SEO for online stores: The 10 most common mistakes
In e-commerce, search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the most important channels for selling products. Large shops create 60% and more of all sales through good findability on Google. However: Many shops — small, medium and large shops repeat certain misjudgments in terms of SEO very often. You should know and avoid the following mistakes related to search engine optimization for shops.
1. Uneconomical approach
One would think that the top mistake in the search engine optimization of shops lies in the technical or content-related optimization. In fact, I have had different experiences as an SEO in more than 10 years: The profitability of the measures is not taken into account in the vast majority of cases.
If you want to make good money, then focus search engine optimization on the products that bring you the best profit. To achieve this, you simply define a priority list with products or product groups that are most important for the economic situation of your shop. You can determine the priority from a relatively simple number:
Profit per sale x potential (number of sales) = potential profit per product or product group
When this prioritization is established, you can move on to the actual topic: Your top products or product categories naturally deserve the highest attention. In some very large shops, for example, the creation of texts by one or more copywriters becomes impossible. Half a million products or even ten thousand — that is usually too much for manual work. In this case, your copywriting resources should be available for the products and product groups that are really important. Other products should be processed in large shops with automated solutions if possible. This applies above all to images and text elements such as titles, descriptions, headlines, sublines or product texts. Only for smaller shops with fewer products is it feasible to create these elements completely manually.
If you have a lot of products, your system should always be set up in such a way that largely automated text components are created that can, however, be overwritten manually.
2. Just not enough uniqueness
Many shop operators find it difficult to get the necessary entry links or struggle with massive price pressure from other shops. There is only one way to counteract this: Create uniqueness. Uniqueness shows in many things:
Create a product range that offers at least some unusual highlights that other shops do not have. Nobody will mention you in the media or give you a voluntary link if you are the 20th supplier of the same balloons or teddy bears over and over again.
Create a target group-oriented design: Whoever you want to address: Logo and other design elements — including the name of your shop — should match your target group. Texts should also be tailored to your target group. Ideally, you create a profile for your brand that also includes specific instructions regarding the brand language. In this way, your copywriter can create content that stands out from the competition and is positively received by your target group or the media.
Very large shops and some industries are struggling with manufacturers requiring certain texts. Strictly speaking, they are not actually allowed to do this — but it is still common practice. So that in this case the uniqueness of the shop is not lost both for visitors to your site and for search engines and no 100% text duplicates are created, you can, for example, design the given text with a headline and / or a teaser text at least a little more individually.
3. Too little SEO consideration at the beginning
Whether it’s a completely new shop or a relaunch: the shop system is often selected without involving SEO experts. Afterwards this can turn out to be a painful mistake, because some systems require a lot of individual programming to get fit for SEO — other systems offer good functionality. But these must also be used correctly and for this alone an SEO should be on board for the relaunch project or when creating a new shop.
Almost all system providers (whether shops, forums or something else) usually claim to be able to do SEO. The reality from a large number of customer projects and also our own projects looks different: Every system has its quirks in terms of SEO and in other respects. In the worst case, however, the basis is so problematic that a lot of effort is required to optimize it afterwards.
Topics such as the conception of the content — for example the URL structure and comparable fundamental decisions — are often made in the quiet of new shops or relaunches. An SEO expert should be on board from day one. In this case, too, later renovation measures can easily double the effort for the shop introduction or relaunch, or things get worse. Project planning with checkpoints on the topic of SEO is imperative if rankings are to play a role (and they always should).
In the worst case, the expenses for technical and other optimizations are so high afterwards that a new launch or relaunch makes more sense than optimizing a shop system.
4. Too little focus on keyword combinations
The vast majority of shop owners who rely on SEO rush to “big” keywords with a high search volume (short head keywords). However: The conversion is lower with these keywords than with very targeted keyword combinations. It’s relatively simple: if you search specifically, you have already decided on a certain product and tend to buy quickly and quickly.
In particular, new shops that have not been live for a particularly long time get traffic and sales via SEO relatively quickly through smaller keyword combinations. It is extremely unlikely that you will achieve good rankings for highly competitive short head keywords with a completely new shop in the first few months or even years. Well-established shops with many entry links and already existing rankings, on the other hand, have a good chance of landing well in front on Google for more general and highly competitive terms.
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