Everything You Need to Know About Content Optimization for eCommerce

If your content is optimized correctly for search engines like Google and Bing, it will get seen by potential customers and generate traffic to your website. It sounds simple enough, but it really isn’t.

For some context, 90% of websites receive 0 organic traffic from search engines.

Of course, there are many ways to boost your search engine rankings, ranging from link-building to running PR campaigns. However, one simple yet effective way to boost your rankings is by optimizing your onsite content for SEO. You must do that while keeping your content readable and useful to your target audience.

That means creating high-quality content optimized for search engines requires more than just using relevant keywords. To truly optimize your content for SEO, you need to also focus on creating content that serves users' needs.

This article will share five practical website content optimization tips for eCommerce stores.  Here is how to boost your online store’s traffic and conversions.

1. Use Short Phrases

When crafting content for SEO, it's crucial to consider the readability factor. This refers to how easy it is for readers to understand and process the text. The readability factor directly impacts the user experience on a website and consequently affects your ranking.

Good readability encourages people to stay engaged and spend more time on your ecommerce website. This benefits your audience and signals to search engines that your content is valuable and relevant, improving your SEO ranking. In order to quickly come up with readable content for your e-commerce business, you can paraphrase content with the help of an online tool. Such paraphrase online tools will make your given content readable by using simpler-to-understand words, shorting sentences, and simplifying sentence structures

As shown in this image, search engine optimization tools, such as Yoast SEO, recommend using shorter sentences to improve readability.

Aside from that, using short sentences in your product descriptions and other content pieces can make it more accessible to a broader audience, including non-native speakers.

So, as part of your website content optimization, use generative AI tools. These AI SEO writers can help you break down longer sentences into shorter ones and help you write in an active voice to make your content easily understood.

Don’t forget to use readability optimization tools as well. A study found that content in the top 30 positions generally has an average reading level of 11th grade.

All that said, check out this excellent example of an optimized product description.

Because Solo Stove uses short sentences, the messaging is also concise and straight to the point.

2. Add Strong CTAs

Effective CTA strategies will benefit your website in various ways. Effective CTAs contribute to your bottom line by ensuring website visitors know what they are supposed to do next. This is essential in directing users down your sales funnel.

But what about the impact of CTAs on SEO? Well-executed CTAs enhance the user experience, something Google has said its search ranking algorithm also considers.

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That’s the operative word, though: “Well-executed.” In other words, for your CTAs to boost your user experience, you have to follow best practices to ensure they help your website visitors navigate your site easily.

So, make sure your CTAs grab users' attention. Use bold colors and contrasting designs to make them visually appealing.

See how Larq does it. One look at this product page and the CTA stands out. So, a website visitor will know exactly where to go to add the product to their cart.

Also, use simple and concise CTA language, ensuring your messaging doesn’t confuse the user.

Here is an example of a CTA that’s clear and direct. There’s no other way to interpret Skullcandy’s “check out the fit guide” instruction.

Note that the strategic placement of CTAs is just as important as their messaging. Consider placing them in a prominent location that is easily visible to the reader.

For example, one popular placement for CTAs is above the fold, where visitors can see it without having to scroll down the page. This placement benefits visitors who are short on time and want to locate what they need quickly.

3. Proofread Your Content

New visitors to your site create first impressions based on the content they read. Poorly written pieces of content with spelling and grammatical errors give a terrible first impression of your business. Those that notice errors will most probably leave your site immediately. That can affect your SEO negatively. Why? Google’s algorithm pays attention to how long a user spends on a page.

The image below shows some common spelling and grammatical mistakes. These mistakes are easy to make, especially if you're in a rush to finish your eCommerce product description or other types of eCommerce content:

Depending on the size of your business, you may have a professional writer or editor to take care of these mistakes. If not, tools like Grammarly are beneficial for rectifying spelling and grammatical mistakes.

Don’t forget to proofread for sense as well, though. Even if a sentence is grammatically correct and has the correct spelling, there’s always that possibility it doesn’t make sense when viewed in the context of the entire piece.

4. Do a Content Audit

A content audit helps you identify what types of content are performing well, which pieces need to be updated or removed, and where there may be opportunities to create new content. This ensures your SEO strategy is up-to-date and your content is constantly optimized with the most recent data and insights for better search rankings.

When doing a content audit, the first step is to create an inventory of all your content and categorize it according to its purpose or goal. This includes blog posts (if any), videos and images, and other types of content on your site. Here is an example of a content list spreadsheet you can create:

Then check whether the content still aligns with the user intent or search intent. Also, look at each page and analyze its performance based on page views, rankings over time, time on page, bounce rate, and conversion rate. Write a comprehensive report – highlight relevant content gaps and areas for improvement.

Based on your assessment, make necessary improvements.

My recommendation is to start by deleting irrelevant or outdated content. Next, update existing content that requires improvement to perform better. Take steps to enrich existing content with target keywords, internal links, and better keyword-rich titles and meta descriptions. You can also use content optimization tools like Frase or Surfer to ensure they’re ready to rank.

Finally, start filling the content gaps you noticed. For example, you can create a blog for your eCommerce website and start targeting new keyword opportunities you identified. How-to and buyer’s guides are good examples of blog content you can create. Just remember to avoid keyword stuffing in content creation.

5. Add Videos and Images

Today’s consumers love visuals. Just look at the stats. The average viewer spends 100 minutes watching digital videos per day. People like and share visual content like infographics three times more than any other type of content. It’s not surprising, then, that videos and images play an important role in everything from marketing strategies for restaurants to promotional campaigns for SaaS businesses.

When you use videos and images on your eCommerce site, you don’t just help boost brand engagement. You can boost your SEO as well. The stats I mentioned above only prove that users are likely to spend more time on websites with multimedia content. That can, therefore, strengthen the positive signals sent to search engines that rank content.

Plus, research indicates that blog posts containing videos are three times more likely to receive inbound links than those without. Backlinks are an important ranking factor.

Consider this, too: Images can not only appear in a search's “Image” section. If the search engine deems an image relevant to the search term, it can also appear in the main search results, as shown in the example below. That’s great for your eCommerce brand visibility.

When uploading visuals on your site, though, don’t forget to use relevant keywords for your alt, image, and title tags. These tags allow search engines to comprehend what the media is about and match it with relevant search results.

Choosing the correct type of images for your content is also essential. Of course, you want to steer clear of stock and random images. These images are not as helpful to readers as custom high-quality product images.

6. Maintain a Conversational Tone

Conversational search technology lets users talk to search engines and get relevant search results. Think about voice assistants like Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistants.

Many users already use this type of technology in eCommerce. Almost 30% of voice assistant users have made a purchase using voice search. A staggering 40% of millennials have also used voice assistants to buy. The thing is, the technology isn’t just used to buy online. A whopping 43% of consumers also use voice search to research products.

So, when optimizing your content for search engines, it's best to write in a way that will make it more likely for your content to appear in voice search results. With this tech, users ask complete questions to access the information they want. So, you need to make your content NLP-friendly. Echo back the question in your answer, then provide the main answer.

Check out how Body Bliss does it. Notice how the eCommerce brand phrases the answers to its Frequently Asked Questions:

Of course maintaining a conversational tone also means using simple language. Avoid using overly complicated sentence structures that people don’t usually use when talking to others (including voice search assistants).

Wrapping Up

In summary, for optimum website content optimization, avoid wordy sentences. Don't try to impress your audience with big words and complex sentences. Instead, keep things short and snappy. Maintain a conversational tone to increase your chances of appearing in voice search results. Also, add strong CTAs, videos and images, and proofread your content.

Don’t forget to regularly audit your content. A regular content audit helps keep you on track and updated with new trends. It doesn’t just ensure your content quality. It also ensures the content aligns with user intent and is optimized.

Follow these tips for eCommerce website content optimization, and see excellent results.

Author Bio: Owen Jones is the Senior Content Marketer at ZoomShift, an online schedule maker app. He is an experienced SaaS marketer, specializing in content marketing, CRO, and FB advertising. He likes to share his knowledge with others to help them increase results.