Critical E-commerce SEO Issues & How to Fix Them
Far too many new online stores are being held back by E-commerce SEO issues that could be easily fixed if the owners knew what to look for… find out here.
Businessman cartoon vector created by katemangostar – www.freepik.com
SEO is a critical piece of any eCommerce business. Often, business owners face several SEO issues that can impact their website’s traffic and visibility. In this article, we will discuss some of the most common eCommerce SEO issues and how to fix them.
Challenge one — You’re not consistent with the SEO updates:
One of the most common eCommerce SEO issues is inconsistency. You cannot expect to rank well if you are not consistent with your SEO updates. Google and other search engines keep updating their algorithms and most business owners don’t optimize their websites accordingly. This drags them behind and gives their competitors a chance to get ahead.
How to fix it?
The experts at Rankings say you need to make sure you are up-to-date with all the latest SEO trends and changes. You can do this by subscribing to popular SEO blogs or newsletters, or by attending SEO webinars and training sessions. You can also hire an SEO expert to help you stay ahead of the competition.
Challenge two — Your website is not mobile-friendly:
A large number of internet users now browse the web using their smartphones and tablets. If your website is not mobile-friendly, you are missing out on a large chunk of potential traffic. Google has already started penalizing websites that are not mobile-friendly.
In addition, not having a mobile-optimized website can also negatively impact your conversion rates. Thus, to keep up with the eCommerce trends, it’s important to ensure your website is mobile-friendly.
How to fix it?
There are several ways to make your website mobile-friendly. You can use a responsive design, make your website AMP-friendly, or use a mobile optimization plugin. You can also check out Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to see if your website is mobile-friendly.
Challenge three — Your website lacks on-page SEO:
On-page SEO is an important part of any website’s SEO strategy. However, many business owners overlook it or don’t give it the attention it deserves. This can hurt their website’s rankings and visibility.
As you keep adding new products and landing pages to your website, it’s important to keep on-page SEO in mind. This will help you rank higher in search engine results pages and get more traffic to your website.
How to fix it?
You can improve your website’s on-page SEO by using the right keywords, adding metadata, and optimizing your images. You can also use on-page SEO plugins to make the process easier.
Challenge four — Your website has low-quality links:
One of the biggest E-commerce SEO issues is low-quality links which can hurt your website’s SEO rankings and visibility. This is because Google and other search engines view them as spammy and irrelevant. If you have a large number of low-quality links, it can negatively impact your website’s ranking.
Many business owners unknowingly make several low DA links just to hike the number of backlinks. However, these links do more harm than doing any benefit to the website and the eCommerce store ends up getting a penalty. Thus, it’s important to stay away from such low-quality link building practices.
How to fix it?
One of the best ways to get rid of low-quality links is to disavow them. You can do this by using the disavow tool in Google Webmaster Tools. You can also get help from an SEO expert to disavow your low-quality links.
Challenge five — Your website lacks social signals:
Social signals are an important part of SEO. If your website doesn’t have any social signals, it will be difficult to rank high on search engine results pages. This is because Google and other search engines view them as a sign of relevance and importance.
Thus, if you want your eCommerce website to rank higher, you need to focus on generating social signals. You can do this by sharing your content on social media, using social media plugins, and by adding social media buttons to your website.
How to fix it?
You can improve your website’s social signal levels by using the right tools and strategies. For example, you can use social media automation tools to share your content automatically. You can also use social media contests and giveaways to generate more social shares.
Challenge six — Images are not optimized:
If your website’s images are not optimized, it can negatively impact your website’s SEO. This is because Google and other search engines view unoptimized images as low-quality content.
How to fix it?
You can fix this by optimizing your website’s images. You can do this by using the right file format, compressing your images, and adding the correct metadata. You can also use image optimization plugins to make the process easier.
Challenge seven — Your website has duplicate content:
Duplicate content are common E-commerce SEO issues that can hurt your website’s SEO ranking and visibility. This is because Google and other search engines view it as low-quality content. Especially, when it comes to running an eCommerce business, there is a high possibility that the content that you’re using is already plagiarized. It becomes important to invest in professional content writing to stand apart from the rest.
How to fix it?
You can fix this by removing the duplicate content from your website. You can do this by using the canonical tag, 301 redirects, or a robots.txt file. You can also use a plagiarism checker to find and remove duplicate content from your website. Don’t upload the products with their default content, do certain modifications so that it’s slightly unique. It’s almost impossible to change the product information 100%. However, try to make small changes so that the product is not found in Google search with the same information.
Wrapping up!
As an eCommerce business owner, you face several SEO challenges. But don’t worry, there are ways to overcome them. In this article, we discussed six critical E-commerce SEO issues that can hurt your website’s rankings and visibility. We also provided tips on how to fix them. Follow these tips and watch your website’s SEO rankings improve!
If you don’t have an in-house SEO team, you can always hire an SEO expert to help you out. Working with a professional can help you overcome all E-commerce SEO issues that your website faces.
