Did you know that in 2023, more than 270 million consumers in the US are estimated to be shopping online?
Given the number, you now understand that merely clicking on the product page won’t send the users down the sales funnel. Rather, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can precisely specify what buyers want and the information they are searching for.
Sure, SEO has come a long way. With each Google algorithm update, SEO evolves. So, the big question is, what does the future of an e-Commerce company SEO look like? Taking the help of a renowned digital marketing company or an expert in the field, you can find answers to your queries.
Understandably, it’s crucial to stay ahead of the curve as we move forward in 2023 and be up-to-date about the latest trends in the SEO industry.
But first, let’s answer an important question for e-Commerce companies.
Why is SEO Crucial for E-Commerce Companies More Than Ever?
In this era where people search for everything online, we know how important it is for businesses to have an online presence. However, that does not mean that just an online presence is enough for companies to ensure that their products and services appear on SERP’s first page when appropriate keywords are being searched for.
Ranking an e-Commerce site is a tad bit tricky since you need to optimize the keywords, find good images, make sure the webpage is user-friendly, etc.
Websites can get the top position on the search engine result page with SEO. When a good SEO strategy is implemented in websites, it helps in drawing people. If you’re looking to get your site found on SERP, then focusing on SEO is crucial, and that’s not a secret anymore.
● SEO is Necessary for Consumers to Find You
An e-Commerce site without SEO is like leaving ample, unattended cash on the table.
Check your analytics and track where the most traffic and sales come from. You might notice that organic search is one of the top sources of profit.
Search has now become a critical part of the decision-making process because 89% of consumers use a search engine before buying a product or service.
So, if you’re ignoring SEO for your e-Commerce website in 2023, you are risking your company’s growth. This means, you may not be visible on the search results, your growth can slow, and you’ll eventually sell less because only a handful of customers would know about you. Simultaneously, this also means that your competitors might come out stronger by utilizing SEO, thus increasing their sales and profits.
● SEO Effects Lasts-Long
SEO provides results that are cost-effective and long-lasting. What happens with paid advertising is that the traffic drops once you stop paying, but the best part about SEO is that it doesn’t have a shelf-life; it grows to become stronger over time.
● SEO Builds Authority
Domain Authority of a website means how reliable, according to the search engine website is. This means if your webpage is user-friendly, you have more authority. And SEO plays a very crucial role in building authority, for it helps create a website that people can count on and want to visit for reliable information.
E-Commerce websites and stores, both thrive on a continuous stream of new customers and repeat buyers. It’s challenging for the site to grow and drive revenue without new customers.
SEO helps funnel in new buyers that are more likely to buy from you. Additionally, it helps in gaining the trust and confidence of online customers, increasing their lifetime value to your business.
How Can E-Commerce Companies Stay on Top of Search Engines in 2023?
Whether you’re an SEO marketing manager or you have a small e-Commerce business, you already know that SEO is an ever-changing field. Despite these fast-paced changes, a good SEO strategist understands the necessity to cover important techniques every new year.
Considering these five SEO strategies in this article will help you dominate this year.
1. Establishing an Easy Site Architecture
Website architecture is highly crucial for any e-Commerce website. The pages need to be arranged and organized very well.
E-Commerce website’s category and product pages should be simple and easy to navigate, both for users and search engines.
The important rule is that product/service pages should take three or fewer clicks from the homepage to enhance user experience. It also assures that the product/service pages get appropriate authority, making it easier for the search engine to index the pages.
To achieve good results for your site, remember the following rules:
● Simplicity
Don’t you thrive on finding the easiest solution for the most complex problems?
Similarly, a simple e-Commerce site’s navigation and structure allow a better user experience. The tech giant, Google, depends on the site structure to discover all web pages.
● Three Clicks
As mentioned earlier, the product pages shouldn’t be more than three clicks from your homepage. Ask yourself, aren’t you likely to get lost or lose interest in purchasing a product if what you’re looking for is ten clicks away? As a customer, you’re more likely to leave the site.
● Mobile-friendly Menu
For a better user experience, the website should have a mobile-friendly menu.
It’s no surprise that most of the traffic coming today is from mobile devices. A mobile-friendly website has 67% more chances for customers to buy a product/service online.
Keeping your navigation menu like what you have for a desktop site is not a good option. This is because the space on the mobile screen is pretty limited, and you need to recreate it to fit perfectly.
Apart from these, there are a few basic points e-Commerce marketers should remember to implement –
Schema
Structured data is crucial for SEO, for it makes Google understand the pages and what the website is all about to show in search results. Using structured data is like telling the search engines what the website contains. With schema, structured data can be executed, further improving your SEO.
Once embedded in your webpage, schema markup creates rich snippets, which are a more detailed description of the website that appears on the search results.
Adding the schema markup for SEO offers value to users and search engines alike –
- Search engines, like Google, comprehend a site better and identify the various information on the pages. It increases the chances of e-Commerce websites to rank for relevant phrases.
- Structured markup makes listings on the search engine results page more visible.
- It helps increase rankings as well.
- It can improve ROI too. Structured markups, like ratings or reviews, give consumers an additional reason to select specific results. It attracts potential customers who are ready to buy or inquire about the product or services.
Using Simple URL Structure
A website’s URL should be as simple as possible. Keeping it uncomplicated enhances both the user experience as well as SEO. So, keep it consistent, and organized, and use the right keywords.
Call-To-Action
A catchy CTA has the power to turn website visitors into customers. A well-planned CTA can grasp attention, making the users curious, which can gradually turn organic traffic into conversion. And while you can still progress without CTA, why leave the opportunity this year to boost SEO and conversions?!
If you’ve an e-Commerce site, you cannot leave any chance of growing in this highly competitive era. So, put special attention into using subscription buttons, discount sections, product and service details, and so on.
Here’s how you can benefit from CTAs –
- It can improve engagement and reduce bounce rates.
- Action-oriented terms, like Download Now, Shop Now, Buy Now, and Sign Up, can help you succeed.
- Try using contrast colors to ensure visibility (to stand out from other elements on the website).
- Creating urgency, like “Limited Period Offer.”
Optimized Meta Tags
Keep your meta titles and meta descriptions well-optimized with the right keywords. These tiny yet crucial elements can boost search engine rankings.
2. Creating Content that Positively Impacts SEO
Content reigns supreme in 2023 as well. Whether it is blogs, articles, or images, quality content will attract good traffic to your e-Commerce business.
● Keyword Research
The site architecture is the most crucial foundation for SEO success. Similarly, keywords are pillars that hold it.
You could be making a mistake by focusing only on short keywords. Marketers should remember that long-tail keywords are better for understanding customers’ search intent.
Here are the three main ways to do keyword research:
- Use search engines to check the most popular results.
- Competitor research is a great idea to familiarize yourself with the content you should focus on.
- Use keyword tools that are designed to perform in-depth keyword research.
Expect the best results by performing all three!
SEO strategy for e-Commerce companies begins with keyword research. So, run an e-Commerce-tailored keyword research and remember that the right keyword strategy leads to more organic visibility.
● Creating Quality Content
The content you create in 2023 must be unique, creative, and valuable. Quality content means what you’re publishing should be error-free, attractive, and informational at the same time. It will ensure that your target audience is enjoying and engaging with your posts.
Remember, you’re writing for users, not Google or any other search engine. Putting the right keyword into the right place and creating a highly readable copy is easy, however, you must consider E-A-T (expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness), a quality indicator that shows if a site is useful and high-quality.
The importance of E-A-T has repeatedly been emphasized by Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines. It can be done with testimonials, badges, social proof, and more. According to the guideline, the content should be:
- Informational, helpful to the users
- Developed by an expert
- Trustworthy
- Updated
- Published on an authoritative site
● Video Marketing
If you’re wondering whether it is worth putting your efforts into video marketing, the answer is now or never!
A recent study shows that about 91% of consumers enjoy watching online video content from brands.
Users are watching videos across all platforms. Whether it is an Instagram video or on a blog, YouTube, or TikTok, video has become part and parcel of the online world.
According to a survey, more than 60% of consumers prefer paying the most attention to short-form videos.
Adding relevant videos to your content, webpage, or social channel can increase user engagement. Your potential customers might like watching content like –
- Product demonstrations
- Behind the scenes
- Interviews
- Explainer videos
- Demo videos
- Blog posts turned into a video
3. Rise of Voice Search
Voice search has become increasingly popular in SEO, and e-Commerce companies should start implementing the changes.
With the coming of digital assistants, like Apple’s Siri, Google Home, Amazon’s Alexa, Samsung’s Bixby, and Microsoft’s Cortana, consumers are increasingly using voice search, which is a perfect opportunity for e-Commerce companies to get ahead of the competition.
According to Google, people who use their smart speakers every day are about 62% likely to buy a product/service using voice technology. And what’s more interesting is that this data was recorded in 2017. So, think about the opportunities e-Commerce companies have! That’s why optimizing your site becomes even more important today for voice search.
When consumers use voice search, they almost always use complete sentences. This automatically means that you should be using “conversational” keywords or longer ones. So, the keywords you are targeting should feel natural on your site’s content. For example, instead of optimizing for “shoes”, you can go for “men’s running shoes.”
Today, 71% of consumers prefer asking a voice search for a query rather than typing.
As per the graph below, about 45% of consumers, belonging to age group 45-50 use voice assistants on their devices to make purchases.
What is Voice Search Optimization?
Maybe you’re already an SEO expert, optimizing your site to ensure you rank well on search engines when buyers are looking for certain keywords or phrases. This is exactly what voice search optimization means, it is nothing but the verbal extension of that practice.
Once you’ve optimized your landing pages for voice search, your pages can be read out by voice search devices used by potential customers.
How Does Voice Search Work for e-Commerce Sites?
If you’re using voice search for your e-Commerce website, you’re allowing your buyers to search the site without the manual use of a keyboard but solely with their voices.
The voice search AI identifies the words and phrases (including phonemes). A person can simply click on the microphone option and start the voice search.
People can make mistakes when manually typing and searching for an item. Usually, the search engine’s AI recognizes it and suggests what it thinks is correct. The same applies to voice search, the AI can also suggest what it thinks the customer may have mispronounced.
Brands such as Nestlé, Johnnie Walker, Domino’s, Burger King, and many more are using voice search to boost their engagement.
The voice search trend sets a new challenge for e-Commerce companies. As technology advances exponentially, the search and the online world are never going to be the same again but could be equipped to share information and be programmed to identify keywords and phrases.
4. Rise of Visual Search
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, which directly brings us to our next point.
One of the biggest e-Commerce SEO trends of 2023 is the rise of visual search.
These days nobody bothers writing down in the search when they can easily snap a picture and search for the product. Our convenience of clicking photos, and taking screenshots, relates to the rise of visual search.
It is one of the easiest ways for consumers to find what they’re searching for while shortening their path to purchase. Visual search results are instant and precise. It has become a popular product discovery tool for digital-savvy millennials. Other groups, like Baby Boomers and Gen Xers, are also getting comfortable utilizing e-Commerce technology, especially after the pandemic.
This trend is sure to stay here for a very long time. Also, the fact that buyers can perform visual searches they are interested in is becoming a key element in the e-Commerce SEO industry.
By using proper keywords in alt tags for the images, ensure that your site is optimized well for visual search.
E-Commerce Visual Search Examples
If you’re still not convinced by this information, let us help you with some examples.
In 2015, Pinterest became the first major site to adopt the visual search option. About 600 million users conduct visual searches every month. Pinterest is close to 140% growth in searches each year.
Another great example is Ikea. The company integrated its catalog with a visual search option on Pinterest. Amazon, another giant, introduced StylesSnaps, simplifying the shopping experience. By uploading an image, Amazon automatically searches for the best match, making it extremely simple for the customers! Later, Google also created its visual search feature called Google Lens.
Brands around the world realize the importance of visual search and understand that optimization is a must in 2023.
5. Website Speed is Still Important
With the 2021 page experience update, Google emphasizes fast-loading sites in its ranking algorithm. Google rolled out another update in March 2022.
In 2023, page speed and core web vitals will continue to be important tools for evaluating the performance and speed of a website.
A study showed that 47% of consumers leave a site if it takes three or more seconds to load, and over 80% of the people do not wait for more than 10 seconds before leaving a slow website.
E-Commerce website marketers are lucky that they’ve plenty of ways to increase site speed. Fast web pages offer a smooth user experience, increasing and encouraging engagement and consumers, respectively, to spend more time on the products and services.
Image Optimization
Some browsers load images before they even load other elements, like HTML or CSS. So, it is crucial to ensure that your webpage doesn’t have a lot of images. It’s best to use image compression software to optimize them.
Caching
E-Commerce sites can use caching plug-ins to ensure the data you’re using is stored in memory. With this, the site doesn’t have to reload every time someone visits your page.
Caching plug-ins helps your website load faster, improving search engine rankings as well. Fortunately, there is Google Pagespeed Insights, which analyzes web page URLs and suggests ways to improve faster page load.
Wrapping Up
It is impossible to know what the future holds for e-Commerce websites but these SEO trends for 2023 point to a more user-friendly approach. As the article mentions, pay close attention to voice and visual search and ensure that your content is optimized for this trend. With video marketing also on the rise, you may need to put in some extra marketing efforts for consumers to engage with your content.
Keeping these points in mind, e-Commerce companies can move forward in the year and ensure that their websites rank high in search engines.
And with that, we hope that these five SEO strategies for 2023 boost your sales with minimum effort!
