Brands spend time and money creating a user-friendly, visually appealing eCommerce website or online store. But what’s the point if people can’t find it?

Looking for ways to get your website out there?

Search engine optimization (SEO) quite simply involves receiving traffic from free editorial, or natural search results in search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing. The aim of SEO is to increase website positioning in search results pages, helping increase the number of visitors to your website and ensuring your website ranks on top of the list on Google. Remember, the higher the website position, the more people will see it.

By optimising your website and online store you will rank higher in SERP (Search Engine Results Pages) which will in turn increase traffic to your website and drive sales.

Find more ways to boost your SEO ranking here:

We have put together some tips to help you boost your ranking and increase traffic to your website:

1. Select the best keywords

Use online tools to choose keywords that best represent your brand and products. Put on your ‘customer hat’ and think of words your customers would use when searching for your company or products and services online.

Start by creating a list of 25 – 50 keywords. Once this is done, create a Google AdWords account if you do not have one and use the Keyword Planner to check if the keywords you selected are regularly used when people search online.

You can also use free tools like Google Trends to compare your search terms and find out what customers are searching for.

For an online shop selling shoes, use words such as ‘buy shoes online’, ‘shoes for sale’ and ‘buy shoes online south Africa’ to make sure you are using the keywords most searched on Google.

You want to include your keywords on all pages on your website, use them in URLs, titles, and metadata descriptions.  This will assist in boosting your online ranking.

2. Don’t overuse keywords on your site

While including keywords on your website is important, it is also important not to overuse your keywords. You still want your content easy to read and easy to understand. At the end of the day, it needs to still make sense. Don’t just put these words in your content for the sake of it. The most important thing is that you are clear in what you are communicating, and your content is easy to read.

3. Backlinks

Ask partners and customers to add a backlink to your website. The more websites have links to your site, the higher your ranking on searches will be. When including a backlink on other websites, ensure the websites carrying your link is legit and professional.

4. Upload high-quality content

Publish high-quality images on your website, but make sure you compress the image files without compromising the image quality. Large content files will negatively impact your page loading speed and your search engine ranking.

You want to ensure you are posting informative articles and providing your customers with quality information. Be sure to stay up to date with constant trends and news and update your content regularly.

5. Social media

Stay active on social media. Most people use social media as search engines. When logged into Facebook, many customers use the search function to research brands or services.  Your social media platforms will be included in the search results when people search for your company.

6. User-friendly website

• Ensure your website is not complicated, is easy to navigate and is fast. You need to make sure that you get straight to the point in terms of your service offerings, what it is you do and ensure your site is not slow.
• Use headings and include keywords to make it easy to read. Search engines like headings, these will help you increase your ranking.
• Finally, ensure your website and online store is mobile-friendly. You could be penalised if your website is not easily readable and displayed on a smartphone.

7. Track results

Keep track of your results. This will show you what does and does not work.

Google Analytics allows you to measure your advertising return on investment (ROI) and provides you with more information on your website’s SEO performance.

8. Be patient

It can take a few months before you start noticing significant changes in search engine rankings, so don’t expect results immediately.

Remember that SEO is always changing, so ensure you stay up to date with the latest trends and changes that may affect search engine rankings.

9. Focus on your unique offerings

To stand out from the crowd remember to search for words that relate to your industry such as specific unique offerings or geographic location.

There is also a lot of competition for keywords you buy as part of a pay-per-click campaign, your company ad appears above or beside the free search results. You then pay the search engine company every time someone clicks on your link. Again, you will have to focus on niche keywords if you are working with a lower budget.