On-page SEO Mistakes to Avoid On Ecommerce

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On-page SEO, if done right, can make a huge difference in your search marketing efforts. On-page SEO improves your site’s credibility in front of Google. So, you will keep getting high-quality traffic continuously for free.
So, you can say on-page SEO is the backbone of your search presence. And we cannot afford any recklessness while optimizing pages for search engines.
There are 12-24 million eCommerce stores available online. So, brands need to put serious effort into optimizing their site for SEO to scale their earnings.
Remember, your competitors are practicing full-proof on-page SEO tactics. So, if you fail to optimize your store, then they will overtake in rankings and conversions.
Today, I’m sharing on-page SEO blunders that may hurt your profits in the eCommerce business.
Read this post completely to get a clear idea about On-page SEO. You will have a detailed overview of the mistakes you should avoid in your store to improve SERP rankings.
So, without wasting any more time, let’s begin.

Mistake #1: Not Using Optimized Images of Ecommerce Products

A good product image can undoubtedly impact the conversion rate.
When you show a high-quality picture, it will undoubtedly persuade users. It will encourage them to buy that product. Nobody likes to see a blurry and cluttered product image, period.
But when uploading a high-quality image, on any site for that matter, it increases the server load.
The site’s server has to render an image whenever someone requests a page. The rendered version is what we see on our browsers.
So, the server has to render all the images on the page every single time.
Make sure that the product images are not massive. If hundreds of people are requesting the page, it will increase users’ server load.
Increased server load will hamper the loading speed of the site.
Now you know that the loading speed is a crucial ranking factor in SEO. We will discuss loading speed in a different section below.
You have to ensure that you’re optimizing your images’ size before uploading them on your site.
Based on your CMS, you can use different plugins and tools to optimize your product images. You can then upload them on the server.
You can try TinyPNG or JPEGmini to reduce the size of the images without compromising on quality.

Mistake #2: Using Thin Content On eCommerce Product Descriptions

I’ve come across many sites that don’t put any product description at all.
The product description is crucial for site owners. There they can talk good about their products. You can even sound salsey, if required.
It is the real estate they have to leverage to persuade customers.
Plus, the product description is one of the first elements that visitors focus on. As soon as they land on your page, they will give it a read.
So, eCommerce owners must focus on writing detailed descriptions. Also, write a user-centric product description to educate visitors.
Thin product descriptions will confuse search engine crawlers.
They cannot understand what the product is, and therefore, they cannot rank the page on SERP.
Google penalizes websites with thin content under its Google Panda update.
Product descriptions can impact the user experience. So, owners have to understand that adding detailed product descriptions can improve UX and rankings.

Mistake #3: Not Having Responsive Ecommerce Design

82% of U.S. Internet users purchased something using their mobile phones.
And the fact that search engines favor mobile responsive sites is no longer a secret anymore.
Your design should match different screen sizes. Still, many eCommerce sites tend to forget to optimize their designs.
Provide a concurrent user experience across multiple devices, like a tablet, mobile, and PC. As an owner, you have to ensure that for your site.
Content management systems like Shopify and WooCommerce support automatic mobile responsiveness.
To check if your site is responsive to mobiles, use this tool, Mobile-friendly Test, by Google.
Enter the URL of your site, and the tool will check if your site is opening properly on small-screen devices.

Mistake #4: Not Using Unique Meta Descriptions on eCommerce Product Pages

Most online stores focus on specific niches. They sell similar products online in different colors, sizes, and variants. So, all their listings will have the same title and description. It’s a big red flag for search engine crawlers not to include that store for ranking.
The same meta tags on product pages will confuse the crawlers. They will get confused about whom to rank for specific keywords.
They won’t be able to judge the credibility of a specific product to rank for certain keywords. So use different meta tags, especially titles, after keyword research. You need to invest time and resources in optimizing it.
Make sure you are writing descriptive titles on eCommerce product pages. It will help crawlers a lot. Also, the users can exactly know what lies inside that particular page.
You can use a templated approach if you have thousands of products on your site.
You can write custom meta descriptions and titles for influential and best-selling products.
A templated approach will help you save a ton of time. You can use it to brainstorm and write titles and descriptions for thousands of products.

Mistake #5: Forgetting the Buyer’s Persona in Copy of Ecommerce Pages

As already discussed, your eCommerce product pages are crucial. They have the power to make or break the conversions on your site.
You must understand anyone who is visiting your product pages comes with a certain mindset and requirements.
So, your copy has to be compelling enough to tap on the visitors’ right emotions and make them a fan of your products.
The visitors must get compelled to try the product after reading the description. Else, how can you expect them to take their credit cards out and become your customers?
Gone are the days when general copy followed by a CTA work on online stores. There are more and more stores are coming online. So, only stores that provide personalized experience will thrive.
Define the sales funnel of your store and write a copy accordingly.
Traffic from search engines is already warm. Those people are already looking for a solution related to a particular problem. Therefore, your store’s copy has to be well-researched and elegantly written.
Research your visitors’ demographics, age, gender, traits, and behaviors. It will help you to make improvements to your web copy. It will help the users to resonate with the message that you want to deliver.

Mistake #6: Using Random URL Structures On Ecommerce Pages

Most eCommerce websites follow a random URL structure on their site.
These URLs, also known as slugs, should be as straightforward as possible.
Clear URLs help users intuitively understand what products they will find on the page.
Search engine crawlers also verify the slugs before ranking the site.
You should rewrite the URLs based on your site’s CMS. For, e.g., Shopify stores will have “products” after the root domain.
You either have to manually change the URL structure for your site or use plugins or apps depending on your CMS.
But make sure:

• You have added a primary keyword.
• Add hierarchy if required.
• Avoid using underscores to separate words.
• Use a hyphen to separate words.
• Avoid using special characters, if possible.

Mistake #7: Not Having An Easy Navigation

Do not piss your visitors off with lousy website navigation. As an eCommerce site owner, it is the last thing you want to do them.
By the way, 94% of customers say your site has to be easier to navigate.
People may come from a mobile or a tablet or a PC. You have to make sure that your entire website is easily accessible to them.
Decide the important links of your eCommerce store. Make them easily accessible within either header or footer.
You can use a theme that allows a mega menu on your eCommerce store.
The mega menu will create a visually appealing hierarchy structure within your site’s menu. It will give visitors a great browsing experience.
Create a design that does not make users feel that they are lost on the site. Visitors should be able to steer through your site intuitively.
Make sure you have a search bar on your site. It will help the visitors to search for any product easily.

Mistake #8: Increased Loading Time is The Worst On-page SEO Mistake

Loading speed is a strong UX signal that search engines consider ranking a specific page on SERP.
Search engines don’t like that if users have to wait to access the content on your page.
They prefer sites that take minimum time to load and serve visitors.
Also, users don’t like websites that load slowly. 46% number one reason to dislike a site is its inability to load quickly.
Slow loading speed also impacts your store’s reputation.
It shows that your site does not care about user experience and hasn’t worked properly on the programming side.
Whenever you add new content or upload a new catalog to your store, check the page speed.
I use PageSpeed Insights and GTmetrix to check the loading speed. These tools also tell me which CSS, JavaScript, or image I need to optimize to improve the loading speed.

Mistake #9: Not Having Product Reviews on Ecommerce Product Pages

Getting and managing product reviews is not an easy task. But if you can nail them, it can improve your store’s SEO like nothing else.
Reviews add another parameter on ranking on SERPs. They can improve the CTRs and credibility of your site.
You get to leverage user-generated content (UGC) on your site through reviews.
Reviews build trust in front of targeted customers. They will be inclined to buy your product with better reviews compared to competitors’ products with less or no reviews at all.

Related : Mind-Blowing Tips for Your eCommerce Landing Page

Mistake #10: Not Doing Conversion-centric Keyword Research

I’ve often seen many eCommerce stores optimizing landing pages related to broad keywords.
I believe that targeted keywords should be relevant and focused.
Generic keywords can bring traffic in quantity. But remember those visitors are not too warm. So it will be hard for you to convert them. Those keywords don’t have high purchase value.
Focus on a relevant keyword with a few hundred searches. It is far better than a generic keyword with search volume in thousands.
Because all the users searching for that specific keyword will get a super relevant product as a solution. Those users are more likely to purchase the products.
So, make sure you are doing quality keyword research for your eCommerce site.
Please get in touch with us to get an error-free On-page SEO report for your eCommerce website.