Online shoppers can’t buy a product if they can’t find it, so your product page SEO strategy is critical.
Implementing the best search engine optimization for your product pages ensures your products don’t languish on the last page of search results. But getting to the top of the first page of results requires utilizing content and technical best practices. This post reviews why product page optimization helps sales and offers our 11 best tips for product page SEO.
How SEO for Ecommerce Product Pages Drives Sales
Most buying journeys begin on shoppers’ phones. Even if someone purchases something in a brick-and-mortar store, odds are they started shopping on Google or another search engine. The harder someone has to work to find your product, the more likely they are to give up and buy from a competitor.
Unless you have the most brand-loyal customers in the world, buyers will search for an item and click on one of the first few results. Search engine optimization makes your products easier to find and thus more likely to end up in customers’ carts.
11 Tips and Product Page Seo Best Practices
So how do you ensure your product pages are fully optimized for search engines? Follow these 11 tips to help your product pages climb the search rankings.
1. Start With Keyword Research
To optimize your product pages so buyers can find them, you need to know what search terms people use. Utilize a keyword research tool to identify the best keywords related to your product. Analyze your competitor's product pages to see what keywords they’re using and which ones they rank for. Then build your strategy around trying to outrank your competitors and capitalizing on the keywords your competitors overlooked. To learn more about building a keyword strategy for product pages, check out our ecommerce SEO guide.
2. Include Important Details and Keywords in Your Titles and Meta Descriptions
The title and meta description are the first things buyers see. Search engines display those two elements on results pages. Don’t stuff them full of keywords. Instead, write natural-sounding phrases that give buyers everything they need to know about the product, including:
- Product Name, Brand, and Model. Be as specific as possible to capture people searching for that exact item. For example, Jordan Zoom Separate by Nike.
- Basic Description. You also need a basic description for people who weren’t searching for Nike Jordans, but instead searched for shoes. Something like “light-weight low-top shoes.”
- Unique Selling Points. Highlight why someone would want to buy that particular product.
3. Utilized Structured Data
Structured data can be a game-changer for product page SEO. Many websites fail to take advantage of this technique. Structured data tells search engines where to pull information from a website. You’ll add the markup to your product page code to denote information such as brand, categories, ratings, and reviews. Schema.org lists all the possible structured data points you can add to product pages.
4. Use Readable URLs
Use natural language in your URLs. A URL with a setup like /product-category/product-name-here will rank better than /product?=102020e9040945. The URL is another place to include important product information or keywords.
5. Write Unique Content
Don’t just copy and paste the product descriptions from your distributors. Unique content performs better in search and helps your listing stand out from the competition. Also, distributors don’t always utilize SEO best practices. You’ll want to incorporate your own keyword strategy into each product description.
6. Enable Customer Product Reviews
Reviews boost search and conversion performance. The social proof provided by a review encourages shoppers to purchase an item. Search engines like reviews because they’re a form of user-generated content and are a great source of keywords.
7. Add Images and Videos to Product Pages
Buyers want to see a product before they buy it. Adding high-quality images and videos to your product pages increases conversions, but image and video content help search results too. With images, you can add keywords to the alt-text description. Search engines also prioritize engaging websites, so videos help boost your site by increasing visitors’ time on the page.
8. Include an FAQ Section
Like product reviews, FAQ sections are another great way to add keywords to your product pages. When doing your keyword research, look for any questions that appear as search terms, and be sure to answer them in your FAQ section.
9. Don’t Delete Out-of-Stock Products
Don’t delete out-of-stock products. Once a page ranks, you don’t want to undo all your product page SEO work. Give shoppers the option to get an email alert when the item is available again.
10. Develop a Linking Strategy
Backlinks and internal links help product pages too. Many people focus their linking strategies on their homepage and category pages, but these tried-and-true SEO techniques apply to product pages too. Consider using an ecommerce content strategy, like a blog, or the answers in your FAQ sections to link to related products to add internal links.
11. Ensure Your Site Loads Quickly
Site speed is a vital factor in search algorithms. Search engines rank faster loading sites higher than slow-loading ones. Also, if your site loads too slowly, shoppers will bounce and head to a competitor’s site. Remember, today’s shoppers are used to the one-click speed and convenience of buying on Amazon. Keep things moving quickly for search engine and conversion rate optimization.
Create a Faster Loading Product Pages with Nexcess
Fast-loading product pages start with a quality web host. Nexcess Managed WooCommerce hosting plans offer lightning-fast loading times and the convenience of automatic updates to ensure your plugins and core software are always up-to-date. Pick your plan and sign up today.