Quick Guide to eCommerce SEO
Getting your product enrichment right will do wonders for your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. If you’re searching for a product, you don’t want to scroll through countless product listings to find what you want. The reality of online shopping in the current climate is that customers want to find products quickly and easily.
So, what does product enrichment have to do with this? Generate more demand by making sure your products rank well and stand out from the competition. Give your customers top-quality product descriptions with stand-out images and videos to optimize your conversion rates.
Dig a little deeper into how rich product content contributes to your SEO strategy
Get your products found
Your products are unique and amazing, right? Let your customers know that by making your product descriptions original and unique. If there’s a feature, benefit, or material that makes your product stand out, this needs to be clearly communicated to your customers.
Let’s say you’re selling a shirt made from ethically sourced organic cotton. These important product details need to be included in the product title and description to narrow down search results. In doing this, it’ll be easy to target longtail keywords as often, the longer the search term, the higher the buyer intent will be. The customer knows exactly what they’re looking for, and you’re giving them the details they need to make an informed buying decision.
If you’re sourcing product information from suppliers or manufacturers, Don’t take the easy route by copying the product description you’re provided with. First off, the way search engines work means they don’t like duplicate content. Secondly, this gives you a chance to apply your brand tone of voice and personality to your product descriptions.
When it comes to your keywords, make sure they’re placed where they need to be. For example:
- In your title tag
- One in the product title
- Once or twice in the product description
- One in the image alt tag
- Once in the meta description
Give your customers confidence
Your product descriptions need to instill confidence in your customers. To do this, you need to include rich, accurate, and quality product data coupled with keyword research. With speed and ease being so important, customers should instantly be able to know what they’re going to get from the product. This is where you should focus on the features and benefits.
Outline what the key features are, and how the customer will benefit from the products you’re offering. Again, if we’re looking at the ethically sourced organic cotton shirt, the description might be as follows:
“This ethically sourced organic cotton shirt is lightweight and will keep you cool in the hot summer months. The quality organic cotton is machine washable and fast-drying, so it’s an ideal holiday accessory.”
From the get-go, the description outlines the product features and what that ultimately means if they buy it.
You should always include images or videos on product pages because they play such an important role in the buyer’s journey. They need to be top-quality so your customers can zoom in and see products from all angles with 360 views. Videos encourage visitors to spend more time on your product page. This is another important ranking factor, so consider having a video as the first digital asset to instantly engage them.
Here’s some further reading on the importance of digital assets in the buyer journey
Very high-resolution images can sometimes have a negative impact on your page load time. Because this is an important ranking factor, make sure your PIM or DAM has an auto-resizing functionality built-in as standard. Failing that, you should use re-sizing apps. This means you won’t compromise the quality of your pictures, and you’ll be able to conserve precious bandwidth.
Product enrichment for the buying stages
Different stages of the buyer journey will require different levels of detail. For instance, customers with a lower awareness are going to need more information. To cater to the needs of your different audiences, let your customers choose how much product detail they see.
This essentially means you’ll need to write two product descriptions, ensuring you include your short and long-tail keywords. For the best results, stick to a limit of 300 – 400 words. Provide the top-level details in the first few lines for your high-awareness customers. You then need to do a deep dive to give low-awareness customers that extra layer of detail.
What you’re selling should also determine the extent of your product enrichment. Everyone knows what a shirt is and how it should be worn and washed. This won’t be the case if you’ve got very technical or niche products. You need to provide details on how it should be used, maintained, or installed.
Think about where your customers are interacting with your products. With mobile and social media on the rise, customers will be interacting with your products in a completely different way. Your product page should be mobile-friendly so your customers can browse your products wherever they are.
Top tips and tricks for product page super SEO
Structured data
Search engines love structured data, so you need to make sure your product categories and attributes are on point. This will help your customers find what they’re looking for quickly and easily. It’s also a great opportunity to create cross-sell and upsell opportunities with kits, bundles, and intelligent product recommendations.
Find out how you can leverage your product data to create cross-sell and upsell opportunities
Your site’s structure should be clearly reflected in your URL slugs (the exact address of a page on your site) and it needs to be something your customers will understand, i.e., not just random symbols. Defining unique URL slugs for your product pages also gives you scope to include your target keywords, which will improve your SEO ranking.
Page structure
Trustworthiness and familiarity will be something else your customers (and search engines) will be on the lookout for. Customers expect to see a familiar product page layout when they land on your site. Here’s a great example from our customer, FurnitureBox:
Everything the customer needs to know can be found in one place. From price, shipping, and delivery information, to reviews and product recommendations with a clear call to action. If your product page has a familiar feel to it, you’re less likely to get bounce rates. Importantly, the fewer bounce rates you have, the more authority your site will have from the search engine’s perspective.
Meta titles & descriptions
These are going to be the first bits of information your customers will see. They need to be clear and concise, so customers know exactly what to expect when they click through on your product page. Use your keywords in the meta title and longtail keywords in the description to guarantee a higher click-through rate.
Stick to a 160-character limit so your meta description isn’t truncated. Higher click-through rates mean better site authority and better SEO rankings.
User-generated content
This is actually another one of Goggle’s ranking factors. Get your customers to leave reviews as it’s super beneficial from a ranking perspective, and also a sales perspective. Customer reviews give your customers a true representation of the product and will improve the user experience. In addition to this, it also means your customers build a more personable relationship with your brand and products.
The benefits of super SEO
Product information management platforms like Pimberly enable you to easily create and manage enriched product content. Because all product information and digital assets are stored in one place, your SEO teams have a central hub to work from.
Make SEO work for you and enrich your product data to achieve:
- Better product discovery
- Improved conversion rate optimization
- Increased click-through rates
- Lower bounce rates
- Amazing customer experience
