March 18, 2025
Running an online store is exciting. You get to showcase your products to people all over the world. But what happens when shoppers can’t find your store? That’s where SEO comes in. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It’s how you make your online store visible to people searching for your products.
As someone who works with online stores every day, I’ve seen businesses double or triple their sales just by improving their SEO. This guide will walk you through the steps to make your e-commerce site more visible in search results. You’ll learn how to find the right keywords, optimize your product pages, and fix technical issues that might be holding your site back. By the end, you’ll have a clear plan to help more customers find and buy from your online store.
SEO is vital for any online store that wants to grow. Think about how you shop online. You probably type what you’re looking for into Google or another search engine. Then you click on one of the first few results. Most shoppers do the same thing. In fact, studies show that the top three search results get over 50% of all clicks. If your store isn’t showing up near the top, you’re missing out on a lot of potential customers.
Good SEO means more than just getting any visitors to your site. It means getting the right visitors – people who are actually looking for what you sell. When someone searches for “waterproof hiking boots” and your store sells exactly that, you want to be the site they see. This kind of targeted traffic is much more likely to result in sales than random visitors. Plus, unlike paid ads, the traffic you get from organic search results is free and can continue for years with the right strategy.
SEO stands out from other marketing approaches because it reaches people exactly when they’re looking to buy. When someone searches for a product, they already have interest and intent. They’re actively looking for a solution that you can provide. This makes them much more likely to purchase than someone who just sees a random ad while browsing social media.
Another reason SEO is so powerful for e-commerce is its lasting impact. While paid ads stop bringing in customers the moment you stop paying, SEO continues working for you over time. A well-optimized product page can bring in shoppers for years. My client Maria saw this firsthand with her handmade jewelry store. After improving her SEO, her traffic grew steadily for months. Two years later, she still gets consistent sales from product pages we optimized long ago. The initial work of setting up good SEO pays dividends far into the future, making it one of the most cost-effective marketing strategies for online stores of any size.
Many store owners focus all their energy on building a beautiful website and taking perfect product photos. While these things matter, they won’t help if no one ever finds your store. Without SEO, your online shop is like a beautiful store built on a back road where no one drives by. You might have the best products at the best prices, but if shoppers don’t know you exist, they can’t buy from you.
I’ve seen too many store owners learn this lesson the hard way. They spend thousands on web design and product development only to launch to crickets – no visitors, no sales. Then they turn to expensive ads to drive traffic, eating into their profits. Meanwhile, their competitors who invested in SEO get free, targeted traffic every day. One store owner I worked with was spending $5,000 monthly on ads before improving his SEO. Once his organic traffic increased, he was able to cut his ad budget in half while maintaining the same sales levels. Ignoring SEO doesn’t just cost you potential customers – it can also force you to spend much more on other marketing channels to make up for the missing organic traffic.
Keyword research is like finding out exactly what your customers are asking for. It’s the process of discovering the exact words and phrases people type when looking for products like yours. Getting this right is crucial because using the wrong keywords means you’ll attract the wrong visitors – or no visitors at all. Good keyword research helps you speak the same language as your customers and make sure your products appear when they’re searching.
The goal isn’t just to find popular keywords. You want to find keywords with the right buying intent that you can actually rank for. For example, “shoes” is searched thousands of times daily, but it’s almost impossible for a small store to rank for such a broad term. Instead, focusing on “waterproof leather work boots size 13” might bring fewer searches, but the people searching are much clearer about what they want and more likely to buy when they find it. Plus, more specific keywords usually have less competition, giving your store a better chance of ranking well.
You don’t need expensive tools to start finding good keywords for your store. Google’s free Keyword Planner can show you how many people search for terms related to your products. Another free approach is to use Google’s autocomplete feature. Start typing a product category into Google and see what suggestions pop up. These suggestions are based on real searches people make, giving you insight into how customers think about products like yours.
For more detailed keyword research, tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Ubersuggest can show you not just search volume but also how hard it would be to rank for each keyword. These tools can also reveal what keywords your competitors rank for, giving you ideas for terms you might have missed. When choosing keywords, look for a mix of head terms (shorter, more competitive keywords like “running shoes”) and long-tail keywords (longer, more specific phrases like “women’s lightweight trail running shoes for wide feet”). The head terms will bring more traffic, while the long-tail terms often bring more serious buyers. A balanced approach targets both types to build steady traffic and sales over time.
Not all keywords are created equal when it comes to selling products. Some searches show a stronger buying intent than others. For example, someone searching “how to tie running shoes” probably isn’t looking to buy right now. But someone searching “buy Brooks Ghost running shoes size 10” is clearly ready to make a purchase. As an e-commerce store, you want to focus on keywords that show commercial intent.
Look for keywords that include terms like “buy,” “order,” “shop,” “discount,” “deal,” “shipping,” or “price.” These words signal that the searcher is in shopping mode, not just researching. Product model numbers are also strong indicators of buying intent – someone searching for “Sony WH-1000XM4” knows exactly what they want. Another category of valuable keywords includes comparison terms like “best,” “top,” “vs,” or “review.” These indicate the searcher is close to making a decision and comparing final options. By creating content that targets these comparison keywords, you can help customers make their final choice – your product! My client who sells kitchen appliances saw a 65% higher conversion rate from visitors who arrived through these commercial intent keywords compared to more general product category terms.
Your product pages are where the magic happens – where browsers become buyers. Optimizing these pages for search engines can dramatically increase how many potential customers see your products. Good on-page SEO makes it clear to both Google and shoppers exactly what you’re selling and why they should buy it from you. Each element of your page, from the title to the descriptions to the images, plays a role in how well you rank.
The key to great product page SEO is creating content that serves both search engines and human shoppers. Search engines need clear, structured information about your product. Shoppers need compelling details that answer their questions and convince them to buy. When you optimize your pages to meet both these needs, you create product listings that not only rank well but also convert visitors into customers. Let’s look at the specific elements that make up an SEO-friendly product page.
Your product title is perhaps the most important SEO element on the page. It should include your main keyword while still sounding natural and appealing to shoppers. Avoid keyword stuffing, which sounds robotic and can actually hurt your rankings. Instead, create clear titles that include the product type, key features, and brand if relevant. For example, “Women’s Waterproof Hiking Boots with Ankle Support – Trailmaster Pro” is better than just “Hiking Boots” or the stuffed “Waterproof Hiking Boots Women Ankle Support Hiking Boots Waterproof Women’s Boots for Hiking.”
Product descriptions give you more space to include additional keywords naturally while selling the benefits of your product. The best descriptions address the specific needs of your customers and explain how your product meets those needs. Instead of just listing features, explain why those features matter. Don’t just say “waterproof material” – say “The fully waterproof Gore-Tex membrane keeps your feet dry even in heavy rain, so you can tackle challenging trails in any weather.” Use natural language that includes variations of your keywords. Break up text into readable paragraphs with subheadings if your description is long. Remember that while search engines read all your text, humans often skim – so make your descriptions scannable with the most important information easy to find. My client who sells outdoor gear saw a 28% increase in organic traffic after rewriting product descriptions to be both more detailed and more search-friendly.
Product images and videos are crucial for convincing customers to buy, but they also present important SEO opportunities that many store owners miss. Search engines can’t “see” your images, so they rely on text clues to understand what the images show. Always add descriptive alt text to each product image. This should concisely describe what the image shows, including key product details. For example, “Women’s brown waterproof hiking boots side view showing ankle support” is much better than “boot1.jpg” or “product photo.”
File names also matter for image SEO. Before uploading product photos, rename the files with descriptive names that include key terms. Use dashes between words (brown-womens-hiking-boots.jpg) rather than underscores or spaces. For product videos, add transcripts or at least detailed descriptions to help search engines understand the content. Also, compress your images and videos to ensure fast loading times, as page speed affects both rankings and user experience. Large, unoptimized images are one of the most common reasons e-commerce pages load slowly. One clothing retailer I worked with saw their product pages jump from page three to page one of search results after properly optimizing their product gallery images and adding detailed alt text describing the styles, colors, and occasions for each piece of clothing.
Technical SEO deals with the behind-the-scenes elements of your website that affect how search engines crawl and index your pages. While not as visible as keywords or content, these technical factors can make or break your e-commerce SEO success. Search engines favor websites that are fast, secure, and easy to navigate. Technical problems can prevent even the best-optimized product pages from ranking well.
Many store owners neglect technical SEO because it seems complicated. But you don’t need to be a programmer to address the most important technical factors. Understanding the basics of site structure, page speed, mobile friendliness, and security can help you identify and fix issues that might be holding your store back. Often, making a few key technical improvements can lead to significant ranking boosts and better user experience, which means more sales for your store.
Page speed is crucial for both search rankings and customer experience. Studies show that 40% of visitors will leave a site that takes more than three seconds to load. Each additional second of loading time can reduce conversions by 7%. Google also uses page speed as a ranking factor, meaning slower sites may rank lower in search results. For e-commerce sites with many product images, speed optimization is especially important.
The most effective ways to improve your store’s speed include compressing images, enabling browser caching, minimizing code, and using a content delivery network (CDN). Product images should be compressed to the smallest file size that still maintains good quality. You can use tools like TinyPNG or ImageOptim to reduce image sizes without noticeable quality loss. If your store has dozens or hundreds of products, proper image optimization alone can dramatically improve loading times. Another common speed issue is having too many apps or plugins installed.
Each one adds code that must load, potentially slowing down your site. Audit your apps regularly and remove any that aren’t essential to your store’s function. One furniture retailer I helped saw their page load time drop from 6.5 seconds to 2.1 seconds after optimizing images and removing unnecessary plugins. This speed improvement contributed to a 23% increase in their conversion rate and better rankings for their product pages.
More than half of all online shopping now happens on mobile devices, and Google primarily uses the mobile version of your site for ranking purposes. This means having a mobile-friendly store isn’t just nice to have – it’s essential for SEO success. A responsive design that works well on screens of all sizes should be the foundation of your e-commerce store.
Mobile optimization goes beyond just having a responsive template. You need to ensure that product images are visible without zooming, buttons are large enough to tap with a finger, forms are easy to complete on a small screen, and checkout processes work smoothly on mobile devices. Text should be readable without zooming, and menus should be easy to navigate with touch controls. Use Google’s free Mobile-Friendly Test to check how well your store performs on mobile devices.
Pay special attention to your checkout process – complicated checkouts are the leading cause of mobile cart abandonment. Simplify forms by requiring only essential information and offering guest checkout options. A health supplements store I consulted for discovered that 67% of their abandoned carts were happening on mobile devices. After redesigning their checkout process with mobile users in mind, they reduced mobile cart abandonment by 41% and saw their mobile conversion rate nearly double.
Even with all the right knowledge, implementing effective SEO for an e-commerce store takes time and expertise. Many store owners find themselves overwhelmed trying to manage products, customer service, and marketing while also handling technical SEO tasks. This is where bringing in experts can make a huge difference to your store’s growth. Nexvato specializes in e-commerce SEO solutions that drive measurable results for online stores of all sizes.
Nexvato’s approach combines technical expertise with a deep understanding of how shoppers search for and buy products online. Their team handles everything from initial keyword research to ongoing optimization, letting you focus on other aspects of your business. Unlike general SEO agencies, Nexvato works exclusively with e-commerce businesses, giving them specialized knowledge of what works for online stores in different industries. Their track record shows consistent results in improving product page rankings and increasing organic traffic that converts to sales.
Nexvato has developed solutions for the specific challenges that online stores face with SEO. One common issue is properly optimizing large product catalogs. When you have hundreds or thousands of products, manually optimizing each page becomes impossible. Nexvato uses specialized tools and templates to efficiently optimize large catalogs, ensuring each product has the best chance to rank for relevant searches.
Another area where Nexvato excels is fixing technical SEO issues unique to e-commerce platforms. Issues like duplicate content from similar products, faceted navigation creating multiple URLs for the same product, and crawl budget wastage on out-of-stock items can seriously hurt an online store’s rankings. Nexvato’s technical team identifies and resolves these platform-specific issues that general SEO tools might miss. Their work with a sporting goods retailer revealed that search engines were indexing thousands of duplicate filter URLs, diluting the site’s ranking power. After implementing proper canonical tags and robots.txt directives, the store saw their most important product categories climb from page two to the top three results for their target keywords, resulting in a 156% increase in organic traffic over four months.
SEO is not just a technical exercise for e-commerce stores – it’s a crucial business strategy that directly impacts your bottom line. By implementing the strategies we’ve covered – researching the right keywords, optimizing your product pages, and addressing technical issues – you can significantly increase your store’s visibility in search results. This visibility translates into more visitors who are actually looking for what you sell, resulting in higher conversion rates and more sales without increasing your advertising budget.
The e-commerce landscape gets more competitive every year, making strong SEO increasingly important for success. Stores that invest in SEO now are building a foundation for sustainable growth and reduced marketing costs in the future. The organic traffic generated through SEO tends to convert better than other sources because it comes from people actively searching for your products. It also continues working for you over time, unlike paid advertising that stops the moment you stop paying.
Improving your store’s SEO doesn’t happen overnight, but even small improvements can lead to meaningful results. Start by conducting keyword research to understand what terms your potential customers are searching for. Then optimize your most important product pages using those insights. Address any obvious technical issues like slow loading times or mobile usability problems. These initial steps can set you on the path to better visibility and increased sales through search.
If you’re ready to take your e-commerce SEO to the next level but don’t have the time or expertise to implement these strategies yourself, Nexvato is here to help. Their team of e-commerce SEO specialists can develop a customized strategy based on your specific store, products, and target customers. With their help, you can overcome the technical challenges and competitive barriers that might be holding your store back from reaching its full potential.
Contact Nexvato today for a free SEO audit of your e-commerce store. Their experts will identify opportunities for improvement and explain how their services can help you achieve your business goals. Don’t let your amazing products remain hidden from potential customers – partner with Nexvato to make your online store more visible, more accessible, and more profitable through the power of e-commerce SEO. Your future customers are searching for what you sell right now – make sure they can find you.
Ready to boost your online presence and drive real results? Let’s talk about how we can help you reach new heights—schedule a free consultation today!
Nexvato specializes in elevating businesses online with a comprehensive suite of services including cutting-edge web design, dynamic digital marketing, strategic SEO, and effective retargeting. Our integrated approach ensures seamless digital experiences, driving sales and enhancing online visibility.
