How to do Technical SEO for Ecommerce Website?

To set up your online store for success, it’s important to make sure search engines can find and understand your website. Here’s how to start optimizing your ecommerce site.

1. Dynamic XML Sitemaps

A dynamic XML sitemap is a map of your online store that helps search engines find and list all your pages. This is really important for stores that often add new products or remove old ones.

For instance, when you add new product categories or seasonal items, your sitemap updates automatically. This lets search engines quickly find and show these new products to people searching online.

Here’s how to set up a dynamic XML sitemap easily:

1. Use a tool that automatically updates your sitemap as your website changes.
2. Submit your sitemap to places like Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
3. Check regularly to make sure your sitemap is correct and includes all new products or pages.

This keeps your website easy for search engines to read and can help more people find your store. You usually do this through your website’s settings or on the platform where you built your store.

2. Optimize Robots.txt for Crawling Efficiency

The robots.txt file is like a list you make for search engines, telling them where they can go on your website and where they can’t. This helps the search engines quickly find the important parts of your store, like your product pages, and skip over the parts that don’t need to be seen, like certain admin pages.

For an ecommerce site, you want to make sure this list is set up right so search engines spend their time wisely, focusing on the pages that help shoppers the most. This makes your site show up better and faster in search results.

To set up your robots.txt file properly, follow these steps:

1. Decide which pages are important for search engines to see and which are not.
2. Write these rules in the robots.txt file to guide the search engines.
3. Check regularly to update these rules as you add or change pages.

You can usually do this through your website’s admin panel or by editing the file directly if you’re comfortable with basic website management.

3. Implement Advanced Structured Data

Structured data helps search engines understand what’s on your website, like what you’re selling and for how much. It labels your products so search engines can easily show details like price and availability directly in featured snippets.

For your online store, using structured data can make your products more visible and attractive to shoppers. This might even get your products featured in special search areas like shopping tabs.

Here’s how to do it simply:

1. Pick the right labels for your products and their prices.
2. Add these labels into your product page’s code.
3. Keep these labels updated, especially when you add new products or change prices.

Most ecommerce platforms have tools to help you add these labels, or you can work with a web developer for a more customized setup.

4. Canonicalization of Product Variants

When you sell products like T-shirts in different colors, each color might have its own page on your website:

• www.yourstore.com/product/t-shirt-red
• www.yourstore.com/product/t-shirt-blue
• www.yourstore.com/product/t-shirt-green

If the red T-shirt page is the main one, you can tell search engines to focus on it by using a canonical tag on the blue and green pages. Here’s what you add to those pages:

<link rel=”canonical” href=”http://www.yourstore.com/product/t-shirt-red” />

This tag helps avoid confusion by pointing search engines to the red page as the main one. To keep things running smoothly, make sure to:

1. Choose the main product page.
2. Add the canonical tag to similar pages.
3. Update these tags if you add new colors or make changes.

This way, search engines won’t be confused by multiple similar pages and will show your main page in search results. You can set this up through your ecommerce platform or get help from a web developer.

5. Pagination and Crawl Management

Pagination helps your online store show products across several pages when you have too many to fit on one page. For example, if you’re selling 100 T-shirts, you might spread them across 10 pages with 10 shirts on each.

You can help search engines understand how these pages connect by using special links:

• First page: www.yourstore.com/t-shirts?page=1
• Next page: www.yourstore.com/t-shirts?page=2
• Last page: www.yourstore.com/t-shirts?page=10

Use “prev” and “next” tags on each page to show the order of the pages. This guides search engines from one page to the next, making sure they see all your products.

It’s important to keep these links up to date, especially if you add or remove products. This way, even items on the last page get noticed by people who might want to buy them. You can update these settings on your own using HTML or through your ecommerce platform’s tools.

6. Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)

Accelerated Mobile Pages, or AMP, is a way to make your website load really fast on phones. It strips down your website to just the basics, which helps pages load quicker than usual. This is great for mobile users who want quick access without waiting.

For an ecommerce site, using AMP can make shopping faster and smoother for people on their phones. This can help keep visitors on your site longer and might even boost your sales because they can shop more easily.

Here’s how to get started with AMP:

1. Choose the key pages you want to make fast, like your main product pages.
2. Use AMP tools or plugins available for your website platform to create these fast-loading versions.
3. Test these pages to make sure they work well and load quickly.

By setting up AMP, your mobile visitors get a better and faster experience, which can help your store look good in Google’s eyes and possibly rank higher in search results.

7. Optimize Load Times and Page Speed

Making your website load quickly is very important because it helps visitors get to your products faster and makes them happier. A fast website also ranks better on search engines.

To speed up your site, you can:

1. Compress Images – Make your pictures smaller so they load faster.
2. Use Fewer Plugins – Too many add-ons can slow down your website.
3. Enable Browser Caching – This lets visitors’ browsers save parts of your site so it loads faster the next time they visit.
4. Minimize Code – Clean up extra spaces and lines in your website’s code to make it leaner and quicker to load.

These steps can help your online store run faster (boosting the page speed), providing a better shopping experience for your customers and helping you rank better in search results.

8. Secure the Website with HTTPS

Securing your website with HTTPS is like putting a strong lock on the front door of your online store. It keeps your customer’s information safe from hackers, especially when they’re buying something. This not only protects them but also makes them trust your store more.

To switch your website to HTTPS, you typically:

1. Buy a security certificate, often called an SSL certificate.
2. Install it on your website through your hosting company’s control panel.
3. Make sure every page of your site uses HTTPS instead of the old HTTP.

This makes your website more secure and can even help your store show up higher in search results because search engines prefer secure sites.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

When setting up your online store, a few technical missteps can really slow you down. Here’s what to steer clear of:

• Ignoring Mobile Optimization: If your website doesn’t work well on mobile devices, it can hurt your rankings. Search engines prioritize mobile-friendly sites because so many people use phones to browse and shop.
• Slow Page Load Times: Websites that load slowly are often penalized by search engines. This is especially critical for ecommerce, where quick access to product pages is crucial for a good customer experience.
• Improper Use of Robots.txt: Misusing the robots.txt file can prevent search engines from indexing important pages. It’s essential to configure this file correctly so search engines can access your product pages and other significant content.
• Not Using HTTPS: Secure sites are ranked higher by search engines. HTTPS encrypts the data exchanged on your site, making it safe for transactions. Not using HTTPS can make your site seem less trustworthy and secure.
• Failing to Update Sitemaps: For ecommerce sites, where products are constantly being added or removed, keeping sitemaps updated is crucial. If search engines don’t know about new pages or continue to find links to old pages that no longer exist, it can hurt your SEO efforts.

Focusing on these areas can really help improve your website’s performance in search results and ease of use for customers.

Conclusion

Nailing a technical SEO ecommerce site means making sure everything under the hood works just right. 

It’s not just about looking good on the surface; it’s about making sure search engines can easily find, understand, and recommend your store to others. Think of it as setting up a well-oiled machine where every part does its job perfectly.

Keep your site speedy, easy to navigate, and secure. Regularly check that everything is up-to-date and running smoothly. 

Frequently Asked Questions