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Why SEO is Best to Boost Traffic on Your E-commerce Website 

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2024-07-12

TABLE OF CONTENTS

“Made triple sales within a year”

“Got 2x of ad spends”

“Sold out instantly JUST WITH ADs”

Time and again you see entrepreneurs bragging their success on the internet. Most of them say how they did it in less time. 

Looking at how things have been dry on your website, you start to wonder for a while. If only you could grab a cheat sheet from them!

The thing is, it is not easy to get visitors on your website. If you get started with ads, you might see your sales soar a little — until your budget drains out or you decide to stop running them. 

Well, there’s something more promising than transient success. With SEO, you can not only boost traffic on your eCommerce website, but ensure that it keeps coming for a long time.

Why Paid Ads Are Not Enough

Throwing money to get money doesn’t always work out. 

Sure, you might get a surge of website visitors with targeted ads, but that traffic disappears as soon as you stop paying.

Here’s why relying solely on Google Ads or some other paid media might not be the best for your ecommerce business:

Ads Can Burn a Hole in Your Pocket: Ads can be expensive, especially when competing for popular keywords. This will also depend on your competition. Once you run out of the budget for ads, you’ll experience an instant dip in traffic until you replenish your balance. So, leaving your website’s performance to paid media may not be sustainable in the long run.

Short-Term Fix: Paid ads are great for inbound marketing i.e. bringing in high-intent users by actively targeting them on what they’re searching for. But what about targeting visitors who might be searching for your competitors, in a hope to get a solution that you may as well provide? This is how SEO builds that long-term traffic, making you more discoverable by a wider audience.

Limited Brand Building:  Ads are all about higher visibility. They’re great for product launches, festive offers and grand promotions but they don’t necessarily build brand loyalty. With SEO, you establish your store as a trusted authority in your niche, leading to organic traffic and repeat customers.

This is Why eCommerce SEO Matters 

Here’s why you’d want to start SEO on your ecommerce website, and keep it going:

1. Make it to Customer Searches and Improve Visibility

A report by Forbes claims that Google’s first page results drive 71% of online search traffic and it’s only going to increase further to 92%. If your website is not visible on Google, it’s almost non-existent for your user.

According to a recent study, the first organic result in Google search has an average click-through rate of 28.5%, while the second and third have a 15% and 11% click-through rate.

The addition of “Featured Snippets” and other Google features like “People also ask for,” “Near Me,” and “Close By” has increased the importance of SEO. Google’s Featured Snippets are an attempt to give consumers short, immediate answers.

A study also shows that featured snippets bring in 8.6% clicks — another benefit that adds to conversion.

If a highlighted snippet comes above the #1 results, the percentage of clicks drops to 19.6%. It suggests that achieving high rankings in SERPs would result in a significant loss of traffic and visibility during the initial phase of their purchasing experience.

2. Improves sales by increasing the traffic to your website: SERPs results

If your brand does not appear high in search results, you are missing an important chance to influence their decision-making process. Here’s how neglecting SEO hurts your business:

Lost Sales Opportunities: Your potential clients will not find you, resulting in slow revenue growth.

Competitive Advantage: If your competitors’ SEO game is good, they will take all the visitors and leave you high and dry.

Eroded Trust: Even sponsored advertising campaigns may fail to convert if customers cannot quickly locate information about your business online.

SEO is an investment in growth. Ranking higher in search results ensures that your brand is seen when potential clients are seeking for what you have to offer. This leads to greater website traffic, brand exposure, and, eventually, more purchases.

3. Save costs in the long run

SEO is almost free of cost. The real expenses usually show up in getting access for tools and hiring resources that will perform SEO activities on a regular basis. This applies to running paid ads as well. 

What’s more important is that the costs of traffic, clicks, impressions, and conversions associated with SEO strategies are zero, unlike paid search campaigns. 

Sure, hiring SEO professionals who would create and implement strategies will come with a cost, but you can also save up on that by hiring a digital marketing agency in NZ.

Paid campaigns such as influencer marketing or PPC last as long as the campaign is active. You will see results from paid campaigns only if you keep spending. So, if you have a tight marketing budget, you may need to reconsider.

An effective SEO campaign will keep the ball rolling without adding to the costs. Google’s constant updates to its algorithm make it challenging to maintain a strong SEO presence. Updates like featured Snippets, Google’s EEAT update and so on mandate all ecommerce websites to stay on top of their SEO game. 

Creating or optimizing organic traffic-driving processes is a continuous, cost-effective method that provides good results.

4. Improve Overall Marketing Efforts 

SEO supercharges your e-commerce store! Technical tweaks (speed, mobile) and captivating content (keywords, user focus) make the algorithms and your visitors happy.

Smartening the mobile experience, speeding up the page loading, and implementing security are considered ranking factors.

For content, factors like authenticity, meta contents, keywords in proper places, rich snippets, etc., demand marketing and content teams to research well to deliver relevant content for the users. All these factors ensure the customer and your brand experience positive results.

5. Get Long Lasting Effects

Unlike temporary boosts from paid ads, SEO cultivates organic traffic that grows over time. The higher your website ranks in search results, the more clicks you receive for free, eliminating ongoing CPC costs. 

In the case of paid campaigns, it won’t last long, and you will be rolled back to the previous position once you pull out the money.

Though SEO is an ongoing process, it isn’t like to set it and forget it. It would need continuous monitoring and improvements; the effort adds to your existing positions, unlike paid campaigns, where you need to start from zero every single time.

SEO also contributes to augmenting other marketing campaigns. When visitors come to your site through organic search but don’t convert right away, you have valuable data about their interests. 

Take Your Ecommerce SEO Up A Notch 

Ecommerce and SEO go hand in hand —  you’re building a strong foundation for your online store’s long-term success, attracting organic traffic and boosting sales without relying on temporary paid advertising solutions.

With SEO, you can retarget your already engaging audience across social media and other digital platforms. Not only will this improve your brand awareness but will also boost the likelihood of subsequent sales. 

Finally, SEO empowers you to reach potential consumers at the beginning of their purchase journey, influencing their decision-making and driving long-term growth for your e-commerce website.

Need help with your ecommerce SEO? Get SEO Services in New Zealand from a us. The Tech Tales is a trusted digital marketing agency and we’re experts in SEO — be it creating strategies, getting the brand message across or driving sales on your website. Claim your free ecommerce SEO consultation with us here.

FAQs

1. Is it possible to handle eCommerce SEO myself?

Absolutely! You can definitely tackle eCommerce SEO yourself. There are many resources available online and from SEO tools that can guide you through the process. However, it  does require ongoing research, effort, and staying up-to-date with search engine algorithm changes

2. How much does SEO matter for eCommerce businesses?

SEO is the one, non-negotiable factor in growth for any eCommerce businesses. It’s a key way to drive organic traffic to your store, which means more potential customers who are already searching for products like yours. The higher your ranking in search results, the more likely people are to find and visit your site.

3. Should I focus on on-page SEO or building backlinks for my eCommerce store?

Both on-page SEO and link building matter for eCommerce SEO, but they both have different functions. On-page SEO optimizes your website’s content and structure to be relevant to search queries. Link building increases your website’s authority and credibility by getting high-quality websites to link back to yours. Ideally, you’ll want to implement a strategy that incorporates both aspects.

4. Can SEO improve sales on my eCommerce website?

Yes, SEO can definitely increase conversions on your eCommerce website. By ranking higher for relevant keywords, you’re attracting visitors who are already interested in what you sell. When you combine SEO with a user-friendly website and strong product descriptions, you can convert more visitors into paying customers.

5. Is SEO a one-time thing for eCommerce?

Since search engine algorithms are constantly evolving, SEO is not a one-time job. It’s an ongoing process that requires consistent effort to maintain and improve your website’s ranking. You might want to stay updated on SEO best practices, creating fresh content, and monitoring your website’s performance.

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