10+ SEO Checklist for eCommerce Website's Growth in 2024

on 22 March 2024, by Bogdan, in Blog, WordPress, Cloud, Shopify, Guides

by Bogdan

If you want more prospective visitors in the ecommerce business scene, going through our SEO checklist for ecommerce might just be the roadmap to your success.

Having an SEO checklist helps prevent overlooking critical SEO opportunities for ecommerce sites. It allows you to address and improve each SEO aspect that contributes to your online visibility and attract more customers.

In this article, we’ll cover all types of SEO that can help you rank highly in search engines. We’ll also provide simple tips and best practices required to enhance your SEO strategy.

We’ll cover the following:

What is an SEO checklist for ecommerce and why it’s important to have one
Optimize your ecommerce website with a basic SEO checklist
On-page SEO checklist for ecommerce websites(with tips on how to improve)
Off-site/local SEO checklist for ecommerce websites

Straightaway, let’s set the ball rolling with the first topic on the list. We’ll keep everything simplified to accommodate even non-technical store owners. So, stick around!

What is an SEO checklist (why is it important to own one)

To begin with, SEO is short for search engine optimization. It encompasses a range of practices and methods that enhance your website’s visibility on search engines without paying search engines for it.

An SEO Checklist for E-Commerce is a simple list of tasks and best practices designed to help you make sure you're doing everything you can to improve your ecommerce website's visibility on search engines. It's like a to-do list tailored to boost your website's chances of appearing higher in search results.

Owning an SEO checklist for your ecommerce business is important for the following reasons:

It provides comprehensive coverage: An SEO checklist covers all essential aspects of SEO from keyword research to on-page optimization, technical SEO, and off-page strategies.

It provides a structured and organized approach to implementing SEO tasks, making it easier to manage and track progress.

Because it covers all essential aspects of SEO, you won’t miss critical SEO opportunities or techniques that can increase your site’s visibility and solidify your online presence.

An SEO checklist is adaptable: allowing for updates and adjustments based on changes in search engine algorithms, industry trends, or specific business goals.

And much more.

In the next section, we’ll have a look at the types of SEO your checklist should include.

Things you need to consider to get started

A good ecommerce SEO strategy should be comprehensive and cover the following aspects of SEO:

• On-page SEO – this type of SEO optimizes your ecommerce site’s content by modifying things like headlines, images, and HTML tags (title tags, meta description, images, links, header, etc).

• Off-page SEO – this SEO is done outside your website. It includes techniques like building backlinks (online directories), listing your site on review sites, and many more.

• Local SEO – this is for local businesses that want to be found by local customers nearby; in local search results. It involves creating business profiles with search engines like Google and sharing relevant business information.

• Technical SEO – this is mostly for technical experts in SEO. It involves ensuring that your ecommerce site is findable, crawlable, and indexable by search engine crawlers, which includes setting up schema markup on product pages, among other tasks.

NOTE: Small businesses don’t need to worry about technical SEO! This is something Brizy WooCommerce builder has already taken care of on your behalf.

Creating a comprehensive ecommerce SEO checklist based on these types of SEO and frequently optimizing them will improve your SEO for the better. Let’s take a closer at each type of SEO and how to improve them.

We’ll begin with setting up basic SEO for your ecommerce website!

Optimize your ecommerce website with this Basic SEO checklist

Setting up basic SEO and an SEO Checklist for eCommerce enables you to track the performance of the campaign for your eCommerce business. It’s also necessary for you to start ranking on search engines.

If you’re a beginner, here are some tools required to set up basic SEO:

#1: Set up a Google Business Profile

a free local SEO tool that lists your business on Google. Simply sign in and accurately fill in all relevant business information in this profile. Enter details like operating hours, address, phone number (NAP), website, reviews, bookings, etc.

Additionally, this tool controls how your business shows up on other Google products, like Google Maps and Google Search.

#2: Set up and connect to Google Analytics

Google Analytics provides valuable insights on incoming traffic. It helps regularly monitor the impact of SEO modifications you’ve made on your site. This data lets you adjust strategies based on performance data and user behavior.

Connect Google Analytics to Google Search Console – this tool monitors important metrics on how your site performs on Google Search. Search Console can even send you alerts on critical issues that Google encounters with your website if you want to.

#3: Go for SEO plugins

If you’re using a popular CMS like WordPress, popular plugins like Yoast SEO and All in One SEO Pack can guide you in optimizing your content for SEO. You can also set up Bing Webmaster tools.

Using the above tools will enable Google and other search engines to easily connect you with users searching for your e-commerce business in your local area. If you’ve already set basic SEO, it won’t hurt if you double-check and ensure everything is set up correctly.
Tip: For example, ensure that your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) details are consistent across all business listing platforms – such as Google Business Profile, TripAdvisor, and Yelp. Search engines like Google use this business information to verify the credibility of your business.
With your basic SEO checklist fully set up, let’s see the list of items needed for your on-site SEO checklist.

On-site SEO checklist for your ecommerce website

By definition, on-site SEO directly modifies specific HTML elements and content within your website. To start your on-site SEO strategy, you’ll require three things. These include conducting keyword research, product on-page SEO(including category/collection page SEO), and content SEO strategy.

We’ll begin with conducting SEO research.

#4: Conduct keyword research

Keyword research enables you to identify search terms customers use to find your type of business on search engines and relevant keywords you wish to rank for. Only then will you be able to optimize the content on your ecommerce website to match those searches.

Here’s a quick checklist for identifying relevant keywords to rank for.

Perform keyword research for your products.
Start with keywords that best define your business. For instance, “best sneakers in Los Angeles”. Then, be as specific as possible. Do something like, “best high-top sneakers for running in Los Angeles." Use long-tail keywords for even more specific keywords.
Talk to customers to identify their pain points.
Understand the intent of the keyword you choose.
Find category page opportunities and run keyword research for content opportunities

For the best results, use tools like Google Keyword Planner, Moz Keyword Explorer, or Semrush. These tools let you look up keywords that customers are more likely to search and find your ecommerce business. It includes the search volume of each keyword also.

Tip: Google Search Console conveniently provides a performance report on top search queries your site appears for and the ones that led the most users to your site.

#5: Optimize your product pages for SEO

Product pages are where your online store has the best chance to make sales.

On this page, prospective buyers will browse your products, add items to their carts, and proceed to checkout. For customers to place an order, your product pages and the entire website need to be modern, user-friendly, mobile-friendly, and load fast.

Google doesn’t reward user-friendliness, but we also have an SEO-optimized tool that will enable you to optimize your product pages for SEO.

#6: Improve your product page SEO with Brizy WooCommerce builder

Brizy WooCommerce builder is an all-in-one builder that helps streamline your customer’s ecommerce experience. It easily integrates with WordPress and WooCommerce websites, enabling you to create ecommerce websites that are optimized for speed.

Specifically, this tool lets you design captivating and SEO-optimized product pages, cart pages, checkout, product lists, product category pages, etc. Online shop owners can effortlessly add relevant keywords you researched to each product page.

Brizy WooCommerce builder offers multiple opportunities to enhance your product pages' SEO (including category pages). It lets you:

Use high-quality product images and videos. This tool automatically compresses images for faster image loading speeds.

Tip: Ensure the product image files contain descriptive keywords with clear and concise alt texts. For example, instead of “IMG12345.jpg,” use “nike-sneakers.jpg” if it’s an image of a sneaker.

Incorporate keywords and ensure every product has unique product descriptions. Make sure to include your unique selling points (USPS) here also.
Link out to similar products and product categories.
Add FAQs around your products.
Collect reviews and ratings for your products and display them to your customers.

Collect emails for out-of-stock products
Offer alternatives for out-of-stock products
Add Scheme Markup or structured data – schema markup enables you to display rich search results with the name of your product, its photos, reviews & ratings, etc. This can increase your click-through rates.
Focus on a user-friendly design and navigation.
Implement clear and intuitive calls-to-action (CTAs).
Keep your URLs short. Ensure the target keyword is in the URL, page title, and headline
Ensure you are secure with HTTPS and get a free SSL

For the product category pages, create sub-collections to target long-tail keywords, add internal links to sub-categories, include breadcrumbs, etc.

Brizy WooCommerce builder is fully optimized for SEO and offers multiple SEO opportunities to upgrade your ecommerce websites. What we’ve mentioned here is just the tip of the iceberg.

Most importantly, this tool aligns with most of the requirements of popular search engines like Google to rank highly on their search engines. Brizy WooCommerce builder allows you to create user-friendly and fast websites and host them on their lightning-fast servers or by yourself.

NOTE: These websites are mobile-first design. This is because we know over 77% of online shoppers use their mobile devices and smartphones to search for products online before purchase.

#7: Optimize content SEO strategy

Good content is also essential for the SEO success of your ecommerce website. The data and information you collect during keyword research will help you know exactly what content to create. Nevertheless, here are some additional SEO checklist items that can help you enhance our current SEO strategy:

Set up a content plan and map the target keywords relevant to a user's intent. The content must be valuable, informative, and user-friendly.
Write for the user & not for search engines. Search engines like Google handsomely reward websites that put their users first.
Ensure you don't create the same content twice.

Optimize meta titles and descriptions with targeted keywords.
Use subheadings to appropriately show the structure of your content (H1, H2, etc.). Only use one H1 on each piece of content
Include internal links to relevant pages within your website.
Identify and remove content cannibalization. Cannibalized content diverts crawl bots from the pages you want to highlight on your site.
Regularly update your content
and much more.

If you want search engines like Google to discover your business more efficiently, you can provide it with additional business information, backlinks, reviews, and more. For this, we’ll need an off-site/local SEO checklist for your ecommerce shop.

The following are some off-site SEO techniques that will enable you to attract more visitors to your ecommerce website.

List your business on review sites — such as Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google reviews, and other popular review sites. Then, encourage customers to leave reviews. If a response is required, and immediately.

#8: Get reputable websites to link to your website

This is what Google refers to as building backlinks. The best way to do this is, for instance, to partner with local businesses, get local newspapers to write about you, sign up in local directories or publications, etc.

#9: List your business on review sites

List your business on review sites — such as Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google reviews, and other popular review sites. Then, encourage customers to leave reviews. If a response is required, and immediately.

Moreover, send your product to bloggers to be reviewed, run a digital PR campaign, get interviewed on podcasts & blogs, and have your product featured in product roundups.

#10: Social media integrations

Sharing your content on relevant social media platforms can increase your visibility and backlinks.

Tip: Make it your goal to grow your business using active social media platforms on Instagram, post constantly, interact with your followers, and encourage them to visit or do business with you again.

#11: Use Branded SEO Keywords

This is usually a forgotten part of SEO for ecommerce sites. For this, you can also use branded SEO keywords to rank when people search for your brand.

Conclusion

Having an effective SEO strategy is an invaluable tool for ecommerce websites! By following this article, you can develop a comprehensive SEO checklist for eCommerce, upgrade each list item, enhance your site’s online visibility, and acquire more customers daily.

Using SEO-friendly tools like Brizy WooCommerce builder does most of this work for you! This tool improves your SEO by streamlining your customers’ ecommerce journey. It includes all the features that you need to build a fast and effective website, that is user-friendly and mobile-friendly.

Try Brizy WooCommerce builder and improve your customer’s ecommerce journey. It will do nearly all the SEO work for you.

Article by Bogdan

Co-founder & Head of Design, Bogdan has a passion for everything that works great and looks awesome. Guilty for most of the UI and UX around this place, you can say "Hi" to him at bogdan at brizy dot io