{"id":1024,"date":"2021-02-05T16:32:42","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T16:32:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.digitalposition.com\/resources\/learn\/?p=1024"},"modified":"2023-06-20T21:39:42","modified_gmt":"2023-06-20T21:39:42","slug":"e-commerce-seo-expert-strategies-tips-digital-position","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/seo\/e-commerce-seo-expert-strategies-tips-digital-position\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecommerce SEO &#8211; Expert Strategies &#038; Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">To better assess our results, E-A-T is gaining an E: experience. In addition to expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, does content demonstrate some degree of experience? Learn more about how E-E-A-T is now part of our search rater guidelines <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8hCj1Gk49S\">https:\/\/t.co\/8hCj1Gk49S<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/googlesearchc\/status\/1603435684605308928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 15, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>A seismic shift occurred in 2020 as boatloads of physical retailers and the older population flocked to online e-commerce. This led to a very quick chain of events where people were scrambling to master the e-commerce game and bring their products direct to consumer. <a title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=PfMxIIdsxGU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kevin O\u2019Leary explained this perfectly while hilariously riding his bike around<\/a> (starts 1:30).<\/p>\n<p>Take Shopify\u2019s search volume for example:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1025 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.digitalposition.com\/resources\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/shopify.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1129\" height=\"333\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/shopify.jpg 1129w, https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/shopify-300x88.jpg 300w, https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/shopify-768x227.jpg 768w, https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/shopify-1024x302.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1129px) 100vw, 1129px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><em>Google Trends data for the search \u201cShopify\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s clear as day that there was an explosion in e-commerce businesses (not to mention tons of other evidence such as the rise of Zoom). On top of this, almost every client in our portfolio saw the percentage of traffic from older populations increase.<strong> This was the last generation of people who were still hesitant about buying online \u2013 now they\u2019ve become forced to feel comfortable, and they LOVE it.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>So if you\u2019re looking to aggressively scale your e-commerce business, here are some of our tips when helping clients make this transition to digital.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Choose the Right Platform (preferably Shopify)<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>In 2021, as Kevin O\u2019Leary stated there has been a standardization on how websites are built. In the past, it was all over the map; Magento, WordPress, custom coded, tons of different languages. Now, the more quickly successful e-commerce stores are standardizing under simpler platforms like Shopify because they can move much more quickly.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1026 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.digitalposition.com\/resources\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/1024px-Shopify_logo_2018.svg_.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"369\" height=\"105\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/1024px-Shopify_logo_2018.svg_.png 1024w, https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/1024px-Shopify_logo_2018.svg_-300x85.png 300w, https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/1024px-Shopify_logo_2018.svg_-768x218.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 369px) 100vw, 369px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>There is a shortage of developers out there right now. It\u2019s so hard to find really good ones, so leverage a platform that relies on them as little as possible.<\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t to say that Shopify is the only choice, it really depends on your business needs. However, we\u2019ve found Shopify to be the best for most because it offers a great balance of simplicity coupled with an ability to make advanced changes too.<\/p>\n<p><strong>*Note<\/strong> \u2013 one of the drawbacks of Shopify is the funky URL structure. However, although not perfect, there are ways around this and we\u2019ve found you can still target appropriate keywords easily.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Have a Clear Architecture<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>This is one of the biggest faults we find when looking at e-commerce websites \u2013 a complete mess of an architecture. This is much easier when you have only a couple products, but if you\u2019ve got thousands upon thousands it can become really overwhelming.<\/p>\n<p>In a perfect world, we want it to look something like this:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1027 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.digitalposition.com\/resources\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Website-Example-1024x623.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"623\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Website-Example-1024x623.png 1024w, https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Website-Example-300x183.png 300w, https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Website-Example-768x467.png 768w, https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Website-Example.png 1339w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong>Don\u2019t judge me for the picture, MS Paint shall forever live in infamy!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>As you can see in the very simplistic picture above, you have a clear architecture with educational content intertwined.<\/p>\n<p>Your homepage &amp; menu need to define this clear architecture from the top down. You should have a drop-down or series of links in the menu that correspond to categories. On top of this, a link to your blog or educational content, about us, contact us, and my account should also be there.<\/p>\n<p>From there, categories can either go a layer deeper to subcategories OR go from category right to products. The educational content should be worked in throughout the website. A couple notes on this:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Are you adding blog post links to relevant categories?\n<ul>\n<li>e. \u2013 if you have a category called \u201chooded sweatshirts\u201d are your blog posts or educational content crosslinked on that page about the hooded sweatshirts subject? Sizing, materials, zipper vs. no zipper, trends, etc.?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Are you linking your product pages to relevant blog posts?<\/li>\n<li>In reverse, are you linking your blog posts to category and product pages with the proper anchor text?<\/li>\n<li>Are your products categorized or tagged appropriately?<\/li>\n<li>Does the URL structure target the keywords for that page?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We also want to avoid multiple pages that have the same intent. Often clients have a category for \u201chooded sweatshirts\u201d (as an example), and then they also have a blog post called \u201chooded sweatshirts: the ultimate guide\u201d or something. The intent of these audiences is the same \u2013 you\u2019re targeting the same keyword \u201chooded sweatshirts\u201d for both and cannibalizing your efforts!<\/p>\n<p>Feel free to map out your architecture in a website like <a title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/whimsical.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Whimsical<\/a> to get a clear understanding prior to designing your e-commerce website.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Content, Content, Content<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Content is King. Every time I talk about content I\u2019m going to continue using that phrase even if it\u2019s been beaten like a dead horse.<\/p>\n<p>You cannot slap an e-commerce website up, add products and think you\u2019re just going to get sales. <strong>You must put in the work when it comes to SEO<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Most often, clients ask us \u201cwell what about conversion rate optimization (CRO) or UX, doesn\u2019t this destroy their experience?\u201d. The answer is a clear NO! You can deprioritize educational content so your UX is largely unaffected. We definitely want that product selection front and center, but if the user doesn\u2019t find what they\u2019re looking for, which is a better experience:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Option A:<\/strong> Showing them some related educational content, social proof, and guiding them toward a purchase eventually? OR<\/li>\n<li><strong>Option B:<\/strong> Nothing, if they don\u2019t find a product they want they are shit out of luck<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You get it, SEO can be balanced properly with CRO in a way that satisfies both the user experience and search engines for ranking. After all, what does it matter if you have the best retail store on the planet if you build it in the middle of the woods where nobody can get to it? You need to build roads, bridges, whatever to get people to your store. That\u2019s where SEO (and PPC) \/ Digital Position comes in.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Page Speed &amp; Mobile First<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Page speed is huge, <a title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/web\/updates\/2018\/07\/search-ads-speed#:~:text=Users%20want%20to%20find%20answers,factor%20for%20mobile%20searches%20too.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">particularly on mobile devices<\/a>. Google not only has this baked into their algorithm as a direct ranking signal, but the average conversion rate goes down 7% for 1 second longer a page loads (<a title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/neilpatel.com\/blog\/loading-time\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">source<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1031 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.digitalposition.com\/resources\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/loading-times-cvr.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"379\" height=\"205\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/loading-times-cvr.jpg 379w, https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/loading-times-cvr-300x162.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 379px) 100vw, 379px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong>Lots of amazing metrics in the <a title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/neilpatel.com\/blog\/loading-time\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kissmetrics infographic<\/a> on Neil Patel\u2019s website<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Too many developers and advertisers are still working on desktops at home and not realizing that the majority of website traffic is now mobile.<\/p>\n<p>As part of our SEO packages, we do an in-depth page speed analysis where we look at things like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Are you loading images too early?<\/li>\n<li>Are your images properly sized &amp; optimized?<\/li>\n<li>Is your javascript &amp; CSS minified?<\/li>\n<li>Is your server optimized for TTFB (time to first byte)<\/li>\n<li>Do you have certain apps slowing the website down?<\/li>\n<li>Is the theme cumbersome and requires a code cleanup?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Don\u2019t neglect your page speed. Remember, not all people are on blazing fast internet connections. It\u2019s good to test with slower devices to see what the average customer might be experiencing!<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Starting with the Longtail<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Too often we see e-commerce businesses try to start with the #1 term in their industry but no authority on their website to rank for it yet. Sure, we have plenty of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalposition.com\/case-studies\/\">SEO case studies<\/a> where we\u2019re ranking our clients at the top for \u201crunning shoes\u201d, \u201cvaporizers\u201d, \u201cjump rope\u201d, etc. but those absolutely took time.<\/p>\n<p>Start with the longtail first. If you search the term you want to rank for and see Amazon, Nike, Dicks Sporting Goods, Target, Walmart \u2013 it\u2019s probably not the best place to start.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1034 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.digitalposition.com\/resources\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/competitive-search.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"755\" height=\"512\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/competitive-search.jpg 755w, https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/competitive-search-300x203.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 755px) 100vw, 755px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong>See what I mean?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>When we started the journey to rank Fleet Feet for \u201crunning shoes\u201d, we didn\u2019t start at that term. We started with tons of educational content around running (proper running technique, breathing exercises, etc.) and focused on brand content (new shoe launches and educational content around the manufacturing of the shoes).<\/p>\n<p>Once Fleet Feet had gained enough authority online to truly have a shot at ranking for these terms, we were able to start inching up the ranking for running shoes with a super in-depth buyers guide on running shoes. It took time, but we cracked the top 10 and traffic (+revenue) exploded.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Proper SEO isn\u2019t a project, it\u2019s a journey that influences everything you do on your website.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness)\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>If you\u2019re trying to hide behind your website with stock images, fake bios, and no contact information good luck with SEO. Google realized that customers want to know who you are before making a purchase. Customers also want to know why you\u2019re a qualified individual speaking on the subject.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dannysullivan\/status\/1182674027166326785?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1041 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.digitalposition.com\/resources\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/danny-sullivan-google-tweet.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"565\" height=\"704\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/danny-sullivan-google-tweet.jpg 565w, https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/danny-sullivan-google-tweet-241x300.jpg 241w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 565px) 100vw, 565px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong>Danny Sullivan from Google<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a simple checklist:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Source all claims and presented information that is not your own, especially medical claims<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your articles \/ blog posts should have an author who wrote each post, with a link to see an expanded bio about why that person is qualified to be speaking on the subject, including any relevant experience.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Your articles \/ blog posts should all be dated. If you update a post, an updated date should be applied.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You should have an about us page without stock imagery that demonstrates experience, illustrates your story and tells how the business came to be.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>You should have clear contact information including e-mail address, phone number and physical address if you have one.<\/li>\n<li>Exceed the user\u2019s needs with your content. Don\u2019t write thin, not helpful content. Go above &amp; beyond with your content!<\/li>\n<li>Have a clear terms &amp; conditions page, privacy policy, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The more crucial the content, the more important E-E-A-T is to your rankings. For example, if you\u2019re giving medical advice E-E-A-T is crucial (especially in this environment) and without it you might not rank at all.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Other Notes!<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>These didn\u2019t make the cut for longer sections, but are all incredibly important as well:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Write unique product &amp; category descriptions \u2013 manufacturer provided ones will not do.<\/li>\n<li>Add Schema markup to products (reviews, price, etc.). Get those stars in search results!<\/li>\n<li>Optimize your Meta Titles &amp; H1\u2019s. Once you have a clear architecture, target the right keywords and make them engaging!<\/li>\n<li>Check <a title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/search.google.com\/search-console\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Google Search Console<\/a> for technical issues<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t neglect reviews &amp; good customer service. Your online reputation matters, you can\u2019t provide a crappy service in 2021 and expect SEO to skyrocket. Google sees your reputation on social media, yelp, google reviews, reviews on your own website, etc.<\/li>\n<li>All websites should be on HTTPS<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalposition.com\/seo-services-agency\/ecommerce\">E-commerce<\/a> SEO isn\u2019t easy, that\u2019s why of course we recommend <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalposition.com\/services\/seo\/\">hiring experts for SEO<\/a>. Be careful of the discount agencies out there promising first page rankings for $99. Almost every single time you end up in some strategy that hurts your business terribly long-term or they get you rankings on a search with no volume! At the end of the day, your SEO strategy should be focused around how to grow your business revenue &amp; profit.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019d like to touch base regarding SEO and see more about how we operate, feel free to visit our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalposition.com\/services\/seo\/\">SEO agency<\/a> page and fill out a proposal to get in touch!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To better assess our results, E-A-T is gaining an E: experience. In addition to expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, does content demonstrate some degree of experience? Learn more about how E-E-A-T is now part of our search rater guidelines https:\/\/t.co\/8hCj1Gk49S \u2014 Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) December 15, 2022 A seismic shift occurred in 2020 as boatloads&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1363,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"thumbnail_src":"https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/DPBlogPost-EcommerceSEO1-2-300x168.jpg","thumbnail_medium_src":"https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/DPBlogPost-EcommerceSEO1-2.jpg","featured_image_src":"https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/DPBlogPost-EcommerceSEO1-2.jpg","author_avatar_src":"https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/roger2.jpg","author_name":"Roger Parent","category_labels":["SEO"],"tag_labels":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1024"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1641,"href":"https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024\/revisions\/1641"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}