Top 10 E-commerce SEO Trends To Implement in 2018
In the world of online shopping, business owners can’t afford to be without an e-commerce platform. Ecommerce is quickly becoming the most popular way to shop and it doesn’t look like it’s slowing down anytime soon. Whether you’re just starting out or you’re looking to branch out in revenue sources, these top 10 e-commerce SEO trends will help you take your sales through the roof.
1: Voice Search and Purchasing
Perhaps the biggest e-commerce SEO trend that you should make yourself aware of is the rise of voice-activated commands. In a world pushing hands-free technology, both voice search and voice purchases are here to stay. In fact, according to a recent study, 40% of millennials have used some sort of voice assistant in the course of making a purchase1. A lot of this focus is currently on simple questions, but the technology will only continue to advance. In order to keep up with these advancements, your e-commerce SEO needs to be optimized for both written and voice searches.
With the rise of Siri and Google Assistant, voice search isn’t going anywhere. Make sure that you focus on everyday language syntax and long tail keywords in order to fully optimize our e-commerce business for these types of online searches. The more closely related it is to real-time conversation, the better you’ll rank.
2: Completely Mobile
Although this trend is nothing new, it’s worth noting because it’s just that important. Making sure that your e-commerce store is 100% optimized for mobile devices is one of the best ways to ensure that you’re not loosing sales. Due to the fact that most people throughout the course of their day are attached at the hip with their mobile devices, mobile shopping has increased exponentially. In fact, as of 2016 over half of online sales are made solely through mobile devices2.
If you don’t have an e-commerce site that is optimized for mobile devices than you’ll be missing out on these sales. Mobile optimization also boosts SEO ratings, which pushes you above the competition. Make sure that you have a mobile friendly store in addition to a mobile checkout so that consumers will be able to seamlessly make purchases while on the go.
3: Online Relationships
In the past all any e-commerce business owner cared about were conversions. While conversions and link building are obviously important as an e-commerce business owner, 2018 is there year of relationships. When you build online relationships, you allow yourself to create a long-term connection that can benefit you more than you could imagine. Online relationships between influencers, other e-commerce owners and your users will help you continually grow for years to come. Additionally, some of the relationships that you form might be able to help take your e-commerce business to the next level with a fresh design or helpful suggestions.
You never know what will come from networking and building relationships, so consider setting aside some time to do this on a weekly basis. The more relationships you build, the more likely that you’ll get referenced down the line. It goes hand-in-hand with link building and will payoff for your SEO in the future.
4: Product Descriptions
Regardless of what you’re selling on your e-commerce site, take the time to pay special attention to your product descriptions. While it may be easier to simply copy and paste the descriptions from the manufacturer’s website, it will harm you in the long run. This is because when you provide content that matches another site word-for-word you’ll actually drop in SEO rankings across popular search engines.
Instead, take some time to make sure that each of your product descriptions has original, creative and compelling content. If you find yourself struggling with coming up with enticing descriptions, it might be worth it to hire an outsider to assist.
5: Video Content
Another trend that we expect to continue rising is the use of video marketing and content. In the fast-paced digital world today, people just don’t have time to read long written content about a product and prefer watching a video. This is both good and bad. It’s bad because it’s different than what we’ve been used to, which means it’s time to change our SEO tactics. However, it’s good because it can actually increase conversions in the long run.
There are tons of different routes to produce video content for your e-commerce store. You can boast live video feeds about new product launches, activate virtual reality for wearable items and products and increase the amount of sponsored videos you produce. In fact, there is evidence that shows that video marketing has the ability to increase click-through rates by 200-300% and increase purchase intent by 97%1. The more videos you have, the better your SEO will be and the more people will visit your e-commerce store.
6: User Experience
User experience has always had an effect on SEO rankings and can either make or break your e-commerce store. Work on creating a seamless design that loads quickly and is visually appealing to the consumer. When your website takes longer to load, it’s likely that you’ll end up loosing a majority of potential customers. People like short, sweet and to the point and the faster it is, the better.
E-commerce sites that provide a better user experience rank higher in search engines. Due to the algorithms put in place by popular sites like Google and Bing, the more positive your user experience is the higher you’ll appear in search results.
7: User Generated Content
When you think of user generated content think product reviews and feedback. While both of these things are obviously important for your business as a whole, they can also help to boost SEO efforts. As we mentioned, search engines like it when the customer is happy. When the customer is happy, they leave positive reviews and feedback on your products. When you get this positive feedback, your ranking increases. It’s an entire feedback loop that continually develops and has the potential to take your store to the next level. Another added bonus is that when you have more positive reviews, more people will trust your product and follow through with their purchases.
8: Blog Integration
Although e-commerce sites are focused around selling products or services, you’ll want a way to establish a relationship with your audience. A great way to do that, while simultaneously boosting SEO efforts, is through the integration of a blog. Make sure it’s relevant to your target audience, but don’t be afraid to try new things.
A great place to start is by writing about special offers, product tips and tricks or exciting advancements. Blogs help your readers establish trust while giving them a way to share your information on social media without spamming their friends with products. The best way to integrate and optimize your blog writing with your e-commerce SEO is by including internal links back to your products or website pages. Doing so increases conversions and SEO rankings simultaneously.
9: Long Tail Keywords
With the newer e-commerce SEO trends taking the spotlight, it can be easy to forget the basics. Keywords are important; always have been and always will be. In order to keep up with the increase in videos, voice searching and other conversational aspects of the Internet, make sure that you rank well with long tail keywords. Long tail keywords can increase your conversion rate since they are more similar to conversational speech. Include them in the back-end coding of your website, but as always, never over stuff. Use them naturally and you’ll start to see an increase in your search result rankings.
10: Web Security
Last but not least is web security. This e-commerce SEO trend isn’t new, but with the ever-growing threat of hackers it’s more important than ever. This is especially true for e-commerce sites because they tend to be more vulnerable due to frequency that they process payments. Make sure you add an extra layer of web security. Not only will your customers appreciate it, but also, due to the change in search engine algorithms, your site will get a nice little boost in rankings.
Conclusion
Since most people prefer to shop online, developing an e-commerce store is a great way to increase your revenue. You can add an e-commerce platform to almost any website and take your sales performance to the next level. Regardless of how dedicated you are if you don’t implement the right SEO tactics than it’ll be hard for you to increase your customer base. Look over these top 10 e-commerce SEO trends and make sure that you’re implementing them in order to get the most from your store. If you do, you’ll be reaping the benefits in no time.