SEO is more than a buzzword that can bring HUGE sales to your eCommerce store. But unless you take the right steps, such as doing effective SEO either by building an in-house team or hiring an SEO agency to buy SEO packages, you cannot get the desired results.
Everyone is running an eCommerce store nowadays. You have to outrank all the other stores to make money, don’t you?
Keep reading this article “An Ultimate Guide to WooCommerce SEO to Rank #1 on Google in 2023” as you are about to find the actionable, proven tips for WooCommerce SEO! These tips will help you get in front of more customers, and you will eventually make more sales.
WooCommerce: The Essential Info
WooCommerce is a plugin that marketers use on WordPress eCommerce stores. This plugin comes under an open-source license.
WooCommerce is famous because it allows webmasters to unleash the power of WordPress for generating sales. Running an online store with WooCommerce is easy, fun, and powerful because of the open-source aspect – you can make changes in WooCommerce on the go and customize it for your needs.
Most internet marketers rely on WooCommerce because it is icing on the cake for the all SEO-friendly WordPress engine. WooCommerce requires you to add the themes, images, content, and all that’s necessary for an online store so you can optimize things for SEO from the beginning.
WooCommerce doesn’t come with a fit-it-all marketing strategy, and you have to make changes with time to keep updated with the SEO trends. Below is all you require for implementing the best WooCommerce SEO strategy.
WooCommerce SEO Tips: Everything You Should Know!
Even though this guide is the only one you need to start with WooCommerce SEO, remember that SEO itself is diverse and requires you to be creative. Let’s dive right into WooCommerce SEO tips!
1. Start With WordPress SEO
As mentioned above, don’t even think for a second that you’re all good to go by only installing the WooCommerce plugin. You have to take care of the basics and focus on the creative side of things before you can generate more sales.
WooCommerce is that you have to focus on WordPress SEO before you even begin with WooCommerce. The WooCommerce plugin is a WordPress plugin, after all, and it won’t produce any results unless your eCommerce store is strong by SEO standards.
Here are some of the basics you have to focus on for WordPress SEO:
- Your eCommerce store’s visibility.
- SEO-friendliness of the URLs.
- Addition of XML sitemaps.
- Compatibility with Google Search Console.
- On-Page SEO of your content.
- Regular keyword research updates.
- Using tags on your store.
- Appropriate internal linking.
And the list goes on.
The whole point is that you have to focus on these basics, so you have a good head start with WooCommerce SEO.
Most people don’t know this aspect of WordPress SEO optimization when they start working on their eCommerce store. They think that WooCommerce is enough to handle all their needs, and they will rank on top of Google without creating and following a proper plan.
Now you know that you have avoided this mindset and focus on the WordPress SEO first!
2. SEO And Product Titles
The good thing about SEO for eCommerce stores is that it’s much like doing SEO for your blog. If you are good with the SEO basics and can handle WordPress SEO tasks, you will enjoy using the WooCommerce plugin.
The first thing you have to take care of is SEO optimization of the product titles. You have to ensure that each product title on your eCommerce is written with keeping the SEO basics in mind.
Now, you might think that creativity is enough for selling products online. Some people think that the more attractive a product title is, the better it will attract the customers.
But the whole point of doing SEO is that it helps you satisfy the algorithms and helps you keep things productive. You should learn SEO copywriting if you’re willing to take things to the next level. The SEO titles of your products give you the chance to target long-tail keywords without any worries.
Make sure that you have done keyword research for the products you are selling. Include keywords in the title, so people searching for products can land on your ecommerce store.
And don’t even think about making the titles boring. If you spend some time learning SEO copywriting, you will produce titles that will be catchy and attract customers.
3. The Product Descriptions
Product Descriptions represent your products in the best possible manner. A properly written product description provides details about the product and answers the queries of a customer.
You can ensure that all the product descriptions contain proper keywords so your website can rank #1 on Google. Adding keywords in the description without making them boring can bring huge results.
Another thing you have to focus on is the meta-description of your product pages. The meta-description of any page doesn’t appear before the website user, but search engines use it to understand what your website offers to the customers.
Your meta-description should not be some mumbo-jumbo about how much you love your products or how wonderful they are for the customers. Instead, they should include proper keywords and creative ideas to provide more value and knowledge about the product.
So don’t forget about meta-descriptions if you are serious about ranking your ecommerce store #1 on Google. A golden rule is to include the same keywords in the meta-description used for the title. This way, you have a greater chance of making your website stand out from the competitors.
4. Slugs Must Not Be Sluggish
Do you think of the slowly-moving slug by reading the heading? Well, it’s not about that slug. WordPress generates a slug in response to the URL you provide. The other name for a slug is “Permalink,” but most people use “Slug.”
The WooCommerce plugin uses the product title you provide for generating the slug. But the thing is that the automatically-generated slug of WooCommerce is not perfect from the SEO perspective. There is no mention of important keywords, and all you end up with is a permalink with no value from the SEO perspective.
WordPress allows you to change the slug and customize it as per your needs. A better idea is to include main keywords in the slugs of your product pages.
A general SEO rule is not adding a blurb of keywords in anything you can customize. The same rule is true when it comes to slugs. There is no need to plaster keywords in every single place.
Avoid going overboard and adding too many keywords in a slug. Doing so will make you lose the credibility of your ecommerce store. Nice addition of main keywords to the slugs will help you get better than your competitors.
5. Use The Breadcrumbs
Slugs and breadcrumbs, is this some article about general knowledge? No, not at all. The SEO guys are fun and interesting to be with, contrary to the belief that marketers and tech geeks are always boring. The naming conventions used by SEO guys are always engaging.
Breadcrumbs are a way of telling your website user where they are on the website. These little crumbs allow the user to navigate from one part of the website to the other. The other added benefit is that when applied correctly, they even end up ranking the SERPs of Google.
Breadcrumbs provide a great way of linking one category to the other. Plus, they pack some real goodness and play a huge role in making your website user-friendly.
Now, when it comes to enabling breadcrumbs to your WooCommerce store, you can do so by adding a special plugin named Breadcrumb NavXT. This plugin allows you to do a myriad of things with the breadcrumbs on your WooCommerce store.
First up, you can change where the breadcrumbs appear. You can show them up on top or at the bottom, depending on your website’s overall theme and style. Making these changes is easier as all you have to do is to use the dropdown menu for these changes.
But some themes of WooCommerce have built-in access to the breadcrumb settings. Do check if the theme you have installed on your WooCommerce store.
6. The Power Of Categories And Tags
Everyone has heard about making it attractive and easier for the customer to use a website. But how do you go about making sure that your website is perfect for the people who visit your business? The great feature of categories and tags allows you to do so.
The proper use of categories on your WooCommerce store allows you to show your products in the best possible manner. Categories make your store no different than a physical store. Customers can hop between different categories and select the products they want to buy. Categories add a feel to the website and show that you are serious about making the user experience easy and full of fun.
But the added benefit of these categories and tags is the element of SEO optimization. Every single category and tag you include in your WooCommerce plugin is dealt with separately by the search engines.
The crawlers of search engines crawl the categories on your ecommerce store and rank them between SERPs. So the addition of categories gives you another way of claiming positions on the SEO rankings.
Another benefit of categories is that they help you improve your keywords game. Category pages allow you to add more keywords to your website. This increased (but non-repetitive) use of keywords on your website provides you with a way of claiming better positions on search engines.
But when you start, you may confuse yourself with the concepts of tags and categories. The key is that categories are like different products, while tags help specify the products in a category.
So do spend some time understanding these different concepts as you may end up misusing them.
7. Using Alt Tags
Search engines are getting better at recognizing images and understanding the difference between similar pictures. But to help them make this process buttery smooth, there is a huge role of the Alt Tags.
Alt Tags are tags about your images that tell what’s there in your picture. So if you have posted a picture of a smartphone on your blog, you can help the search engines understand it better by using alt tags.
But why should you care about the images and Alt Tags in the first place? The thing is that there is a massive number of internet users who specifically search for images before buying a product.
Customers switch to the “Images” tab of a Search Engine as it allows them to see the products by all companies at a glance. They get a feel of what different companies are selling without visiting every single web page.
Adding the simple HTML attribute of Alt Tags enables you to show what messages the pictures on your website convey. These tags help you claim rankings in the displayed images on a search engine. You can eventually rank higher in the search rankings if you get constant visitors to your website by clicking on your images.
WooCommerce plugin allows you to add Alt Text against any picture you publish on your website. In addition to the pictures you publish, you can also change the Alt Tags of the pictures published previously on your ecommerce store.
But you can ensure that the Alt Tags on your pictures are compliant with the SEO standards. So spend some time learning about Alt Tags before you start adding them to your store.
8. SEO And Product Categories
As mentioned earlier, product categories provide you with a great way of shaping your ecommerce store. These categories help you stand out from your competitors. But there’s something exciting that you can do with the category pages from the SEO perspective.
Every single product category page on WooCommerce comes with its page. This page is important for your SEO efforts because it helps you increase the keyword density of your website in a natural way. You can add as many keywords (naturally) as you can without alerting any spam filters in the first place.
So when it comes to the WooCommerce SEO and ranking on top of SERPs, you have to ensure that the category pages on your ecommerce store are up to the mark. Adding proper titles and descriptions of these pages by following SEO basics can give you a competitive edge above your competitors.
Spend some time figuring out the titles and descriptions that meet the SEO requirements and grab the attention of your readers at the same time.
9. Utilize The Analytics
Meet any performance marketer and find out the importance of keeping track of things in the marketing world. If all you know is that your marketing is “creative” but hasn’t proven to make any results, you are dealing with things the wrong way.
You have to find out whether your WooCommerce strategies are bringing some results after implementing them. Making changes if you don’t get your desired results is important for staying afloat and doing your best.
Google Analytics provides you with the best tools that you can use for tracking your SEO progress. You can find necessary details like how customers discovered your website, how much time they spent on your store, what interested them and what decisions they made during their stay – all this data is essential if you are looking for results.
The good thing about Google Analytics is that you can set it up your way. You can gather lots of information from this platform regarding the habits of users on your ecommerce store.
The “not so good news” is that you have to spend some time setting up the features of Google Analytics. It doesn’t come running out of the box, and you have to set it up before you can reap the excellent benefits.
10. Speedy Wins The Race
Your eCommerce doesn’t have to be “Slow and steady” if you’re after the #1 ranking on Google. Unless you spend some time optimizing the Speed of your website, you will not end up with any plausible results. One of the main SEO ranking factors is the Speed of your website.
Sites that respond quickly and provide quick results to the customers can better claim top positions on SERPs. One of the most “bad” things about a slow website destroys the user experience. How can a visitor understand and analyze different products on your website if things don’t load in the first place?
Customers don’t even want to waste a single minute when shopping online. Your website has to respond most quickly so your customers can get what they want.
So when setting up your WooCommerce website, do ensure that your website responds quickly. Take a look at different hosting services and read reviews before choosing a hosting for your website.
The Final Words
WooCommerce SEO is not difficult if you are mindful of the tips mentioned above. Do spend time researching the concepts provided in this blog. Have a learning mindset and focus on understanding new concepts so you can claim the #1 spot on Google for your WooCommerce store.
Happy marketing!
This is a guest post by James Beck, a Digital Marketing Manager of Globex Outreach.
