Search engine optimization, or SEO, has been one of the best ways to get traffic online for free. Businesses of all types use SEO in order to get people to their website and ultimately grow their customer base.
Many people think that SEO is only important for local business, because ecommerce SEO is too competitive or it doesn’t give enough traffic to be worth it. Many ecommerce website owners prefer to spend money on ads in order to get traffic profitably.
However, we caution ecommerce business owners not to ignore SEO. Here are some reasons for that.
How Does SEO Work For E-Commerce Websites?
Before we discuss why e-commerce websites need SEO, let’s dive into how SEO works for ecommerce websites.
E-Commerce websites typically have many pages, at least as many pages as they have products. Each product has a different purpose. As a result, each product page will be optimized for different keywords. Not only that, but product category pages will be optimized for different keywords. Blog content will have different keywords, as well.
What e-commerce websites end up with is a very diversified keyword portfolio. The goal for ecommerce website SEO is to rank as many of those pages as possible. The more pages that rank, the more traffic the store gets. This ends up being a virtuous cycle where each ranking gets more traffic, and more traffic gets more sales, which in turn increases the number of people who come back and search for the site.
If done correctly, e-commerce SEO can be a key driver of growth for online stores. Now that you understand how does SEO work for e-commerce websites, how can you improve the SEO of your eCommerce store?
Importance of SEO for eCommerce Websites
Get high quality traffic for free.
E-Commerce SEO allows ecommerce websites to get some of the best traffic out there, completely for free. The best cold traffic is traffic that is searching for what you have to offer. When a product page ranks for a high intent keyword, such as “dog water bowl for sale”, they get access to traffic composed of people who are looking to buy the product that you have for sale.
As a result, ecommerce SEO doesn’t just grow a business’s website traffic, but it grows their revenue, as well. This has a direct impact on business success and should not be ignored!
Grow your store’s presence online.
One big benefit to SEO in general is visibility. When people are searching for the product you offer, and they see you, that gives them an opportunity to learn about your company and your brand.
Not only is this high quality traffic, but it may be high quality traffic that you weren’t getting before. The more people see you, the more they’re able to buy from you, tell their friends and family about you, and share information about you on social media. This, too, ends up in a virtuous cycle where your SEO efforts lead to more revenue and more visibility, which in turn leads to even more revenue and visibility!
Protect your brand.
One often forgotten benefit of ranking your site on Google and other search engines is that if you maintain the top spot, it means your competition is NOT in the top spot. This allows you to protect your reputation and your position as a big player in your niche.
A common tactic used by businesses is to rank their ecommerce store for YOUR brand name. If you’re not investing in SEO for your brand, that means the door is wide open for people to come in and take rankings that rightfully belong to you.
