerce site?
Before diving into the subject and showing you how to reference your products in search engines, here are some links that may help you build your online store.
- Here’s a comparison of the 10 best no-code website creation platforms
In this article, you'll find a comparison of various no-code website creation platforms with a brief presentation of each.
- The different platforms to create your marketplace
Digidop provides a comparison of the best no-code platforms to easily create your marketplace. Learn more about Webflow, Bubble, Sharetribe, and Arcardier to build your marketplace according to your needs!
- Webflow Ecommerce vs Shopify: which is the best platform for e-commerce?
Discover in this article a comparison between two “big” e-commerce website creation platforms: Webflow Ecommerce VS Shopify. A comparison based on 5 criteria (Design, Simplicity, Price, SEO, Features) that will help you choose (based on your needs) the best platform for your online shop!
- The top no-code tools to grow your business
Here is a non-exhaustive list of no-code tools to use for your e-commerce store according to various management domains: Design, Payment, SEO, Automation, Marketing, or Performance Tracking!
Optimize the homepage of an e-commerce site for SEO
Be careful, the homepage of your online store (e-commerce) must be optimized to demonstrate your expertise and allow users to know what they will find on your site.
To optimize your e-commerce homepage SEO, several tips can be implemented!
Use heading tags
First and foremost, to structure your content, it's necessary to use heading levels. These headings provide a framework for your content. This is important for both Google’s algorithms and your readers:
- For Google, as it creates a hierarchy for bots (H1 > H2 > H3 >… > Hn)
- For your readers, as it allows for better reading/comprehension of your content
The “only” rules to follow for this part are:
- One H1 per page
- Respect the order of headings (no skipping headings)
Optimize the Title
The Title (or Meta-Title) is the title of your page that will appear in the SERPs.
The rules to follow for your Title:
- It should be a maximum of 60 characters
- It should include your site’s name and a short phrase to highlight your offerings
Optimize the Meta-description
By Meta-description, we mean the few sentences that describe your content/page. This is a short text that should also be optimized, as it will provide an indication that informs users. Do not underestimate this short description, as it will determine whether the user clicks on your website or not. It’s a differentiating element, so it must be convincing!
The rules to follow for your Meta-description:
- It should be approximately 155 characters
- It should include keywords from your industry and be descriptive of your business
The content of your e-commerce homepage
Even if your goal is to sell, the homepage of your e-commerce site should not be a straightforward list of products.
This page should:
- Contain text (to help indexing bots better understand you) with keywords (NO STUFFING)
- Be updated regularly (featured products, trends, etc.)
- Contain images with descriptive ALT tags
Optimize the category pages of an e-commerce site for SEO
For your online store, you can create specific pages for your categories (Men, Women, Children, for example). You can also choose to have your categories appear only in your menu (thus no specific pages). If you opt for the first option, you must:
- Optimize Title: Category Name + Site Name
- Optimize Meta-description
- Respect the order of Headings
- H1: Category Name + Description
- H2: Short descriptive text (of the category)
- H3: Names of subcategories
- Include a Breadcrumb (Here’s how to implement a breadcrumb for your e-commerce site in Webflow)
Optimize the product list pages (Sub-category) of an e-commerce site for SEO
Your subcategories allow you to display a list of your products. To optimize the SEO of these pages, here are some recommendations:
- Optimize Title: Sub-category Name + Site Name
- Optimize Meta-description
- Respect the order of Headings
- H1: Sub-category Name + Description
- H2: Short descriptive text (of the sub-category)
- H3: Product Names
- The products should include: Name, price, and a brief description
- Include a Breadcrumb
- Implement a filtering system (Note that the filtering system is SEO optimized on Webflow)
- Avoid infinite scrolling (Implement a pagination system)
Optimize the product sheets of an e-commerce site for SEO
One of the key points, if not the most important point of this article. We will see some tips to help you optimize your product pages:
- Optimize Title: Product Name (+ brand) + Sub-category + Site Name
- Optimize Meta-description (describe the product)
- Respect the order of Headings
- H1: Product Name + Brand
- H2: Short descriptive text of the product
- Text content: Describe the product as thoroughly as possible, answering potential questions (why this product, why to buy it, etc.) + Highlight key phrases
- Breadcrumb
- Include structured data tags “Product”
- Implement an internal linking system with similar/recommended products
- One URL per product (No different URLs for 2 different sizes, for example)
- Implement a review system (Discover the challenges of reviews for your online business)
- Include FAQs
- Diversify the types of media files (images/videos)
Learn in Webflow how to design product template pages for your e-commerce site.
Don’t forget the legal dimension for your e-commerce site!
To launch your online shop, it is essential to optimize your pages for SEO, but don’t forget to stay within the law. Failing to comply with web regulations can have penalizing consequences for your entire site. To assist you, we have drafted a comprehensive GDPR guide to help you adhere to the norms and avoid penalties.
How to properly position your e-commerce products in search engines?
To be present on the web, you must be positioned on search engine results pages known as SERP (Search Engine Result Page). To simplify, an internet user enters a query into a search engine, and it proposes the most relevant results based on specific algorithms. These various results are ranked on different pages. The goal is to reach at least the first page (ideally aiming for the top three results) to generate traffic to your website. The foundational step is thus to define the keywords and queries for which you want search engines to reference you.
To avoid over-optimization, you can/must analyze the semantic field related to your keywords. Use synonyms to help Google clearly understand what you’re discussing, which will then allow you to rank on relevant SERPs. It’s important that you don’t compete among your own pages.
One vital point for generating organic traffic is strategically positioning yourself on certain SERPs (Search Engine Results Page). Over the past few years, the way information is searched on search engines has evolved significantly. Years ago, search engines weren't as sophisticated as they are today. Previously, to find information on Google, we would type in 2, 3, or 4 keywords in the search bar. However, today, with advanced algorithms, we type out our entire query to find information. This trend has grown even more with the rise of voice search.
Thus, it is strategic to optimize SEO by focusing on long-tail keywords. A long-tail is an SEO strategy aimed at targeting a sequence of keywords with lower search volume.
The goal of an SEO content strategy is to put yourself in the shoes of internet users and identify their needs to best meet them.
To properly position your products, there are 3 types of important queries in e-commerce:
1 - Transactional queries: This type of search is formulated by a user intending to purchase a product or service. It often appears as: Action verb + Product/Service name
Example: Buy iPhone 13 Pro
2 - Navigational queries: This type of search is formulated by a user trying to find a known site/page without necessarily having purchase intentions.
Example: Fnac phone
3 - Informational queries: This type of search is made by a user seeking more specific ideas or advice without the intention to purchase.
Example: Smartphone comparison 2021
Other criteria (technical) to optimize for natural referencing (SEO)
Accessibility and User Experience
UX (User Experience) is often discussed in the web domain. UX refers to the experience a user has when using your website. The aim is for this experience to be as good as possible. There are various ways to enhance the quality of the user experience. One thinks directly of the website's design, interface, and different types of interactions. However, the way you write your content can also impact UX.
If your content is not well-spaced, consists solely of blocks of text, or is unreadable, it will inevitably deteriorate UX. If this is the case, you may have a high bounce rate or low session duration. Therefore, your content will not be highlighted by search engines.
Conversely, if you create readable and engaging content, it will encourage your traffic to stay and perhaps visit other pages on your website. It is thus important when creating SEO-optimized content to consider the expectations of users.
The same applies to web accessibility. An accessible site is an inclusive one. This means that everyone can consult and navigate it without difficulty. Unfortunately, people with disabilities are often left behind. Indeed, it can be difficult to navigate a site for certain types of disabilities (visual, auditory, motor, etc.). Making your site accessible allows everyone to access the same information, and Google aims to promote this.
Optimize URLs for SEO
A URL identifies the location of a web page on the internet.
While a URL is a pathway to a web page, it also serves as crucial information for Google bots. In fact, the URLs of your site provide search engines with insight into your page's content and intent. They help Google simplify its understanding of your site's structure. This is also beneficial for UX because users will also be able to understand where they are on your site thanks to optimized URLs.
Having optimized URLs does not significantly impact the natural referencing of your web pages. However, as mentioned earlier, aiding Google and providing a good user experience can only benefit you.
How to optimize your URLs?
- The URL should be readable (separated by / and -)
- The URL should be short (if possible)
- The URL should consist of your domain name
- The URL should be secure
- The URL should include keywords
- The URL should not contain any characters other than letters or numbers
- The URL should not have too many levels (Example: Https://www.example.com/Services/SEO/Optimization/URL/best-practices)
Have a secure site
We mentioned this earlier with URLs, but it's critical for your site to be secure. It should have the designation "HTTPS". Again, this has a minor impact on your natural referencing, but the consequences of not having a secure site can be significant. Indeed, if your site does not state "HTTPS", Google may consider it dangerous. Obviously, if this happens, users will be wary, and you will lose significant traffic.
Conversely, if your site is secure, it can create a positive snowball effect:
- Users feel confident
- They will visit your site
- This improves your conversion rate
- This enhances your visibility
- Thus, there is an increase in your traffic (likely more quality traffic)
- Finally, some users may become leads
To obtain the "HTTPS" designation, simply order and install a SSL certificate through your hosting provider.
Optimize your site for mobiles
Just over half of global internet traffic comes from mobile devices. When you realize this figure, you understand that you must not overlook small screens when creating and optimizing your website.
This is a critical factor that Google considers when ranking websites on its search engine. In fact, your site must be “Mobile Friendly” because if it is not, it will not be well-indexed. In your SEO strategy, always keep in mind that Google wants to provide the best experience and the most relevant answers to users. Knowing that half of the traffic comes from mobiles, it is logical that Google prioritizes sites optimized for these devices.
How to adapt your site for mobiles?
- Your site must be responsive (the size of your content should adjust to the size of different screens)
- Pay attention to the placement of your buttons/CTAs (Call to Action)
- Be cautious about the size of your pop-ups
- Be careful with the layout of your content (not too close together, images adapting to screen size…)
- Navigating your site should be easy and intuitive
- If possible, design your site for mobile first, then for computers (this way, there’s little risk that your content won’t adapt from one device to another)
Google offers a tool to check if your pages are mobile-friendly: Mobile Optimization Test
Optimize your pages loading time
Once again, this is an important criterion considered by Google’s algorithms for your natural referencing. A fast site converts better. The longer the loading time, the higher the bounce rate and the worse your ranking. Recall the infamous statistic that states more than half of internet users leave your site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.
There are several steps to improve your site's loading times; here are some:
- Compress your images
- Compress your videos
- Minify your code
- Use a CDN
Generate backlinks to your site
In addition to internal linking, there is also external linking. For external linking, the links point from one site to another. It’s important in your content to also redirect to trustworthy sites with high domain authority. This shows search engines that you are credible.
In your SEO strategy, it is also important to focus on netlinking. This strategy roughly consists of collecting links from other sites that point to yours. The goal here is to obtain backlinks. Backlinks lend credibility to your site if the site linking to you has high domain authority. However, they also help create “juice” and show Google the relevance of your content. It’s the equivalent of word-of-mouth!
Be cautious; some practices are heavily penalized by Google in netlinking strategies. Penalties can arise as the buying of links is not tolerated.
How Digidop can assist you with your e-commerce?
Digidop is a no-code web agency that can assist you in developing an e-commerce website. We guarantee a reliable, fast, and efficient site to enhance your online visibility. In addition to all this, we train you on the best practices to use to reach the top pages on search engines.
