SEO for Ecommerce: A Guide to Content Generation

Improve the SEO rankings of your ecommerce site with a list of keywords and fresh content.

Finding keywords and generating content to infuse with those keywords is crucial for search engine optimization.  The more content you have on your site, the more chances you have to increase your ranking.  Pretty straightforward if you run a blog, but what about e-commerce sites?  If you aren’t constantly writing and posting new content, how do you improve your SEO rankings? Since we regularly work with ecommerce clients, we have some ideas to help you start improving the search engine rankings of your ecommerce site.

Research Keywords and Your Competition

Keyword research is still important when trying to improve your ecommerce site ranking.  To begin compiling your list, start by putting yourself in your customer’s shoes and write out any words or phrases they might enter to find your product.  Type possible keywords into google to see what auto-filled suggestions come up.  Once you’ve found some good keywords, search for them to see which sites are targeting them.  By doing this you can begin to understand who your major competition is, if it is worth competing with them for keywords, or if certain keywords aren’t a good match.  Create a master list of any keywords that might be a fit for you and your site.

Use Those Long-Tail Keywords

Simple keywords that are only one or two words will yield a large number of page results and will also be highly competitive, making them difficult to rank for.  While you eventually will want to target these broad keywords, when starting out we recommend that you focus on long tail keywords.  These are keywords that are a phrase of three or more words, usually describing a particular product.  Because long-tail keywords are more niche, they have a lower search volume but are less competitive.  Buyers who are searching with these keywords are usually looking for something specific and are ready to buy.  Ideally, by targeting long-tail keywords you’re increasing the potential for making more sales while also ranking higher for less competitive keywords.

Create Product Pages With Descriptions And Images

A good way to generate content for you site and utilize your list of keywords is to create product pages.  Each product you offer should have its own page with a description of what the product is, including any keywords that you’re looking to target.  Do not copy and paste a description from a manufacturer’s website, as this will hurt your rankings.  Instead make sure that every product description is unique to your website.  Include an image of the product on each product pages and write a description for these images (and any other image on your site).  Search engines don’t have eyes to see images so including a description in the form of an alt tag helps them understand what the image is.  This gives search engines context and a better understanding of what your site is about, improving your ranking.

Use Inbound Links

Inbound linking is when another website links to your site and is a great way to boost your SEO.  The better the reputation of the website that points to you, the more authority and credibility you will get (along with an increase in traffic).  Search engines put a lot of stock in inbound links as these are seen as the hardest to manipulate.  Look at ways to form meaningful relationships with other people in your industry as well as your own customers, so that you can start acquiring those all-important external mentions and links.

Create Educational Content

If there is any opportunity to teach your potential customers about what you’re offering on your site, take it.  You can create pages, images, or videos teaching people about your products and how to use them.  Or find creative and new ways to use and talk about known products.  Think of possible questions or problems customers might have and then educate them on how your product is the answer.  By positioning yourself as an educator and a knowledgeable expert, you’re establishing trust and credibility with your customer and search engines.

Add Product Reviews

If you’re selling something, having space for product reviews can be invaluable.  These days most people rely on unbiased reviews to help make their buying decisions.  Having immediate access to these reviews makes it easy for customers to weigh their options and decide what they want.  Product reviews are also great for providing you with consistent content.  The more reviews you gather, the more information buyers have about your product and the more value it provides to your SEO rankings.  (Bonus: you can also add to your review section by recommending similar products, known as cross-sales, to encourage visitors to explore your site and learn more about your products.)

There are many ways to increase your SEO rankings for e-commerce sites.  We hope we’ve given you some ideas to try out and see what works for you and your customers.  It is important to remember to always create and write content for your customers, rather than search engines.  Really take the time to understand your customer and their needs, looking for ways to engage with them and keep them interested.  By taking the customer into account, search engines will reward you over time with higher rankings.