A large number of people shop online for almost everything. To get these customers, you need to be ahead of the competition. We have listed some important SEO features to help rank your product page higher.
The important SEO features are:
1) Short URL Structure
The URL structure for your product pages should be short and must have some primary keywords (related to your product) to generate high click-through. Let’s compare the two links below:
https://www.rei.com/garmin-montana-680t-gps
The first URL structure is long and cannot be shared easily. The second URL structure is simple and keyword rich – considered a better URL by Google.
2) Optimized Title Tags
Your title tag affects the search rankings. You must include important product keywords like brand name, part name, color, etc. It should be easy to understand and can be a little long. For example, the title tag below has all the important details related to a specific product, making it easier for the user.
You must also pre-plan your product category (by colour, size, or other features) and then add your pages to an e-commerce site.
3) Mobile Friendly Product Pages
With so many reliable smartphone options, most people shop using their mobile devices. Your site must have a mobile-specific design or should be AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) compatible. Don’t ignore your potential customers who use mobile devices. Take Google’s Mobile Friendly Test to ensure you are not losing business. You can also go a step further and use SEO audit tools to detect issues on your site.
4) Sitelinks Search Box
High-ranking e-commerce sites use the site search feature to help customers find what they are looking for. When does a search box appear? When you enter a brand name along with the word ‘website’ (Amazon Website), when you add a domain along with a brand name (Pinterest.com), or when you enter a brand name.
Wondering why you need a search box? You need a search box to improve your user experience and display results that are relevant to your customers on your site. To add the search box to your site, read the details provided by Google. To monitor what people are searching for, set up Google Analytics Tracking for your search box.
5) Unique Product Descriptions & Images
Online retailers must avoid using product descriptions and images supplied by the manufacturer. Duplicate content is very easily detected by Google and Bing, and will not show up in the top search results. Nowadays, many companies offer multiple photos of a single product from different angles that can be zoomed-in for better clarity. Some even add short videos. Image optimization can get you more traffic and therefore, more sales.
6) Simplified Version of Product Data
Product specifications are very important to customers. If you provide clear, easy-to-read information, your customers will trust you and possibly return to your site again. The added advantage is that Google loves specification tables and includes them in search results as a snippet.
Organize your data properly and keep your tables simple.
7) Question & Answer Section
Having an FAQ or Q&A section on the product pages helps your customers clear their doubts or confirm the details with previous purchasers. The users can make their purchase decisions faster.
8) Longer Snippets by Google!
A recent update from Google states that there are no strict rules on how long meta descriptions need to be. This helps users to find the product information they are looking for without clicking on 10 different links. The below snippet has 310 characters in its meta description, but it answers the users’ query properly, so Google displays the entire description in the search results.
9) Rich Results
Customers prefer enhanced results or rich results. Rich results include additional details like pictures, reviews, prices, showtimes, etc. To generate rich results like the example given below, use Schema formatted Structured Data Markup of your website content. Microdata & JSON/LD are the two main options. Google prefers JSON-LD! Try out http://schema.org/Product to get started.
10) Reviews That Influence Your Customers
Every customer now checks the reviews before purchasing a product online.
Guidelines given by Google are as follows:
- The reviews on your site must not be taken from other websites.
- Both positive and negative reviews must be posted.
- Only genuine, independent, and unpaid reviews are allowed.
- Every review must be specific to a particular product or location.
To learn more, read Google’s Review Guidelines.
11) Video Content
Some videos are designed to answer most of the frequently asked questions in a single go. Hence, videos save users’ reading time and help in making online purchase decisions. The only disadvantage is the page load time. Using an image link that opens on a new page with the video can be an easy way to reduce load time.
12) Single Product Page with Many Options
Products are usually combined into a single page when they differ in few specifications, like size, colour, etc. For example, a trouser that is available in various sizes and colours. The selection of a specific size or colour generates a unique number or SKU. Such pages are preferred by customers and give better results.
Before creating combined pages, remember the following:
- Make the site easy to use so all the combined products can be accessed by customers without any hassles.
- The SKU of every product on a combined page will not be shown on the page until that product is selected. Therefore, Google ranking is not possible.
A product page can rank on Google when the details of all the products are simplified in a chart or listed on the page. Check out the table below to understand clearly. Creating such tables definitely takes a lot of time, but the rewards are also higher.
13) Easy-to-Follow Product Details & Ordering Process
Adding unwanted information or complex functions can drive your customers away. The customers must easily understand the options and receive what they have ordered. Redesign your page and make some internal changes if needed to improve your online sales conversion rates. Also, your ‘Buy now’ or ‘Add to Cart’ buttons must be optimized (location, colour, button text, size, and shape) to improve the click rate.
14) Quality Signals
Quality Signals are very important for every e-commerce site.
The basic requirements are:
- A DV (Domain Verification) certificate
- A 100% HTTPS secure site (all pages)
These certifications will help you rank higher and assure your customers that your company is reliable & valid.
A shopping site must include Payment Policies, Exchange Policy / Information, Return Policy, easy to find Full Contact/Customer Service Information, Secure Server, etc. Check out the Google Quality Raters Handbook (PDF) for more details.
15) Fast Loading Website
A study shows that for every 1-second delay in page responsiveness, conversions can suffer by 7%. Also, Core Web Vitals will be included in page experience signals. So, fast loading pages will be ranked higher.
16) The Marketing Team & Keywords
The marketing team that spends time learning about their products and target customers, as well as participates in online forums, joins various groups, attends shows, etc., can form highly optimized keywords and excellent sales copy. This will help make the business highly profitable.
After going through all these features, make a list of issues that your site might have and start improving it. To stay ahead of your competition, you must focus on enhancing your site.