The number of businesses implementing eCommerce sites and selling their products in the digital space is rapidly growing. If you’re thinking about joining the bandwagon, start off the right foot by implementing SEO best practices.

The purpose of Search Engine Optimization is to improve your rankings in search engines and drive more organic traffic. In other words, when you appear on Google’s page one, people will come to your website and, very likely, make a purchase.

SEO stats show that search is the primary traffic source for shopping websites:

• Search engines drive ten times more traffic to shopping sites than social media.
• Google is responsible for nearly 95% of all organic traffic coming from search engines.
• Nearly 65% of global respondents trust online search engines, especially when conducting research on a business.
• More than 60% of marketers say improving SEO and growing organic visibility is their top marketing priority.

Obviously, you should seriously consider making SEO an important part of your growth plan.

Proper SEO for eCommerce websites includes adding relevant keywords in the product descriptions and blog posts, a robust web of internal links, external links to industry experts, a good backlink portfolio, and optimized loading speed.

Here are the top 3 benefits of SEO for your eCommerce website.

1. Growing Profit and Revenue by Increasing Traffic

If done properly, SEO will bring tons of relevant traffic to your eCommerce site. For instance, if someone is searching for a specific product on Google and your site appears in the search, the search result is very likely to turn into a purchase. This is because the user found exactly what he was looking for in a matter of seconds.

SEO also serves as an opportunity for people to find your business easily without leaving their homes. Take a look at these stats:

• After conducting a local search, half of the mobile users visit the store within a day.
• Nearly 30% of searches for something nearby result in a purchase.
• More than 70% of customers who did a local search visited stores within 5 miles.

2. Improving the User Experience

In the last few years, online shopping has been on the rise:

• According to Statista, eCommerce was responsible for more than $2 trillion in sales in 2017 and it’s expected to reach $4.5 trillion by 2021.
• In the States, eCommerce represents nearly 10% of all retail sales and this figure is expected to grow by around 15% a year!

Obviously, people enjoy shopping online.

While most experts may look at SEO from the search engine perspective, improving the user experience will help you make the process of converting visitors into leads and sales. So, besides focusing on persuading search crawlers to rank your website higher, you should take your SEO strategy one step further and look to improve the UX.

If you drive traffic to a site that is difficult to navigate or potential customers can’t find your contact info to get in touch with you, then you’re risking losing sales. By improving these things, you’ll improve your SEO.

Search engines take into consideration a number of factors such as the time users spend on your site, content engagement, bounce rates, etc. Google even provides you with tools like Google Search Console and Google Analytics to help you track website visitors’ behavior and improve metrics such as these.

When visitors enjoy using your website, they are more likely to make purchases. In addition, as rearranging the site’s links and architecture is one of SEO key components, it also helps make your site easier to navigate for users, and easier to crawl for search engine bots.

There are a few SEO tactics you can use to improve your site’s UX: improve the site’s hierarchy by grouping related services and products in easy to find clusters, improve the onsite content, mobile experience, loading speeds, etc.

3. Building Your Brand

When it comes to building your brand, your focus should be primarily on your website’s blog.

As people are naturally drawn to stories, telling the story of your brand will help you build trust and allow customers a glimpse into the journey of your brand. While doing that, make sure to use the targeted keywords and phrases to fuel your rankings.

In addition, offer high-quality blogs that are useful to your customers. This will help you position your site as an authority and a trusted source in your industry.

Finally, work on gaining links from sites that are authoritative not only in the eyes of the search bots but human users too.

Bear in mind that it is, in fact, your customers who define your brand, not you. Your job is to offer content, information, and experience (testimonials, reviews, personalized experience) to help your customers form an idea that eventually comes together into this thing we call a ‘brand’.

Another important aspect is that when your website is on Google’s page 1, it is an affirmation for customers that your eCommerce store is better than those that rank below you. You are no. 1 in the SERPs, which means that you’re the best online shop to buy products from.

Should You Hire an SEO Agency?

If SEO seems too overwhelming to you, consider hiring a professional SEO agency that will take care of your web presence.

Choosing a good SEO agency isn’t easy but there are a lot of great firms out there. Take your time to go through the agency’s SEO proposal template, its knowledge and processes, referrals and previously established relationships, case studies, online reviews, and client references.

Should You Consider Selling Your eCommerce Business?

Once your e-store starts bringing solid profits, you might want to consider putting your eCommerce business for sale. We suggest partnering with a website broker. A good website broker has legal and financial teams that will provide advice, guidance and other resources necessary to make the transaction happen.