Category: E-Commerce Websites

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How to optimize your Shopify e-commerce store for SEO – A foolproof guide

Businesses have to depend on strategy, planning, and development to ensure long-term success. You cannot deny that online shopping is the new normal these days. Thus, it will take a lot more than just building an e-commerce store to draw more customers. It is time to create a Shopify e-commerce store for SEO.

The search engines have a major role to make your online store visible to shoppers. The higher you rank in the search engine results page, the more sales you can make. Shopify s one of the most preferred e-commerce stores and the use of the CMS platform has doubled since 2017.

Shopify is a very good option to set up an online store because it has got easy backend administration. Thus, you can meet your specific requirements. Most importantly, it comes with a lot of SEO-friendly features.

What to do to optimize your Shopify e-commerce store for success?

A simple website structure

The way you organize the content on the page is important to achieve SEO success. If the shoppers can find your store easily they will stay on it for long. When the shoppers stay in your store for a long time, it says to Google that your site offers value. This increases your ranking on the search engine results page.

On top of that, a well-optimized website structure will make things easier for the Google web crawlers to crawl your website. Therefore, your website structure should be simple. For instance, you can keep the product pages only a few clicks away from the home page. Organized and user-friendly website design will make things easy for the visitor. They can find out what they are looking for.

Also, if the site architecture is interlinked the web crawlers can easily follow the links. Simple site architecture means the link authority will also flow easily from pages with more backlinks to the low-ranking pages. This is specifically useful for SEO and digital marketing purposes.

Get rid of any duplicate content

When there are two similar contents with separate URLs, then it is duplicate content. The page can be either on your website or someone else’s. You have to get rid of it immediately.

Duplicate content on Shopify will have a negative impact on search performance. The search engines are in general tolerant towards site duplication, but if the content of the text is copied from another site, then it will face a Google penalty.

The good news is, once you get rid of the duplicate content, you can increase your website ranking. Check for plagiarism on your website. You can also conduct website audits to find out the pages with similar content and different URLs.

If you have not redesigned a website for a long time, then it is time to update. You can break free from the duplicate content if you can create a new copy.

Conducting a proper keyword research

Researching keywords is the foundation of SEO success. Follow these tips to generate relevant keywords for your store.

  • Export the keywords from Google Ads and then you need to optimize the search terms which generate better revenue and conversion rate.
  • You can also use the Google Search Console for identifying the keywords that have higher impressions and clicks.
  • You can also conduct the SEO competitor analysis using different tools where you can generate the “content gap’ report. This will help you in finding out the keywords that your competitors are using.
  • Finally, you can analyze the buyer persona and track the search forums that are related to your products for topic ideas.

Optimize the product pages

When you have collected a list of keywords, it is now the time to optimize the pages with the chosen ‘search terms’. You can start with the top pages at first, like the home page and the products page.

Optimize the pages by writing Meta titles and descriptions, adding alt-tags for images. Some general guidelines are:

  • Create unique title tags and Meta descriptions for every page.
  • Add a keyword when it is appropriate.
  • Do not use too complicated descriptions and make sure it is within the given character limit.
  • Create an attractive page that will encourage the visitors to click.
  • Make sure that the descriptions are brief yet descriptive.

The descriptions have to be written keeping the users in mind. The best way to add relevance to your content is to share the features and advantages of your products. Adding alt-texts to your images is also a good option.

The Google images are the second largest global search engine. You will be able to drive more traffic to the site through the images. This is why adding alt-text helps in describing what the image is all about.

When you have finished optimizing the titles, meta descriptions, and alt texts, you can now work on creating unique content for your products.

Setting up 301 redirect pages

The 301 redirects tell the search engines that the page is not available and it is moved to a new URL completely. You don’t want the consumers to shift to a competitor’s website once they land on a 404 not found page.

The goal is to lead your visitors to a new page that you can do by creating a URL redirect from the Shopify admin portal. Remember that before you redirect the users to the new URL, you have to delete the existing webpage.

Increase the website speed

If the website loads slowly, it will hurt the rankings. This is why it is important to put an effort to keep the website load speed high. You can use tools like Google Page Speed Insights.

  • You will have limited options on Shopify; however, here are some things that you can try.
  • Choose a theme that loads quickly
  • Compress the images before uploading
  • Install only the apps that you need so that they don’t hamper the site performance.

High-quality backlinks are important

The search engines rely on high-quality backlinks to determine how the community values your site. You can consider the backlinks as the word-of-mouth equivalent of SEO. Better quality backlinks will help you in building credibility and boost the organic traffic for your store. Here are some of the types of backlinks that you can get for your site:

  • Supplier/manufacturer links
  • Competitor links
  • Influencer voices
  • Brand mentions
  • Broken links

Content marketing

There is no doubt that content is the reason your website has visitors. A lot of people might skip content marketing since it will be an e-commerce store on Shopify. But creating content that adds value to the overall user experience is important for your e-commerce store as well.

Publishing informative content like blog posts, articles, questions & answers will help in educating people at different stages. This will also increase the chances of buying from you in the future. Creating content is the best way for people to know your brand without any direct approach. Well-written content can help you rank more keywords and earn more backlinks.

In conclusion, these are the factors that can get your Shopify e-commerce store SEO-ready. To avail the best digital marketing services, get in touch with Skyram Technologies.

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Future of Retail Online & Offline

Amazon, Myntra, Flipkart, online shopping, E-retail.

You must be well accustomed to these words by now. Not a day passes by without hearing these buzzwords at least once in a day.

Online retail stores have completely revolutionized the entire retail and trade scenario, expanding a brand’s geographical reach and opening up a whole new world of customers.

But one question that pops up in our mind regularly alike is whether eCommerce will take over physical retail entirely.

Well, there is no definite answer to this.

However, to give you a better perspective, here is our take on the retail offline & online industry.

What is the current scenario of the retail industry?

The online e-commerce sector is growing fast & wide.

By 2019, the sector is said to have touched a whopping $1500 billion worldwide!

Now, the factors leading to this phenomenal growth are four-sided.

  • The physical store, through payment gateways and digital catalogs, is moving online.
  • Social media plays a very big role. With diverse platforms, you can now use text, visuals, audio, and just great pictures to promote your products.
  • The age group of 18-24 years prefers to shop more online compared to their older counterparts. This can possibly be attributed to this being the first generation that grew up alongside the internet.
  • The rise of smartphones & the use of apps improve access to online stores and can even build brand loyalty. This is one reason so many online stores ask consumers to install their apps.

However, despite such an impressive growth in the online sector, about 36% of all shoppers mostly prefer to buy from a physical store. Like designer items or jewelry, they are high-value items where people like to go offline.

What are some of the advantages of offline retailing?

  • One of the greatest advantages of offline shopping is the trust issue. You can actually see, feel & test the product before buying.
  • Establishing a brand exclusively online can be daunting, considering the largest gateway for discovering these products is Google.
  • Moreover, people may prefer to shop in groups and the option to do so is effectively non-existent in online stores.

How the two sectors are blending?

At present many marketing experts are trying to go omnichannel retail.

What is omnichannel you may ask?

Well, it is sort of a hybrid between both online and offline retail where they function as one single entity.

According to an AT Kearney report, a stunning 95% of sales are achieved by brands that have an offline presence.

There are a few other things brands can look into to make this hybrid retail experience seamless.

One is to keep the brand identity intact. This way consumers won’t get confused between the two.

Second, offering in-store pick-ups for online sales and letting customers experience a product in-store before buying online are some ways to integrate both. This way you are providing the best of both worlds.

Going with future predictions, according to analysts omnichannel is going to be the future.

How will the purchasing algorithm of customers affect retail in the future?

The future of retail will probably be dominated by AI-based virtual assistants and purchasing algorithms, which will help to make our life easier and deliver the most convenient of the possible convenience.

Online Retail
Online Retail

So effective algorithms that can take control of categories for the consumers, by providing them time and cost-efficient undifferentiated solutions, will be a major hit for consumers.

This will be a challenge for multi-brand retailers. The promotional activities will be focused on algorithms. Brands will have to work to make them relevant to ensure that either the algorithm won’t trade them down, or the consumers will care enough about the brand to keep it in their own selection.

What does it mean for offline retail businesses?

Well, popular predictions say that a large section of the consumers will move online completely, but statistics show a different scenario.

Some products like mobile phones, computers, and electronics are expected to move online with a 9% increase in online purchases.

Also, sports equipment and clothing are predicted to increasingly be purchased online with a 6% increase and a large 11% rise within Generation Z.

On the other hand, segments like groceries, foods, fresh vegetables are expected to have a decline of 12% to 9%.

Moreover, gardening products, shoes, alcohol, hygiene products are expected to shift towards offline retailing.

What position does India hold currently in the retail market?

Well, the good news is that India is achieving some splendid job in the retail development index.

In Retail Development Index 2017, India was ranked the first in the Indian retail industry as the world’s fifth-largest global destination leaving the Chinese market behind.

According to reports, it accounts for over 10% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and around 8 % of the employment.

Recently, Rajesh Jain, MD & CEO at Lacoste India (Sports And Leisure Apparel Ltd.) mentioned that the Government of India’s various initiatives to enhance the retail industry in India is seen as a positive step forward.

According to reports, India’s retail market is said to be the world’s third-largest consumer economy reaching US$ 400 billion in consumption by 2025.

Do you want to open a solid retail market online? Contact us at Skyram Technologies & let us guide you through your business goals.

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