Struggling to get your head wrapped around SEO? Or maybe you’re getting the hang of it and fancy going to the next level? No matter where you are on your SEO journey, a few tips never hurt anyone – and who better to give them than an SEO agency! Here are a few ideas from our resident SEO experts to get your page appearing higher on Google searches.
Sort out your site speed
In the latest update to the algorithm that helps Google decide what is a good website and what isn’t, we know that page speed is one of the most important factors. If users encounter a page or website that doesn’t load fast or is too content-heavy, then Google will favour a potentially worse site that loads faster – which isn’t ideal in the world of e-commerce!
Trim down image sizes and consider embedding from YouTube or Vimeo for videos, and get rid of all that redundant Javascript and outdated code for a speed boost – and maybe a bump up the rankings.
One quick and easy way of seeing if your site is loading slowly is to use Google’s free Page Speed Insights tool – just whack in your site’s URL, follow the recommendations and you’ll have a speedier site in no time.
Collect some keywords
You may have heard this word before – essentially, keywords (important words and phrases in the text on your site) are what Google’s algorithm uses to determine if the site is worth displaying in the results for the particular query. The better quality your keywords, the more customers you’ll get visiting your site and spending their hard-earned moolah!
There are plenty of ways to find keywords for e-commerce websites. Start with the free ones – Google’s own keyword research tool will show you relevant and related searches if you enter some words associated with what you sell.
Answer the public is another excellent free resource. Here, you can see what sort of questions people are asking about your particular industry or product type. Then, you can answer these questions on your website.
Just make sure you don’t unnaturally stuff tons of keywords in and please don’t create hidden pages full of them – Google is smart and will find out your wiley ways, and knock you to the bottom of the pile!
Keyword top tip: It sounds simple, but just analyse one of your top-performing competitor’s sites using a keyword research tool, and steal their keywords!
Authority, authority, authority
Another word you’ll hear if you do any sort of SEO research is authority. Alongside the keywords and page speed requirements, Google will also favour websites that are trusted and linked to from other ‘authoritative’ sites. What does this mean? It means your content needs to add value, be accurate, and be trusted enough by other sites on the internet to the point where they link to your pages.
So what do you need to do? Get other great sites, that are relevant to yours, to link to your site. This is where things get a little old-fashioned, which is refreshing in our digital, hide-behind-the-screen world! You could pay the site owner (the worst option), you could write a guest blog for them (better) or simply message or call them and talk about sharing a link or two across multiple pages, articles, blog posts, or product pages (the best one).
This one is probably the trickiest one to master, but adds the most value by far, bringing a constant stream of relevant visitors, effectively forever (or until the link stops working!)
Looking for some help with your e-commerce SEO strategy from a trusted and effective SEO agency? Check out our other great SEO articles for further advice, inspiration, and information, or get in touch for a chat!
Alice Baker, Digital Marketing Executive, Sierra Six Media
