We'll debunk the mysteries of search engines in this business development guide. Four simple steps will help you raise your eCommerce search rankings.
Gaining Visibility in Search Results
The SEO strategy we'll employ is known as the 180 Playbook and was drawn from the SEO firm 180 Marketing. You may raise your search ranks in as little as 3 months by following a straightforward, linear procedure.
There are four actions to take:
- Technical SEO improvement
- content improvement
- optimizing a page
- Link creation
Assessment of Your Technical SEO
Yes, the technical aspects will be covered first. However, keep calm. The majority of the tools on this list are free and simple to set up.
Charge load Speed
Check how quickly your pages load first. It is important since Google has acknowledged that load time affects website rankings.
Here are some crucial considerations:
How quickly do pages load? A few sites load more slowly than others? Visit your own website in an Incognito tab to quickly verify this.
Do you employ a content delivery network (CDN)? A CDN can assist in making it easier for users in various parts of the world to access your information quickly.
Similar to how CDNs can cache content locally to reduce load times, caching can accelerate operations by saving website information in visitors' browsers. To increase loading speeds, your cache settings must be accurate and current.
You can use a caching plugin like W3 Total Cache if your website was created with WordPress. Your caching settings are taken care of, and files are even compressed, making your page load more quickly.
If you make any adjustments to increase load speed, use a program like GTmetrix. You may test your modifications in real time to see whether they have an impact in addition to testing your page load times.
Use Google's PageSpeed Insights to acquire suggestions if you're unsure of where to begin. However, use caution because Google is a strict grader and very few websites ever receive a high ranking from them. Try making the improvements they recommend, but don't be upset if you still can't get an A.
Repetitive Content
Once you're satisfied with the page speed, look for any duplicate content on the website.
That implies:
There are no pages that contain identical or extremely similar information to other pages.
There are no pages with multiple URLs.
Instead of establishing a new URL each time a user changes their filter, if your product page has multiple filters, all of the results should show up on one page.
In the early years of the internet, building a large number of webpages with remarkably similar content would help you rise in the ranks. Simply change the headline a little bit and stuff it full of keywords, and you've grabbed Google's attention.
That is ineffective right now and will be punished even more in the future. Make sure to remove any blatant duplicates, and concentrate on creating high-quality content.
Boost Your Content
When developing SEO content, there are three components. You require relevant keywords, high-quality content, and a clear page structure.
Start by doing some keyword research. How do you pick the subjects to cover?
keyword analysis
There are numerous keyword tools available, both free and paid. Some tools are pre-built within Google. Additionally, you can narrow down your search to uncover even more precise phrases with the aid of websites like Ubersuggest.
Semrush and Ahrefs are likewise well-known and frequently utilized. They may help you find keywords, provide related keywords, and even tell you which search terms your rivals are ranking for.
Webmaster Tools, the free edition of Ahrefs, gives you access to a fast audit, a list of your backlinks (more on those later), and a list of the keywords you're currently ranking for.
When hunting for keywords, consider these questions.
What are the active searches of your target market? Keep in mind that you want to particularly contact those people online, not just everybody.
What is the proportionate volume of searches for each keyword? To put it another way, how many people use each keyword?
Is this keyword relevant to your online store, popular, and associated with buying behavior?
Enter the popular and relevant term you've discovered into Google to check what kinds of pages are already showing up for it. This gives you some insight into the type of content you should produce. You must provide video content, for instance, if you test a keyword and the majority of the results are videos. If a different term produces a large number of listicles, start creating them.
It's challenging to try to rank for keywords. It will always be challenging if your competitors are highly strong. However, you may spare yourself some hassle by avoiding the most difficult and competitive keywords. Instead, pay attention to specialist keywords and longtail phrases (think of searches for whole sentences rather than single words).
There will be less competition the more specialized the keyword.
Creation of Content
You may start making content once you have a list of essential terms and phrases to use. Create unique material for each page. By cramming five different keywords onto one page, you run the risk of confusing search engines and clients.
Each and every piece of content should address the keyword's intended purpose. You should include detailed instructions on how to care for vintage suede shoes, for instance, if someone searches "how to care for vintage suede shoes."
They will move on to another website if you don't respond to their query or resolve their issue, which will cause your rankings to drop.
Avoid the temptation to bury the solution in lengthy backstories and keyword stuffing farther down the page. Users will find that annoying, and it may also confuse search engines.
It's acceptable for someone to swiftly move on after learning the answer to their query; it won't hurt your rankings. However, if consumers get disinterested, confused, or impatient, they may choose to visit a competitor's website instead, which may harm your rankings.
Page layout
You should consider both page structure and content if you truly want to rank #1 on Google.
That entails using headers and subheadings to divide the page into sections. For easier reading, divide big paragraphs into smaller ones. To make it more interesting, use pictures, videos, diagrams, or pull quotes.
All of this will entice users to stay on the website and give the search engine algorithms useful information.
Optimizing the Page
When we discuss page optimization, we emphasize something known as metadata.
Consider going to an art gallery. The primary content of your page is the photo that is hanging on the wall. A little placard that lists the work's title, the artist, the medium, the date, and other details is also visible. The data about your page and its content is known as metadata.
Google will use this data to interpret your content and show it in search results.
Title tags and meta descriptions are the two main components. Additionally, you should be familiar with rich snippets and featured snippets.
Titles Tags
The title tag serves as the page's "name" on your website. It can be different or it might be the same as the title you use for your content.
Make sure the whole keyword or phrase appears at the beginning of the title tag to raise your search ranks. Aim to keep the number of keywords in a title tag to a maximum of two to avoid making it appear spammy.
When visitors read your title tag in search results, they should be enticed to click. This means that content must to be intriguing and captivating, and eCommerce product pages ought to be precise and thorough.
For instance, title tags for content pages frequently begin with a keyword, are followed by a colon, and then a compelling statement that encourages visitors to click. (Return to the top to see the name of this page!)
Typically, the title tag of a fashion company's product page will include the brand name, the type of product, and sometimes another keyword.
Descriptions in meta
The brief text passage that follows a title tag in search results is known as the meta description.
Your ranking is not directly impacted by meta descriptions. Despite not being searched by Google for keywords, they nonetheless serve a vital purpose. They are your opportunity to persuade users to click, hence they have a significant impact on click-through rates.
Writing your meta descriptions takes time and effort, but it's worth it. Make them sound interesting, valuable, and related to the title tag.
Rich Snippets
Although rich snippets aren't really metadata, they do appear in search results, thus if you want to rank #1 on Google, you need take them into account. For the convenience of consumers, a rich snippet is an additional bit of content that is extracted from your page and shown in the search results.
For instance, Google might show specific information or images from a product website right in the search results.
You have no influence over how Google generates rich snippets. However, you can make use of a plugin like Yoast SEO. This program makes sure that your content is properly formatted, marked up, and loaded with relevant keywords that will catch the algorithm's eye. Even if other websites rank higher than yours, having a rich snippet where they don't may provide you an edge.
Featured Snippet
The level after a rich snippet is a featured snippet. In order to save consumers from having to go through to websites, Google may choose to display additional information above all of the search results rather than among them.
Especially for content pages, this is crucial. Again, though, you have no control over the algorithm. It takes more art than science to try to get a featured snippet.
There are a few strategies you can use, though. You can request that a piece of material be chosen for a featured snippet by...
- Subhead important questions, and then in brief paragraphs, respond to them.
- To keep information as succinct as possible, use bullet-pointed lists.
- Answers ought to be succinct and easy. Any nuances or intricate information should be saved for later on the page. There is no guarantee that these strategies will always be successful.
Link Creation
Link building is the last step in your SEO plan.
One of the top three elements Google considers when determining search rankings is the number of pages from other websites that connect to your domain. You need a lot of backlinks coming from trustworthy, external websites. Any links you create, whether inside your website or outside to other websites, won't matter.
Your website's overall rating and your ranking for certain pages are the two ways that backlinks might be beneficial to you.
For instance, Amazon's individual product pages typically contain a very small number of backlinks. However, the website has a very high authority in search results because there are so many links pointing to it in general.
The other extreme is that your website might not yet be extremely well known. However, if you can generate enough backlinks to particular pages, you can still score highly in search results.
Here are several methods to begin obtaining backlinks:
- Bloggers who are appropriate for your offer and target market should be contacted. They can write a post about your company or review it.
- Offer to write a guest article for other domain authority-high websites.
- In most cases, your author bio will be allowed to provide a backlink to your website.
- Join the Help A Reporter Out program. You can establish a profile here that lists your areas of expertise for free.
- A journalist can get in touch with you if they need a source or a quote for a pertinent story, and you might hope that they will link to your website in their piece.
Think about establishing a business-sponsored scholarship for higher education. (It might be modest.) Promote it on financial and academic websites. Their websites have high domain authority, so even if they are unrelated to your business, you will still gain a lot of backlinks from them.
In the past, backlinks have been abused as a tactic. Avoid the temptation to produce low-quality content, post links in article comments, or collaborate with irrelevant blogs and websites.
Instead, when done correctly, backlinking may be a highly powerful strategy. Make an effort to establish connections with reliable authors and websites. Provide them with opportunity and valuable content suggestions. Although this strategy may not be as scalable, it will eventually have a greater effect.
Have you utilized any of these Google ranking tactics? What was effective?