Duplicate content across eCommerce websites:
The most common way this problem crops up is e-commerce site owners simply import product content that the manufacturer provides. Efficient, yes. Effective for eCommerce SEO, not in the least. Regurgitating an equivalent content everyone else has isn’t getting to earn you any priority within the program results pages (SERPs).
We’ve never pretended that SEO is straightforward. If you would like your e-commerce site to face out, you can’t simply copy and paste what others have already placed on online. Google is merely getting to give one website credit for that content and it’s unlikely to be yours.
Invest the time in creating your unique product descriptions. If you’ve got thousands or many thousands of products, you’ll need to be strategic about how you approach this. Start together with your most profitable or highest volume product categories and work your way through them. Top sellers or top opportunities may warrant deep product descriptions with unique images, videos and your opinion. Others may require more detail added to the manufacturer’s description.
I have yet to satisfy the corporate with unlimited writing capacity or allow an SEO company, so strategic thinking is vital.
Poor site usability:
If your e-commerce site isn’t super-fast and straightforward to use, the competition will surpass you.
More often than not, once we do an SEO audit on an e-commerce website, we identify much low hanging fruits. It starts with security. Of course, confirm you’ve got an SSL on your site; that does impact usability and search.
The next most typical problem we see is speed. Take a moment and use Google’s page speed insights tool and check your homepage, a product category page and a detail page. That’ll tell you what you would like to deal with on the speed front.
The next thing I’d suggest you check for is navigation. It should be as consistent and straightforward as possible. If your navigation changes whenever you click, which will be very frustrating for the top user. Have your development team create a navigation architecture that’s clean, simple and consistent across the location.
Lack of product reviews.
To put it simply: Buyers want social proof. Product reviews can seem risky to put right on your website. However, users expect online reviews and that they do matter. They need to understand what others think. The latest e-commerce platforms provide functionality for checks. Don’t be afraid to show them on soliciting them from your customers. Product review plays the most important role in eCommerce SEO.
Most importantly, be transparent. Managing negative reviews can seem intimidating but don’t delete them unless they’re genuinely vulgar. You ought to also reply to reviews, especially any negative ones. This helps build trust and a way of community and appreciation. Use negative reviews as an opportunity to right any wrong which will have occurred and show future customers you genuinely care about their experience.
Poor URL structure
URLs should be human-friendly. If you can’t understand your URLs when watching a product page, you’ve likely got an SEO problem.
Many e-commerce platforms have come an extended way regarding building human-friendly URLs, even right down to the merchandise description level. That said, they certainly aren’t perfect. Take the time to browse to at least one or two of your product categories and a few of the products that are deep within your website. Make sure, in the least times, that you can understand what the URL is telling you about the page you’re on. If it’s confusing or seems like code to you, it’s time for a conversation together with your development team.
Keyword stuffing on product pages:
Don’t just jam keywords where they don’t belong. That’s not SEO. eCommerce SEO is accurately and uniquely describing your products to help the user make an honest decision.
How to fix it? This one is straightforward – don’t do it. If you check out your product descriptions, meta tags, or image alt tags and that they are simply lists of keywords, you’ve got it wrong. Altogether of those cases, the tongue is best. Describe the merchandise or image as you’d if you were lecturing another human.
Learn more about why users, not search engines, should be your top priority.
Poor website architecture
Take the time to plan out user flows and user experience. Confusing website architecture causes users and search engines to bail.
That said, here are a couple of pointers:
make sure that you have one URL to urge to every piece of content, whether that content is marketing content or a product description.
Organize your products into categories and sub-categories as simply as possible. If some products belong in multiple categories, confirm you are not accidentally creating various copies of that product in your CMS.
Keep your navigation user-focused, as simple as possible, and always within the exact location.
Poor architecture not the problem? Inspect our blog covering 13 reasons your eCommerce website could be failing.
Not having a responsive/mobile-friendly website.
Well over 50% of all web traffic is on mobile devices. In 2021 there’s no excuse for having an internet site that’s not responsive if you’re hoping to perform within the e-commerce arena.
If your e-commerce website isn’t already responsively designed, you’ve got an uphill battle from an eCommerce SEO perspective. The times of getting a desktop site and a separate mobile version are behind us (thank goodness!). Responsive design allows us to make one interface that scales and adjusts to the user’s device. If your e-commerce website isn’t responsive, it’s probably time to look at a platform that will allow you to transition.
To wrap things up.
E-commerce isn’t a simple, inexpensive thanks to doing business anymore. The competition is stiff, user expectations are higher, and therefore the PPC market has gotten very expensive in most areas. All these factors make eCommerce SEO one of the most direct investments you’ll make in your e-commerce business. These few common SEO mistakes are likely the start of opportunities you’ll uncover if you opt to venture into an eCommerce SEO strategy.
Read also: What is Local SEO and How Local SEO Work to Grow Your Business?