Digital Growth 08 Jun , 2022 SEO optimization – what to look out for! Valdis Strautiņš SEO optimization is a task that every owner of an online store should take seriously. It is very important that your online store is easily found in search engines, so that people can visit and buy it directly from you! Even if your content and merchandise are great and unique, people won’t see it unless they know about it! What is SEO? SEO is search engine optimization. It’s using different methods and techniques to help search engines like Google understand what your online store is about. What niche are you running in. The simplest example that comes to mind is that, say, you have an online store that sells animal food. You write a blog article in your online store called “The 5 Best Dog Foods.” In this article you have included useful information and a picture of what feeds are healthy for dogs. Since you’ve only used keywords related to “dog food” in this blog article, search engines will be able to tell potential visitors that the content they’ll find in this online store is likely to match their search query. This will help you take a higher place in Google search results! But what else can we do to make the online store take a higher place so that it is quickly found in users? Content is key to Content plays a very important role when it comes to SEO. Content is the most important part of SEO optimization, and it’s also what users and search tools want. When creating content for your online store or blog article, it should be relevant to the theme of your industry/product/service. Google Algorithm Components When you start exploring how to perform SEO optimization work, it’s likely to be hard to figure out where to start at first. The best way to solve this is to break down the components of google’s algorithm, which are: – Keyword research – Content (its structure and structure) – Use of keywords (including meta titles and descriptions) – Url structure(s) of the page concerned – Internal links (links in your online store) and external links (links from other sites). Meta title and description The meta title and description of the page is another very important factor when it comes to SEO optomization. These two elements, along with the rest of the content, will help your online store rank higher in Google search results. The meta title must be unique, relevant, and between 50 and 60 characters long (including spaces). When a user googles, for example, the “shoe store” meta headline is displayed as a headline on Google, so it has to stand out from others. Also, the meta description must be unique – it should not exceed 160 characters (including spaces). It gives users more information about what they’re clicking on, so make sure it’s appealing enough! URL Structure When starting SEO optimization, you need to take into account a lot of nuances, however, before everything else you have to have a stable url address structure of the website. The URL structure tells Google what your online store pages are about and how they are linked. What is a URL? A URL, or unified resource locator, is a web address used to access web resources in a browser (such as https://www.google.com). It consists of several parts: a protocol scheme, such as http:// or https://, followed by a domain name, such as google.com If you also try to include relevant information about what’s on each page, for example, if the product page is about one particular pair of shoes, don’t just call it a “product” or a “store” (www.internetaveikals.lv/veikals) , but instead, for example, ‘Nike shoes’ or ‘Adidda shoes’ (www.internetaveikals.lv/veikals/nike-apavi). Internal and external links Internal links are links from one page to another page in the same online store, while external links are links from one site to another. Internal links give an idea to search engines, about the structure of your online store. By creating the correct internal link strategy, seo positions can be increased! Backlinks or backlinks Backlinks or backlinks indicate the value of the content of your online store. Backlinks are an important part of SEO optimization because they show search engines that other sites consider your content to be reliable and valuable. As a result, Google can conclude that your content is valuable enough to display it above the SERP. Image optimization In simple terms, image optimization is a process that ensures that images of your online store are understandable and easy to find on Google. The most important thing to remember is that the images should be relevant. If they don’t match the content of your online store, it won’t help you take a better position in search engines. The purpose of the image is to complement what you have written about in the form of text. Another important factor is size – images must be of the right size, given the type of device they are viewed, whether it is a mobile phone or a computer. You should also compare the size of the files so that it does not take too long to load them. Image alt text is also used. Search engines use “alt text” to read and understand what the image is about. Also, if for some reason the image does not load, then alt text is displayed instead of the image. The use of keywords in “alt text” also provides better visibility in search engine results. UX/UI (User Experience and User Interface) User experience and user interface are important factors for SEO optimization. The user experience is how the user feels in the online store, while the user interface is the appearance of an online store. A good user experience has a number of advantages, such as: – Improved conversion rate – Higher customer loyalty – Higher ROI/ROAS A good design of the online store should be easy to review, easy to use and be able to simply move from one section to another. The design directly affects seo results. With a good user experience, the ranking of the online store in the search results is also improved. Make sure of the speed and friendliness of the online store on mobile devices The speed of the online store is important for Google because it improves the user experience. If your online store loads quickly, visitors won’t leave it. More and more people are using Google’s mobile search engine, so it’s very important for Google to offer a mobile-friendly online store. If your online store isn’t optimized for mobile devices, Google won’t charge it higher in search results. As a result, you will lose to your competitors who have done optimization to make sure that their online store works well on all devices. Update your online store content, the more often, the better Another way to improve the position of your online store is to update the content frequently. The more often you update the content of your online store, the better. Google loves active websites. One of the best ways to do this is through blog articles or videos. By regularly posting and updating this type of content, you show Google that your online store is active and provides new content. Find out what to optimize If you’ve read all of the above, now you know what to look out for for SEO optimization work. Here is a brief summary of the main points: – Optimizes the content for the selected keywords. If people can’t find your online store through Google, for example, they won’t visit it! To be noticed by Google, you need to understand what people are looking for (keywords) and make sure that they are included in your online store. – Make sure your online store is easy to understand. It should be as easy to review as possible so that people can access all the information they need without much difficulty or immediate departure, because their experience has not been good enough. – Creates an SEO-friendly URL structure – this includes using appropriate words at URL addresses. This is only a small insight into the diversity of SEO optimization methods needed to succeed in today’s competitive digital market. Remember! SEO optimization does not bring immediate results. It’s impossible to determine the time period you’ll get to higher positions, as it’s determined by a number of factors: Google’s new algorithms, which are improved every month, the performances of competitors’ SEO specialists, and the authority of your website in the eyes of Googles.