How to Optimize Your Single Product Page for Best SEO Results
26th November 2020 / in E-commerce, General, Internet marketing, SEO, Web design / by Ruturaj Kohok
1. Focus on the basics of the product page SEO
Just like other pages on your eCommerce websites, a product page is also a regular page. The SEO methods that you follow for your content page are also applicable to your product pages. Let’s begin with the necessary optimization of your product page, and later, we will get into its depth.
- Use a functional and great title that is centred around the product name. Adding a manufacturer name always helps. If you are selling technical parts, you should include the SKU as some people might use particular keywords in their search.
- Write a descriptive and unique description of the product using long-tail keywords. The manufacturer ships the product with a standard description. Lots of websites that sell this product might use this description, and Google will flag it as duplicate contentand consider your website to be of low quality. Avoid using the same content that is manufacturer descriptions. Go for unique content that is not used by your competitors and other eCommerce websites.
- Create attractive and informative meta descriptions for your products. You would share all the necessary information about the product on the product pages such as terms of service, return policy, dimensions, and descriptions. Although this information is essential, you don’t want Google to take this unassociated text and use it in the meta description. Adding this is more important than the Meta descriptions for content pages. In the initial days, you can use a template, but we suggest that eventually create unique Meta descriptions for all product pages.
- Choose a good and easy to remember URL for all the product pages.
- Use high-quality, product-focusing, and well-optimised images with correct ALT text. In any case, in the main product image, add the product name as this will help your page show up in the visual search. You can also show videos; they are a close reference to the product’s look and feel. Many users prefer watching the product video when they start looking into the product.
- Use internal links that lead users to the key pages.
2. Include structured data for your products for rich results
Structured data is a code in a particular format. Search engines read it and utilise it to show search results in a specific and much richer way. It is an integral part of the SEO strategy that you need to implement for your product pages as well. The particular Product schema props up your search results, called rich results. With Review structured data, you can increase the reviews of your customers.
These methods help in getting more attention to your product page. It ups the chances of your target audience clicking on your link that is shown in the search results.
The major search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Yandex arrived at this markup. It helps them in finding product pages, product elements, and characteristics more smoothly. Hence, structured data is crucial for your product page SEO. The search engines have done this because it helps them index these pages in an ideal way and displays rich snippets to users.
The Product schema shares a lot of information about the product with the search engine, such as:
- Product description
- Brand
- Product name
- Dimensions
- Colours available
- Manufacturer
- SKU
The Offer schema shares data on price and availability, such as currency and stock. It can also involve priceValidUntil that tells search engines about the price offer that is applicable for a limited time only.
Schema.org offers many options, but the search engines support only a definite set of properties. You can check Google’s information on product page structured data to see what you should use in code and how it will benefit you.
When you add Schem.org data for product page SEO, Google can quickly identify your product pages. It also handles customers’ expectations. They can see the price and stock availability upfront and also the product rating. These critical factors will make them click on your link. This is the kind of user experience you should be aiming for. Read more about the rich schema in a detailed blog post here.
3. Add Reviews
Research shows that people rely on online reviews more than a marketer would imagine. 91 per cent of people go through online reviews regularly or occasionally. 84 per cent of people treat online reviews like personal recommendations. Based on Pew Research, 82% of check online customer ratings and reviews before an online purchase.
Some people do not trust online reviews. But, from all of these and more related numbers, we understand that reviews are an essential part of product pages. If you are a startup or a local company, online reviews will be quite crucial for you. There have to be both positive and negative reviews because it is impossible to have 100 per cent, positive customers. Also, reviews on both ends make you look real and trustworthy.
You should focus on getting your customers to write reviews that you can show on your product page. You can run a separate email campaign that encourages the customers to share their experience, or you can also offer an incentive for reviews along with product images.
If customers are leaving negative reviews, you should contact them, understand what went wrong, and offer them a solution. This might help them edit their negative review to a positive one. If other buyers can see this, it will work in your favour because they’ll know how you focus on customer satisfaction after the sale.
Make sure that you mark up your ratings and reviews with Rating and Review schema. This will enable search engines to find them and display rich results in the search results pages.
4. Make your product page fast
The loading speed of your product page is responsible for you making or losing money. Users do not want to and do not like to wait. Also, Google needs your page to be quicker.
You would invest a lot of effort and time in bringing your target audience to your product page, and if it doesn’t load quickly, then all of these efforts go in vain.
5. Test your product page
You should know where people are clicking on your page, where they are pausing, in short how they are interacting with your page. Analytical tools such as Google Analytics and Search Console will give you real insights that will help you understand users’ behaviour on your product pages. With these insights, you can see what is working out for you and where you can better your page’s performance.
The Baymard Institute has conducted detailed research for more than two years in testing Product Page UX. They have tested how users understand and interact with product pages, and what designs, content variants, product page layouts, and features have the best performance.
Their Product Page UX performance benchmark database shows that a median site consists of 24 structural UX issues on its product pages, and just 18 per cent of the 60 top-grossing US and European eCommerce websites have a “good” or “acceptable” product page UX performance.
When it comes to UX, there are many factors to pay attention to. They can include poor images, unclickable galleries, band management of out of stock items, and inaccurate or incomplete shipping information and return information. All these issues make it hard for buyers to trust your eCommerce website.
6. Make relationships and build trust
For a user to buy from your website will involve trust. People would want to know how you behave, and are you real before they consider spending money. That is why Google concentrates on trust; you can check their Search Quality Raters Guidelines for more information on this. It will assess trust and your expertise by checking your online reviews or the citations you receive, among other factors.
Your About Us, Contact, and FAQ pages must always be updated and informative. People will visit those pages to judge you, and form an opinion about your company. These pages should tell your story, have all of your contact information, and other vital details such as privacy, payment security, and returns and shipping, among others.
These steps are tried and tested. If you implement them correctly, you will definitely see an improvement in your sales. If you have more queries on this, feel free to ping us. We would love to guide you.