Have you ever wondered why you see the listings you do when you search for a word or phrase on one of the major search engines? It isn’t luck that brings those websites to the top of the list. The designers of those pages use search engine optimization (SEO) strategically in order to appear on that prime first page of search results.

What is SEO?

SEO is actually a process of creating a website that the major search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing sort to rank higher in their search results. This type of optimization is done through a few different techniques including the use of carefully considered keywords, unique content, and uncomplicated URLs.

5 Steps to Better SEO

There are a few simple things that you should remember when working on your SEO. Start with these five tips and you will be well on your way to increasing your organic (and free) search engine traffic.

Choose your keywords carefully

Keywords are one of the most important parts of SEO. These are the words and phrases that most people will search for when looking for the product or service that your website provides. You will need to have a list of relevant keywords for each of your webpages.

Place the keywords

Use these keywords in your product descriptions, as alt-text on images, and in blog posts. Allowing customer reviews also helps with your SEO because those reviews will most likely contain common keywords for that particular product.

Make sure your website is engaging

Search engines rank how long people stay on your website. Make sure that your keywords are relevant and that people will want to stay on your site to check it out further. The more often that people quickly click away from your site, the lower your site will appear in the search engines’ listings.

Simplify your URLs

Changing your URL to include descriptive words instead of web developer numbers and letters is a smart change to make. Search engines use information from the URL just like they use information from the content of your page.

Be as detailed as possible in your product listings

Including as many details as possible for each of your products is a good way to make sure that your listings are showing up on the right searches. Just don’t copy and paste the same description on more than one page – search engines don’t like duplicate content.

Your Customers are Still #1

SEO is a delicate balance between satisfying the search engine’s bots while still appealing to your human customers. Always make sure that your website’s content is well-written and engaging. If people suspect that you are ignoring them and catering to a robot, they will not end up spending much time browsing your site.

Even though the concept of SEO is relatively simple, there are many subtle nuances and ever-changing technology to consider. At Wizards of Ecom, we offer a wide range of courses that will help you make sure that your ecommerce business stands out from the crowd. Click here to learn more.