The first step in purchasing a product online is to search for it on search engines. Since 93% of online experiences start with a search engine, specifically Google, the importance of SEO rankings cannot be overstated. Therefore, SEO strategies must be implemented with Google’s ever-changing algorithms in mind.
As we all know, improving SEO rankings is key to increasing your brand’s visibility at all stages of the buyer’s journey; Especially in the consideration stage, where customers are actively searching for solutions to a specific problem or looking for certain products.
Google is the most popular search engine globally, and if your website doesn’t appear on the first page of Google, you’re unfortunately missing out on a lot of traffic.
In recent years, Google has focused on delivering useful content to its users, constantly changing its algorithms. If you have a long-running website that you regularly update but still don’t see significant improvements in your rankings, it may be time to update your SEO strategy. Keep these facts and figures in mind when revamping your site’s appearance in 2024.
SEO has evolved significantly over the years, and we all keep an eye on its constantly changing nature. The Google Core Update in March 2024 downgraded AI-generated content in favor of high-quality, useful content, providing a better opportunity for visibility.
Achieving or maintaining high rankings on Google’s first page is not easy; It requires hard work, time, and dedication. However, it is possible to reach your goal eventually. This article will briefly discuss why SEO is important for e-commerce stores and analyze how to use SEO to boost your website’s ranking. We will also look at the latest trends that could be key to improving your site’s rankings in 2024 and beyond.
Why SEO is Important for Your Website
Consider that you have a store with many high-quality products for sale, but no one comes to your store, opting to visit your competitors’ stores instead. This is similar to having an online store with high-quality products or services but not getting traffic to your website. The key factor here is SEO. If you’ve built a store but haven’t optimized it for search engines, how will people know your store exists?
SEO is a digital strategy that can improve your store’s visibility, move it to higher positions in Google search results, and eventually attract potential customers. This is how people will learn about your store, ultimately increasing your traffic. Think of SEO as a partnership between you and Google; You can’t game the system to get higher rankings. Instead, you must be consistent and patient, creating high-quality, optimized pages. Doing this ensures Google that your website is genuine, resulting in higher rankings.
Regardless of the content management system (CMS) you use, the basic SEO strategy is the same for all e-commerce platforms. Since each CMS operates differently, for example, if you have a PrestaShop store, it has SEO modules that you can use to optimize your PrestaShop site.
Let’s dive into a detailed discussion on the aspects of PrestaShop SEO and how to achieve higher rankings in search results.
Google Ranking Factors
Content Quality This is the most important factor that can affect your rankings on Google or any other search engine. Google always promotes high-quality, informative, and useful content.
Technical SEO This involves optimizing your site so that Google can crawl and index it better. It includes website speed, mobile compatibility, and many other factors.
Backlinks These are links you get from other related websites in the same niche. High-quality backlinks improve your site’s SEO, as link juice is shared from authentic sites.
Keyword Optimization This is a technique where you strategically add keywords to your site. It helps Google understand the topic of your website and the relevance of the information you provide to your customers.
Social Signals Social media is a great way to build your brand and plays an important role in your site’s rankings. Make your content shareable so that readers can share it on their social media platforms.
How to Boost Your Rankings in 2024
Now that you understand the importance of SEO, you may still be confused about where to start. Don’t worry; We’ll discuss in detail the most effective ways to optimize your PrestaShop store’s SEO and the specific PrestaShop addons you can use in the process.
Keyword Research
When we talk about content, the first thing that comes to mind is keywords. Keywords are basic queries that users might use in their searches, so you need to incorporate these keywords into your content, whether in blogs or product/category pages. Proper keyword selection and placement in the content are crucial for better rankings. Furthermore, in today’s digital world, it’s not just about keyword volume but also about relevance.
Keywords can be used in URLs, titles, META descriptions, and throughout the content, but with some limitations. If you have a PrestaShop store, choosing the right keyword for your product page is highly important. You can find a list of keywords using various online tools such as Google Keyword Planner, Semrush, Ahrefs, etc. The most important factor when choosing keywords is to ensure they have high volume and low competition. Apart from primary keywords, you should use long-tail keywords, which are also important for SEO.
Once your keyword list is ready, ensure you use them naturally throughout your site for both users and crawlers, such as in the URL, title, META description, headers, product descriptions, and category descriptions, and in ALT tags.
Ensure you use keywords in a way that doesn’t appear as if you’re stuffing them into your pages, as this can harm your SEO and user experience.
Incorporate Visuals
Content isn’t limited to blogs or descriptions; It also includes the visual aspects of your website. This may include images, videos, infographics, and all visual elements that attract users’ attention to your site.
Images and other visuals can help illustrate your content. Sometimes your content may be lengthy and users may get bored while reading. This is where you can catch their attention by adding images and infographics to make the content more engaging. These images may also include statistics when it comes to comparison blogs. Using your own images protects you from copyright claims and enhances brand awareness. It also increases your site’s authority when people share your images on their sites, ultimately earning you backlinks from authentic sites.
Use your keywords in ALT tags for images, as this will help your content reach the right audience.
Mobile Optimization
The number of mobile users is increasing day by day, and almost everyone has more than one mobile device. Therefore, if you want to maximize your revenue, you must have a mobile version of your website. It is crucial that your site has a mobile-friendly version compatible with all smartphones.
Mobile-first means how well your site navigates for people using mobile screens. Specifically for PrestaShop, there are many mobile-friendly themes you can use to make your PrestaShop stores mobile-compatible.
Technical SEO
While keywords are important, you cannot ignore the technical SEO aspect of your website. Without technical SEO, you can’t leverage the benefits of your keywords. Here are some key factors to consider for technical SEO
Add Meta titles and descriptions to your pages, with proper distribution of headers from H1 to H6.
Ensure your URLs are user-friendly and contain your primary keyword. Considering PrestaShop here, a best-selling module on PrestaShop Addons called Pretty URL can be used to make your URLs clean and well-optimized. You can add internal links to your pages to bring users to other related pages.
Google has a metric called Core Web Vitals. It helps you understand whether you’re providing an optimal user experience. The Core Web Vitals guidelines measure the speed, interactivity, and visual stability of a web page. By improving these three metrics, you can help your website rank higher and enhance the user experience.
The main factor Google measures is how quickly your website’s pages load, including response times for fonts and images.
In short, you need to pay serious attention to speed insights to provide a better user experience.
Have a Blog on Your PrestaShop Site
For PrestaShop, having a blog on your website is beneficial. A blog not only builds a connection with your customers but also adds strength to your website, making it very attractive to search engines.
For a professional PrestaShop blog, there are multiple modules on PrestaShop Addons you can use. The standout one is the PrestaShop Blog module by FME, a multilingual module that lets you add a professional blog to your store and share the latest news and articles with your customers.