SEO do and don'ts

The do’s and don’ts of SEO for e-commerce product pages

You’re no doubt already well aware of the benefits of e-commerce, from its affordability and flexibility and speed for both you and your customers to the fact that it allows for a speedy buying process plus the chance to offer a wide choice of products and collect customer data. It also means your site is working even when you’re not.

What’s more, e-commerce is only expected to grow in the future. And, as advertising costs rise, having a canny SEO strategy in place is becoming increasingly important. With that in mind:

Here are some things you SHOULD do…

  1. Optimise meta descriptions and title tags: These are vital to SEO. Include the product brand and name, plus any other key details.
  2. Fine-tune your keyword strategy: This is a key building block for product page SEO.
  3. Don’t forget to add your FAQs: In these days of severely limited attention spans, people will bounce away from your page quickly. Think about what customers will want to know and write some Frequently Asked Questions so they can find this information quickly and easily.
  4. Have unique product and meta descriptions: Each item needs a unique description to feel the full benefits of SEO.
  5. Have real customer reviews and testimonials: These things can raise conversion volumes by over 50%. But they must be genuine to engender trust.
  6. Keep videos and imagery top-quality: This will boost customers’ confidence in their decision-making.
  7. Test your landing pages: There are tools around (of which Google Optimize is one) allowing you to assess the most minimal variations across product pages. This means you can calculate the ideal configuration.
  8. Minimise how long it takes to load a page: You clearly need to optimise your pages for mobile so that customers can search on the move. Rapidly loading pages also reduce bounce rates.
  9. Regular checking for technical niggles: Problems to look out for range from duplicate title tags and meta descriptions to slow loading times, broken links and 404 pages.

And some things you SHOULDN’T…

  1. Don’t copy your product descriptions from the manufacturer’s site: These descriptions can be bland and undetailed. Equally, they’re not optimised. Write your own descriptions, making them engaging and informative.
  2. Don’t destroy seasonal pages after the period is over: Once, for example, Christmas is done, the dedicated product page can actually gain in authority over time.
  3. Keep out-of-stock pages: Keep these pages live and have links to similar relevant items until you get the product back on your shelves.
  4. Don’t forget calls to action: You’d be surprised at how often these are omitted. Make it easy for customers to know how to buy from you.
  5. Don’t use the wrong kind of structured data: Structured data essentially means product information and reviews. It’s important to search-results ranking, so implement and be sure it’s the right type of this data.
  6. The price must be right: Having the right pricing structure in place is important for brand trust.
  7. Don’t forget to be mobile-friendly: In many cases, if a web page is not mobile friendly, potential customers may simply walk away.
  8. Make the link: Links are important in e-commerce, as they are elsewhere. Be aware of the need to have both backlinks and internal linking.
  9. Don’t optimise for no or low-volume keywords: You won’t rank for keywords with no search volume. So do your research properly before making decisions on search terms. Go for ones users are genuinely looking for.

At Front Page Advantage, we have extensive experience of e-commerce operations for a wide range of clients in multiple different sectors. So we offer a detailed understanding of what works and what doesn’t. Get in touch today to discuss search engine optimisation for your e-commerce store, whatever your sell, and wherever you’re based.