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SEO (search engine optimization) is a reliable, cost-effective, and useful method of gaining traction for your ecommerce brand. With so many online stores vying for attention, having a solid SEO strategy can make all the difference in attracting new customers and making sales.
Optimizing your site for search means putting a simple strategy in place to help your products show up on the front page of search engine results. For store owners, the benefits of good SEO include increased website traffic and brand recognition. If you’re looking to optimize your digital storefront, read on to learn the best practices of ecommerce SEO.
Why ecommerce SEO is unique
While the principles of SEO remain constant across the web, ecommerce SEO presents unique challenges and opportunities. Think of the places you sell online—whether that’s a third-party marketplace, your own website, or both—as one intricate marketplace. Each product listing is a potential entry point for customers to your business or website.
Your SEO strategy should address website basics, like clear page titles, headers, and alt text for images. But SEO for ecommerce should also take into account product-focused searches and consumer behavior so you can catch shoppers at the right time.
See 9 tips for boosting conversion in your store
How to create an ecommerce SEO strategy
Search engines prioritize search results that give what they’re looking for quickly and reliably. Ranking higher depends on understanding how your customers search for things and tailoring the content on your product pages to be the definitive source for a particular product or service.
Using specific keywords or phrases across your website related to your products will help customers find you via search. Many of these phrases will organically make it into your website copy, but having an SEO strategy will help you check every box.
1. Do keyword research specific to your products
Keyword research is the cornerstone of SEO strategy. Ecommerce keywords often revolve around product-centric terms, like product names, features, and specifications. Start by thinking about what someone might search for when looking for a product like yours. Add them to a list.
If you’re stumped, the Search keywords panel in Squarespace analytics shows which phrases drive traffic to your site from search engines. Grow your list by checking out Google search trends and Google Keyword Planner. These can help you uncover keywords with significant search volume and high-intent—meaning people searching those terms are more likely to click through or buy.
2. Create an SEO-friendly site structure for easy navigation
A well-structured website is like a well-marked trail in a dense forest. Organize your products into logical categories, keep navigation around your site simple and intuitive, and link clearly between products and pages within your site.
This will help search engines index and rank your product pages effectively, so you show up higher in search results. Here are some other ways to make sure your site is well-organized:
Use descriptive URLs. Instead of using numbers or dates in your blog post URLs, use descriptors that show what the post is about. (e.g. www.squarespace.com/blog/how-to-optimize-your-store-for-mobile-commerce instead of www.squarespace.com/blog/post-123)
Group topically similar pages in folders or directories. For example, you can group different product category pages under the folder “Shop” or add your Contact and FAQ pages under “About Us”.
Reduce duplicate content. Duplicate content, like repeated product descriptions, can create a poor user experience. That can hurt your search rankings.
Learn how to set up navigation for your store
3. Optimize product pages for search intent
Product pages are the virtual storefronts of ecommerce businesses, making them prime real estate for SEO optimization. From compelling product descriptions to captivating imagery, every element of a product page should be created to cater to both search engine algorithms and customer preferences.
Increase your visibility in search results by incorporating relevant keywords into:
Product titles
Product categories
Product descriptions
Alt text for product images
Meta tags, like SEO titles and descriptions for pages
Page URLs
See examples of ecommerce websites
Ecommerce SEO best practices
The four main pillars of SEO are:
On-page SEO
Off-page SEO
Technical SEO
Content
Here’s how to use each to your advantage and find ecommerce success in these areas.
1. On-page SEO tactics for ecommerce sites
On-page SEO refers to the way the content on your website is organized to make it more relevant, accessible, and user-friendly for both search engines and human visitors. On-page SEO for ecommerce is about optimizing product titles, descriptions, and meta tags, as described above.
Take your keyword research and incorporate relevant keywords into your product titles, descriptions, and URLs. That’ll improve your products’ search engine visibility and entice users to click through.
A meta tag is an HTML element or short piece of text in the page’s code that provides information to search engines about the content of a website. Meta tags are not visible on the web page itself but are included in the HTML code of the page. You can add these by editing the SEO page title and description for a page on your site.
Make sure your SEO titles and descriptions include related keywords for your product. You can search similar products to get an idea of what top-ranking products and businesses are doing.
2. Off-page SEO strategies to increase visibility and authority
Off-page SEO refers to the way that other websites around the web link to your site. Those links give your site context in the vast pile of information across the internet. An off-page strategy is essential for boosting the authority and visibility of your site. Here are some effective off-page tactics to consider.
Build quality backlinks from relevant sources
Backlinks, or inbound links from other websites, serve as a vote of confidence and authority in the eyes of search engines. You can invest in your off-page SEO efforts by acquiring high-quality backlinks from reputable and relevant sources in your industry. For example, if your website is linked to from a newspaper article about the best dog beds, that link helps establish your site as an authoritative resource.
Develop a good backlinks strategy
A good backlinks strategy could involve guest blogging on a reputable site, participating in industry panels and communities, or reaching out to influencers for collaborations. Think about what makes sense for your business and don’t be afraid to start small.
Try reaching out to a peer or complementary business to pitch a guest blog or collaboration. Or figure out where your ideal customer spends time shopping online and in person. A diverse backlink profile will contribute to your authority and the context around your business.
Social media content
Social media is a powerful way to amplify your online presence. By consistently sharing valuable content, promoting product offerings, and interacting with followers, social media can drive traffic, generate leads, and cultivate customer loyalty.
Social signals, such as likes, shares, and comments, can indirectly impact search engine rankings, making social media an integral component of off-page SEO strategy for ecommerce.
Explore customer and affiliate marketing
Another way to kick off your backlinking strategy is to focus on your existing network of supporters and customers.
If you have the budget or profit margin to support it, you could try starting an affiliate marketing or referral program. With affiliate marketing, supporters earn a commission if they send another customer to your website. A referral program works in a similar way, except you might offer a discount code or store credits to people who refer new customers.
Get more SEO tips for small businesses
3. Technical SEO essentials for ecommerce platforms
Technical SEO refers to the backend structure and functionality of your website. It ensures that search engines can crawl, index, and understand the content of your site efficiently. Here are some technical essentials that ecommerce platforms can prioritize.
Mobile responsiveness and fast loading times
With many people browsing and buying on mobile devices, optimizing your online shop for mobile responsiveness is paramount. Mobile-friendly websites provide a seamless browsing experience for users, which makes them more likely to rank in search engine results.
Search engines try to rank websites that answer search queries thoroughly, accurately, and quickly. Fast loading times are essential in that regard. Use a free tool to test your page speeds. If they’re slow, consider removing images or animations on a page.
Websites built on Squarespace are designed to be responsive, so they adapt to fit any screen size. But you can also preview and edit your website design in mobile view to make changes that only appear on your mobile website.
Site structure for crawlability and indexability
A well-structured site architecture not only enhances user experience but also makes search engine crawling and indexing easier. Easier crawling and indexing can help updates to your site show up quickly and accurately in search results.
Prioritize organizing products into logical categories and subcategories. If you want to get more technical look into creating XML sitemaps to ensure that search engine bots can easily discover and index all relevant pages. Squarespace sites come with an XML sitemap, which you can submit to Google to take care of this step.
Integrating SSL certificates for secure transactions
Security is paramount in ecommerce, since you and your customers need to trust that their financial information is protected. Integrating SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates is non-negotiable—which is why they’re included in Squarespace plans.
SSL encryption protects sensitive customer data during online transactions and lets your customers know they can trust you with their information. Google also considers HTTPS encryption as a ranking signal, meaning that ecommerce sites with SSL certificates may receive a slight boost in search engine rankings.
Learn more about advanced SEO techniques
4. Helpful, people-first content
Google uses a proprietary automated ranking system, which prioritizes helpful information that's been created to benefit people, as opposed to content that’s only meant to game search engine rankings.
Think about what your visitors need
It may sound obvious, but when you’re developing content to use on your blog or web pages, it’s important to write in a human voice and address real problems. Your goal should be to be helpful to people.
Make sure to keep the content on your site up to date and develop new content on a regular basis. That could be as simple as updating your products and descriptions regularly or making sure your FAQ and return policies are current.
Experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness
In its own SEO guide, Google explains more of what is required to develop content that will rate highly using the acronym E-E-A-T.
“After identifying relevant content, our systems aim to prioritize those that seem most helpful. To do this, they identify a mix of factors that can help determine which content demonstrates aspects of experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, or what we call E-E-A-T.”
After the algorithm decides that your content is on target for a particular search, trustworthiness is most important. Make sure all of the content on your site is accurate and truthful. E-E-A-T is really about being human and leading with people-first content.
How to leverage Squarespace for ecommerce SEO
Squarespace offers a range of tools and product integrations that can boost your ecommerce SEO. Tap integrations with third-party marketplaces to reach potential customers off your website, use tools to promote your products on social media, or improve your product descriptions and other content to boost your site’s search rankings.
1. Integrate Squarespace with Google search tools
Squarespace users can seamlessly integrate their websites with Google services such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console. These tools help you to track website traffic and monitor search performance from the Squarespace account dashboard. Search Console offers a broad range of reports to help you monitor your site performance on Google.
By gaining access to data and performance metrics, you can make informed decisions about what search terms or platforms are sending users to your site. Or you can identify areas for improvement and refine your SEO strategy to boost performance in those places.
If you have a brick-and-mortar location for your business, set up a Google Business Profile so that you’ll appear in local searches and map searches.
2. Connect to Google Merchant Center
Google Merchant Center gives you the option to list your products in Google search results. That means when someone searches for a product, like “gold necklace with heart charm,” your product could show up in their search results on Google Shopping, YouTube, or Google Images. From there, they can click through to your website to buy it.
These search results catch people at a perfect time to make a sale, since they’re searching with the intent of at least considering a purchase. With the integration, you sync your product listings to Google, so you don’t need to manage each listing individually.
3. Use Squarespace AI for ecommerce success
Squarespace's AI-powered tools offer ecommerce businesses a unique advantage in crafting compelling content that resonates with both users and search engines.
Ask Squarespace AI for keyword-rich product names and descriptions
Squarespace AI’s content generator is built in anywhere you enter text on Squarespace. That includes product description pages. Once you click the lightning bolt icon, ask the tool to generate “a product description for [your product], including the terms [keyword] and [keyword]. The tool will generate compelling product names and descriptions in seconds, which you can edit as needed.
Learn more about generating AI product descriptions
Optimize your existing copy with Squarespace AI
Whether you’re starting from scratch or looking to enhance copy that’s already on your website, Squarespace AI can help you craft compelling website copy that effectively communicates brand messaging, highlights product features, and drives conversions.
Whether it's homepage content, category descriptions, or promotional copy, AI-powered content generation means you can quickly create engaging and persuasive content that resonates with both users and search engines.
Mastering ecommerce SEO requires a multifaceted approach that includes on-page optimization, off-page strategies, technical essentials, and the tools built into your website platform. Implement these tips, tools, and best practices to enhance your online visibility, attract targeted traffic, and drive sustainable growth.