Let’s suppose that you have an e-commerce website which sells shoes, and you want it to be the first thing users see when they search for it. Firstly, ask yourself what people consider relevant when they go into a physical store:
- A stylish and organised display containing a wide range of shoes;
- Appropriate products to analyse the quality and visuals;
- Attractive prices;
- Multiple payment methods;
- Shoes sizes;
- A space in which to try products on;
- A seller to explain products and brands in greater detail, and answer any questions the customer may have;
- An enjoyable shopping experience (thoughtful and efficient customer service, pleasant smells, comfortable chairs and sofas, mirrors, unintrusive background music).
Online, the user’s experience should be similar, and include the following:
- Shoes ordered by category (i.e. moccasins, sneakers, boots, flip-flops, sandals…). This is known as “site architecture”;
- Images and videos of the real products, to show what they really look like.
- Reviews of products from previous buyers.
- Product descriptions – fabric, where to wear, how to wear, creative inspirations, how it reflects the brand’s identity)
- Prices, payment gateways, shipping options;
- Available sizes. A size table is crucial since the customer can’t try the shoes on in person;
- Page speed.
- Quick and considerate customer service (i.e. WhatsApp, webchat, e-mail, contact number)
- A brief and snappy home page (i.e. beautiful product images, engaging copy, a “buy now” button enticing users to stay a while).
Google values sites which provide their customers with excellent user experience. Because, when all is said and done, Google is a vast shopping mall filled with stores, and it wants to deliver the best to its customers.
There is one more important aspect to e-commerce SEO which we haven’t mentioned yet, because it deserves its own topic: keywords.
Keywords are terms or phrases used by people to describe a problem or a question which they are hoping to resolve on Google. They type these keywords in search of the best answers. To appear among these answers, in addition to the steps we’ve mentioned above, your site needs to include the keyword or keyphrase which the user has typed at the very least:
- In the page’s url;
- In the subtitles of your blog posts;
- Throughout your site’s content, especially in the first and last paragraphs;
- In the title and alt attribute of the site’s images;
- On the pages on your site, to amplify the keyword’s semantic field;
Etsy, for example, has a category dedicated to second-hand shoes, but the title of the page is “thrift shoes”, because this is how their users search for this specific product.
