Staying on top of SEO is its own full-time job

Even in the earliest stages of building a successful eCommerce experience, online retailers are already thinking about the necessity of Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Without a solid and comprehensive SEO strategy or partnering with a knowledgeable agency who can guide you through a bulletproof SEO implementation, guiding organic traffic to your web store can prove to be a daunting task.
eCommerce retailers are savvy about SEO. They understand the core elements of applying SEO best practices to their websites. Strong and descriptive page titles. Solid metadata that speaks clearly to the relevancy of products to search engines. Generating a healthy amount of pages that are correctly built so Google’s indexing bots give you an “e” thumbs up and prioritize you to searchers. Making sure the speed of your site doesn’t crawl from page-to-page. The problem is, there is a vast array of optimizations that need to be constantly updated and enhanced to stay in-tune with Google’s ever-changing list of SEO demands to return optimal search traffic.
Whether you have a dedicated SEO resource on-staff or you’ve contracted a kick-ass agency who understands the complexities and finer points of staying ahead of SEO changes and optimizations, here’s what you need to keep your site benefiting from healthy organic search traffic.

WHAT THE HECK IS “SERP”?

Something Google is always updating, changing and growing is its Search Engine Results Page (SERP) features. SERP is hellbent on making sure that your structured data is formatted in HTML that Google is comfortable with. Your structured data setup is absolutely integral to search engines being able to read and interpret content to match it with the appropriate seearch queries from its users. It requires that the content of your page be setup in the standardized format that correctly classifies your page content to match with overall search queries. You can read how Google’s structured data works here. Make sure you’re aligned with a resource that understands the complexities of engineering and building strong structured data into the code of your site. More than ever, Google is looking for you to comply with their coding demands.

SPEED, SPEED, SPEED

To our knowledge, there isn’t a singular online shopper in the world looking for a slow online shopping experience. No one wants to see a page taking more than 3 seconds to load. It’s an absolute nail in the coffin of trying to sell a product through a web store. Google feels the same exact way about you serving up slow pages to their users. Search rank is very dependent on how fast your pages load. Website optimizations and fixes to increase and improve page load times aren’t easy. Having a dedicated resource or an agency provides the benefit of a team focused on digging into a website to identify issues that cause page lags. Some things, are better left to professionals.

IT’S A MOBILE WORLD

By now – in this day and age – we’re not telling you something you don’t already know. Optimizing your site for mobile devices isn’t a nice thing to potentially have. It’s a staple of both online shopping expectation as well as how search engines rank your pages. People are predominantly shopping on their phones at this point. This isn’t a helpful tip anymore. It’s a way of life. But in regards to search engine optimization, the value of a mobile optimized site is immeasurable. Google itself conducts “mobile indexes” to ensure that your site is mobile-friendly. If you’ve designed a site that looks “pretty good” on mobile and isn’t a first-class experience for mobile users, your search priority and relevancy can have huge impacts on your overall ranking. Get out there and dig into online shopping sites that you adore…and take notes. Because if you’re not giving shoppers a mobile experience that creates easy shopping and quick purchase and checkout, you’re late to the game.

YOUR USERS MATTER MOST

It’s relatively simple. A better overall site experience, is going to pay itself back with how you are perceived through the algorithms of a search engine. Build your site with SEO in mind. Don’t implement SEO best practices after-the-fact. Your job and responsibility as the creator of a website is to focus your efforts on the overall user experience. Try avoiding sometimes necessary “annoyances” like pop-ups and upsell mechanisms. If you’re selling a product that requires some serious imagery to fully establish its narrative, make sure you’re taking best-practice steps to ensure that your pages aren’t lagging as a result. User-friendly website components such as breadcrumbs and a fast site search are integral in making a site that is easy and breezy. A wide array of video and content gives you an index of pages that helps with your overall SEO, so constantly be contributing to the overall framework of your site.

We love talking SEO at Trellis. It’s in our blood. Have any SEO questions that a quick Google search couldn’t help with? Always feel free to reach out to us here at Trellis to speak to a professional who can turn your lackluster site into a world-class experience for your users and customers.