The number of online stores today is so large that it's easy to get lost in the competition. No matter how good the products are - and even if they perform better than in direct comparison, there are so many stores that it has almost become a supreme discipline to be seen. Because only those who appear high up in the rankings (and of course also use other marketing measures correctly) have a chance of being bought in the store. What's more: New stores and sales via dropshipping are not decreasing either. The light at the end of the tunnel? Using a targeted SEO strategy to rank the product and category pages in the store so highly that visibility generally increases and thus also with the desired target group. 

What is e-commerce SEO? 

E-commerce SEO encompasses the process of targeted optimization of an online store to increase its visibility and ranking in search engines such as Google. The focus here is on improving the performance of category and product pages, as these usually generate the highest turnover. The aim is to place these pages ahead of the competition, which is often more cost-effective than expensive paid advertising. 

It involves both content and technical adjustments to comply with existing guidelines and specifications and with the help of various on-page and off-page measures, the "visibility ladder" can be climbed further. A detailed product description alone is not enough to achieve successful search engine optimization in e-commerce. 

Tips for your online store 

Tips from the "Technical SEO" section. 

Point 1: Your site must be secure, we are talking about the "S" in "HTTPS". If this is not the case, you should urgently change this, because not only search engines attach great importance to this, but also browser systems such as Chrome or Safari. 

Point 2: The structure of your store should be set up in such a way that navigation is as simple as possible. The most common structure is: Home > Category > Subcategory > Product. This structure also helps Google to understand how your store is structured. Therefore good for the ranking. 

Point 3: Offer filter options and make them as diverse as possible. Don't just filter by size, but also by color, price, ratings, etc. This also helps the ranking. However, make sure that your URL remains readable, otherwise Google will find it more difficult to crawl. 

Continue with: Keywords 

Keywords are the basic building blocks of SEO - and of SEA (i.e. search engine advertising) too. The first step is to carry out keyword research. However, as there are many clever minds who have already written hundreds of articles on this, we'll link you to one here instead of going through it all again. Like the one from Ahrefs, for example. 

Sodala, now you've learned that and know what terms your target group is searching for. Now it's time to fill your category and subcategory pages with these keywords in a meaningful way.

This is no longer just about search volume, but more about using common sense. 

An example: You sell headphones from different manufacturers, but not from big companies like Apple or Bose. You should therefore focus on keywords that describe the features of your headphone brands rather than using search terms such as "Bose" just because it is searched for a lot. Right, right?

You also need keywords for your product pages themselves, but it's only advisable to research "extra" keywords if you don't have any branded products or are building your own brand. Otherwise, it's all about providing the text for your product with the most relevant terms and at the same time trying to describe features, highlight benefits and, ideally, give the customer the feeling that they can become the hero of their own story through your product. It's classic storytelling. 

Next: On-page and off-page SEO 

There are two central areas in SEO: OnPage and OffPage SEO. On-page SEO refers to all measures that are carried out directly on the page, such as the optimization of images to achieve shorter loading times, or meta descriptions, title tags and so on. Off-page SEO, on the other hand, includes all measures that take place outside your own website, with link building playing a particularly important role.

Another article from Ahrefs has more information about on-page SEO, including pictures and examples, so take a look here.

Let's move on to off-page SEO: The most important factor here - outside the page - are the links. Compared to other sites, link building is a little more complicated because people rarely link to products from external sites, unless it's for reviews and feedback. The easiest way to get people to leave feedback on your products is to give them something in return (e.g. a discount on another order). This way you can help ensure that there are links pointing to your products. But there are even more methods in off-page SEO and good luck! There is another article we can link you to here: 13 methods for off-page SEO from Semrush.

What else? 

The technical aspects have been taken into account, the right keywords have been chosen, on-page and off-page SEO have been ticked off - what else needs to be done now?

You read about it everywhere and for a few years now you could almost think that it has become a buzzword, but no: content marketing is and remains super important. 

Content marketing is also important for an e-commerce store in the SEO sector, because it's never just about the right keywords or the right terms for product categories. Content must be relevant and useful for the reader. So it is not enough to describe that the coffee machine can make coffee, but it is important that potential buyers understand how full-bodied the taste is, thanks to the unique nature of your coffee machine. 

Once you have found the right keywords, you should then look at them from different angles and incorporate contextual knowledge - always from the perspective of a potential buyer and always in order to answer the question for this potential buyer: "What's in it for me?" 

Summary

SEO is not an end in itself and it is not enough to write texts that are easy to read. Of course, readability is essential, because otherwise nobody will look at it. But the texts must be informative and relevant for the user, offer added value, contain the right keywords, be short and concise, but still contain everything important and then, of course, the style should not be completely neglected. 

SEO in the e-commerce sector is very important, because with the large number of stores on the World Wide Web, the competition is just as fierce as with classic websites. So if you haven't thought about it yet, get on your laptop and do some research. The good news is that there are many very useful articles that can help you. 

You can also find more articles from us on the F7 blog.