Ranking Ecommerce Sites: Tips And Tricks
It can be daunting for an ecommerce business to compete against hundreds, if not thousands of other competitors, to establish a good search rank on Google. But being competitive in your niche really comes down to setting up a strong digital footprint on Google. Strong web design also makes a big difference in your ecommerce site’s rank.
Now, it’s time to take a look at a few digital marketing strategies that you can use to boost your ecommerce site’s Google search ranking. After all, more eyes on your content/products mean a higher chance of landing conversions and turn those into subsequent sales.
Get In Paid Advertising
One of the most popular ways for ecommerce stores to rank on Google is to invest in paid advertising. These are ad spots at the top and side of a Google page that businesses can buy to promote their products.
If you were to type “hats” into Google, the first few results will be paid advertisements from retailers, or, more likely, a local pack of places near you where you can buy hats.
Because people search for items using specific keywords, it’s important to know which search terms your consumer base would use to find your products so that you can effectively purchase ad space on those pages.
This might seem like an easy solution to get to the top of searches in a short time, but ad space can be extremely competitive/costly for popular keywords.
Basing your marketing strategy entirely on paid search campaigns can quickly become expensive and exhaustive. Instead, try combining an effective paid search campaign with other organic tactics.
Stick To SEO Strategies
Search engine optimization (SEO) can be extremely effective when you’re looking to improve search rankings. SEO targets organic search results — results that aren’t paid ads — by optimizing content to be indexable by search engines such as Google or Bing.
Let’s go back to our example earlier in the article. Beneath the local pack, you can see the top organic rankings for the keyword “hats.”
Google’s algorithm has deemed these sites to be reliable sources when it comes to “hats” based on the site’s content, its URL structure and overall layout, and the endorsements it’s received from other “hat” sites.
Following SEO best practices is generally a great starting point because it’s far more cost-effective than PPC. As Google notes, however, it takes about 2 to 6 months for SEO strategies to produce notable returns.
If you don’t have the time to wait, consider supporting your SEO campaign with paid ads to tide you over until you see results.
Consult Professionals
Although there are resources that small businesses can reference to get started on a digital strategy, there might be times when the situation calls for expertise outside of your domain.
A few reasons might be:
- You’re unsure of which keywords to target.
- You’re trying to rank for particularly difficult/competitive terms.
- You’re looking to redesign your site structure to be SEO-friendly.
- In these cases, it’s helpful to find a provider who can help you navigate the process.
