There’s no doubting the popularity of ecommerce websites. In fact, statistics show that the average consumer in the United States spends almost $1,800 annually on ecommerce transactions. With that in mind, you might be feeling frustrated by the results of your company’s ecommerce efforts. If you’re wanting to increase the popularity of your website, it helps to utilize a few SEO or search engine optimization tips. Considering that, here is how ecommerce website owners can employ proper SEO best practices.
How SEO Affects Your Ecommerce Website
Many factors go into obtaining online sales. One study looked into the top three concerns consumers had while making online purchasing decisions. The results of this study found that price was the most important factor, followed by shipping speed and discounts. Before this happens, consumers have to be able to find your company’s website. This is where the importance of SEO enters the picture. By practicing proper ecommerce web development techniques, your website can begin to increase its search engine rankings. With that in mind, here are four tips to improve the optimization of your ecommerce website.
Boost Your Website’s Loading Speed
In this day and age, people aren’t going to wait for websites that load slowly. A recent study found that a website has 10 seconds to make an impression on a consumer. This impression needs to instantly let consumers know what they’re getting from your company’s website. If your website takes longer than 10 seconds to load, these consumers are likely going to be visiting another website. Oftentimes, this is the website of one of your competitors. To avoid this problem, utilize one of many online website speed tests. In turn, you’ll know how fast your company’s website is and if any issues are causing slow speeds.
Implement a Long Tail Keyword Strategy
One of the most important aspects of effective SEO is competition research. This means knowing which websites you’re competing with for search engine rankings. In certain situations, keywords will be competitive. These keywords often are dominated by authoritative companies. If you’re wanting to avoid this, consider finding long tail or less competitive keywords. In turn, your ecommerce website will soon begin taking over these searches.
Perform a Link Audit
Understandably, the word audit sends shiver up many people’s spines. Fortunately, link audits are much different than what you’re thinking of. A link audit simply means checking your website to ensure that all internal links work properly. It’s also wise to check that links pointing to other sites are also in good shape. You’ve probably experienced the frustration that comes with watching a website load, only to see a 404 error pop up. Considering that, you don’t want customers to deal with this type of frustration. It’s well worth the time it takes to perform a link audit. Also, it ensures that customers have a great experience while visiting your company’s website.
Target Keywords with Proper Image Tagging
No ecommerce website is complete with an extensive array of images. These images allow a customer to see how a product looks. While you might know to place images on your website, you’ll also want to ensure you’re tagging them. In the world of ecommerce web development, these tags are created for search engine bots. As these bots visit your website, they’ll instantly know what it’s about. It’s wise to include relevant keywords in image titles, descriptions, and alt tags.
In conclusion, SEO plays an extremely important role in the success of a website. However, you might find that you have no time to learn the ins and outs of ecommerce web development. If you don’t want to spend time tinkering with a website, consider partnering with a web design agency. In turn, this agency can begin to understand the needs of your company. Taking this information, a digital marketing agency will create a customized ecommerce web development strategy for your business.
