Gone are the days when businesses relied on word of mouth and traditional advertising methods to market their products. Your online presence and digital marketing skills are what decides the success of your business today. This is especially relevant in the age of the pandemic when shopping has moved almost entirely online, even for essentials. At the same time, competition is fierce with all brands vying for that coveted spot on the top of a SERP (Search Engine Results Page). For the same reason, your SEO game is no longer something you can delegate to the geeky intern, but the most crucial part of your digital marketing strategy. When done right, SEO can raise your rankings organically and fetch you great rewards, with no extra expenses! Here are a few SEO tips to generate traffic and hits to your E-Commerce page.
Keywords, the Long and Short Of It
There might be a million other competitors for a generic keyword like ‘craft supplies’ so you need to be very, very specific to stand out. Also, studies show that the majority of Google search queries are at least four words long. Use long-tailed keywords as well like ‘Chalk paint for wood teal 300 ml’ including the color, dimensions, requirement, and more. There will be less competition for such keywords, and at the same time, they will drive traffic from a wider spectrum of customers to your site eventually.
Product Descriptions
Never copy product descriptions from the manufacturer’s page as they might be repetitive and insipid. Write catchy and unique descriptions for each product even if it takes up a lot of time. Include measurement scales for different regions as well in the product description.
Backlinking
Direct hits to your website could take forever for your organic ranking to go up, which is why high-quality content with backlinks to your E-Commerce site is the way forward – blogs, long-form articles, etc on subjects related to the product and its use. Content is king, but then, content with keywords stuffed into it for the sake of it won’t make your site far. Google has ways of detecting such and only original, well-written content will generate hits, eventually. Every digital marketing agency should follow this strategy.
The wider the presence, the better
Allow reviews for your products on your E-Commerce site, and customers will unconsciously use the keywords you need. Maintain an online presence wherever your potential customers search for information, like Quora. Videos often work better than text these days.
Focus On Metadata
Metadata, the page title, and a short description are the only things visible on a page, and they might very well decide whether a customer will click on a link or not. Think of them as a trailer for your video and choose the content well. Make sure that the brand name and the product name are visible in the Metadata.
Aim For Featured Snippets
Google is the go-to for all the queries of the world today and so the most popular answers to common queries would be highlighted as a snippet. These answers are picked up organically by Google from websites and if your product site or associates sites manage to get featured, it’s a big win. Granted, not everyone clicks on the link but it adds a lot to your brand visibility.
The Design Decides the Traffic
Is your website easy to navigate? Does it load fast? Is the design pleasing to the eye and clutter-free? Do irritating pop-ups appear before the product? All these are paramount in an age where a user will move on to something else in a matter of seconds if there are glitches. Dead links and error pages can be deal-breakers. Strike the right balance between including images and a decent loading time. It goes without saying that 80% of users access such sites from their mobiles and so only mobile-friendly websites will survive today.
Keep a Watch
SEO is not something you can make and forget. Closely monitor the clicks and you will soon get an idea of what works and what doesn’t. Modify your strategies accordingly and keep experimenting with new methods.
None of these might show results overnight, like a paid ad, but within a few weeks or months, you will see your site climbing the SERP ladder. SEO is not only inexpensive but yields better results, as customers invariably trust organic rankings more than ads.
