Resources

Internal Linking- There are thousands of pages on E-commerce sites which make it difficult to decide what primary pages to link to.

Navigational Issues- Due to the large amount of inventory on an E-commerce site, it can be difficult to create a navigational structure that is easy for the customer to use and the Search Engines to navigate.

Duplicate Content- A lot of E-commerce websites use the product descriptions provided by the manufacturer of the products. This presents a challenge because all of their competing websites are using the same product descriptions provided by the manufacturer as well.

Poor URL Structure- Most E-commerce sites automatically generate, and create unclean and hard to read URL’s. This makes it impossible for the Search Engines to determine what the web page is about and properly index it.

Inability to obtain high quality backlinks- There’s not a lot of content to link back to, so most websites see no point in linking back to an E-commerce site without a lot of relevant information.

6 Advanced SEO Strategies to help you with Your E-Commerce Website

While it may appear that SEO for E-commerce is impossible, there are many advanced SEO strategies that can help E-commerce sites rank well, get high quality backlinks, and enhance their overall customer experience. If you have an E-commerce website or planning to invest in one, here are a few advanced SEO techniques to implement.

1. Filtered Navigation: This process gives the customer the ability to navigate through products on your site based on preferences that matter to them. They can search by color, brand, price, etc. This is helpful for customers who don’t really know what they want, but need to do more research before they make a purchase decision.

2. Deep Linking: Deep linking is the process of linking your keywords to your important pages on your website. This allows the customer to click on the link and be taken to the information they were looking for immediately. By providing immediate access to your deeper pages, you have a higher chance of increasing your conversions.

3. Creating XML & HTML Sitemaps: An XML Sitemap will help the Search Engines identify pages on your website, and increase their chances of getting indexed. An HTML sitemap helps the customer find products and category pages quickly.

4. Clean URL Structure: You want to make sure that your URL contains the name of your product. This helps the search engines decide which page to index and rank. There are many E-commerce websites that allow you to change your URL Structure. Stay clear of the E-commerce platforms that don’t allow you to do this.

5. Link Building Strategies: It’s difficult to obtain high quality back links for E-commerce sites. This is because they have little content, and don’t update their content regularly. So, when it comes to link building for E-commerce, you have to get very creative. Some of the popular link-building strategies for an E-commerce site include but is not limited to: Social Networking, Blog commenting, Product Reviews, Product Contest, SEO Press Releases, and listing your site on popular deal sites like Groupon.com, and Livingsocial.com, if applicable.

6. Content Development: E-commerce websites really have a chance to overcome their SEO challenges by providing quality content. There are a lot of ways that content can increase high rankings. These include, but are not limited to:

7. Product Pages: Since most E-commerce websites have manufacturer product descriptions, you can increase your chances of ranking high in the search engines by re-writing all product descriptions. This way you will have unique and original content, and avoid the duplicate content issue.

8. Category Pages: You have a chance to increase your SEO rankings by writing content rich category descriptions. This not only helps the Search Engines find and index your site, but it also makes it easy for your customer to find information on your site.

9. Reviews: Encourage your customers to write reviews about products. This increases traffic to your website, and it also helps more customers make an informed decision about buying products on your site.

10. Add Informative Content: Usually when people are searching for products, they would like as much information as possible. You can make their purchasing decision easier by providing them with useful information like Buyers Guides, How to Articles, Instructional Videos, and any form of content that will help them make a purchase.

SEO for E-commerce presents a lot of challenges; however, if you implement these advanced SEO strategies, you will be well on your way to increased rankings and increased sales.