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Lawrence Kiprono - Expert SEO Copywriter and Digital Marketing Specialist

Author name: Lawrence Kiprono

Lawrence Kiprono is a seasoned freelance SEO copywriter and digital marketing expert with over five years of experience helping businesses grow their online presence. He loves seeing the impact that optimized content has on small, medium sized businesses and startups. When not writing or mentoring aspiring virtual assistants, Lawrence enjoys reading, swimming, or watching football.

E-commerce SEO for beginners 2024
SEO

Mastering E-commerce SEO in 2024: A Comprehensive Beginner’s Guide

E-commerce SEO Guide 2024 (A Beginner’s Guide) With the digitization of all aspects of our lives, e-commerce SEO is becoming increasingly essential for online store owners. As more and more people resort to search and buy online, even in small cities and towns, it is the unspoken rule that if you sell anything; you need to get online. Last year, retail e-commerce sales were approximated at $6.3 trillion! And this is only set to increase. So, if you own an online store or work for one, digital marketing, specifically SEO, is a must-have skill. Why? Because SEO helps your online store rank higher in search engine results, making it easier for potential customers to find you. It drives; With the right e-commerce SEO strategies, you can attract more visitors, convert them into customers, and ultimately, grow your business. In this guide, I will guide you through the e-commerce SEO, from its importance, tools, and tips to make the most of this branch of SEO. Let’s get started. What is E-commerce SEO? E-commerce SEO, or Search Engine Optimization for e-commerce, is the practice of optimizing an online store to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). The goal is to increase organic (non-paid) traffic from search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo, ultimately leading to more sales and revenue. Here’s a detailed explanation of what E-commerce SEO involves: Key Components of E-commerce SEO Other important aspects of on-page SEO for e-commerce include; Product Descriptions, URL Structure, and Header Tags. Also pay attention to mobile-friendliness, site architecture, and secure site protocol (HTTPS). Why is SEO Important for E-commerce? SEO is crucial for e-commerce because it directly impacts your store’s visibility, traffic, and sales. Here’s why SEO is important for your e-commerce store or business. All these points affect the bottom line of any online business. And that tells why e-commerce SEO is a must-have and must-do for any e-commerce store. Now with the definition and benefits out of the way, let us look at the basic steps of having an effective SEO strategy for an e-commerce store. How to create an E-commerce SEO Strategy Creating an effective E-commerce SEO strategy involves several steps. These steps are mutually dependent, and the overall success of your e-commerce SEO efforts relies on all the steps. It is also important to state that e-commerce SEO or any other SEO will never be a one-time strategy. Monitoring and optimizing further is important because the market is dynamic. Now, here’s a step-by-step guide to help you develop a comprehensive SEO strategy for your online store: The 7-step process of starting e-commerce SEO Step 1: Conduct Keyword Research – The first step is identifying your keywords, analyzing what your competitors are ranking for, and organizing the keywords effectively throughout your site. Step 2: Optimize On-Page SEO – On-page SEO elements like title tags, meta descriptions, optimized product descriptions, URL structure, and clearly defined header tags are very important. Optimizing images also falls under this step. Have descriptive image names, alt descriptions, and minify images while maintaining high quality. Step 3: Improve Technical SEO – Technical SEO will encompass things like site speed, HTTPS protocol, site responsiveness, and site architecture. Step 4: Develop a Content Marketing Strategy – This includes planning your content from scratch and in advance. This will also help you plan your internal links. Step 5: Build Backlinks – This is a crucial step in e-commerce SEO and other SEO as well. Backlinks mean a lot to search engines as it is one of the ranking factors. Step 6: Optimize for Local SEO (if applicable) – If you have a physical location or serve a specific geographic area, then optimizing for local SEO is essential. Step 7: Monitor and Analyze Performance – Understanding key metrics such as traffic, bounce rate, and conversions, helps you identify what is driving traffic and sales, as well as where there may be opportunities for improvement. Those are the basic steps you need to get your e-commerce SEO rolling. Once you have them rolled out, you’ll need tools to make your work easier. Here are the top e-commerce SEO tools: Best E-commerce SEO Tools To carry out your e-commerce strategy effectively, you will need tools that give you access to information and data. This is to allow you to make informed decisions and not make guesses. Guessing SEO always proves to be costly. Here are the 6 tools that have been beneficial to me when carrying out SEO consultations and interventions. Ahrefs Ahrefs is a comprehensive SEO tool that helps with keyword research, backlink analysis, competitor analysis, rank tracking, and site audits. The data it provides is vital for understanding the competitive landscape. It will help you identify the keywords your competitors are ranking for and find opportunities to improve your rankings. The backlink analysis feature for example is crucial for building a strong backlink profile, which is a key factor in SEO success. Avada SEO Avada SEO offers various SEO enhancements like optimized code, schema markup, and performance improvements for e-commerce stores. This helps ensure that your site is structured correctly for search engines, with clean code and efficient performance. It also supports schema markup, which can improve how your pages appear in search results. Avada also optimizes images ensuring your pages load faster and therefore contributing to good user experience. Google Analytics Google Analytics tracks and reports website traffic and user behavior. It provides detailed insights into how visitors interact with your site, including metrics like session duration, pages per session, and bounce rate. This set of data is necessary to make informed decisions and improve overall site performance and user engagement. Screaming Frog Screaming Frog is a website crawler that analyzes site architecture and identifies technical SEO issues. It can find broken links, duplicate content, and other on-page SEO problems. This tool is particularly useful for large e-commerce sites with many pages, as it helps maintain site health and performance. SEO Ant SEO Ant is an AI-powered

SEO common mistakes and their corresponding solutions
SEO

Search Engine Optimization: Common Mistakes and Their Solutions

28 SEO Mistakes and How to Fix Them Some time back, when I heard or read about SEO mistakes, I was sure that these were some complex mistakes that needed a trip to the moon and back to solve. Only through handling clients’ work have I realized how most of these are easy to correct and how these corrections directly impact your ranking. I’ve also had the challenge of explaining to business and site owners on the importance of ranking high. SEO is like free advertising, on the platform that search engines provide. Whereas these platforms have paid versions of the advertisements, we as humans are wired to skip adverts. That said, here are the top 27 SEO mistakes that I have either encountered or noted while working as a freelance SEO copywriter. I have grouped them based on the type of SEO they fall into: On-page SEO Mistakes On-page SEO is all about web content. If you get it wrong at this stage, you cannot be redeemed. Here are the mistakes that people commit when writing their content: 1.      Ignoring keyword research This means not taking the time to understand what words and phrases people use when searching for information online. When you skip keyword research, it’s like trying to find a book in a library without knowing its title or author. To fix this, conduct thorough keyword research to identify the terms your target audience is using, and then incorporate those keywords strategically into your website content. 2.      Neglecting on-page optimization On-page optimization involves optimizing individual web pages to rank higher and earn more relevant traffic in search engines. Neglecting this aspect means failing to properly structure your website content, including title tags, meta descriptions, and headers, to make it easier for search engines to understand and index. Think of it as having a great product but not labeling it correctly on the shelf. To fix this, ensure each page of your website is optimized with relevant keywords, descriptive titles, and informative meta descriptions. 3.      Poor quality content This refers to content that lacks value, relevance, or originality, and fails to engage or inform the audience. Poor quality content can harm your website’s reputation and credibility, as well as its search engine rankings. To remedy this, focus on creating high-quality, valuable content that addresses the needs and interests of your target audience. Invest time and effort into research, writing, and editing to ensure your content is informative, engaging, and well-presented. 4.      Overlooking mobile optimization With an increasing number of users accessing the internet via mobile devices, neglecting mobile optimization can severely impact user experience and search engine rankings. To fix this, ensure your website is responsive and mobile-friendly, with easy navigation, fast loading times, and optimized content layout for various screen sizes. Test your website on different devices to ensure a seamless experience for mobile users. 5.      Skipping internal linking Internal linking is essential for guiding users and search engines through your website’s content and establishing a hierarchy of information. When you skip internal linking, your content becomes confusing and disorienting. To address this, incorporate relevant internal links within your content to connect related pages and help users discover more content on your website. Use descriptive anchor text to provide context and improve navigation. 6.      Not optimizing images Images play a crucial role in enhancing the visual appeal and engagement of your website content. However, neglecting to optimize images for search engines can impact your site’s visibility and performance. Optimize your images by using descriptive file names, alt text, and captions that accurately describe the image content and incorporate relevant keywords. Additionally, optimize image file sizes to ensure fast loading times and improved user experience. 7.      Overusing keywords Keyword stuffing, or overusing keywords in an attempt to manipulate search engine rankings, can result in poor user experience and penalties from search engines. To avoid this, focus on creating high-quality, valuable content that naturally incorporates relevant keywords in context. Write for your audience, not for search engines, and use keywords sparingly and strategically to maintain readability and user engagement. 8.      Not optimizing for voice search With the increasing popularity of voice-activated devices and virtual assistants, optimizing for voice search is becoming essential for maintaining visibility in search results. Not optimizing for voice search means missing out on opportunities to capture voice-based search queries and reach a growing segment of users. To address this, optimize your content for natural language and long-tail keywords that align with how people speak and ask questions aloud. Provide direct and concise answers to common queries to increase the likelihood of appearing in voice search results. 9.      Not optimizing for featured snippets Featured snippets are the concise answers displayed at the top of search engine results pages, providing immediate answers to users’ queries. Not optimizing for featured snippets means missing out on prime visibility and traffic opportunities You should structure your content in a way that directly addresses common questions or search queries, and provide clear and concise answers that are likely to be featured as snippets in search results. 10.  Neglecting video SEO Video content has become increasingly popular and can significantly enhance your website’s visibility and engagement. Neglecting video SEO means failing to optimize your video content for search engines, resulting in missed opportunities to attract and retain viewers. To remedy this, optimize your video titles, descriptions, and tags with relevant keywords, and create engaging and informative content that resonates with your target audience. Additionally, promote your videos across various platforms and channels to increase visibility and engagement. 11.  Neglecting to update old content Over time, content can become outdated or irrelevant, leading to decreased visibility and user engagement. Neglecting to update old content means missing out on opportunities to maintain relevance and authority in your niche. To fix this, regularly review and update older content to reflect current trends, information, and user needs. Update statistics, refresh examples, and add new insights to keep your content fresh and valuable to your audience.

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