While eCommerce SEO is very similar to regular SEO, there are a number of additional considerations to review when optimizing your online store for search. In this presentation we review some of the mot common issues and associated best practices.

1. eCommerce SEO

2. eCommerce SEO is very
similar to regular SEO.
You just have a lot more
moving parts to watch.
!
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3. Keyword Research
Similar to regular SEO, keyword research should be a core part of your
marketing plan. You have to know what buyers are searching for so know how
best to position your products.
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Common Problems: Online store launched without any keyword research
Haphazard or quick keyword review
Very broad keywords that are difficult to rank
Keywords that not relevant to actual buyers
Best Prac1ce: Research products, manufactures, and compe@tors
Create a seed list for products, categories, and topics
Pull search volumes for possible keywords
Rank keywords for relevance
Helpful Tools: Google Adwords Keyword Planner
Moz Keyword Explorer
KW Finder
semrush
SpyFu

4. Site Mapping
Site mapping is critical for ecommerce based websites, because it is very easy to
compete with yourself due to the cross over of products, categories, tags, and
topical areas.
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Common Problems: Lack of structure and planning
Primary keywords are assigned to products
Keyword phrase used more than once as focus
Best Prac1ce: Assign highest priority keywords to categories
Create topical areas for seasonal or clearance items
Extend usage into comparison and buyer guides
Keep overall structure no more then 3 clicks deep
Helpful Tools: DynoMapper
WriteMaps
Screaming Frog SEO Spider Tool

5. Site Mapping
Search Phrase
Ugg Boots
Results 1 – 3
Manufacturer or Brand
Results 4 – 5
Reseller Category
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6. SEO Friendly URLs
SEO friendly URLs help search engines understand a website’s architecture and
the structure of the content.
They also help users quickly find products.
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Common Problems: Convoluted URLs without structure
Constantly changing URLs due to category modifica@ons
Extremely long URLs with mul@ple layers
Best Prac1ce: Human readable URLs
Focused keyword phrase within URL
Set limit at three levels deep
Consistent usage or use of 301 redirects
Helpful Tools: DynoMapper
WriteMaps
Screaming Frog SEO Spider Tool

7. Duplicate Content
Duplicate content (in this case) refers to the same content displayed under
different URLs within the same website.
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Common Problems: Non-canonical URLs
Session IDs
Duplicate URL paths due to mul@ple categories
Best Prac1ce: Keep URLs clean
Set any areas of duplica@ons as no index
Watch category usage within URLs carefully
Helpful Tools: DynoMapper
Screaming Frog SEO Spider Tool
Winter Boots Adirondack II /winter-boots/adirondack-ii/
Snow Boots Adirondack II /snow-boots/adirondack-ii/

8. Product Descriptions
If you want your store to rank over other stores, you have to give search engines
a reason to elevate you in search. One way to accomplish this task is through
high quality product descriptions.
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Common Problems: Limited product descrip@ons
Manufacturer’s descrip@on as only content
Bullet list of words and no actual sentences
Best Prac1ce: Create unique, keyword rich descrip@ons
U@lize manufacturer’s descrip@ons, but augment
Review compe@tor websites and write beZer, more
descrip@ve content
Helpful Tools: Google Search Console
DynoMapper

9. Category pages also need
descriptions.
Don’t just list products.
Tell search engines and users
what is listed on the page.
!
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10. Manufacturer Part Numbers
Consumers search for manufacturer part numbers when needing specific
products. Optimizing for these data points will help increase search and shorten
the sales cycle.
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Common Problems: Missing or incomplete manufacturer part numbers
Best Prac1ce: Include complete manufacturer part numbers in one or
more of the following places:
- Descrip@on
- Product name
- H1
- URL
- Meta @tle and descrip@on
- Short descrip@ons for list based pages
- Image file name and alt text

11. Meta Titles and Descriptions
Meta titles and descriptions give search engines and users an idea of what the
page is about and what they should expect to see as they digest the content.
These data points appears in search engines result pages.
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Common Problems: Duplicate meta @tles and descrip@ons across products
Keyword stuffing within meta @tles and descrip@ons
Best Prac1ce: Create unique meta for each product
Include focused keyword if applicable
Add in offers to help set you apart in SERPs
Helpful Tools: Yoast SEO
All in One SEO
DynoMapper
Screaming Frog SEO Spider Tool
Mozbar
Google Search Console

12. Meta
Search Phrase
site:ugg.com/uk/
womens boots
Ask yourself this:
Can you tell the
difference between
the search results?
You can, because
good meta titles and
descriptions make that
possible.
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13. Breadcrumbs
ü Improved usability and helps eliminates additional clicks
ü Shows hierarchy
ü Reduces bounce rates
ü Helps with search engine optimization
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Common Problems: 23% don’t have breadcrumbs at all
68% suffer from sub-par breadcrumb implementa@ons
Best Prac1ce: Implement breadcrumbs on category and product pages
Style so they are easy to read and use
Check mobile devices to make sure they are usable
Helpful Tools: Breadcrumb NavXTb
Yoast SEO

14. Link Building
ü Internal linking is important because it tells search engines which content is
most important
ü Inbound linking is important because it demonstrates authority and relevance
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Common Problems: Limited inbound linking strategy
Broken links
Lack of 301 redirect usage
Limited or no inbound linking efforts
Best Prac1ce: Use internal linking to support top SEO focused content
Use 301 redirects and use them wisely
Build inbound links to support top SEO focused content
Helpful Tools: SpyFu
Ahrefs
Moz Open Site Explorer

15. Social Media
ü Facebook dominates social media traffic and conversions
ü Facebook accounts for 50% of social referrals and 64% of total social
revenue
ü 87% of Pinterest users have purchased an item because of Pinterest
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Common Problems: Dormant social accounts with liZle ac@vity
Lack of social sharing icons for visitors to use on products
Failure to build communi@es and engagement
Best Prac1ce: Ac@vely engage with social media users
Ac@vely share content from the en@re website and store
Build a community first and sell second
Helpful Tools: AddThis Share BuZons
Shareaholic
Ul@mate Social Media
Mashshare
Hootsuite

16. Schema and Rich Snippets
ü Structured data helps Google understand the content on your site, which can
be used to display rich snippets in search results.
ü Rich snippets can also help with click through rates.
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Common Problems: No schema
Incorrectly applied schema
Best Prac1ce: Allow product reviews
Apply product based schema
Validate schema is correct via external sources
Helpful Tools: Google’s Structured Data Tes@ng Tool
Yoast WooCommerce SEO
Schema WooCommerce Plugin by Schema App

17. XML Sitemaps
An XML sitemap is a file where you can list the content within your site to tell
Google and other search engines about the organization of your content.
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Common Problems: Missing
Incomplete
Errors
Best Prac1ce: Set XML map to automa@cally update
Connect to Google, Bing, and other search engines
Include products, categories, tags, and topic areas
Validate and check for errors
Helpful Tools: Yoast SEO
All in One SEO
Google Search Console
Bing Webmaster Tools
hZp://tools.seochat.com/tools/site-validator/

18. Mobile Responsive
ü Mobile commerce is now 30% of all U.S. ecommerce
ü By 2020, mobile commerce will make up 45 percent of total ecommerce
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Common
Problems:
Lack of mobile website
Unexpected redirects to desktop site
Hidden or lack of informa@on
Large images which impact performance
Checkout processes that are not op@mized
Best Prac1ce: Op@mize the checkout process for mobile
Make user reviewed easy to locate
Compress images to improve page speed
Helpful Tools: hZp://ready.mobi/
hZps://crossbrowsertes@ng.com/
hZp://ami.responsivedesign.is/

19. Speed and Performance
ü 40% of people abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load
ü A 1 second delay in page response can reduce conversions 7%
ü If an ecommerce site is making $100,000 per day, a 1 second page delay
could potentially cost you $2.5 million in lost sales every year
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Common Problems: Slow and sluggish page loads due to large images, poor
code, or cheap website hos@ng
Best Prac1ce: Use cache plugins
Use CDNs
Compress images
Purchase high quality hos@ng
Helpful Tools: Google PageSpeed Insights
Pingdom Tools
GTmetrix
WP Engine WordPress Speed Test

20. QUESTIONS & ANSWERS?
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21. Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved
Rebecca GillWordPress Agency Owner & SEO Instructor
@rebeccagill
RebeccaGill.com