As new online retailers open shop daily, it’s crucial that ecommerce marketers like yourself stay on top of upcoming tactics and algorithm updates if you want your business to stay ahead of the competition.
While some things will always stay the same—like using relevant titles and linking to external sources—other elements continue to evolve in a never-ending spiral.
What’s the biggest SEO ecommerce update in 2020? Google (as well as other large search engines) is trying to be the end destination of the user’s search journey. After all, Google alone handles 75,000 search queries per second and continues to grow 10%-15% per year.
In terms of driving traffic back to your website, this isn’t the best news for your ecommerce shop. However, with the right strategy and implementation, you can remain effective in the search engine’s framework and earn conversions. Read on to discover what SEO ecommerce tactics will help you dominate the SERPs in 2020.
What is SEO?
SEO is the strategy of increasing the quantity and quality of website traffic by increasing your website’s visibility on a search engine. SEO improves your site’s ranking in the organic section of search results.
How does SEO actually work? Search engines have a crawler that gathers data across all your website content to build an index. That index is fed through an algorithm that attempts to match all of that data to the user’s original search query. There’s a lot that goes into a search engine’s algorithm to determine which content ranks. Check out this graph from our friends at Moz:
Source: Moz
After you’ve swallowed that information, you need to think about the actual optimization part of your website content. This is where ecommerce marketers step in to write fresh content for the search engines to understand and index.
Common SEO practices include optimizing content with keywords, building backlinks, and writing descriptive meta descriptions.
Why your ecommerce business needs SEO
If you want your website to be found organically, you need to prioritize SEO for your ecommerce store. 70.6% of all traffic starts with a Google, Bing, Yahoo, or YouTube search.
When set up properly, SEO is one of the only digital marketing channels that’ll continue to pay off for extended amounts of time.
For example, if you provide a fantastic blog post about the top 20 restaurants in Metro Detroit that ranks for the right keywords, your traffic can continue to increase over time to send traffic back to your site.
While your small ecommerce business may not have the resources to dedicate to a robust SEO strategy, it’s important to narrow down what matters to your audience and focus on those elements.
As an online platform, ecommerce shops need to be found on the internet to grow, convert users, and boost your bottom line.
Optimizing your website will allow you to deliver valuable content to search engines so your content is properly displayed in the SERP for your potential customers to find and click.
6 SEO ecommerce tactics for 2020
Now that you have a good grasp of the importance of SEO for your ecommerce business, it’s time to dive into the newest trends. Let’s take a look at the top SEO ecommerce 2020 tactics to help your business grow and earn substantial ROI.
1. User-focused optimization
For the past few years, Google has been utilizing learning algorithms to improve the search user experience and to avoid keyword-stuffed webpages that don’t provide real value.
In 2020, this will become even more important with Google’s latest algorithm model BERT. BERT analyzes the structure of a user search to better understand the context of why the keywords are used.
What this boils down to for your online store is that you need to write content your audience actually wants. Talk to your customers or ask your customer service team what they’re hearing to better understand what the needs are.
Develop content with user intent in mind and focus on each stage of the buyer’s journey, rather than just strings of keywords that a user might search for.
2. High-quality content
If there’s one thing that continues to be the lifeblood of SEO, it’s content. Even in 2020, content is still king and affects everything on your website from the actual structure to the types of links you build.
From your SEO strategy to email marketing campaigns, you need valuable content to connect with your users. To succeed with SEO ecommerce this year, you need to focus on writing content that’s relevant and authoritative with long-tail keywords.
Why? Not only will your users keep coming back to your website, but it’s exactly what the Google algorithm is looking for to satisfy user needs. to do this correctly, consider the following when developing your content:
- Understand what your audience searches for
- Give your users solutions with authoritative content
- Develop content for every stage of the user experience
- Understand the motives behind your users’ questions
3. Zero-click searches
Search engines are trying to be the end destination for users. With SERP elements like featured snippets and Google’s Local Packs, more than half of all searches now qualify as “zero search.” This means the user’s question is being answered in the SERP instead of your website.
First, don’t panic. Some of these queries may just be looking for a quick phone number or an answer to a question that wouldn’t result in a conversion either way.
However, to combat this, consider which long-tail keywords that’ll result in clicks. Also, start optimizing your content on Google’s platforms like YouTube, Maps, Knowledge Panels, etc. with keywords that have a higher CTR opportunity.
Source: SparkToro
4. Mobile optimization
With mobile usage increasing year after year, developing a mobile-first website and digital strategies is crucial in 2020.
Create a website that’s responsive for all mobile devices first, and then make it compatible with desktop usage after. All of your metrics need to reflect online reporting as well, so you can better understand your mobile performance.
However, SEO ecommerce 2020 tactics also need to include analyzing mobile SERPs. What’s your audience searching for on their mobile devices? How’s this different from a desktop? You need to understand what you’re up against with mobile search results, so you can drive traffic and impact your bottom line.
5. Brand building
In 2020, ecommerce marketers will need to focus on brand awareness that drives traffic and acquires top-tier links. Once again, you need to focus on a consumer-first approach with high-quality content that isn’t just about helping search rankings:
- Planned editorial: topics that are written about every year (i.e., Black Friday, Valentine’s Day)
- Planned reactive editorial: topics that are tied to specific seasons or themes (i.e., summer road trips, resort destinations)
- Reactive editorial: topics that are written on the fly and can’t be predicted due to breaking news
Brand building also comes in the form of PR and social proof. You can consistently pitch your name to the media, so other websites can pick up your content and help you start acquiring top links.
Additionally, start collecting customer reviews on your Google My Business page to earn social proof and credibility. Most modern consumers treat online reviews like a recommendation from a friend and reference these before making a purchasing decision.
The truth is consumers are getting smarter and are no longer fooled by marketing. They expect more out of brands, and ecommerce needs to earn their trust before they buy products. How can you do this? Develop a credible brand that isn’t just about ranking #1.
6. Programming
Do you find coding time-consuming or redundant? We don’t blame you.
By utilizing programming languages like Python and R, you can use SEO automation to your advantage and free up your time for other marketing tasks like storytelling, creating stellar customer experiences, and providing an easy way for users to digest your content.
With programming and moving beyond Excel for analysis, you have the ability to:
- Incorporate multiple data sources for analysis
- Apply machine learning to solve problems
- Reduce human input to make decisions
Wrap up
Ready to become an SEO whiz and grow your online business? As the digital landscape continues to evolve, it’s more important than ever to stay ahead of SEO ecommerce 2020 tactics to outrank your competition and provide potential customers real value.
After all, the more credibility you build with content, the higher the conversion rates you’ll have.
As you begin to analyze your website’s current SEO practices, consider:
- Developing high-quality content that’s focused on improving the user experience
- Focusing on long-tail keywords and optimizing Google platforms to rank with zero-click searches
- Optimizing your website and content for mobile SEO
- Building a brand that users trust, not just one that ranks
- Use a programming language that makes your life easier
Now that you’re ready to tackle SEO, what about email marketing? CM Commerce offers a full suite of email marketing capabilities for ecommerce shops to help grow loyal customers. Try it for free today!