Positioning An Online Store - The Most Important Tips From Semalt

The type of industry often defines the issues related to the optimisation of an online shop in terms of content or technical aspects. In order for the positioning of an online shop to be effective, it is necessary to use appropriate keywords and key phrases.

It should be noted that shop positioning is fundamentally different from activities aimed at the standard "business card" page. Websites designed with sales in mind are much more extensive, with many sub-pages, products and often a dedicated blog. A website with many sub-pages that need to be optimised requires a lot of important activities.

Are you wondering what positioning really is, how to position an online shop and what the main key to success is? Below you will find the answers to these two questions and many more. In this article, we will try to present the most important aspects of the approach to positioning an online shop, as well as explain SEO issues to people who are already operating or planning to start operating in the e-commerce field. We invite you to read!

What is the positioning of online stores?From

How to position an online shop? The positioning of online shops is based on activities that increase the visibility of the site in the search engine. Thanks to this solution, Google users can not only find the page they are looking for, but also take advantage of the offer by purchasing a specific product.

In short, positioning an online shop means adapting the website to the guidelines of the Google search engine and the algorithms whose task is to create a page ranking. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) means the optimization of a website for the "engine" of the search engine. It should be added that this strategy can be implemented independently, i.e. by the owner of the online shop and with the help of experienced specialists, including SEO agencies.

Positioning an online store can go hand in hand with the use of UX, then we deal with the SXO strategy, which in the case of e-commerce is extremely effective. It is not only about the technical optimization itself, but also about adjusting the functionality of the website to the needs of the community. SXO activities significantly increase the level of conversion and can build strong relationships between the brand and the customers.

Professional SEO audit and selection of key phrases

The first step when it comes to positioning your store page is to develop a comprehensive SEO audit. It is a report that shows any errors or shortcomings that need to be corrected. To conduct an audit, it is necessary to precisely analyze each subpage of the online store. Based on the collected data, an appropriate positioning strategy is used.

An SEO audit for an online shop includes an analysis of the content placed on the websites (their length, key phrase saturation and header structure). Websites are also analysed technically (loading speed, source code), as well as for internal and external links.

Before you start positioning the webshops on Google, you need to define the expressions and keywords that describe each sub-page. This will make optimising the webshops and creating content much easier. You can use tools such as the Dedicated SEO Dashboard. This is a very effective keyword selection tool used by many SEO experts. You should choose keywords that match the content of the URL and have the appropriate level of monthly searchability.

Remember that a high position will result in a significant increase in visibility and even an increase in organic traffic. In addition, using the right keywords will help you avoid a situation where the search engine displays multiple results from the same domain.

Online store optimization

Store optimisation is the next step in the positioning of online shops. What is the technical optimisation of webshops? It is a set of activities whose main task is to improve the website as much as possible, so that it is fully compliant with Google's webmaster guidelines.

Efficient positioning of webshops pays special attention to loading times and optimisation, as this gives the webshop a good chance of achieving high results in the Google search engine. However, it is forbidden to use unethical methods, including Black Hat SEO, which can have the opposite effect to that intended, i.e. lower your position in Google.

When optimizing your online store, pay special attention to:

Adequate length and content of the titles and descriptions of subpages.
Store page loading time - this is one of the basic ranking factors influencing the position of the page.
RWD (responsiveness) - adapting the website to all types of mobile devices.
Graphics - should not burden the page in any way, but contain an alternative description.
Sitemap - the file available in Google Search Console should be up-to-date.
Redirects - remember to properly set them up.
Organizing and shortening the source code.
Internal linking - it is recommended to avoid the so-called orphan pages because they cannot achieve a high ranking in the Google search engine.
User Experience - adjusting the website to the needs and expectations of users.
Google Search Console - any errors should be removed.
Canonical tags - it's important to implement them correctly.

What does the positioning of online stores mean?

Content marketing

Positioning online stores is also about using the right content. Did you know that Google determines the ranking using a complicated algorithm that relies heavily on crawlers? It is during indexing that robots check websites and their content. The collected data allows the search engine to determine which specific keywords should be displayed on certain URLs, as well as on which position. Content marketing, which is analyzed by an algorithm, is extremely important when it comes to positioning the store's website in the Google search engine.

The content posted on the website should be:

Naturally saturated with words and key phrases.
Valuable and attractive to users.
Original and properly matched to the content of the subpage.
Professional and comprehensive, so that the text covers a specific topic in detail.
Up-to-date - any outdated content needs to be updated.

As far as saturating text with key phrases is concerned, the most common rule is 1-2 repetitions of a given phrase per 1000 characters. Another popular method is to create content so that key phrases make up 8% of the total content. Both the first and second practices can bring many benefits, although it is best to use common sense.

It is also important to use the right headings - the whole structure should be clear and readable to the audience. In practice, it looks like this: first put in an H1 header, then the H2 headers, and finally the H3 and H4 subheaders if necessary. Subpages that contain valuable and, above all, substantial content are much more likely to achieve high positions in Google.

What is important? Creating content and expanding the website enables the implementation of internal linking. Thanks to links placed in blog articles, you can significantly improve your visibility in search results.

Link building

Link building is the last bridge between the online shop and positioning. It is a complex process in which links are obtained, i.e. external links. The algorithm takes them as recommendations. If another website with high authority links to a positioned domain, for the Google search engine this means that the latter deserves attention. However, it is important to remember that link building should be done in a natural way, because too many links may have a negative impact on the domain.

How to position an online store using link building? The most important thing is to get your links from the right places - they should not be from spammy sites. It is worth knowing that the algorithm also checks what content surrounds a given link - not only the anchor text itself is important, but also the context-. The most popular ways to get links for your online store are:

Cooperation with industry websites and portals.
External articles with a link.
Publishing product reviews by customers on external websites.
Building your own SEO infrastructure.

How to position an online store?

Do you want to attract more customers to your online store? Are you asking yourself how to position an online store? Although you can do some of the tasks yourself, it is best to entrust the more complicated activities related to positioning and SEO to specialists who know how to use analytical tools and will prepare a strategy for you that will bring the expected results. Here are some tips on how to get started with SEO for your online store.

1. Select the platform in which the e-shop will be available

The online shop is not an image website. What does this mean? First of all, it is larger and has more sub-pages. It requires the analysis of many factors that affect the position in search results. If you plan to launch your online shop in the future, consider choosing the right platform. Choosing the right platform will save you from many problems that may arise later on. If you don't know which platform to choose, you can always call on the services of an SEO agency. Experienced experts will advise you on the best solution.

2. Make sure you build categories, subcategories and product pages

Before you start expanding your business, you should carefully consider its layout, as it is very important when it comes to positioning an online store. Thanks to the transparent structure of categories, subcategories and product pages, users will find the products or services they are interested in without any problem.

3. Enable the SSL certificate

An online store that wants to inspire trust among customers should have an active SSL security certificate. This is of great importance as Consumers pay on the site. An SSL certificate is an effective tool for securing data transmission from websites.

4. Optimize the store pages

Optimizing your online store in terms of loading speed is very important. One of the main reasons for low conversion in the online store is the pages that take too long to load. This problem should not be underestimated, because otherwise, you cannot count on taking high positions in the search results. Most often, optimising the graphics themselves will speed up the website's performance. Other reasons that can contribute to slow loading websites are a slow server or long and unoptimised source code.

5. Choose keywords

Keywords are the basis of SEO for an online shop, so it is worth spending enough time to find well-matched phrases and keywords related to your offer. Remember that an optimised webshop with well-matched words will rank well in Google's results.

Keyword research will not cause you any problems if you use an appropriate keyword planning tool.

6. Create unique content

Google looks for quality and valuable content. By creating your own content, you can place it on category pages, subcategories and product pages. It is important that each description includes the H1 title and H2-H6 subheadings. This is the ideal time to make the most of your keywords and integrate them into your articles. Meta tags (title and description) are descriptions that appear in search results and attract customers' attention. Therefore, if possible, make sure that each sub-page contains meta descriptions with the appropriate keyword.

7. Run a blog and increase customer interest

A company blog is a great support element when it comes to positioning online stores. By writing expert articles, guides and other content, you will not only arouse the interest of customers, but also increase the traffic on your website. However, remember to optimize your content for specific key phrases. A properly designed company blog will make your e-shop gain attractive and substantive content.

8. Link internally and externally

Internal links are those that you place on your website. They refer recipients to specific categories, product groups or subpages. External links, on the other hand, increase website traffic but are placed on other external sites. Both internal and external links have a positive effect on the positioning of the online store.

Effective positioning of online stores - how to do it right?

Effective positioning of an online store requires extensive knowledge and experience. When running your own online store, you need to take care not only about the quality of the products offered, but also about the appearance of the store and the intuitiveness of the shopping path. Keep in mind that the success of e-commerce largely depends on the visibility of your store in organic search results. As a result, the positioning of online stores on Google is one of the most effective ways of online advertising and reaching new customers.

How to position an online store? The most important thing is:

Ensuring the best display of the online store in search results.
Professional and comprehensive optimization of the online store, detection of possible errors and their improvement.
Improving the functioning of the store for customers in terms of conversion optimization.
Detailed and precise analysis of the operation of the online store, its online visibility and user behaviour.
The use of content marketing activities that focus on increasing traffic.

What are the basics for effective shop positioning?

You can do basic optimization on your own, by setting metadata or by editing URLs. However, to perform the positioning of an online store, proper knowledge and practice are necessary. Therefore, if you do not have them, the best solution is to use the help of experienced specialists - an SEO agency that comprehensively deals with the topic from A to Z.

However, when you decide to position your store yourself, remember to act carefully. You should not forget about creating valuable and attractive content, which should be prepared primarily with the users in mind. When acquiring links from external sites, avoid spam. If it is possible, it is worth combining the effective positioning of an online store with User Experience. Why? Well, the main goal of both strategies is conversion. In addition, the stores designed for UX look great and stand out from the competition.

To sum up, in order to perform effective positioning of online stores, you need knowledge, patience and special software. However, do not forget that you will achieve the best results by combining SEO and UX activities.