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Everyone running an online business knows that being found through search engines is crucial to your success. Most people use a search engine to learn about products before they buy them. Many who shop online use mobile devices at least some of the time. That is an important point to keep in mind. While search engine optimization (SEO) might seem like an arcane topic, it really isn’t.  

Lots of the most important things you can do to help customers find your products involve some basic Google skills and some editing. Other techniques take some technical expertise and time. Good SEO work begins with knowing what words and phrases to use on your site.   

1 - Focus on Targeted Keywords, not Generic Keywords 

No one shops for running shoes. Runners look for specific models and sizes either for men or for women. Ranking for “women’s trail running shoes” is much easier than getting on page one for “running shoes.” The logic is much the same for any product or service. 

2 – Focus on Search Intent When Choosing Keywords 

This tip flows logically from the first one. Some people search the Web for information, while others are looking for things to buy. Your store should emphasize terms that reflect an intent to buy unless you are specifically choosing to promote a piece of informational content.  

3 – Use Keywords in Headings 

The H1 and H2 headings should contain the primary or secondary keyword for the product. Don’t use the same keyword in every heading though, as this could look like keyword spamming.  

4 – Use Keywords to Describe Images 

Search engines will crawl the image and file names. If they describe a “water-resistant trail running shoe for men” versus “men’s shoe,” it will help.  

5 – Use Rich Snippets 

A rich snippet is a Google search result enhanced by a bit of extra information, often a photo or a rating.  You will have to be familiar with schema markups to implement this suggestion.  

6 – Fill Out Your Pages 

Pages that contain little content beyond a title and a picture of a shoe don’t look good to search engines or people. Add some details to every product page, at least the bare minimum a human shopper would need.  

7 – Make Sure Your Pages Have Unique Content 

You don’t need seven pages for a shirt that comes in seven colors, or for shoes that come in seven sizes. Consolidate these products on one page so that Google won’t penalize you for having low-quality content on your site.  

8 – Make Sure All Relevant Pages Can Be Indexed 

Your site’s robots.txt file might exclude pages from being crawled by search engines. If the “excluded” list includes products, you want those pages removed so they can be indexed.  

9 – Use Responsive Design 

In 2021, Google launched Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) this year. Implementing this update for a site is a complex technical task, but you will have an easier way to make your site play well with mobile devices. Look for an eCommerce platform that promises to deliver responsive design, which is what it means to have a site designed for computers and mobile devices.  

10 – Find and Resolve 4xx Errors 

Missing or never-published pages can drag down your rankings. Update your site map to include those pages, resolve the server errors behind the messages, and replace pages. Verify that internal links go to pages that still exist. 

11. – Describe Every Page 

This is basic SEO but quite a few pages have bad descriptions or no descriptions. This tip is about the meta-description that tells web searchers what they will find. Every page should have a description written in plain English that includes the relevant keyword.  

12 – Give Each Page a Title 

Make sure all of your pages have title tags that include a primary keyword, a secondary keyword, and a brand name. This information helps search engines identify the content and helps web searchers see at a glance whether the content might be valuable. 

Implement some of these steps as soon as you can. Improving search rankings is an ongoing process that takes time to produce results. Include these SEO tips in the design of new pages.  

If you need a custom website or eCommerce solution, the DevDigital team can help. Beyond just creating your solution, our SEO team can accomplish this entire tip list and more! Do you have an eCommerce site that needs optimization? Click here to get connected with one of our SEO specialists.