If you landed on this blog, this means you’re preparing an SEO checklist for your new eCommerce website. Advertisement for small business owners could be expensive initially, so search engine optimization plays a crucial role in eCommerce business success. In order to do next-level SEO, you need to put some extra effort in 2021 because eCommerce SEO is now becoming very challenging and time-consuming.
There are plenty of reasons to invest in core digital marketing and SEO services in 2021, especially for eCommerce businesses. Almost all small, medium and large eCommerce businesses are implementing SEO services to generate leads, increase ROI, increase brand awareness, etc. From boosting business credibility to getting high-quality traffic, SEO plays a significant role in business growth. So, if you’ve just started an eCommerce business or are planning to begin with one, then consider these most comprehensive guides to take your eCommerce website to the next level on search engines.
SEO Checklist for eCommerce website
Promoting a new eCommerce site on search engines is not easy. First, you have to make your website search- engine friendly. So, before moving towards the SEO checklist, here are a few search engine optimization tools that you might need to make your website SEO- friendly.
On-page SEO Elements
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Meta Description
Meta Description is one of the SEO parameters of a page that affects the presentation of a site in search results. The meta descriptions will be highlighted under the link to the page, and it helps both attract the user to the page and send him to search further. Therefore, when compiling meta-descriptions, try to briefly and concisely, within 200-250 characters, describe the topic of a particular page, and use relevant keywords that you need to target so that your audience could easily find your page.
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Alt text
Alt-text is a very short description of your image, which you’re using in your website or, in simple words, it is the name of the image. Since Search engines do not crawl images, they only crawl text, so the presence of such descriptions on images helps search engines understand your images and help rank them. The same goes for graphics you’re using on your blog. For example, you can add an alt text: “SEO Company in Melbourne”, and that graphic will start ranking for that phrase in the image search results.
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SSL/HTTPS
Page security is more critical today than ever, especially for eCommerce business for, secure payment gateway, reliability and visibility of your site. People rarely visit a site that is not secure; as a result, they lack attracting potential customers on their website. So, to gain trustworthiness among your users, you need to pay attention to your site’s security. Installing an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) security certificate is important for improving security. SSL Certificate activation on eCommerce sites allows you to more confidently ensure that no third party gets between your web server and visitors’ web server, thus protecting the information entered on the site. In addition, Google favours sites with SSL certificates, which is essential for increased visibility.
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Mobile-friendliness
If your website is doing excellent on desktop but not suitable for mobile devices, then you’re far away from adapting to the modern world. You will be surprised to know that 57% of all web traffic is coming directly from mobile devices tablets. Yes, it’s true, mobile has changed the way of promoting business, so making your site for mobile is now crucial for business growth and your online business presence. If you’re building a new eCommerce site or optimizing the existing one, don’t forget to target mobile devices. You can take help from SEO experts to make your site mobile-friendly. It helps reach your target audience and supports your business growth on SERPs because Google is now using the mobile version of the site pages for SEO.
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URL structure
An organized webpage URL is an essential element if you want to rank your website on search engines. A well-structured URL allows search engines to easily navigate from one page to another and help navigation more efficiently for your visitors. URLs should contain keywords that characterize the pages they direct users to. Easy-to-understand URLs are more likely to earn clicks and help search engines crawl your site’s pages. URLs should be relatively short, use the main keyword of the page and not use redundant words.
Off-Page SEO Elements
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Backlinks
Quality backlinks play a crucial role in your website optimization. More and more quality backlinks linked to your site content will increase the domain authority Google has assigned to your site, which will help improve your site ranking. There are many reasons why you should focus on backlinking. Some of them are listed below:
- Increase brand authority
- Drive more organic traffic
- Increase brand awareness
- Increase site ranking on SERPs
- Promote lead generation and increase ROI
- Increase the quality of your website
Guest posting, blog posting, a guest appearance on podcasts, press releases, and posting HARO are some of the best ways to gain quality backlinks on various high authority sites. You can practice these for creating quality links and increasing the domain authority of your site.
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Local SEO strategies
Local SEO strategies are doing wonders to take your business on top. As a result, many local eCommerce businesses opt for local SEO strategies to target local people. With the help of local SEO, you can reach customers in your area who need your services now and deliver more qualified search results. It is equally effective for eCommerce businesses as well and more cost-effective than traditional SEO. Companies using local SEO to promote their business end up generating more sales and a better ranking on search engines.
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Social media promotions
There is no better way than a social media platform to promote your eCommerce business. Today is the generation of social media. That’s why many small as well as big business owners are using social media platforms as a strong marketing tool. Facebook, youtube, Instagram, Pinterest, etc., are some of the most famous social media apps used by marketers to increase brand awareness, attract organic traffic, and promote products and services. It offers multiple audio, video options with the help of that, and you can build a strong brand image. You can also use these social channels to run ad campaigns at very affordable prices. Link your social pages on your website to drive more traffic on your social media pages and vice versa. It helps build trustworthiness, increase the level of user confidence, and affect the site’s external SEO.
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High- quality content
Quality content is the backbone of your eCommerce website. High-quality, engaging content establishes your brand credibility, helps to build trust among users and strengthens your brand reputation. People will love to visit your website if it offers effective content and has some educational value in it. It will increase your website traffic and help rank on google search results—interesting, informational content and unique content help build a loyal customer base and increase sales. Content should be in any form, including images, web pages, blogs, articles, podcasts, videos, infographics, etc. You can invest in if you’re experienced enough to draft engaging content, better to find a reliable SEO agency for a complete digital marketing solution.
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Broken link building
If you’re implementing all the On-page and Off-page SEO techniques but still not getting desired results, then take a deeper look into your website. Broken links in the website can flip the game from win to lose. yes it’s true, broken links are those inactive links in the website and can affect your website performance that leads to fallback on search results. Broken link building is an effective SEO strategy to increase your website performance and user experience. Finding and fixing broken links is a time-consuming process, but it can be easy by using SEO tools. Some of the most popular SEO tools are listed below:
- Google Webmaster
- Semrush
- Sitechecker
- Ahrefs Broken Link Checker
- Dead Link Checker
Steps to fix the broken links in your website:
- You can use these tools to find the broken links on your website
- Make a list of all the non-working links
- Recreate the content of that particular page where the broken link was found.
- Insert the right working link into that content.
Now it’s time to put in the effort and enjoy the benefits of good SEO techniques. You can also take assistance from SEO professionals so that you can give 100% to your business.
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Influencer outreach
Influencer outreach or influencer marketing is a trending SEO strategy these days. Many brands are investing in influencer marketing to reach more and more audiences and increase brand awareness. Influencer marketing is Word-of-Mouth marketing where you collaborate with the influencers to endorse your products and services in exchange for money and products. It not only helps your brand promotion but also helps to build trustworthiness among users because people trust more on their favourite celebrity.
