Anyone who’s tried their hand at dropshipping will know the disheartening feeling that comes with staring at your store’s analytics and seeing flatlined traffic.
It’s like no matter how great your store is, the search engine numbers just aren’t moving.
You’re not alone, though. I’ve been there, searching tirelessly for that secret SEO tip that converts your efforts into traffic. And traffic sales.
And guess what?
You might have the perfect products and website design, but if your store isn’t optimized for search engines, no one will ever see it.
This is why, for this article, I have tirelessly researched and gathered the most efficient SEO checklist essentials from the experts and from our experience helping e-commerce sellers with SEO.
Today, we’ll cover everything from keywords to site optimization that’ll guarantee a perfectly optimized store ready for boosted sales.
What is SEO in Dropshipping
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.
In dropshipping, SEO consists of many tactics concerned with optimizing your website so it ranks highly in the top search results.
For ecommerce sellers, this usually includes
- Creating top quality product and category descriptions
- Integrating target keywords across your website
- Producing optimized educational, entertainment or niche content
- And optimizing your website speed, interface, and user experience
All with the sole aim of increasing visibility and driving a higher conversion rate.
If you’re interested in more ways to gain customers and boost store revenue, you’ll be glad to discover our guide to growing your dropshipping business with inbound marketing.
Ecommerce SEO Checklist
1. How to Choose The Right Keywords for Your Dropshipping Store
Now that you know what SEO is, it’s time to understand keywords and choose the right ones for your dropshipping store.
Put simply, keywords are the group of words or phrases a customer will punch in a search engine when they’re looking for anything.
Keywords are very important in SEO because they are like addresses used to find your house(website). So, you must get them right.
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Finding Your Target Keywords
Wanna know a secret? 65% to 85% of Google’s search first page have titles with relevant keywords.
This goes to show that if you want a space in this goldspot, you must find the right keywords and put them in your article, especially in your title.
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Tools and Techniques
Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, and Ahrefs are a few keyword research tools you can use to analyze keywords.
And to get a detailed report on their search volume, complexity, cost-per-click, and other SEO optimization factors.
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Analyzing Competitors
Analyzing your competitors is a surefire way to getting ranked faster.
You get to see their best SEO keyword practices and can emulate their blueprint.
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Expanding Your Keyword List
Expanding your keyword list adds volume and depth to your web content.
This practice includes:
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Primary vs. Secondary Keyword
Primary keywords are the main target words in your content. So infuse these words richly in your title, metadata, and throughout your content.
Secondary keywords on the other hand are supplementary words that give support to the primary keywords. These keywords can be introduced in different H2s, H3s, and so forth
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Longtail and Short Tail Keywords
Short tail keywords are broad, generic, and have a high search volume.
They are strategic words used to increase your site’s awareness and generate more traffic.
However, they are very competitive, more expensive, and less likely to convert sales.
Long tail keywords, on the other hand, are more specific variations of broad keywords that target a more specific audience and generate more conversions.
2. Enhancing User Experience for Better SEO
Your site’s interface must meet the standard SEO practices to enhance a smoother user experience.
Here is a checklist to follow for better user-focused SEO
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Navigational Ease and Design
A rule of thumb is to create a simple and easy-to-navigate design layout on your website.
This eases user experience because customers are quick to dump any complex website.
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Site Speed Optimization
Did you know Google processes over 40,000 queries per second?
This translates to over 3.5 billion searches per day and 1.2 trillion per year! No wonder it is the most-preferred search engine.
Now, what point am I trying to spread these figures? Well…speed.
If you want your dropshipping store to be the most preferred by customers then you need to up your site’s speed game. There’s no two ways about it.
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Video and Image Optimization
Insert high-ranking target keywords into your image and video files when naming them.
Doing this will maximize the performance and ranking of your website.
When capturing the best possible images, look no further than Globallyfulfill. Our photographers with decades of experience will assist you customizing high quality images and videos that compel buyers and result in conversions.
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Mobile-First Indexing and Responsive Design
In the Q1 of 2023, mobile phones generated an average of 58.33% of global web traffic.
This shows the importance of having a mobile-friendly and highly-responsive website to cater for your visitors needs.
Failure to do this will get your website penalized and kicked right out of the ranking pages.
On-Page SEO Elements Specific to Dropshipping
All your site’s on-page elements must be fully optimized for SEO.
Why? Because the overall performance of your website depends on the contributions of these subunit pages.
Given below are techniques to supercharge your on-page web performance.
Home Page Optimization Techniques
The idea is to make your homepage welcoming.
So you have to keep it simple but fully functional.
Techniques to use here include inserting quality keywords in your meta tags, titles, and description headers. Also, cut out filler words and opt for a simple web design.
Category Page SEO Strategies
SEO strategies for optimizing your category pages include but are not limited to;
- Create your category titles and tags with ranking keywords and use user-focused language on this page.
- Sprinkle a well-structured linking pattern into the page that will direct customers to related subcategories and other pages.
- Add some recommended products, popular product listings, and tools that will aid customer’s navigation.
- Last but not least, include search filters, reviews, and ratings to boost your authenticity.
Product Page Optimization
You need to take these two steps to optimize your product page.
High-Quality Product Descriptions
Use original, high-quality descriptions with targeted keywords to optimize your product pages.
Also include information like the product price, product availability, reviews, and ratings to establish your brand as a trustworthy site.
Using High-Quality Imagery
The rule of thumb is to always use high-quality images on your website.
This is because it has a significant impact on potential customer’s first impression of your products. As well as your site’s loading speed and performance.
Dealing with 404 Errors
Error 404 is a status code that says the page you’re looking for can’t be found. This error, caused by moved or missing pages, can leave a negative impression on visitors to your site.
However, you can solve it by checking all external links on your website and ensuring that none is broken. Or by using a 404 error audit software to scan and delete any dead-end pages on your site.
Technical SEO for Ecommerce
Here are some must-do technical SEO practices for ecommerce retailers.
Creating and Using a Robots.txt File
The robots.txt file is used by search engine crawlers to navigate your website.
This file is very useful because it gives you control over your website and allows you to put restrictions on pages you don’t want customers’ access to.
Additionally, the robots.txt file will give search engines efficient tips on how they can better crawl your website’s URL.
Sitemap Submission and its Importance
An crucial technical SEO aspect to optimize, sitemaps are files that contain all the URLs belonging to your website.
It is important that you submit yours to the directory. Doing this will give you high-quality backlinks that will boost your website’s visibility.
SSL Certificates and HTTPS
Getting an SSL certificate for your website is crucial for the security of your site’s data.
Without it, your URL will not be given the HTTPS title and flagged as unsafe by Google.
This certificate is a must-have for dropshippers because not only will it secure your website from external malicious hackers but it also serves as a strong ranking signal on Google, and a guarantee to potential customers that it’s safe to shop with you.
Canonical Tags and Managing Duplicate Content
Duplicate content can reduce credibility and cause problems on your website.
Hence, it must be properly managed. The best approach is using essential tools like canonical tags that will redirect every on-site duplicated URL to the original single URL.
Schema Markup Implementation
Schema markup fosters effective communication between your webpage content and search engines.
With it, search engines are better able to understand your content, appropriately categorize it, and thereafter provide visitors richer search results upon request. Learn how to implement Schema here.
Content Marketing and SEO for Dropshipping
Integrating quality SEO practices in your content marketing is crucial in dropshipping.
Here are actionable steps to follow:
Crafting Supporting Content
The first thing to do is create high-quality content that resonates with your customer’s interests.
This content, which can be written, audio, visual, or mixed, must be fully optimized and they should contain the target keywords for a higher conversion.
Blogging for Backlinks
Backlinking your articles to reputable websites not only establishes you as a trustworthy site. But it also boosts your SEO efforts and leads to improved search rankings.
FAQs to Target Long tail Queries
There is an endless list of FAQs that need answers.
What you need to do is take advantage of this segment, draft your longtail keyword queries and then distribute these keywords throughout your content.
Research shows these FAQ’s can skyrocket your conversion rate as much as five times.
Social Media Integration
Facebook alone has over 3 billion users.
This outstanding figure shows the importance of social media in today’s world.
Now imagine that your dropshipping website is accessible to these billions of people.
What’s more, imagine if you optimized your presence across other equally relevant social networks like Instagram, YouTube, Reddit and more.
Sounds crazy right? That is why you must integrate your online store into various social media accounts so that more eyes can reach your products.
If you’re lost for ideas for your social media campaigns, check out Globallyfulfill’s 9 winning social media marketing techniques. You’ll be glad you did.
Monitoring and Managing SEO Performance
After implementing the right SEO tactics, the next line of action is to monitor their performance.
Tracking with Google Analytics
Google Analytics helps you track the progress and performance of your website.
This software takes data from your website, accesses it, and creates detailed reports that provide key metrics of your dropshipping business.
Luckily, Globallyfulfill has an inbuilt 100% free ERP software that can track and analyze your product performance upon request. And it’s 100% free!
Using Webmaster Tools
Webmaster tools like Google Search Console are built to monitor your website.
These tools give you accurate and real-time data on the number of impressions and clicks your website gets. In addition, it shows your site’s average position in the ranking order.
Regular SEO Audits
SEOptimizer is a valuable SEO audit tool used to evaluate how well optimized your pages are.
This software will highlight brand-damaging errors that can hinder your ranking and give valuable SEO tips that can help improve your web visibility.
A/B Testing for Conversion Optimization
A/B testing is one of the best tactics for optimizing your conversion rate and generating massive revenue.
And the process is straightforward. All you need to do is to test two variants of your content— A and B—and see which one better appeals to consumers.
Conclusion
SEO best practices are ever-evolving with search engine updates.
That is why, to stay ahead of the curve, you must continuously learn the latest practices. And embrace and adapt them to your dropshipping business.
However, you can hardly do this alone.
Every ecommerce seller knows the journey becomes simpler and less hectic with the support professional dropshipping agent.
Besides order fulfillment, we are specialists in product marketing, meaning we can help you integrate the best SEO strategies into your website. All so you can boost your store visibility, generate more web traffic, and skyrocket sales. Get in touch with us today!
