SEO for eCommerce dropshipping stores
SEO for eCommerce dropshipping stores: 5 ways to increase your conversions
When people are looking for a product to purchase, they always start by searching it on Google. As a dropshipping seller, that’s why promoting your store and marketing your products should be at the top of your list. That is where SEO, done right, can do wonders for your online business!
Whether you are dropshipping in the UK or using print on demand in the UK, or have another eCommerce, implementing proper SEO practices is absolutely crucial for attracting potential buyers. Thinking and writing SEO-friendly content will undoubtedly rank your dropship store higher on the Google Search Page and display it above your competitors’ websites, therefore providing high visibility for potential buyers and conversions. To understand all this, let’s cover some definitions first.
What is a conversion?
Conversion is the completion of any specific goal you have for your eCommerce. Typical website conversions or results for eCommerce stores include an online sale, adding a product to a cart, adding an item to a wishlist, or email signup, depending on your goal. Each one of these is an achievement, a conversion. It is proof that a potential buyer showed interest and is closer to becoming a paying customer. When we talk about the conversion rate, that is therefore the percentage of potential customers who visit your website and complete a purchase.
With proper SEO, you can fine-tune your website to push people closer to making a purchase. This process is called conversion rate optimization, or CRO in short. Essentially, it helps increase the percentage of purchase-making visitors to your website. These purchase-making results are also called conversions. The conversation rate optimization also helps you better understand your target audience. It points out what elements of your messaging speak to them, so you can make the necessary adjustments.
What is dropshipping?
For newcomers, let’s also define what dropshipping is. Dropshipping is the process of shipping goods directly to your customers but through a third-party supplier. It doesn’t require warehousing or logistics.
Customers order products from your business and you pass the order details to your dropshipper.
The dropshipper then packages and ships the items directly to the customer. Essentially, dropshipping business is a low-budget-friendly eCommerce store that has the potential to make millions. And anyone can do it.
What is eCommerce SEO?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of generating more organic (i.e., free, natural) traffic from search sites like Google, Yahoo, Bing, or any other sites you might be using.
When we look up something on Google, we usually click the websites that Google returns on the first result page, also known as the Search Engine Result Page (SERP). It’s only logical to conclude that if you want your online store to be noticed, your store needs to appear on the very first SERP on Google.
SEO can be defined as a collection of all those efforts to optimize a website in order to increase the possibilities of its ranking higher in search engines, such as Google’s first page. Search Engine Optimization can be used in different forms in searches– like videos, images, written content, and even website structure.
Why is SEO important for your dropshipping store?
Research shows that 89%¹ of the consumers surveyed use Internet search engines such as Google, to make purchasing decisions. In fact, according to Semrush, 37.5% of all traffic to eCommerce sites comes from SEO (Search Engine Optimization). It’s clear that SEO has a large potential to increase your revenue, sales, and conversions, by putting your eCommerce store on the first page of an internet search engine.
For example, when you search Google for any product or service, many websites will rank on the first page for the keywords you typed in. SEO helps your website be one of them. The better the SEO is done, the higher the ranking of your store/product.
Integrating SEO with other marketing activities increases the effectiveness of these marketing activities. It also improves your organic search visibility.
Benefits of SEO for your eCommerce store
Simply put, SEO helps customers find you online. Google alone shares a major chunk of profit-producing traffic, proving that online search is the single decision-making criteria. Optimizing the search process is what will get you your website traffic and ultimately conversions.
Paying for website traffic can be quite pricey. Unlike paid search traffic, your organic search traffic comes absolutely free, which is another reason why SEO has always been so popular. With SEO, you can attract quality organic traffic without paying for it directly.
The effects of SEO are long-lasting as it doesn’t have an end date. On the other hand, the moment you stop paying for your paid advertising, your traffic drops and so do your conversions. SEO however, always keeps working for you. There is no need to redo the entire SEO strategy every year, you can just update it according to what works till you dominate your market.
How to implement the proper SEO and get more conversions
1. Keyword research
How to find the keywords
The first step to implementing SEO in your dropshipping store is figuring out which keywords you need to use. To find the keywords, we do keyword research. Keyword research is the process by which you research popular search terms people type into search engines and include them strategically in your content so that your content appears higher on a search engine results page.
You can find keywords that people are typing in Google by typing one or two words that best describe your product, and see what other terms Google suggests for you as search terms. Or, you can use some free tools such as the Keywords Everywhere Chrome extension which can also help you find related and long-tail keywords. You can use free tools like Google Trends or Google Keyword Planner to find the best keywords to include in your products’ names and descriptions. Strive to identify keywords that are high in monthly search volume and directly related to your product or store.
Which keywords to use
Long-tail keywords are great because they have much less competition than normal keywords. A longer keyword has fewer search queries and traffic but higher conversions, which is what you want. It is best to target keywords that have an SD (Search Difficulty) of less than 25. As a startup eCommerce store, you cannot immediately rank within the Top 10 for the wanted keywords, so starting with keywords that have a lower difficulty might be more effective initially.
Where to use these keywords
Including strategic keywords in your product description helps search engines index your pages in Google faster. If the keywords in your product description contain keywords that people are searching Google for, it tells Google that your product is the perfect fit. So Google first shows your product as the most relevant answer.
Naming your products accurately will assure the customer that your product is exactly what they are looking for. For the best SEO rankings of your eCommerce business, you should also pay attention to the length of content on each page of your website.
The longer the number of words you include on your pages, the easier it will be for search engines to understand your page. Also, maintain an optimal ratio of keywords in your web content. Include at least 350 to 500 words per page. The content needs to be natural, useful, and relevant to your target audience. On your product page, add content that describes your product using keywords. Avoid using duplicate content.
Keep an eye out for competition
Knowing what keywords your competitors are ranking for is important because you can see what works for them and perhaps implement it yourself. Competitors’ keyword research is relatively easy to do, and it can be done with any free tool such as Moz or Ubersuggest.
When looking at competitors’ keywords, choose the small competitors for your research as these are more within your niche and therefore the results will be more accurate.
2. Website
On-page SEO
On-page SEO means optimizing each individual page for SEO, using the keywords you found.
Insert the keywords you researched in Title, Sub-headers, Meta Descriptions, Image Alt Tags, Descriptions, and URL to gain Google’s trust. Write at least a 1000 word product description and include the applicable keywords in it. Your product page should contain all the information like Shipping, Returns, Terms of service, etc. The more information you provide, the more credible the source your store appears to be.
Website titles and tags
In dropshipping business, title tags are important. When someone searches for something, it is the title tag that shows up in search results. Putting keywords in your title is therefore important. However, avoid overdoing it with the keywords in your H1 tags to prevent getting penalized by Google. Yes, that’s a possibility too. An ideal Title Tag should be below 55 characters and it should be relevant to search terms you want to rank.
Website meta descriptions
Meta descriptions are crucial for dropshipping SEO rankings. Meta descriptions appear right below the title tag and should be between 120 and 155 characters. They should be relevant and describe precisely what a person will find on the page if they click on it. Make sure your description tags encourage people to click. Include information such as a how-to guide, a great price, or an attention-grabbing list.
Speed
Website speed indirectly affects SEO in a negative way. Simply put, a slow website means a higher bounce rate. To clarify, bounce rate is the percentage of people who leave a certain page on your website. You want them, of course, to stay on your website and make a purchase. The bounce rate is when they leave.
According to Google /SOASTA research, if a website takes more than 3-4 seconds to load, your visitor bounce rate can go up to 90%. To prevent this, regularly check your website speed using apps such as Google Page Speed Insights, Pingdom, or GTMetrix for instance. They’ll let you know the speed and point out any problems with your website. Also, compress images and use a fast and responsive WordPress/Shopify theme.
Website structure
Ecommerce website structure is another important aspect of SEO. It helps search engines to find all the pages, and it makes the website user-friendly too.
Ecommerce websites tend to have more pages than classic websites. This means you need to have a proper structure from the start. A great way to implement this structure on your website is to try to make sure that most of your pages are not more than three clicks away from the homepage. It’s user and SEO-friendly.
Incorporating a site map on your website is a great SEO practice. A sitemap essentially lists all of the pages on your website that Google should know about. Starting from the high-level pages, break them down into categories, subcategories, product pages, etc.
Optimizing your homepage, adding product discovery features and product pages is crucial for leading your customers through the conversion funnel.
3. Content
Content marketing
SEO and Content marketing both go hand in hand and both are required to rank high in search engines. Creating a blog around your niche can really help you get organic traffic and boost your conversions. When you have a lot of content around that product or niche, your website will start to rank for the audiences searching up that niche. In Google’s eyes, your website will be the answer to the audience’s questions.
Once people land on your blog and read about the product, the chances of those visitors converting into customers are high. Why? Because you just provided them some free value, be it information, unboxing moment, or something else. Customers appreciate that.
Blog
Ideally, start with writing a 600-800 word blog every week and then up the words. Don’t expect the immediate virality of your blog post. It is highly unlikely that you’ll draw huge crowds after writing just one blog post. People search the net at different times, they read at different times, so for your blog to be noticed, it will take time and consistency.
To start getting some traction, you can market your content personally by joining relevant communities, social media groups, and forums where your niche market interacts. Consider using Reddit, Facebook, Quora, 9gag, and others. Community niches are especially valuable because you can actually find groups of potential customers hanging out online that are more likely to want and buy your products. Get to know them first and then slowly start infiltrating your content.
Share creative content on social media
Content marketing is a reliable source of traffic for many dropshipping eCommerce stores. Social media validation pushes eCommerce businesses closer to their goals by providing entertaining value to potential customers. Not to mention the reviews and comments on your products or store, which add the elements of trust in other buyers.
When writing this kind of content, seek to close the deal (get a conversion) through compelling CTAs (Call-to-actions). This can be a question, a photo, or a straightforward button. Post content that revolves around your product’s target niche. Get creative by using various multimedia, releasing product how-to videos, product unboxings, and product shots.
Make sure to keep up with trends – TikTok and InstaReels are all the rage these days. Scan and unveil trends daily. Feature your product through creative content to capture audiences and therefore – potential buyers.
4. Link building
Links, internal, external, and backlinks are all very crucial aspects of understanding dropshipping SEO.
Internal links are basically direct from one page on your site to another. By linking one page of your website to another, you are signaling search engine webpage crawlers to navigate to the page that it’s linking to. This gives ranking power from that page to the next one. When using internal links, you are telling the search engines which pages to rank for specific keywords.
Link building is one of the major factors that affect SEO and directly determines your ranking. Links are like search engine votes. They confirm to Google ranking authority that your website has good content, and the more links, the higher your DA (domain authority) and rankings will be. Guest blogging, broken link building, and email content marketing all qualify as link-building techniques.
External links
Contrary to what internal links do, external links take the user to other sites. Incorporating external links into your blog posts may be a good idea for your eCommerce store because it will navigate the visitor to another relevant site to help them understand your post better. However, external links can be tricky too because they do take your prospective customers away from your site. They do provide relevant information which makes your content credible, but – they also take your customer away. So, external links wisely.
SEO ranking with backlinks
Unlike external links, backlinks drive traffic from one site back to your own eCommerce site. They simply point from another website to yours. When this is coupled with the relevant content on your website, these can be an important means to get a website to rank highly in search engines.
5. Social media
Everybody knows about the importance of social media, but let’s be redundant and say – create social media business pages for your eCommerce store. Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest are the most popular social media platforms for dropship products. Instagram is an especially useful tool for product discovery. Embedding a shoppable Instagram feed onto your website is a great opportunity to inspire your audience with gorgeous photos and show off your products in everyday scenarios. Most of the time, new customers first discover you through social media.
Add links to your top social accounts on your website and build trust with potential clients. Be active on your profiles and take the time to provide enough information to reassure your customers about the quality of your service. Encourage previous customers to leave a product review. Take your own unique product photos and videos as much as possible. Alternatively, rename product images from the data feed to describe the product with relevant keywords and upload them again. Add Alt Tags to your images – they also add to your website’s credibility in Google’s eyes.
Optimize your image titles with keywords. The keywords should be similar or the same as the image name and the alt tag.
Having useful and relevant product descriptions is a must for boosting dropshipping SEO. Also, rewrite both your long and short product descriptions and add keywords. Find a creative way to showcase your product or talk about it, rather than simply copy-pasting the information from the data feed.
Long SEO story short
Doing SEO can be a bit overwhelming in the beginning. However, the more specialized your dropship store is, the easier it will be to promote and acquire new customers and conversions.
Combining trending products and creating the right listings will guide you in the right direction, but learning how to promote your dropship store will determine your overall success.
The most important thing to remember here is that the key to the success of your store is your buyers. The more buyers you attract to your website, the better are your conversions and revenue. And the only way customers will be able to locate your store is through SEO. Making SEO your priority from the start will give great results in the future, so while you may not see the effect immediately – you will, over time. When you do see the results coming in, you’ll find that dropshipping SEO does play a pivotal part in growing organic traffic for your eCommerce business and creating the conversions you want.
