Why Search Engine Optimization is Essential for E-commerce

How search engine optimization is essential can be determined by the fact that whenever you hear of E-commerce, web traffic, Google ranking, SEO is not very far behind.

It might just be the foundation that supports it all.

SEO is the omnipresent element of the E-commerce industry. It is what makes your website stand out among the hundreds and thousands of other businesses online.

On the other hand, forgoing SEO could quickly drop you to the bottom of the barrel where even the search engine bots can’t find you.

Search Engine Optimization has become such a vital part of any marketing strategy that even those not in the world of digital marketing are well-versed with the terminology and its applications.

Now we know that SEO is essential for E-commerce, let’s dig a little deeper to find out the why:

Types of SEO

Two types of SEO are involved in the ranking of your e-commerce business. If you use them to their full potential, you can rank among the top pages of Google Search Engine Results.

The two sides of SEO:

On-page SEO

On-page SEO is the optimization you do on your company webpage(s) to improve the content, visual, graphics, and images.

It encompasses optimization of both the front end of the website that is the homepage and the coding that goes on behind the scenes.

Together, the two aspects of on-page SEO improve your website ranking.

Off-page SEO

Off-page SEO is the part of your content marketing strategy where you provide the content on other high authority sites.

Blog posts, social media posts, forums, directory submissions, link building, business reviews are among the many ways with which you can improve your off-page SEO.

SEO Drives Traffic

It’s not rocket science; the more people visit your website, the higher the chances of you gaining paying customers.

According to the reports of Monetate E-Commerce Quarterly, with every 100 visitors to your site, at least two to three are likely to make a purchase.

Search Engine Optimization is essential to get those visitors to your website.

If properly implemented, SEO will help increase the traffic to your e-commerce site, making you accessible for your customers both new and old.

Furthermore, with enough new leads generated, you will also gain back your initial investment in your SEO strategy.

Cost-effective and Result-oriented

Driving traffic to your website via banner ads, PPC, etc. can be costly in the long run.

While these methods are essential to marketing strategies, solely relying on them might cost you more than your budget.

Moreover, any leads from paid advertisements, stop coming in when your money dries out.

On the other hand, SEO provides organic search visibility and general traffic. Optimizing your e-commerce website for search engines is not that heavy for your wallet.

Plus, its traffic-generating-capabilities are long-lasting.

SEO strategies might take more time to show their results than paid ads, but they are guaranteed to boost sales that are everlasting.

Improves Visibility and Ranking

For any e-commerce website, most of your leads are generated from organic search results.

That is if your search engine optimization is up to the standards.

With the rise in online shopping, many people turn to search engines to make their purchase decisions. If you are not visible on Google Search Results Pages, then how are your customers supposed to find you?

That is where SEO comes to play. A well-optimized site for search engines is picked up by the Search Engine crawlers/spiders that boost your rank on the search results pages (SERPs).

A poor SEO would lead to you losing potential customers and falling behind your competitors.

Additionally,

Higher Ranking Gets You Customers’ Trust

Human psychology also plays a part here; many people believe that the first page of SERPs is the only trustworthy page of the entire results. Thus, being among the top 10 gets you more customers than otherwise.

That goes to say; it is not easy being in the top 10 rankings on Google Search Results page. But, a well-implemented SEO strategy is a step in the right direction.

Users trust search engines to give them reliable results; thus, showing up for the keywords your users are likely to search for, gives you an advantage over your competitors.

It is a simple rule to follow for e-commerce, improve your SEO, be visible on search engine results pages, get your customers trust.

Better User Experience and Usability

Another way SEO helps you gain customer trust is by increasing user experience and usability of your website.

As I mentioned before, on-page SEO involves the front and back end of a website. The site design, loading time, and user-friendly interface all are part of your on-page SEO techniques to enhance the customer experience.

A good SEO strategy encompasses the needs of the users as well as the Google bots that rank your website. Even for Search Engines, customers, viewers, readers are essential.

Thus, a search engine optimization tactic targeting only Google Crawlers will not get you the same results as the website that has both, better user experience and usability, as well as on-page and off-page SEO.

Once-in-a-lifetime Investment with Lifelong Results

We know that SEO is targeted to your audience; it is cost-effective and provides a considerable ROI. But additionally, SEO also gives you long-lasting results.

As previously mentioned, unlike paid ads, SEO does not have an expiry date. Once you invest on an excellent SEO strategy, the return on investment is phenomenal.

It is especially true when blogging for business.

Once you write a post and it is on the web, it will keep generating leads until the end of time.

Keep in mind, that for such an occurrence the topic of the blogs needs to be evergreen; as in, they only need a little update now and then but the rest of the content is eternal.

With a well-planned SEO strategy in place, you can even be inactive for months without putting a dent in your web traffic.

Even if you run out of cash to fund your marketing, with SEO you can still be visible to your customers via organic search results.

Related Reading: How to Get More Traffic From Existing Content

Wrap Up

With these few insights, you can make an informed decision on your tactics, instead of just following the crowd.

Search engine optimization is essential for the success of your e-commerce business. If you are a startup or fortune 500 company, a well-thought-out SEO strategy will take your website to new heights.