close up of computer key with image of shopping cart and letters SEO on key

Guest post by Jessica Kane, a freelance writer based in Los Angeles, CA.

As the Ecommerce marketplace becomes more competitive, so too does the marketing and advertising required to entice customers to shop at a particular e-store. At the same time, continually changing browser algorithms are making it harder to design effective marketing campaigns based on search engine optimization (SEO). So what gives? Should an Ecommerce store owner even attempt to use SEO to drive traffic and convert prospects into customers?

The short answer to this question is "yes."

Perhaps SEO-based marketing is getting a bit more challenging overall, but the good news is you can control most of the issues with effective SEO internally from within your Ecommerce store. These five tips will give you the tools you need to boost traffic and make new sales using SEO marketing.

First, Identify Your Keywords

Before you even get to the five tips, however, you need to be sure you are working from a solid list of SEO keywords. Google's free Keywords Planner tool can help you brainstorm keywords that are most likely to attract
the customers you most want. Once you have your keywords, it is time to start working on the tips!

Tip #1: Write Accurate Product Descriptions.

If you are listing products on your Ecommerce store without also listing product descriptions, you are not giving browsers much to search for. You need to write accurate product descriptions that include some of your keywords so when a visitor searches for a product that matches what your store offers, the browser knows it is safe to display your store in the search results.

Tip #2: Check Your URLs.

If you have long, convoluted or confusing URLs, you are not likely to get much inbound traffic. You don't want lots of random strings of numbers or letters in your URLs. You want product specifics (i.e., if you have an Ecommerce shoe store and someone searches for "brown casual shoes" you want them to be taken to your webstore and to the link that ends in brown-casual-shoes).

Tip #3: Make Your Images SEO-Friendly.

Hopefully you already have lots of great images to showcase the products in your Ecommerce store. If you haven't already, you want to optimize each image by writing a tag that describes the picture - this is called an "alt tag. Use a keyword here and there but don't stuff them in (browser algorithms don't like keyword stuffing).

Tip #4: Make Your Store Mobile-Friendly.

Mobile-friendly Ecommerce stores will rank higher in browser search results (especially with Google) than their old school peers. Especially when someone is searching from a mobile device, and tablets are considered mobile devices... even if people are using them from home! Plus, with more than half of all customers who browse and buy online using smart devices other than computers to shop with, you want your store to display well on any size screen!

Tip #5: Create a Profile on Other Sites.

You can use social media platforms and other websites to effortlessly generate traffic back to your Ecommerce store. For instance, let's say you create a business profile on Google+. You include your store website and begin participating in Google Hangouts and posting in the Google+ community. Before you know it, visitors are following your link back to your store and making purchases.

Here is a list of additional platforms where you can establish a profile with a website link back to your Ecommerce store:

  • Twitter.
  • Facebook pages.
  • LinkedIn.
  • Instagram.
  • Pinterest.
  • YouTube.

Depending on what type of merchandise you sell, you may also consider establishing a presence on platforms that cater specifically to your ideal customer (for example, you could create a personal profile on GoodReads if you sell books). To make it even easier, you may want to use a social organizer tool like HootSuite or Sprout Social to monitor your inbound traffic, see which platforms are performing the best and create targeted content to improve results.

By following these five SEO tips you can be on your way to an Ecommerce store that is optimized to attract new organic as well as paid hits and generate more sales for your company. While it takes a bit of effort up front, you will find it is more than worth it when sales increase!

Jessica Kane is a professional blogger who has worked in eCommerce for the last five years. She currently writes for Rakuten Super Logistics and can be reached at jessicakanewrites@gmail.com.

A note from Sevell+Sevell:

One thing we wanted to expand on that Jessica mentioned, was you can "use social media platforms and other websites to effortlessly generate traffic back to you Ecommerce store."

From our experience, social media, done right, is a complex area of focus that requires quite a bit of time and attention. Done right, you should be creating daily posts (at a minimum) on multiple social media sites. If you don't think you have the time, or inclination, to dedicate to this effort, you should hire a professional social media person. Because social media, like any marketing, requires ongoing time and attention. Like SEO or other marketing efforts, social media isn't a set-it-and-forget-it kind of thing.

If you're looking for guidance and/or assistance with SEO or social media, lets talk.