SEO is one of the most important factors when it comes to online marketing. Without great SEO, you won’t be able to increase the visibility of your business, and your custom will suffer as a result. Fashion ecommerce is, in many ways, identical to other ecommerce ventures, but there are some specific tips to keep in mind as well when it comes to optimising your business for SEO. Here are 12 methods you can use to boost SEO for your fashion ecommerce venture!
1. It’s all about the CTAs
CTAs, or “calls to action”, are one of the most critical factors in optimising your fashion ecommerce site for SEO. By implementing clear, obvious calls to action, you can significantly improve the user experience and drive up repeat custom, which will, in turn, improve your SEO with sites like Google. Make sure that every product page you have displays a clear CTA that shows users exactly what to do and where to go.
2. Choose keywords carefully
You’ve probably heard about SEO keywords if you’ve engaged with any kind of online marketing tutorial, and there’s a good reason for that. SEO keywords show Google that your site should be displayed when customers search for certain terms. Make sure to populate pages with SEO keywords that are relevant to your business. Just don’t overstuff pages with keywords, or you could be penalised!
3. Images, images, images
All websites should prioritise images when it comes to SEO, but nowhere is that more true than in the world of fashion ecommerce. Displaying images prominently on each and every page will increase your search engine visibility, and it will also have the added effect of showing customers the pieces you want to display. You also need to make sure your images’ metadata and alt text are filled out.
Good navigation doesn’t just help users find their way around your website; it’s also a good way to improve Google’s indexing process, which will stand you in good stead when it comes to SEO as well. Navigation helps users to find the content they want on your website, so make sure that your navigation headers are clear, easy to find, and well-organised based on category.
5. Write strong copy
It used to be the case that writing specifically for SEO was the best way to get websites noticed by Google. Now, however, a series of updates have been implemented that point more towards readability and “helpfulness”. Essentially, you should make sure that your copy is geared towards helping people before SEO, so while SEO is still important, the quality of your copy is more critical than ever.
6. Use responsive design
Most of the customers for your fashion ecommerce website will probably be accessing your page via mobile, if general user demographics are anything to go by. With that in mind, the importance of optimising your site for mobile platforms should be obvious. Responsive design means your page looks different depending on which platform is being used to access it.
7. Emphasise user experience
When a user lands on a page for a piece of clothing, they want to easily choose the size and pattern of that clothing, as well as potentially browse for any similar pieces they might want. That’s all part of the user experience, and as a fashion ecommerce platform, you need to emphasise that experience strongly. The harder it is for customers to browse your site, the less likely they’ll be to buy from you.
8. Keep page load times zippy
Page speed is a crucial factor in terms of your site’s SEO. As you might have figured out, page speed refers to the time it takes for a page to load on a user’s computer. Naturally, you can’t control this completely; their internet connection will play a big part in the equation. However, you can optimise the page so that it loads as quickly as possible for everyone, and this will help enormously when it comes to SEO.
9. Create blog content
Remember when we said your copy should be strong? That doesn’t just go for product descriptions or brand outlines. You should also start a blog that gives users helpful fashion tips or tells them about new lines they might be interested in. The more useful your site is for users, the better it’ll be for SEO; people won’t just find your content through product searches, but also by searching for common fashion questions.
The social media landscape may be shifting, but you should still make sure that you’re building a robust, solid social media presence. Sign up to all the usual suspects – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram – and make sure you’ve got a TikTok account as well. TikTok is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms out there, so you don’t want to miss out on the potential audience benefits of signing up for it.
11. Build an internal link network
Backlinks are all well and good – and they are, appropriately enough, the backbone of any good SEO strategy – but you should also make sure you’re internally linking to various pages on your site. This will help Google to index your content; it’ll use the internal links to get to pages, thus increasing the speed with which it can access those pages.
12. Maintain your site regularly
One of the most important elements of creating a fashion ecommerce site is to regularly prune your website for dead pages, out-of-stock products, or other pages that you don’t necessarily want Google to see. This will mean that customers will never land on pages they shouldn’t be accessing, keeping every single page on your site relevant to your customers’ needs and interests.
