Semalt: Essential Priorities For A Successful Retail SEO Strategy



Knowing the right thing to do can drive incremental revenue and win valuable search engine traffic for your business. Ecommerce is better than it has ever been. In fact, it is expected to reach 35% of sales among big-box retailers worldwide by 2023. Now, this may seem little, but in 2019, we were down 23%. 

We've experienced substantial growth in the last three years, and this trend is still ongoing. It is no surprise to see more investors getting serious about how they are presented online. By 2025, ecommerce is expected to have taken about 40% of sales globally. That's a big chuck, and you should want a bite or more. 

In this post, we will be explaining how Semalt can get you in the right places at the right time. By setting your priorities right, you create the perfect channel to pull in traffic conversions and build a strong brand for your business. 

Here Are 8 Things to Focus On In A Successful Retail SEO Strategy

Keyword Research

Suppose you've had any experience with SEO; the term keyword research isn't new. You can find a detailed explanation of keyword research in our other post. 

In summary, keyword research is very important for retail brands. It is a process of discovering which words and phrases your target audience uses when they search online. Knowing how your consumer describes products with similar traits as yours can help you become more visible to them and get them to come to your website rather than your competitor's. 

This information will be used to improve your website's informational architecture and content strategy. Proper keyword research will include all the keywords and the stages where they should be used in the buyer's journey. 

Your keywords will be categorized depending on whether they are:
There are a plethora of keyword research tools (hyperlink to Semalt SEO tool) you can use to get amazing data on what high density or long-tail keywords you should embed in your URLs, headings, content, etc. 

Local Search

Having an online presence is key to driving traffic and sales. It is a simple truth that as you become more popular with your target audience, the more your sales increase. But when it comes to local search, you must be specific in your approach. 

Dominating a local search platform can help you become the brand of your neighborhood. When you optimize your listing, you increase your chances of showing up at the top of local searches. To do this, you should take full advantage of Google Business Profiles. It is a tool that helps businesses like yours manage their presence across Google properties, and you can use it to share updates with your customers. 

You can also add photos to your GBP listing to improve your customer experience and make it easier for your customers to recognize your brand. Adding attributes, product and inventory, Q&A, and other key elements to your GBP listing can make you stand out. 

Finally, respond to the reviews. Many brands fail to do this, and it is something you can capitalize on. Responding to reviews, both good and bad, can help your brand stand out as caring and professional. 

Structured Data

Structured data is used to aid search engine bots in understanding content and improve your visibility via Featured Snippets. Product schema, for example, is one of the most important structured data types for retail brands. 

If you want to make the most sales, all your products should be marked with a product Schema so search engines like Google can display more information about your product. Doing this improves the chances of a user clicking or buying your product. 

Local Schemas is another type of structured data for retail stores and local businesses. This schema posts your address, reviews, ratings, geocoordinates, events, and website.

Top Quality Content

Creating quality and well-targeted content is important for retail brands. This is especially true because about 81% of retail shoppers conduct online research before buying. With so many users online today, it's imperative you have content that satisfies their needs. 

It's not just about creating content but high-quality content. This means they must be engaging, SEO friendly, Mobile Friendly, and unique. While publishing on your website is important, you should also consider having a blog that offers useful tips and solves the issues your customers may have. Create how-to posts and special hacks to keep your blog relevant to the reader. 

If you plan on making great sales, you must optimize your product review page. Like we said, most online shoppers check out reviews before making up their minds. If your product review comes first, they are most likely to click and hear what is being said about a product. 

This is where you sell your brand. Anyone that is reading this is most likely interested in making a purchase, so you should highlight the features of your product or service that make it so special. Do not forget to mention limitations and drawbacks. 

Optimized Images

Humans memorize and retain information faster when it's visual. In retail, images play a significant role in both product and non-product-related keywords. Shoppers like to see what an item looks like before making a final purchase. 

Always make sure to optimize your image file names, format, size, and alt text to help search engines understand your images and rank them in image search results for relevant keywords. Take Instagram and Pinterest, for example. These brands constantly improve their shopping features while brands post pictures and videos to attract more customers. 

Mobile and Core Web Vitals (CW)

Mobile use now accounts for over 60% of all internet traffic. Since shoppers are going online and making purchases, brands need to ensure their sites have been optimized to fit the specific needs of mobile browsers. 

To make your site mobile-friendly, you need to make sure your site is using easy-to-read text, clear CTA, responsive, and user-friendly. If your website can achieve all this, it will make converting leads on your website to visitors a lot easier. 

In 2021, Google updated its algorithm to consider page experience as a ranking factor. For this reason, it is paramount that users enjoy their stay on your site. You want your site to load quickly, preferably under 3 seconds. You may also want to optimize your site for Core Web Vitals. This can give your site the boosts it needs to make a difference in super competitive retail SERPs. 

Backlinks

Backlinks are the foundation on which the Google you see today was built. For this reason, they are still a relevant part of any SEO strategy. As SEO experts, we make it our duty to monitor our client's backlink profiles to see if there are any spammy or broken links. When linking, make sure your links are a mixture of branded and non-branded anchor texts. Also, remember not to have too many anchor text links that are an exact match; doing this can harm your SEO. You can find out more on how to link here (hyperlink to the article on how to link internally).

When it comes to linking, quality speaks more than volumes. For this reason, we only aim for high-quality links that are from or to high authority websites. To gain links like this, you must have quality content that is helpful to end-users and satisfies their problems. 

SEO - Friendly Page Templates

When it comes to building page templates for retail brands, it is important to meet a professional. Building and designing templates in an SEO-friendly manner ensures that search engine bots can crawl and index your content. 

For you to optimize, here are some things you should keep in mind:

Final note

Optimizing a retail website means you build your customer base trust among your audience to buy what you're offering. With the growth of e-commerce over the past few years, it is important that brands build and maintain an SEO-friendly website and create content that satisfies their end-users. 

Quality content and professional SEO experts like Semalt can put you at the top of your game. When it comes to SEO, there are no guarantees, but there are the right things to do, and they work. With our skills and your vision, we can make your retail site experience sales like never before. 

You can now take valuable search engine real estate away from your competitors.