Navigating the ecommerce industry can be daunting, especially considering the amount of competitors it presents. This is why optimizing your product pages can help your brand stand out amongst others, increasing your brand’s success. The following strategies are essential to expanding your online presence and increasing conversions with potential customers!
Keyword Research for Product Pages
Keyword research helps to increase traffic, visibility, and conversions on your product page. The goal is to target keywords for specific products (i.e. leather boots, black bag), that have decent volume and moderate to low difficulty. By incorporating popular keywords into your ecommerce products, potential customers who use said phrases are more likely to see your website in the results. A tool we recommend for finding keywords is SEMrush which does require a license to use, something Rise possesses.
Optimizing Meta Data
In search engine results, meta titles are the clickable, blue links, while meta descriptions are the brief text summaries appearing below them. This is a small, yet impactful aspect of your marketing that you can better optimize to enhance clicks. Many ecommerce websites skip past this aspect, but meta data is the first thing a customer sees about your website. Optimizing these blurbs of text to be eye-catching and enticing to potential customers is the key to increasing clicks. This data can also be used to see how people engage with your links. If a majority of your engagement is with meta titles containing product style rather than color, try adding that factor to all of your meta descriptions. Also, being specific in your meta descriptions helps to differentiate your links from competitors. You want to give a reason to your potential customer why they should click on your URL rather than someone else’s.
What are headers?
Headers are the sections of content on your page denoted by the letter-number code H1-6. Typically there will only be one H1 per page and this presents your product’s name. H1 will be followed by an H2 which holds the product description and any other information you deem necessary to customers reading said description. Headers help give signals to Google regarding what information your page is trying to display so it can be better matched to customers. Here at Rise, we recommend using a Chrome extension known as H-tag to view this meta data on other sites.
Product Descriptions
Product descriptions are your chance to stand out from your competitors. Every product description should be unique not only within your own collection, but when compared to competitors’ products as well. Highlighting distinguishable aspects like product name, unique features, and anything proprietary to your company greatly helps with ranking. Utilizing keywords in your product descriptions can also help boost brand visibility. If for example you own a running shoe company, utilizing keyword research to see what people also search for with the term running shoes can help get more eyes on your product.
URLs
Optimizing URLs for e-commerce SEO can feel overwhelming, but knowing what you should and shouldn’t do can make the task seem more manageable. URL structure is a useful tool for enhancing rankings by simply differentiating from competitors. Using unique and descriptive words in your URLs helps ensure relevant traffic.
Additionally, a common problem that occurs with URLs is index variants. This is where multiple URLs form for different variations (size, color, style) but all lead to the same product. Canonical URLs is a system in place by Google that helps solve this issue. You can utilize a canonical to consolidate all variations under one link that takes users to a main page. This means you only need to optimize one link rather than several, and ensures your variants aren’t competing against each other.
Product categorization
Like headers, product categories should be structured in a hierarchical fashion. It is best to transition from the parent category, to subcategory, and finally to specific products. You can also separate products by what people are searching for like specific collections, styles, and levels of formality. Streamlining your product categories not only helps Google better understand your site, but also makes shopping easier for potential customers. This gets more eyes on your product, and increases the likelihood of conversions. The quicker a customer can find what they are looking for, the more likely they are to purchase.
Image Alt Text
Image alt text is a small description of an image of your product. It describes the object, color, style, brand, and visual angle. Like product categories, this helps both Google and users better understand what you are trying to sell. If you are selling leather bags, a poor image alt text would be “black leather bag”. There are probably millions of images on Google with that text attached to it. But if you were to include the brand, style, material, and color of the bag, there is a higher chance of someone seeing it.
Product Schema
Product schema adds structured data to your products which helps add detail to your descriptions and presentation. These can be attributes like price, reviews, ratings, offers, and awards. Product schema is embedded into your website, and should be handled by someone who understands the basics of coding. Similar to other optimizations, product schema enhances both visibility on Google and improves conversion rate.
Track Analytics
Tracking various analytics for your ecommerce business is crucial to improving visibility and conversions. Google Search Console, GA4, Semrush, and Looker Studio are all online analytics tools we recommend. These can be used to track organic impressions, organic clicks, and keyword data. All of which are essential factors to monitor and use to your advantage. Tracking your analytics helps to find out what is working, what isn’t working, and what you can implement to improve brand visibility.
Expanding your online presence and increasing conversions on your ecommerce site can seem daunting at first. Changing so many factors at once with little guidance can quickly become overwhelming. If you aren’t seeing growth in your ecommerce business, contact Rise today for a free consultation with our expert marketing team!
