If you wish to sell goods or services over the internet, you will first need to ensure that potential customers can locate you.
If people can’t find you in their search online, it doesn’t matter if you have a beautifully designed website that offers the best products at the most competitive prices.
The higher you come in the rankings, the better.
If your page is ranked first for a particular keyword, it will receive ten times the amount of clicks as if it were ranked tenth. In addition, the click-through rate for websites found on the second page of Google is typically lower than 1%.
Your search engine optimization efforts will come in handy at this point.
If you have a higher ranking in the search results, people will find you easier. And the more people who visit your website, the better your chances are of making a sale.
TIPS TO OPTIMIZE SEO:
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Identify relevant keywords and phrases.
Words that people use to search for things on the internet are referred to as keywords. These phrases you need to concentrate on to be visible to prospective clients looking for products similar to yours. You are free to use as many keywords as you like, but it is essential to disperse the emphasis across your content.
Your objective is to provide Google with information about the content of each page on your website, hoping that it will appear in relevant search results. Refrain from concentrating on multiple keywords for each page; doing so will only cloud the issue.
Instead, you should optimize one term (or two) per page, product, or category. But how do you decide which keywords are the most effective to use?
Here are some tips:
- Begin with the information you already have. Create a list that includes what you have to offer and any relevant terms. If you sell products for pets, the items on this list could include things like “ID tags,” “toy mice,” or “dog food.” These terms have a fairly broad meaning.
- Take a look at the numbers. You should also investigate any existing analytics and data to determine the keywords people are already using to locate you. Utilizing tools such as Google Analytics and Moz Keyword Explorer can greatly assist.
- Strike a balance between the search volume and the competition: It would be best to find keywords that many people are searching for, but you also need to ensure that they are keywords you can rank for. You should focus on relevant search terms with a high search volume and are not overly difficult to rank for. On the other hand, you should aim for some lofty phrases as well, so long as you are aware that this is more of a strategy for the long term.
- Consider the goals of the end user. The purpose for which a user searches the internet is known as the user’s user intent. The act of making a purchase is an excellent user intent to have when interacting with an online store.
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Craft carefully considered product descriptions.
To get started, consider the kinds of information that may be of assistance to potential customers. Depending on the products you sell, this might include measurements, ingredient lists, age ranges, or specific instructions.
Does the aroma of your candle take you to a secluded grove of trees in the fall?
Is your a-line dress ideal for a night spent partying in the city?
Do you have any plans to incorporate your blocks into a STEM program?
Discuss that in your writing.
And remember to incorporate the keywords you picked for each product page wherever appropriate. However, you shouldn’t just cram them there as often as possible. Instead, work them into the content you are already writing in a natural way.
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Avoid creating duplicate content whenever possible.
Text posted on the internet more than once, either on your website or on another person’s website, is considered duplicate content. Duplicate content is something that search engines like Google despise for the simple reason that it’s just confusing. They cannot determine which version is the definitive, authoritative one; as a result, they are still determining which version should take first place.
Double-check your URL structure. Look out for things like session IDs, tracking links, and pagination issues.
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Use strategic keywords in anchor text
Internal links, also known as links to other content on your site, are extremely valuable in search engine optimization (SEO). They are an excellent way to assist Google in comprehending the relationship that exists between all of your pages.
But when you are creating these links, you shouldn’t just use phrases like “click here” or “check this out” as your anchor text. Instead, try something more unique, and include your keywords wherever it is appropriate.
For instance, you shouldn’t say, “click here for our list of the top toys for toddlers.” Rather than that, you should say something along the lines of, “our list of the best toys has even more great gift ideas!”
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Make the URL structure easy for search engines to crawl
First and foremost, excellent URLs deliver an excellent user experience by giving site visitors a sneak peek at the page’s content.
The same is done for search engines as well, though.
Your URLs should be brief, clear, and descriptive. Therefore, you should avoid using a product URL like example.com/store/products/374820/show if you sell French presses, for instance. Try something like example.com/machines/french-press as an alternative. See how much easier that is to use?
Additionally, it would help if you used keywords when appropriate.
Your primary attention should be on the user experience on your website.
A keyword can be inserted into the URL, though, and it will still flow naturally.
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Use alt text for your images
Your images are not actually “seen” by search engines. How, then, do they know what is shown in each image? Alt text.
Every image on your website should have an alt text caption that contains your target keyword and is as illustrative as possible.
The most important part is the second sentence: your aim should be to describe your image so that even someone who cannot see it can comprehend. Why? Because screen readers also read images to people with vision impairments using alt text.
Please add a target keyword!
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Use Google Ads to test your targets
Keep in mind the significance of user intent. If you spend countless hours and money to rank for a particular term, you want to avoid finding that it only draws in visitors who have no interest in your products or services.
Paying for placement temporarily is a relatively cheap way to assess the value of ranking for a term, and Google Ads enables you to do just that.
Setting up a campaign and tracking your results are simple with the Google Listings & Ads extension. Make an ad group that contains only a few extremely specific terms. To ensure that your ads only appear when people search for terms that are closely related to the ones you’re targeting, enclose your keywords in brackets [] or quotation marks “.
If conversions are correctly enabled, you can determine whether the traffic from those keywords leads to actual purchases.
To assess the caliber of the traffic it generates, compare the results of that campaign to those of your other campaigns or other store metrics.
If the paid campaign is profitable, you can keep running it until you achieve organic rankings and top placement for nothing!
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Avoid broken links
Broken links could be clearer for search engines as well as your website’s visitors. Links do, after all, aid Google in comprehending the layout of your site and establishing your credibility as a source of reliable information.
Therefore, you can use tools like Screaming Frog or the Broken Link Checker plugin to keep an eye on things. Additionally, consider implementing a 301 redirect to inform search engines that a link has been updated if the URL of a page changes.
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Speed up your site
It’s not surprising that search engines take speed into account when ranking your pages because a quick-loading website is essential for a great user experience.
Here are some pointers to make sure your store is quick:
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- Image optimization: Use only the largest file size required, and whenever possible, compress media files.
- Configure caching: By caching, you enable visitors to load your website much more quickly the next time they visit. Use a plugin like WP Super Cache to configure this.
- Think of a CDN: To speed up file loading, a content delivery network (CDN) stores large files off-site. Additionally, it loads your website from distributed servers that are closest to the visitor’s location. A great free WordPress CDN is offered by Jetpack.
- Pick a fantastic host: This lays the groundwork for a fast website.
- Use a few fewer plugins overall: The more code and plugins you have, the heavier your website will be. Install only what is necessary, and think about using tools like Jetpack with multiple uses.
- Regular Updates: Updates frequently contain faster-loading code optimizations for WordPress, your theme, and your plugins. Additionally, it’s necessary for functionality and security!
- Improve your code: With just a few clicks, you can lazy load images, defer non-essential Javascript, and optimize your CSS structure using a tool like Jetpack Boost.
The most important tip? Focus on user experience
The tips here all have one thing in common: they focus on real people.
Search engines aim to provide the best possible results for their searchers. If you take the time to focus on your audience and provide them with a great experience, you’ll be well on your way to excellent search engine optimization.