9 SEO Basics Every E-Commerce Seller Should Know

Understanding SEO basics is essential if you sell products online. SEO (search engine optimization) helps your target audience find you through keywords in blog posts, website copy, page titles, meta titles, and meta descriptions. Not sure what those things are? Don’t worry!

We cover nine important SEO basics below that are easy to understand and implement but will greatly impact how often your site comes up in online searches.

What Is SEO?

SEO, which stands for search engine optimization, is the practice of optimizing your website and content to get more visibility from search engines like Google. This includes both on-page optimization (ensuring your website is optimized for search engine crawlers) and off-page optimization (optimizing things like backlinks and social media).

By following SEO best practices, you can help your website appear higher on search engine results pages (SERP), which will mean more people seeing your site and hopefully more conversions.

How Does SEO Work?

Search engine algorithms determine which websites should appear in search results for a given query (e.g., “seasonal marketing tips,” and “best wedding guest dresses for fall.”

These algorithms consider factors such as quality, relevance, freshness of content, user engagement, and other metrics to determine which web pages should be displayed the highest in the search results. Optimizing these factors on your website (using SEO techniques such as keyword research, content optimization, and technical optimization) can increase the chances that your website’s content will hit the first page of Google.

9 SEO Basics You Can Implement Today

The nine SEO basics below will help the right customers find your business and boost sales. Even better? All of the tips below are easy for beginners to understand and implement. Let’s get started!

1. Conduct Keyword Research

Using a keyword research tool like Keyword Surfer, a free extension for Chrome, you can research terms to see which ones get the highest monthly search volume. WriterZen offers an affordable option with content optimization features if you want a more robust paid keyword research tool.

Conducting keyword research is an important part of any SEO strategy, as it helps you identify the best keywords to target for maximum visibility.

Here are some SEO basics for conducting effective keyword research:

1. Research search terms related to your business using the tools referenced above or another keyword research tool.
2. Identify long-tail keywords (keywords with three or more words) with lower competition relevant to your topic — long-tail keywords often offer more traffic than commonly used one- or two-word phrases. For example: how to style T-shirts, best T-shirts for fall, best funny podcasts, summer candle scents, homemade bath bombs, etc.
3. Take note of search trends and volumes of each keyword — look for terms with increasing popularity and a high average monthly search volume, as these are likely to bring you more traffic in the long run.
4. Terms with low to medium difficulty and a decent monthly search volume will be the easiest to rank for if you have a newer site and lower domain authority.
5. Consider whether the keywords you’re targeting will attract the right kind of visitors interested in your product or service — if not, there’s no point in optimizing for them.
6. Once you’ve identified keywords to use, you can use them to create web copy, blog posts, product titles and descriptions, and more.

2. Optimize Web Copy

Optimizing web copy is essential for improving the visibility of your website in search engine results.

Here are some tips for optimizing your web copy:

1. Focus on creating content that is interesting and engaging to readers, ensuring it is well-written and contains relevant keywords (see step 1 above).
2. Don’t forget to use header tags (H1–H4) to indicate the importance of different sections in your content, as this will help crawlers identify which sections are more important than others and rank them accordingly.
3. Use the keyword in the web page’s URL.
4. Include internal links throughout the content to relevant pages on your website to give users more helpful, related information. This will also help to increase time spent on site, which may result in higher rankings.
5. Make sure your images have captions or titles with relevant keywords, as this will give crawlers more information about what the image is about and may lead to increased visibility as a result.
6. Use meta titles and descriptions for every page (see #5 and #6 below).

3. Optimize Website and Blog Images

Using proper file naming conventions and writing alt text for images you use on your website and on your blog are important SEO basics that can help search engine crawlers accurately identify the content of your website pages. In the example above, we used “SEO basics,” which is our target keyword for this article.

Here are some tips for writing alt text and file names:

1. For file names, use descriptive words that accurately describe the content of the file itself like “polka-dot-cat-mug” or “blue-drop-earrings” instead of generic terms like “image1” or “file1”.
2. When writing alt text (the words you use to describe the image to search engines), make sure it’s brief but describes what is in the image as accurately as possible.
3. Don’t forget to include keywords related to the image — this will help search engine crawlers categorize it better.
4. Try to keep file names short and sweet, but don’t be afraid to include more than one keyword if necessary for accuracy!
5. Make sure all of your alt text and file name descriptions are consistent across all images/files on your website for a cohesive experience for search engines and visitors alike.

4. Target Relevant Keywords in Blog Posts

Targeting relevant keywords in blog posts is an effective way for online sellers to increase their visibility and reach target audiences.

Here are some SEO basics on how to target relevant keywords in blog posts:

1. Using keyword research tools, identify long-tail keywords with lower competition and a decent monthly search volume relevant to your topic.
2. Pick a primary keyword and use it in your blog post’s headline (H1), in the URL, within 100 words of your introduction, and in the conclusion.
3. Depending on the length of your article, you’ll also want to use your primary keyword a couple of times in the body of the article as well, but don’t overdo it. Your content should read naturally and be engaging — optimizing it is just the icing on the cake.
4. Keep in mind that Google doesn’t like ‘spammy’ or repetitive content, so go lighter rather than heavier when adding keywords. If you need help, use a content-optimization tool like SurferSEO that will tell you how many times to use keywords based on high-performing competitor articles.
5. Include internal links throughout your blog post to other relevant blog posts or pages of your site to help build page authority and keep readers on your content for longer.
6. Add captions and alt titles on any images you use with relevant keywords so crawlers can identify what the image is about — this may result in increased visibility of the post as a result.
7. Add a meta description and title for your blog posts (see below for more info).

5. Add Meta Titles and Descriptions to Your Blog Posts

Writing metadata, which includes page titles and meta descriptions, is an important SEO practice for blog posts. Metadata provides search engines the information they need to accurately index and present your content in searches. It also helps your audience better understand what your post is about.

You can use a free plugin like Yoast SEO (available for multiple content management systems) or Rank Math (on WordPress only) to make this process easier. The great thing about a plugin is that it will alert you if you make your page titles or meta descriptions too long. As you can see in the screenshot above, we use Rank Math to manage our meta descriptions on our WordPress blog.

We set the “title,” which is your page title. This should be slightly different than your headline and should have the keyword as close to the front of your title as possible. Our keyword for this post is “SEO basics.” We also set the meta description, which also contains our keyword and is a concise but descriptive summary of this post.

Here are some tips for optimizing metadata for blog post SEO:

1. Write a compelling page title: Craft a page title that accurately represents the content of your blog post and includes your primary keyword. Keep in mind that the ideal length for a page title is under 60 characters, as longer titles may be truncated in search results.
2. Create an informative meta description: Write a concise and informative meta description that summarizes the content of your blog post and includes your primary keyword. Aim for a length of 50-160 characters, as descriptions longer than this may be truncated in search results.
3. Optimize your URL: Ensure your blog post’s URL is clean, descriptive, and includes your primary keyword. Avoid using unnecessary characters or numbers.
4. Check metadata for consistency: Before publishing your blog post, double-check that your metadata is consistent across the page title, meta description, and URL, ensuring that they all accurately represent the content and focus on your primary keyword.

6. Set Website Page Titles and Descriptions

Setting page titles and descriptions on your website is an important part of your overall SEO strategy. It’s close to what you just learned above, but the difference is that you will also want to fill out this information for each website or blog page (not just individual blog posts) to let search engines know what they’re about.

For example, in the screenshot above, you can see we filled out the metadata for the “e-commerce” category page of our blog. We set the page title as “E-commerce Advice, Tips, and Tutorials” and added our site name. Then, we added the meta description to provide a concise summary of what the e-commerce page will provide to readers.

Here are some tips for setting effective page titles and descriptions for your website:

1. Create an enticing page title: Develop a page title that accurately captures the web page’s purpose while integrating the primary keyword. Aim for a title length of fewer than 60 characters to prevent truncation in search results.
2. Write an informative meta description: Draft a brief yet descriptive meta description summarizing the web page’s content and objective, incorporating the primary keyword. Keep it to 50 to 160 characters to avoid truncation in search results.
3. Refine the URL: Confirm that each web page URL is streamlined, descriptive, and features the primary keyword. Steer clear of superfluous characters, numbers, or overly long URLs.
4. Verify metadata consistency: Prior to publishing or updating your website pages, examine the metadata to ensure consistency across the page title, meta description, and URL. Confirm that they all accurately portray the content and contain the primary keyword.

7. Optimize Product Descriptions

When your customers shop online, they buy based on the photo and the description. That’s why your product descriptions are crucial to whether or not you get the sale. But your descriptions also need to contain keywords so more prospective customers find your online store and products.

Research the best keywords for each product you sell (and possibly one to two related terms), and then describe the item in tantalizing language — but sneak a keyword or two into it as well. Review competitors if you need inspiration — and then write something better.

Always remember that you’re writing for humans, not robots, and stuffing keywords into your descriptions without making them fit fluidly within your content isn’t going to cut it.

Product Description Example

If you need inspiration, check out the product description example below. Keywords are noted in bold.

Introducing our latest creation, the 16-ounce Fall Leaves Candle! As the leaves change colors and the weather begins to cool, our candle captures the essence of autumn in a jar. Infused with the natural scents of crisp leaves, earthy tones, and warm spices, this soy fall candle will transport you to a cozy fall day no matter where you are. With its warm and inviting fragrance, it’s perfect for creating a relaxing atmosphere in any room of your home. Hand-poured with 100% natural soy wax and a lead-free cotton wick, this handmade candle is eco-friendly and safe for the environment. It comes in a beautiful amber jar that will complement any home decor and adds a touch of warmth to your fall-inspired space. Our Fall Leaves Candle makes for a perfect gift for your loved ones, or as a treat for yourself. It’s also a great way to create a relaxing atmosphere while enjoying a hot cup of tea, curled up with a book, or spending time with loved ones. Experience the cozy warmth and delightful aroma of fall with our Fall Leaves Candle today.

Still need more help? Learn how to write persuasive product descriptions.

8. Avoid Duplicate Product Descriptions

As a website owner, you should be aware of how duplicate content can negatively impact your SEO rankings. Search engines, like Google, aim to provide users with the most relevant and unique content possible. When your website has duplicate content, it confuses search engines as they try to determine which version of the content is the most relevant and authoritative. This confusion can result in lower rankings for your pages.

Duplicate content can arise from various sources, such as manufacturer-provided product descriptions, reused website copy on multiple pages, and more. Regardless of the source, duplicate content dilutes the value and authority of your pages, making it harder for search engines to understand which page should be ranked higher.

9. Optimize Your Social Media Accounts

Social media shares play a big role in small business SEO.

There are two SEO basics to this:

1. Fill out your profiles completely and use relevant keyword terms as appropriate within your bio and description.

2.  When your posts get “liked,” “pinned” or retweeted, Google sees those as votes of quality AND more people learn about your fabulous products. This is why it’s important to build a strong social media presence for your business.

Best SEO Tools for Beginners

If you’re just starting out with SEO, there are a lot of tools available to help you optimize your website and content. Here’s a look at some of the best SEO tools for beginners:

• Google Search Console: This tool from Google gives you insights into how your website performs in search results, including visibility, clicks, impressions, and more.
• Semrush: This comprehensive suite of SEO tools helps you track keyword rankings and gain insights into organic competitors.
• Moz Pro: This is one of the most popular solutions for comprehensive SEO tracking, complete with backlink analysis and other special features.
• Yoast SEO: A powerful WordPress plugin that helps you quickly optimize each page on your site for better performance in search.
• RankMath: Another WordPress plugin for optimizing your site for better search engine rankings and user experience.
• WriterZen: An automated content optimization system to ensure all your content follows best practices for web accessibility and readability.
• SurferSEO: A set of advanced analytical tools to help improve your website’s performance in search engine results pages.

These tools can help you take the guesswork out of optimizing your website for search engine visibility — so give them a try!

Help Your Ideal Customers Find You

By working on the SEO basics that influence search engine rankings (including relevance, freshness, user engagement, and technical optimization), you can improve visibility and draw more traffic to your website.

With the right tools and guidance, SEO can be simple to understand and implement — so get started on the basics and watch your web traffic grow.