If you’re operating an e-commerce website, you must make Search Engine Optimization (SEO) a key part of your digital marketing mix. SEO involves making calculated changes to your website that will allow it to show up higher on search engine results pages (SERPs). SERP rankings correlate with more brand trust and sales, which makes SEO a worthwhile investment for any online business.
The great thing about SEO is that it combines well with virtually all other forms of digital marketing. Whether it’s paid ads or social media promotions, running an SEO program in parallel will help you get more out of your marketing efforts.
It’s also relatively low cost. You can get started with on-page optimization strategies for next to nothing, and backlink programs for building up your website’s searchability are rather affordable.
SEO, however, does encompass a very wide range of activities. In practice, most SEO experts specialize in just a handful of key areas, working together with other SEO experts to fill in any capability gaps. Fortunately, SEO is also a forgiving field where you don’t have to do every single thing perfectly each time. Even performing basic best practices will help you take your e-commerce site’s conversions and your brand equity further than you thought possible. Let’s look into some SEO best practices you can start with today:
1. Use a Secure, Hassle-Free Payment Gateway
Search engines like Google prioritize websites that offer a good experience to their users. If you run an e-commerce site, this means that its payment process has to be seamless but still secure from online threats. Maya offers a simple but potent payment gateway Shopify and WooCommerce users can integrate with minutes through simple plugins. If you’re on Shopify and have a Maya Business account, you can download the Maya Plugin for Shopify to integrate a powerful e-commerce gateway in minutes.
With Maya’s Shopify payment gateway, your site’s visitors will be able to pay with whatever digital payment method they want, including debit and credit cards, e-wallets, and even QR Ph codes. This will vastly simplify their shopping experience and possibly signal to Google that your site is worth bumping up in the SERPs.
2. Keep Improving User Experience (UX)
There is strong evidence that Google and other search engines prioritize sites with good UX. It’s known that search engine bots do look at site structures and key site metrics to gain insights into how visitors interact with it. This is also part of why point number one above is crucial to your SEO strategy, since a smooth checkout process helps reduce bounce rates and increase user satisfaction. To provide a good baseline UX, ensure your site is also easy to navigate, loads quickly, and is mobile responsive.
3. Conduct Keyword Research
Identify the specific keyword phrases that potential customers are using with free-to-use tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, and Ahrefs. You can then incorporate these keywords throughout your site to send a signal to search engines that its content is relevant to the needs of the keywords’ users.
4. Use Keywords Wisely
Proper keyword usage is probably the most popular and most misunderstood foundation of SEO. As a general rule, your site must incorporate appropriate keywords but not to the point that the readability and value of your site’s content are negatively impacted. Hire competent copywriters with a background in SEO to ensure steady gains in organic traffic.
5. Include Well-Written Product Descriptions
Each product page on your e-commerce site should have a unique, detailed description. These descriptions have to be unique because simply copying manufacturer-provided specs may cause search engines to downgrade your site. Invest time in crafting original but still engaging descriptions that include relevant keywords in a natural way.
6. Utilize High-Quality Images and Videos
Only use high-quality visuals to improve your site’s trust among visitors and to signal its value to search engines. Optimize these visuals by employing data compression and using descriptive filenames and alt text that include relevant keywords.
7. Implement Structured Data Markup
Structured data markup, or schema markup, helps search engines understand the content of your site better. By implementing schema markup, you can provide search engines with detailed information about your products, such as price, availability, and reviews. One key benefit of this is that some search engines may enhance your search listings with rich snippets, making them more attractive to potential customers.
8. Focus on Local SEO
If your business addresses a domestic market, optimizing for local SEO is vital. To start, make sure your business has a properly filled out Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) and use keywords that include geographic locations (e.g., "electronics store in Metro Manila") to attract visits from local customers.
9. Leverage Social Media
Social media can significantly boost your SEO efforts. Share your product pages and blog content on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to drive traffic to your site. Social signals such as likes, shares, and comments can indirectly influence your search engine rankings by increasing your content's visibility and engagement.
10. Build Quality Backlinks Pointing to Your Site
Backlinks, or inbound links from other reputable websites, are an especially strong signal to search engines that your site is worth pushing up on the SERPs. What’s more, the potential of backlink campaigns for growing your online reach is virtually unlimited.
If you do choose to engage in active backlink building, focus on building high-quality backlinks through reputable sites and by creating shareable content. Most importantly, refrain from spammy link-building practices since this will not only cause search engines to downgrade your site but it could also directly harm your business’s reputation with potential customers.
Drive Organic Traffic to Your Site with a Better Payment Gateway
Through Maya Business, your Shopify- or WooCommerce-based site has a potent tool for driving organic visits and conversions. Sign up for Maya Business today to download the Maya Plugin for Shopify or WooCommerce and activate a range of exclusive tools for growing your website.
Signing up for Maya Business also gives you a Maya Business Deposit account with a market-leading 2.5% annual rate. At 2.5% a year, your business’s funds can earn PHP 25,000 in 12 months on just a PHP 1 million deposit. Maya Business Deposit also simplifies your partner and supplier payments with free money transfers through InstaPay and PESONet.
Once your Maya Business application is approved, you’ll also be sent a Maya Flexi Loan offer valued up to PHP 2 million. Use your loan to expand your e-commerce operations and further refine its digital marketing. To get a larger Maya Flexi Loan offer next time, keep using Maya as your primary processor for all wallet and card payments.
Become a Maya Business user today to download the Maya Plugin for Shopify or WooCommerce and enjoy business banking designed for today’s e-commerce SMEs.
