Is it not every eCommerce business owner’s dream to show up No.1 on Google?
Ranking first in search engines can get you up to 30 more daily traffic so that would mean more people coming to your online store and making purchases. As entrepreneurs, it can be tough to find answers to your questions, especially if you are working alone. In this blog, So KakaClo is constantly writing blogs that are going to give you the answers that you need to grow your eCommerce store.
There’s this joke in the SEO world:
If you wanted to hide a dead body you’d put it on the second page of Google. because the first page gets the most clicks and no one goes to the second page. ?
No matter what you’re selling, where you are in the world, or how you are selling online, getting your store ranked No.1 on Google is possible, it just takes time and persistence.
To rank first at a Google search result, your store’s content needs to match a potential visitor’s intent. Search engine optimization is the steps that you would take to prove to Google that your content is relevant and that your site is worth visiting.
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There are three types of SEO:
a), Technical SEO
b), On-page SEO
c), Off-page SEO
a) TechnicalSEO
Technical SEO ensures that your website is optimized for mobile search engine crawlers and has good page speed.
It also optimizes your site for humans by making sure that it’s structured navigation and internal links allow for easy browsing.
b) Off-page SEO
Off-page SEO is the primary method of directly telling readers and search engines, what your page is all about. This is going to include “keywords”, “topic relevance”,“meta-information” “the slug in the page URL” and your images.
c) On-page SEO
On-page SEO essentially boils down to building backlinks. These are links that point to your site, the more high-quality relevant backlinks that you have, the better your pages will rank.
What happens when you take steps to improve your SEO, the result is that you improve the quality and the number of people coming to your store. Once Google sees that your online store is a good experience for shoppers, they will bump you up higher and closer to that number one page.
It takes a little bit of time and a little bit of effort on your part, but SEO is a marketing channel that can produce the highest traffic and revenue for your business.
KakaCloshows some simple steps that you can take right now today to get you closer to that number one spot.
1. Keywords
You might have heard of keywords before, but what are they.
The best way to think of keywords is the queries that people use and type into search engines.
Keywords are the words that you put onto your site so that when someone is searching for something in Google, they find you because you have included keywords that relate to their search. You can build keywords into your page content, meta description, title tags, URL, and more.
Now one thing to remember is that SEO has come a long way since the days of keyword stuffing, so when optimizing pages to rank for Keywords, the first step is to try and understand the topic behind it, and then you do your best to cover that topic. The trick is to find the right keywords. The right keywords are going to have a lot of people searching for them, but not a lot of other websites that are using these keywords.
Use a tool called “Google keyword planner” to find those keywords. Think about the words that people might use when they’re searching for a product.
Here are some rules:
1) Go for keywords with 1000+ monthly searches.
2) If your search term has too high competition, think of synonyms. So instead of hot sauce maybe we could do something like chilli sauce.
3) Try to go for something that’s called “Long-tailKeywords”. Long-tail keyword phrases will be easier to rank for. For example, instead of just “hot sauce”, you could use “gluten-free hot sauce” for sandwiches.
4) Include many keyword Phrases.
2. Link building
You’re also going to want to think about a link-building strategy. Link building refers to the process of acquiring hyperlinks from other websites to point to your website.
Google is going to start to see your site as trusted and reputable if it sees that other websites are pointing to your store and other people are talking about you.
Google takes into account the number of links that are out there about your store it also considers the quality as well. So if Time magazine drops your URL in their article that would be considered a reputable and high-quality reference.
Relevancy is also another key factor if you do want to get started on building links the best way to approach this is to focus on partnerships so whether that’s publishers or other sites in your industry you’re going to want to determine who can provide and share value with.
If you know someone who reviews hot sauces and you want to promote your hot sauce products, a really simple email introduction can be the start of a mutually beneficial relationship when you’re reaching out.
Here are a couple of things that you’re going to want to keep in mind.
s In your pitch email, start by explaining what’s in it for them.
Let’s say they have a blog post and they have links to products that are out of date or products that no longer exist, or maybe they’re missing something vital in their post. You’re going to want to give them a reason to consider featuring your products in their content.
s Make sure that you’re not requesting links from people who are your competitors. For example, if you’re selling hot sauces, make sure that you’re looking at who is writing the actual article on the top 10 hot sauces, and make sure that those people are not also selling their hot sauces, that’s just something to keep in mind so that you’re not wasting your time.
3. Foundational links
Foundationallinks are from social media profiles, business directories, and niche directories. If you haven’t already signed up for social media accounts like Instagram FacebookPinterest etc., then you’re going to want to do that now, and it’s also recommended that you create a profile for google my business, even if you don have a physical retail store, this is still going to help you improve your local SEO which can help you get more local customers. The SEO benefits here are on the smaller side you know the foundational links but this is easy to setup, and it’s going to increase your discoverability
4. Pitchgift guides
Gift guides are a list of recommended products, typically surrounding a holiday like Christmas. If you’ve ever googled gift ideas then you’ve likely come across one of these articles.
Getting your products in the right gift guides can increase your sales they can increase your traffic to your website as well, but inclusion in these does not happen randomly. It is going to require some effort on your part, you’ll need to contact gift guide publishers and ask to have your product listed. When it comes to this there is no guarantee but if your product is the right fit, you can be included and that can help you introduce your brand and your products to an entirely new audience.
5. PR campaigns
Press publications have a really good chance of getting your website visitors and establishing clout. These are all good things coming from an SEO perspective.
When we think about a press release we’re generally thinking about it in a very traditional sense where you would submit a release to the media to get featured in local national or industry press. But instead of hiring a pr company because that can be pretty costly try taking a shot at doing your publicity. If you have a great story or if you have a super interesting product that people are going to want to write about, just put it out there. Get in touch with bloggers and journalists who cover businesses like yours and tell them what you’re up to.
Most writers are indeed drowning in requests but they are still always on the lookout for a good story. Make sure that you’re targeting the right publications and that you’re sharing your brand’s story especially if it is compelling, touching, shocking or inspiring. Telling a narrative will improve your success rate with this tactic.
6. Site speed
Having a fast site is not only important to keep customers from getting frustrated and leaving your site, but it’s also important because Google sees this as favorable.
Google will reward you with increased exposure and get you closer to that No.1 ranking if you do have good site speed. One of the most common offenders is apps on your Shopify store, start by going to your apps, start by cleaning up the ones that you don’t use, and just by doing this small step you’ll see a huge difference in your site speed.
Video is so important in keeping your customers engaged and on your site for longer. Long sessions will increase your site’s SEO performance, but ironically having a heavy video is going to slow down your site speed and that’s going negatively affect your SEO ranking, to solve this little conundrum instead of using iframe which is youtube’s standard embed code, use something called lighten beds this is going to help with load times and it’s going to make your site load faster.
For personalized recommendations on how you can increase your site speed, there is a tool on Shopify called the store speed report. You can check that out.
7. Quality content
Google tracks how people are interacting with your site, if people land on your site, maybe they don’t find what they want, or maybe your sites look amateur they’re probably going to press the back button, if Google sees that people are leaving right away they will move you down in ranks.
If you create content that is keeping people engaged, google is going to up-rank you for this.
a. Homepage
When it comes to your home page, keep it short and snappy. Instead of opening with two long paragraphs that explain why your brand is the best, open with a product image, open with a short line of copy or open with a button like a shop now, to entice people to browse and stay awhile.
For instance, in the hot sauce store, there is beautiful photography, some teaser text, and a shop now button. This is a very standard way to set up your homepage.
b. Product page
On your product pages, make sure that you have high-res images and also include specific information that a customer would need to know before they make a purchase. Quality product pages are not only going to help with SEO but they’re also going to help with conversions as well, so make sure that you are paying close attention to your product pages.
