If you’re looking to grow your e-commerce business, search engine optimization (SEO) is going to be an important pillar. It involves changing your website to rank higher on search engines like Google, Bing, and even ChatGPT. 

And as lovely as it would be, your SEO strategy isn’t just a one-and-done website fix. It requires heavy planning, research, implementation, and once that’s done, you’ll have to monitor your SEO performance continuously as search engine algorithms are constantly changing.

We know it sounds daunting. But it doesn’t have to be. Here’s what you need to do to prepare before jumping into an e-commerce SEO strategy. Before you know it, you’ll see results. We promise. 

What’s an SEO strategy?

An SEO strategy is a game plan to improve your website for greater visibility on search engines like Google and Bing. The data shows that when customers use these search engines, they only click on the top 5 results at most. A great SEO strategy is improving your rankings to take up one of those top 5 spots.

SEO strategies involve many areas of optimization, including keyword research, on-page optimization, content strategies, technical SEO, and link building. Your strategy needs to remain flexible, so you can pivot with the algorithm changes and keep your e-commerce store visible where it counts. 

Why does it matter for my e-commerce business?

To put it simply, paid ads and social media strategies can only get you so far. 

SEO will help you rank higher, making it far more likely that potential new customers will click your links and convert. And the sky’s the limit when it comes to new customers, right? 

SEO is a great way to boost brand awareness, even if you’re not getting cold hard clicks to conversion when you start out. Users think of websites that rank high as the most trustworthy, so even if they don’t purchase on the first visit, they’ll have you in mind the next time they shop. 

Getting started with your SEO strategy: 5 to-dos before you jump in

Now, before you sit down to build your strategy, there are a few things you need to do to get prepared. 

1. Book a call with a professional team

A well-rounded, effective strategy is not short and sweet. To completely DIY it (and see results), you’d spend hundreds of business hours frustrated as you slowly learn through tutorials. 

Instead, book a strategy call with an experienced SEO and content services team. A good SEO team will learn about your business goals, conduct a complete audit of everything on and off-site, and show you the path to results. This audit will likely be 20-30 pages, depending on the current state of your business. It will cover everything from keyword research to content strategy to technical elements like core web vitals and pagination.

A professional team will also empower you to either make the changes yourself or will help with the execution. You should always be in the driver's seat with your business’s SEO implementation.

2. Make sure you have access to the right tooling 

Before you start planning and conducting research, you need the right tools to support it. 

There are many tools on the market with different SEO bells and whistles, but if you want to start simple, you’ll need: 

• Google Search Console: GSC is your go-to tool. It monitors website performance in Google and identifies issues and errors. You can also submit your sitemaps through GSC.

• Google Analytics: This free tool tracks user behavior, website traffic, and conversion. 

• Google Keyword Planner: This is a free tool from Google that gives you keyword ideas and inspiration based on your website.

• Backlinking tools: Tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Moz will help you track where your backlinks are coming from. They will also help with position tracking and competitive and organic research. 

Many of these tools are free, offer free versions, or offer free trials. SEO doesn’t have to come with a hefty price tag, especially when starting out. 

3. Understand your starting point

Understanding where you’re at is the first step to setting and crushing goals. 

You can use tools like Google Search Console and SEMrush to determine your website’s health and performance over time. Learn the KPI basics and understand:

• Your organic traffic number: The number of visitors arriving at your site through search engines.

• Your keyword rankings: The position of your web pages on the SERP for given keyword topics.

• Your click-through rate: The percentage of visitors who click on your website as a query result through search engines. 

• Your bounce rate: The percentage of website visitors who leave your website after only viewing one page.

• Your organic conversions: The percentage of visitors who visit your website through organic search and complete a specific action. It could be booking a demo, making a purchase, or subscribing to a newsletter. 

Check in with these numbers each week to determine if and how they improve. You can also investigate any decline in KPIs and course-correct going forward. 

4. Do some competitor research

Competitor research is another area made easier by tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Moz. 

These tools will show you which keywords your direct competitors rank for and their average position. Your goal, then, is to create content that hits the same keywords but is more valuable. 

You should aim for higher word counts, keywords placed in your heading tags, and more media in your content. You want to demonstrate to Google that you have more of a voice of authority than your competitors, and your content should rank higher. 

Make sure your competitive research is strategic rather than malicious. Don’t directly copy content or degrade competitors in your pieces. This will negatively impact your brand credibility and turn your customers off. 

5. Set some goals

You’ve got the tools, you know your current position, you understand how your competitors rank, and you’re working with an SEO team. The only thing left before you start building out and implementing your strategy? Set some goals. 

Instead of aimlessly looking to “boost revenue,” consider setting timelines and goals around these categories:

• Growing website traffic

• Improving user experience

• Lowering bounce rates

• Boosting conversions and sales

The SEO team you work with will also help you set goals and guide you through reaching them. This goal alignment will keep your teams motivated to improve your e-commerce site and your best practices. 

What to look for in an SEO team

There are a lot of marketing agencies and SEO companies out there. Many use shortcuts to trick or game search engine algorithms as much as possible. Think of it as a “get ranked quick” scheme. It might pump your numbers at the start, but you’ll see pages begin to lose traction quickly. 

A quality SEO strategy is built meticulously, implemented in parts, and monitored over time. When you shop around for people to partner with, consider: 

• Are they promising unrealistic KPIs too quickly?

• Did they take the time to learn about my business and my market? 

• Do they give customers full performance visibility as they move along?

• Are they flexible around implementation? Would they hear my ideas out? 

• Do they have any testimonials or case studies speaking to others’ experiences? 

It’s also important that the team you work with sets realistic expectations around results. You can’t triple your organic search by tomorrow. SEO strategies can take a few months to get off the ground. But if you have the right team in your corner helping you optimize slowly, you’ll see steady growth that sticks around.

Our do-it-all team is ready to help

At Placeholder SEO, our team is ready to help you develop your new SEO strategy. We specialize in assisting e-commerce brands and take the time to learn about your business goals before conducting a highly detailed website audit. 

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