A simple (but effective) SEO guide for a store

By following the step by step instructions and using special utilities, you will provide a commercial site with stable and constantly growing search traffic. Among the various SEO-software can be allocated programs for the analysis of issuance, collection of the semantic kernel, analysis of the reference mass, etc. An alternative are free and shareware services, which we will talk about today.

E-commerce is a big business with a tough competition for positions in the issue. And in order to achieve success in this field, one must be head and shoulders above competitors.

Fortunately, there is good news - most projects use inefficient promotion strategies. Using these recommendations, you will be able to bypass competitors in the short term and observe a significant increase in traffic, with a little effort.

You will get acquainted with 4 main stages of SEO-optimization of commercial resources, such as:

• Collection of keywords;
• SEO-optimization of pages;
• Technical optimization of the site;
• Creation of reference mass.

Before the start of the SEO campaign, it will not be superfluous to determine its priorities and tasks. When you see the overall picture, you can proceed to the consistent implementation of all stages of promotion.

Well, let's get started!

Step 1: Collecting keywords
The starting point for any SEO campaign is to research and collect keywords. The absence of a semantic kernel will make you a kitten in the predatory world of search engine optimization. So where do you start not to be eaten by competitors?

It's no secret that for every commercial niche there is a kind of basic core of keywords, according to which almost all stores aspire to take the first places in the issue.

The standard semantic core consists, as a rule, of 3 categories of keys:

• Goods and services;
• Brands and brands;
• Product categories.

It is strategically important that the promoted store be optimized for these phrases. But here's the problem - your numerous competitors do the same, focusing on the same keywords. The trouble is that if their link profile is more powerful than yours, then they are likely to outstrip you in the issue. What to do?

Below you will learn how to find valuable keywords with a low level of competition.

Really valuable keys meet the following requirements:

• Have a large search volume;
• Facilitate the sale;
• Not used by your competitors;
• Allow to quickly promote the site on them.

To find such valuable keys, forget for a while everything that we know about the promotion of commercial projects, and turn to the methods that are used in blogging and affiliate marketing.

Tip 1. Bring the methods from affiliate-marketers
Successful affiliate specialists work according to the following scheme:

Define the general problems of the target audience;
Create content that targets people with this problem;
Offer solutions to the problem (your product) right in the content.
This simple formula in the field of e-commerce gives an amazing result. Your task is to find keywords that will give you the maximum conversion.

For example, you decided to get a brand new gaming laptop, but do not understand the technical subtleties at all. What will be your search query? Most likely, something like "the best gaming laptop". Such a key, according to SERPSTAT, is characterized by high competition and a small number of requests in Google. You'll have to look for a more favorable formula for X for Y, where X is your product, and Y is the client's problem. Do not doubt - the search for keys under the scheme "the best formula X for Y" will be successful, since the scheme is effective for most commercial niches.

• Easily distributed by category;
• Involve and train visitors;
• Converted visitor to the buyer.

Tip 2. Get the right keyword phrases from bloggers

Although direct competitors for us are commercial projects, you should not write off blogs and information sites that are pulling a huge amount of search traffic. Such sites can be an excellent source of keyword ideas. Let's find the blogs of our subjects for clarity.

We take any blog from the first in the issue and analyze its key queries with the help of services such as Semrush, SERPSTAT or Ahrefs to choose from. Services will provide a huge list of keywords that can be filtered, sorted and selected the least competitive and most convertible.

Selected words must be translated and analyzed. This allows you to identify competitors and assess the difficulty of progressing on specific words. Manual analysis, though laborious, but it allows you to select the most "profitable" keywords and develop effective tactics of promotion.

So, the words are selected, but what to do next? Many SEOs at this stage would decide to create pages of categories for specific keys, but this is not our way. It is much more reasonable to create high-quality content under our keys and post it in the "Blog" section. The title of the article should look like "The best gaming laptops: 12 recognized flagships".

Of course, our top should include computers from the assortment of the promoted store. Thus, the article will start the sales funnel, which will turn the interested reader into a buyer.

With the update of the store's assortment, you can and need to update the content, making it relevant and fresh - the way your customers and Google want to see it.

Tip 3. Target promising keywords for quick wins
What is a promising keyword? This is a search query that:

• Has a good search volume;
• Gives out your site on the 2nd page of issue (11-20 places);
• Has a relatively low level of complexity.

With a small amount of labor, you can promote the site in the top-10 search results and, thus, quickly increase traffic.

To find promising keys, you need to use any convenient keyword selection service by filtering out the results in such a way that:

• The position of the site was in the range of 11-20;

• The search volume was from 1000;
  The difficulty of promotion was minimal.
  When the keys are selected, you need to evaluate the competition. To do this, you need to use the standard Google search and determine who is currently in the top. Then we need to analyze each site that is ahead of our delivery. We are interested in only 2 parameters:

• Domain evaluation;

• The number of referenced domains.

If the competitors' domains surpass your site by some parameters, but there are no direct links to the specific pages in the issue, it makes it possible to raise the page in the issue by increasing the reference mass. It will not be superfluous also to distribute the weight of the pages of the site in favor of the promoted page with the help of competent internal linking.
Even if your site is on the 7th or lower position, you can make it more attractive in SERP by changing the Title to increase the number of clicks. This, in turn, will lead to increased traffic. A successful solution will be the addition of numbers and percentages. For example, "The best laptops of 2017 with a discount of -25%" will look much more attractive than the standard headlines with which the search delivery is exhausted. This "chip" will help increase traffic, and the growth of CTR, most likely, will positively affect the positions in the issue.

Tip 4. Identify lost keywords that competitors use
Finally, we'll look at finding keywords using the data of your competitors. To do this, follow the algorithm below.

Step 1: Identify your competitors

First of all, it is necessary to find out which of the nearest competitors is in the TOP. You can do this using the search service of competing domains. The report will show you the sites that have the greatest match in the ranking of keywords in comparison with the promoted site.

Step 2: Find the gaps in the content

We are interested in keywords with a query number of 1000 per month and 4+ words in the phrase. Long keys with a "tail" are easy to find using the SEMRUSH service. After that, select the words that are most relevant for your store, and add them to the semantic kernel.
To promote a website using long keys will be easier than you think. Now it only remains to create first-class content for these key phrases.

Step 2: SEO Optimizing Pages
Below are typical tasks for optimizing a commercial site.

Switching to HTTPS
A task

Implement HTTPS access to create a secure channel.

goal

E-commerce shops usually include several forms that collect personal data of users. It is important that all information was encrypted. Given that Google has confirmed that sites that serve content through HTTPS have the advantage, it makes sense to implement the protocol. Also, if you are engaged in e-commerce, then you should use Sitewide HTTPS.

Optimize category pages

A task

Optimize texts, headings, meta tags and other component parts of category pages

goal

Categories are key pages in any store, because they concentrate a lot of traffic. With the right optimization, they can provide a good flow of customers from the search engines.

Product Optimization

A task

Fill the product range, providing each position with a quality photo and description. First of all, the site needs the most sold and promising goods or services.

goal
Get an edge over competitors in a number of SEO parameters, such as content quality and favorable behavioral indices.

When Google first released the Panda algorithm in 2011, it instantly pessimized thousands of commercial projects with substandard and duplicate product descriptions. In recent years, the situation has not changed - you need only unique descriptions for each individual product.

Optimizing product headers
A task

Create optimized header templates that contain keywords and are informative for the user. Shorten long headlines.

goal

Optimizing the header format will make them more attractive to users.

Optimizing Product Metadata
A task

Create custom informative metadata for each product. Include in metatags such phrases as "Free Shipping", "Best Price" and other "selling" words.

goal

Increase the CTR pages of products in the SERP to attract additional traffic and increase the conversion.

Tip: Various metadata description formats are used, including the product price in them to maximize CTR.

Optimizing product images
A task

Compress images of goods without loss of quality.

goal

Reduce the page load time by making the site more attractive to search engines and users.

Correcting Structured Data Errors
A task

Implement schematic layout for products and validate using the Google Structured Data tool.

goal

Highlight site pages in search results, increase clickthrough rates, increase traffic and the number of conversions.

Stage 3: Technical optimization of the site
Technical optimization of the site, in the first place, implies the correct indexing of the pages of the online store and includes several steps, presented below.

Step 1. Check the number of indexed pages
To check how many pages of your site are indexed by Google, use the PR-CY service.

You can also run the report in Google Search Console to compare the data. Please note that the numbers in different services may vary.

Step 2: Identify the problems of indexing
If we launch a site search using the "site:" function, we will be able to find out what causes the indexing problems. In online stores dynamic pages with a small amount of content can be indexed incorrectly, which negatively affects SEO. Understanding the mechanism of indexing pages will reveal thousands of unwanted pages and close them from indexing.

Step 3: Eliminate the problems with indexing
Managing indexing of pages is easiest with the help of the Robots.txt file. But do not block dynamic pages using robots.txt or URL parameters until the pages disappear from the index. You can do this by setting the following tag on dynamic pages:
<meta name = »robots» content = »noindex, follow»>

Part 4: Creating reference mass
If you have done everything described above, by this time you already have a well-optimized commercial site that is ready for ranking. Internal optimization is over - it's time for external optimization.

To get the most out of keyword collection and internal optimization, you need to give the site a boost for development by creating a powerful backlink profile. What is the best strategy for link building? There are hundreds of them, and to select the best one specifically for your store, you need to test a few. Therefore, we recommend that you first become acquainted with the most popular materials on this topic, and decide on the strategy:

Free creation of high-quality links without links exchanges
Promotion with quality links (course 2017)
How to properly increase the reference mass of the site
The strategy of cleaning bad links using the Disavow file

CONCLUSIONS
The algorithm of promotion of commercial sites, presented above, has been tested on many projects and has successfully proved itself in various niches. Start with a detailed collection of the semantic kernel, using all available tools. After that, fill the site, optimize the content, adjust the indexing and eliminate all minor errors that can adversely affect the positions in the issue. And afterwards, start to gradually increase the reference mass, combining different campaigns, tracking and scaling the most effective of them.

On seoquick.ru you can find a number of free utilities and programs for SEO, which can simplify all described stages for both an experienced optimizer and a beginner.

Free of charge:

A utility for collecting keys - having a simple and intuitive interface, the program will collect clues, low-frequency keys and requests for contextual advertising.
Google Adwords Compliance Checker - allows you to quickly process keys before launching an advertising campaign. The utility is very simple, but it has a wide functionality for checking compliance requests.
Google Adwords Compliance Checker - allows you to quickly process keys before launching an advertising campaign. The utility is very simple, but it has a wide functionality for checking compliance requests.
Header quality calculator - allows you to quickly optimize the title of pages and evaluate the attractiveness of snippets in the issuance.
Ad Generators are simple and functional utilities that will help with the generation of a large number of advertisements for Yandex.Direct and Google Adwords.
Please note that when promoting, we use exclusively white SEO techniques.