With increase in digitisation more and more businesses and individuals have started using search as a critical tool to research products/services before buying. 39% of all ecommerce traffic comes from online searches and search engines drive 10x more traffic to ecommerce sites than social media. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is therefore a necessity for your website. 

SEO includes a range of tactics designed to help increase the quantity and value of search engine traffic that goes to a website. Effective SEO makes your products or services rank higher on search engines like Google, and display the right way so potential customers can find the products they need. SEO works by modifying and sometimes revamping various aspects of your website. These include improving your website content, adding better descriptions with appropriate keywords, creating a more intuitive website design, and making your web pages load faster.

SEO is the magic ingredient that can reshape your small business into a famous one. 39% of all ecommerce traffic comes from online searches and search engines drive 10x more traffic to ecommerce sites than social media.

Benefits of SEO for ecommerce

Draw more leads

SEO is the best strategy for driving leads to your website. According to research, search is the number one driver of traffic to content websites and as mentioned earlier, 39% of all ecommerce traffic comes from search engine hits. SEO therefore puts your business directly in front of those looking for it, giving you more opportunities to attract customers.

Enhance lead quality

Even if you already have a lot of website traffic, SEO works to attract better quality leads i.e. attract more visitors that are willing to make a purchase. Often, ecommerce sites find themselves receiving clicks from people who aren’t ready to buy or who aren’t sure your store has the quality or reliability to meet their needs. With SEO, you can identify precisely what those people want and present the information they need to make a decision.

Create brand awareness

Most ecommerce sites can leverage SEO for pocket-friendly brand awareness. If your products appear on the first page of search results or in Google’s Answer Box could lead potential customers to explore your brand or a create better brand recall for an erstwhile customer.

Also, many searchers view ranking well as a positive reinforcement, which improves their likelihood to click on a top result.

Improve user experience

A great user experience (UX) draws more customers. With SEO you can understand shoppers and thus optimise your ecommerce website’s usability. Keyword data for instance provides an insight into customers’ preferences. They want something, that’s why they search for it. Using the right keywords on your website can enhance user experience. For example, if most searchers seek “affordablecotton dresses” – highlighting low-cost options could improve usability.

Cost-effectiveness

SEO has very high long-term return on investment (ROI)  as compared to other marketing strategies. SEO results are long-term, that means you can harness their benefits for longer. Clicks from ads end when your campaign ends, but a well-designed SEO-friendly product page will keep driving traffic for a long time.

With proper SEO tactics, you can attract large volumes of organic quality traffic to your website without making payment for it. Moreover, a sound SEO strategy can provide your business with targeted, measurable results. 

SEO is the magic ingredient that can reshape your small business into a famous one. It can significantly improve the profitability of your ecommerce website.

Also read: How the Google Smart Shopping feature can increase traffic on your online store

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GlobalLinker recently conducted a webinar on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) with a leading expert. Watch the webinar highlights below.