These expert tips will help boost your ecommerce seo

I’m a very particular kind of shopper. I don’t just click through from Instagram, or browse David Jones aimlessly.

No – my process is more intentional and designed to waste little time.

I search for things that I want, and Google finds them for me.

And I’m not alone. Many ecommerce websites understand that SEO has the highest ROI than any other ecommerce marketing campaign. Yep, even more than Instagram.

So how can you optimise your product descriptions for SEO? If you’re a smaller ecommerce store with more time than money to invest in SEO, these 5 tips will help you get started.

1.    Define your dream customer

Basing your work on buyer personas prevents you from sitting on your butt in your comfortable office just making stuff up, which is the cause of most ineffective marketing. ~ David Meerman Scott

Before I begin any copywriting or SEO project – and I’m not the only one here – I ensure I have all of my facts straight. Who are we selling to? Who do we NOT want to sell to? What do they do every day? Will they get this Beyonce reference? Should I try to be funny, or keep it clear-cut?

Only once I feel I truly understand my client’s target market, only then can I begin to proceed to the next step.

Why this boosts ecommerce SEO:

Defining your dream customer allows you to define the language and tone you’ll use to speak to them. And when you use language that people can understand and connect with, they’ll listen to what you have to say.

Need a hand? Check out this blog post on how to define your dream customer.

2.    Develop your brand voice

Your brand voice describes the unique way in which you communicate to your audience. It encapsulates your brand’s energy, personality, values, beliefs and mission, and when developed succinctly, will help you to communicate more effectively with your dream customer.

In fact, a strong brand voice can do a lot of the selling for you.

It’s what’s made frank body so coveted by Generation Y females. By developing a cheeky, slightly sleazy male persona, frank body eschews traditional beauty marketing trends in an unconventional and bold way.

And it works.

Are you lost for words?

It might be time to transform your copywriting with a magnetic brand voice. Check out my new eBook to see exactly how I do it!

Why this boosts ecommerce SEO:

When you create content that resonates with your audience you’ll find it easier to sell using persuasive language with ease and grace.

3.    Make it eye-candy for the 21st Century scanner

I’m a writer, so I love reading.

But not when I’m shopping.

In fact, research suggests that people read about 16% of the content on a page.

Are you crying yet?

I don’t mention this to dissuade you from writing product descriptions. But you do need to write for the 21st Century skimmer who needs scannable headlines, easy-to-read formatting and a legible font size.

Let’s take a look at Porte A Vie.

This particular product page features headings, expandable text blocks, a brief description of the product, and is written with the intention to seduce the reader into purchasing.

Similarly, Jonny keeps it brief and to the point, providing only the essential details. The dot-point list allows browsers to easily highlight the features and benefits of the product, and most of the information sits above the fold.

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Why this boosts ecommerce SEO:

A page that’s easy to read gets more conversions. And more click-throughs and conversions tell Google that a page is high quality, and deserves to rank higher in the SERPs.

4.    Mention Free Shipping or Same-Day Shipping 

According to data from conversion experts at Invespcro, 49% of shoppers say that same-day delivery makes them more likely to shop online. On top of that, 61% of shoppers say they’re happy to pay more for this service, and 96% of customers consider ‘fast delivery’ to mean same-day delivery.

If you do indeed offer these options – usually made easier with a fulfilment provider – be sure to mention them prominently on your website.

When I’m writing web content for ecommerce businesses, I always mention free shipping, same-day delivery or world-wide delivery in the meta description (that's that little snippet of text you see on Google that describes what the page is about).

Although your meta description doesn’t directly affect your SEO, it can increase click-throughs, which absolutely DOES affect your SEO.

Why this boosts SEO:

More than 25% of shoppers abandon a cart if same-day shipping isn’t available. Make sure they know before they even add to their cart!

5.    Use keywords in the right places

After you’ve completed your keyword research, use these keywords in the following places:

• The page title/SEO title (e.g. Sparkly Pink Nail Polish | Beauty Company)

• The page URL (e.g. www.yourdomain.com/nails/sparkly-pink-nail-polish)

• The image file name (e.g. sparkly-pink-nail-polish-1.jpeg)

• The product description (e.g. the body content of your web page)

• The Image alt tag (this can be defined in various ways depending on your CMS).

Why this boosts ecommerce SEO:

When you write for your buyer persona and use the phrases she uses, you’re automatically optimising your product descriptions for search engines, because these are the phrases she searches for on Google.