In today’s highly competitive digital market, e-commerce businesses must leverage every tool at their disposal to gain a competitive edge. One crucial area that requires keen attention is Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Mistakes in SEO implementation can cost you a significant amount of traffic. Thus, we’re here to shed light on these pitfalls and guide you on optimizing your e-commerce site for SEO.
The Importance of Optimizing Website Structure
One of the most prevalent mistakes e-commerce platforms make is neglecting the optimization of their website structure. A well-organized website is not only user-friendly but also makes it easy for search engines to navigate, find, and index all pages.
We advise adopting a flat website structure that ensures key pages are accessible within a few clicks from the homepage.
Interlinking is also an essential part of achieving an efficient website structure. It’s crucial to ensure that our website’s architecture allows not just easy navigation, but also efficient passage of authority (link juice) across all pages.
The Power of Topical Clusters
If your e-commerce site is struggling with traffic, it may be due to a lack of topical clusters within your categories. Topical clusters are groups of pages that support the primary category pages’ success online.
Let’s consider an example.
If we aim to rank for a competitive keyword like “running shoes,” it’s not enough to rely on high-quality backlinks. We also need to demonstrate our relevance to this keyword. How do we do this? We create numerous related pages to dominate the category, showcasing to Google that we’re the go-to resource for this keyword.
By creating subcategories related to long-tail variations of the main keyword, like “male running shoes,” “women’s running shoes,” or “waterproof running shoes,” we build a robust cluster of pages that signals our category’s relevance to Google. Remember, this strategy is a significant commitment, but it can be a game-changer for your website’s ranking.
Handling URL Parameters
A common oversight we’ve noticed among e-commerce websites is the handling of URL parameters, especially in relation to faceted navigation. While this feature is fantastic for users to filter through product catalogs, it can generate duplicate pages if we don’t instruct Google on how to treat these filters.
To avoid hurting your SEO, it’s advisable to specify how Google should handle these filters and faceted navigation. We should aim for Google to index only one version of a page and not multiple filtered variants. Google Search Console provides a tool to manage URL parameters and optimize your crawl budget.
Harnessing the Power of Keyword Research
When building your category clusters, comprehensive keyword research is non-negotiable. It ensures that you’ve created all the pages necessary to make up that category, helping Google clearly understand your page’s context. Additionally, strategic placement of these keywords in crucial areas can significantly enhance your SEO.
Creating Relevant Content for Different Page Types
Different types of e-commerce website pages call for different content strategies. Consider a category page – the likely entry point for most of your traffic. The user’s intent is paramount when creating content for these pages.
If a user lands on your website with a general keyword like “running shoes,” we need to assist them in finding what they want, even if they don’t exactly know what that is. We can accomplish this by structuring the page in a user-friendly way, answering frequently asked questions, and offering informational content that guides the user’s journey.
Product pages, on the other hand, require basic keyword research and the inclusion of unique content. It’s a common mistake to simply use content provided by suppliers, particularly in dropshipping businesses. However, Google values uniqueness, so strive to create original content for your products.
Utilizing Your Blog Effectively
One of the gravest SEO mistakes is to ignore the potential of your blog. It’s an invaluable tool for targeting informational and top-of-funnel keywords that might not fit into category or product pages. A well-crafted content strategy can draw in potential customers and funnel them toward your product and category pages.
Prioritizing Website Speed and User Experience
As Google increasingly prioritizes user experience, ignoring your website speed can have detrimental effects. User experience will continue to gain importance in the future, so we urge you to prioritize it in your SEO strategy.
Emphasizing the Importance of Link Building
While it might seem obvious, link building is often overlooked in e-commerce SEO. Considering the hyper-competitive nature of e-commerce keywords and the similarity of search results, high-authority backlinks can significantly enhance your ranking. Even a slight boost in ranking can lead to a substantial increase in traffic and sales.
We recommend devising a robust link-building strategy to acquire high-quality links. Remember, this strategy is as crucial for e-commerce websites as it is for any other website.
Conclusion
By addressing these common SEO mistakes, you can significantly improve the performance of your e-commerce site. If your website isn’t getting the traffic you desire, take some time to evaluate these areas. Understanding and applying these insights can lead to substantial improvements in your traffic, SEO rankings, and overall online business growth.
Jaume Ros explains it in a video
