Want to know the SEO secrets of the best ecommerce sites? Wonder how Amazon or eBay or other big retail sites have managed their sites? In this article, I’ll tell you what kind of on-page SEO elements they have. This is a detailed list of elements that you should definitely consider adding to your ecommerce site. You can consider this as an SEO checklist for your ecommerce site.
Here are a few tricks to consider.
What is local SEO for retail?
Local SEO, or local search-engine optimization, helps local shoppers find your retail store in search engine results. You may think you only need to worry about SEO for your online store, but local SEO for retail is just as important in helping to attract local customers to your physical location.
Local SEO vs. national or global SEO
Local SEO is hyperfocused on the specific location of your retail store. It’s used to optimize your online presence and drive traffic from a specific area to your website and foot traffic to your retail store. National SEO is used to reach customers on a national or global level.
Both strategies are worth working on, especially if you ship nationwide or internationally. But when it comes to attracting more people to your brick-and-mortar store, local SEO is the way to go.
LEARN MORE: To learn more about national SEO for your website or store, checkout this SEO checklist and start ranking on page one!
Local SEO vs. paid search
The main difference between local SEO and paid search is that SEO is organic and paid search is, well, paid. Both come with a cost, because creating SEO content, putting up business listings, and optimizing product pages takes time and effort. But unlike paid search, there is no direct cost to rank on search engines.
Put simply, SEO is used to increase your business’ rankings or visibility in organic search results, and with paid search you can pay for a top spot in search results.
Why is local SEO important for retailers?
Many small businesses struggle to compete with the Amazons of the world. In fact, 89% of local retailers in North America feel they are in direct competition with online retailers. But the times are changing. With the popularity of the “buy local” movement, local retail business owners are benefiting from customers’ desire to support their local community.
Incorporating local SEO into your marketing strategy is crucial in attracting nearby customers to your retail store. In fact, in North America, 57.9% consumers use search engines to find local businesses, making it the top channel for discovery after consumer reviews (41.4%) and product or brand sites (35.7%).
As consumer behavior continues to shift to using the web more to research stores and products, optimizing your online presence to boost local SEO rankings is increasingly important.
How does local SEO work?
Google uses an algorithm to determine what to bring up in search results for specific queries or keywords. Google’s organic algorithm dictates most search results, but with local search results it works slightly differently and surfaces search results based on more factors than the normal search algorithm.
When you’re performing a local search on Google, there are three main components that Google considers:
- Relevance. Is your content relevant to the search query or keyword?
- Prominence. Does your business stand out, is it trustworthy, and is your content accurate?
- Proximity. Is your business actually close to the searcher?
Let’s take a detailed look at each of these.
Relevance
Google’s goal is to surface results that are relevant to the searcher’s query. It’s not only a key factor for local SEO—relevance is vital for standard search as well. It’s an integral component to consider while you’re creating content for local search.
But how can you make sure Google and other search engines find your business relevant? Start by making sure you’re targeting keywords or phrases that potential local shoppers might be searching for.
For example, if you sell kitchen accessories at your boutique that’s located in Brooklyn, NY, you’ll want to focus on keywords and phrases such as “kitchen accessories store Brooklyn” or “kitchen accessories Brooklyn,” or you could drill down even further to specific products that your target customers might search for. “Wooden cutting board Brooklyn,” “salad bowl Brooklyn,” and “ceramic bowl Brooklyn” are a few examples.
The best ways to let Google know about your business’ relevance are:
- Incorporating the right keywords into your business descriptions and content
- Creating content that’s relevant to your business and customers
- Choosing the right category when listing your business on directories
- Spending time to improve your on-page SEO (more on this below)
- Adding schema markup to your website to help search engines surface informative results for users
- Building backlinks from local and other relevant websites
Prominence
In the context of local SEO, prominence is how well your retail business stands out from your competitors. Google also looks at whether your business is trustworthy and whether the information and content you publish is accurate.
The more prominent your business is online, the better it is for local SEO. This makes it easier for Google and other search engines to find and validate your company, and a strong and active online presence helps Google flag your business as trustworthy and credible. All of these factors can help you rank higher in organic search results.
Here are a few ways you can improve and sustain your businesses prominence:
- Getting more customer reviews on your website and on other sites like Google and Facebook
- Being active on social media networks and, if possible, getting your profiles verified
- Getting local press and/or working with bloggers so there are more mentions of your business online
- Building backlinks from local news sites or other websites
- Creating relevant content that lives on your website and sharing it across social media
- Curating and sharing content from other sources that’s relevant to your business
- Listing your business in directories that are relevant to your business
Proximity
After relevance and prominence, the last ranking factor for local SEO is proximity. It’s also the most important local ranking factor.
As a local retail business, you’ll want to make sure Google is pulling up your store in results when people in your town are searching for relevant topics.
There are three ways shoppers might search for a local business including:
- Non-geo-modified
- Geo-modified
- Near me
To let Google know your proximity, it’s important to consider the user’s search intent and optimize for the various ways a potential local customer might search for your products.
Here are examples of each type of search:
Non-geo-modified search
In this type of search, the user does not include the location in their query. It’s a broader search, but should still be considered while optimizing content. For example, “kitchen accessories” could be a target keyword phrase for your kitchen accessories boutique.
Geo-modified search
This type of search includes the location, such as the city, general area, or neighborhood, the shopper types in. For example, “kitchen accessories in Brooklyn” could be a target keyword phrase a potential customer uses if they live in Brooklyn and are looking for kitchen accessories.
Near me search
In a near-me search, the user indicates they want search results for nearby businesses. For example, “kitchen accessories near me” or “buy kitchen accessories near me” could both be phrases that the shopper types into Google Search.
💡PRO TIP: Get the Ubersuggest Chrome extension, so you can get a quick view of keyword monthly search volume when you plug search queries into Google.
The key is to make sure Google knows where your business is by listing your address on your website and adding location details to your business listings, social media, and anywhere else your business has an online presence.
As I mentioned above, building local backlinks, creating local content, listing your business in local directories, and more will all help you appear in local search results.
Google.com: The Legend
What it is: Although this search engine likely doesn’t need an introduction, Google is the place where most search queries happen (approximately 66%, compared to Bing’s 33%).
How retailers can use it: While users turn to Google to perform searches, retailers can use it as a source of information. Notice how, as you search, Google offers predicted text? This is based on similar searches to your own, indicating that these are related phrases to your content.
Let’s say you sell fanny packs. Type “fanny packs” in the Google search bar. Notice the predicted searches.
Now scroll to the bottom, and see what else Google suggests.
Google’s recommended searches indicate that these are the similar phrases people are searching on Google. This can help you determine what you should be saying online.
For example, maybe you refer to your fanny packs as cute and fashionable. You’ll also want to highlight any pink fanny packs and men’s fanny packs that you have for sale.
If you want to dig even further, type in one of those related terms (manually, so you get the predicted search again) and see what that tells you.
“Fanny pack pink” reveals interest in neon pink, cheap, free and sale fanny packs. If it’s relevant to your brand and products, make sure there is content on your site related to those keywords. To attract in-store traffic, host an event where you have pink fanny packs on sale — along with a free gift for qualified purchases.
Majestic: Backlink Breakdown
What it is: In a few words, Majestic tells you if other websites are linking to yours. But it does more than identification: You’ll also see URL anchor text, backlink types, quality of backlinks, backlink history and more. It’s everything you need to find out what and how other sites are directing their users to yours.
How retailers can use it: When you know how and from where consumers are coming to your site, you can get better insight into who they are. This allows you to serve their needs better, both by offering products they’ll buy and content they’ll want.
If you see another local business linking to your site, share the link love, and then consider whether a partnership or collaboration makes sense. This can create opportunities you wouldn’t have known otherwise.
PageSpeed Insights: Page Load Police
What it is: When it comes to SEO, Google cares a lot about your site content, but it also considers how long it takes for a user to load your page. As Google continues to improve the experience for users, it will serve pages that also provide a good experience. And if your page takes too long to load, that’s not a great experience.
PageSpeed Insights is a product by Google that will tell you how fast your pages load, as well as provide suggestions for improvement.
How retailers can use it: The answer here is pretty straightforward. Plug in your URL, then pass the insights along to your developer. Though it seems simple, it’s becoming increasingly important.
One habit you should adopt that can help with this issue is making sure any images on your site are optimized for the web. This includes any images of your store on your site, as well as all your product images.
Check out these 10 image optimization tips, and you can also use our free and simple image resizer.
Ahrefs: Search, Backlinks and Social
What it is: Ahrefs is a tool that wears many hats. It originally launched as a backlink profiler, similar to Majestic, but has since expanded its offerings to include social shares and both organic and paid search insights.
How retailers can use it: Ahrefs has a vast offering of features, providing a number of possibilities for retailers. Use the backlink profiler as you would Majestic, identify which pages are the most-shared on social networks, and determine which pages perform the best in organic search (and for which terms).
Taking a holistic approach to each of these categories can reveal common themes and user behavior. Look for who’s sharing your most-shared content and what they’re saying about it. Direct quotes from consumers offer the best qualitative insights that you can distribute to your sales, product, support and other teams.
SEMrush: Competitive Analysis (and Then Some)
What it is: Though SEMrush hangs its hat on its promise for customers to “benefit from your competitors,” it does a lot more than provide a detailed analysis on your competitors’ SEO and paid ads:
- Display ad opportunities
- Backlink analysis
- Video ad research
- SEO and PPC keyword research
- Product ads
- Site audit
- Brand monitoring
- Social media listening and management
How retailers can use it: Though all the features are valuable, some of the most value for retailers lies in the product ads.
With this, you can identify which ads you’re competing against, and compare your ads to theirs. From this information, you’ll be able to determine how to beat out your competition and sell more products.
Conclusion
On-page seo is that one thing that’s necessary for every website, no matter what it is used for. We are all aware of the major role On-page seo has in making your website rank higher in Google. While other factors like backlinks, social signals and stuff play their little part, the average seo factor even without traffic is google rank visibilty. This means that your rankings are visible to many people through the search engines while your actual site stays hidden behind a link.