Ecommerce SEO: 6 Proven Strategies to Rank Higher

For any online store, ecommerce SEO isn’t just important—it’s essential.

I’ve seen this firsthand, growing multiple stores as both owner and consultant.

Organic traffic can be the key to sustainable, long-term growth, bringing in a steady stream of visitors without the costs of paid ads.

Take Ruggable, for example.

Their SEO efforts have driven over a million monthly visitors, outperforming paid traffic by a ratio of 10:1.

It’s proof that while SEO takes time to build, the results are well worth the wait—and can ultimately outshine paid campaigns.

In this article, we’ll explore proven ecommerce SEO strategies.

From keyword optimization to site architecture, you’ll learn how to drive more organic traffic and boost sales.

Let’s dive right in.

(And if you get stuck along the way, I’m here to help.)

Perform Keyword Research

Every ecommerce SEO campaign should start with keyword research.

Why?

Because keyword research is the basis for every other SEO-related task you do on your website.

For example: Without keywords, you can’t optimize your product and category pages.

Your list of keywords should even influence your technical SEO. That’s because search algorithms look at the keywords in your site architecture and URLs, too.

In short:

Keyword research is a VERY big deal for your ecommerce site.

Let’s review exactly how to find untapped terms that your customers search for. And how to choose the best keywords for your site.

How to Find Keywords for Ecommerce Product and Category Pages

Most keyword research tutorials focus on “informational keywords.”

These are keywords that people type into search engines to discover helpful “how-to” content.

(Like “How to make pour-over coffee.”)

Informational keywords have their place in ecommerce. But the majority of your site’s keywords will focus on product searches.

(Like “Chemex coffee filters”.)

Why does this matter?

Your goal is to find the best keywords to attract visitors to your site.

So, when you’re doing keyword research, you’ll want to keep product-focused keywords in mind.

Here’s how.

Look at Amazon Suggest

Yes, Amazon is likely your competitor. But it’s also the biggest ecommerce site online. When it comes to researching product keywords, that makes Amazon a goldmine.

Here’s how to do keyword research on Amazon:

First, head over to Amazon.com.

Enter a keyword that describes one of your products. But don’t start the search quite yet.

While your keyword is in the search bar, Amazon will suggest others like it.

The keywords Amazon suggests tend to be very targeted (also known as long-tail keywords).

These are especially helpful for your research. That’s because long tail keywords tend to convert better than shorter terms. And they’re usually less competitive too.

Rinse and repeat for the most important products on your site.

Use Keyword Tool Dominator

Keyword Tool Dominator is a free and handy keyword tool that scrapes Amazon’s search suggestions.

To use it, just enter a seed keyword into the tool:

The tool will spit out dozens of keyword suggestions.

Yup, this tool makes finding long tail keywords from Amazon Suggest way faster. It should give you more keyword ideas too.

For example:

When typing the keyword “organic dog food,” into Amazon Suggest returned 10 keyword ideas. This tool spat out 95.

Before we leave Amazon, it’s time to use one more feature on the site that’s a goldmine for category page keywords.

Check Amazon (and Competitor) Categories

A lot of ecommerce sites get optimized around random keywords.

This is a HUGE mistake. While category pages may not convert as well as product pages, they still generate sales. So it makes sense to spend time finding keywords for your category pages.

And the best way to do that?

Look at the categories your competitors already use.

If you’re competing against Amazon, click on the “All” button at the top of the homepage. This will list Amazon’s main categories.

These are probably too broad for your site.

So, click on any category that makes sense and look at that department’s subcategories.

Take “Fitness” for example. When you expand it, it breaks down to “Exercise & Fitness,” “Yoga,” “Sports Medicine,” and “Accessories.”

Now we’re talking.

Now dig through the list to find category-focused keywords that match your site’s offerings.

Let’s say your site sells healthy dog food.

You’d go to the “Pet Supplies” category:

Then, click on “Dog Food” from the list.

Amazon will show you keywords they use to describe their dog food-related products in the sidebar filters:

These are all valuable keywords to consider using for your dog food ecommerce category pages.

Amazon is a great resource for finding category page keywords. But it’s far from the only place.

Take a look at niche, industry-specific competiors too.

For example: If your ecommerce site sells high-end headphones, you’d want to head to Headphones.com.

Just like you did with Amazon, look at the terms they optimize their category pages around.

Add those keywords to your list.

By now, you should have a solid list of:

• Product-focused keywords gathered from Amazon’s suggestions and competitor research
• Category-based keywords pulled from Amazon’s categories and your competitors’ top-performing pages
• Long-tail keywords that target specific, less competitive terms your customers search for

These keywords provide a strong foundation for optimizing your ecommerce pages.

But.

We can dive even deeper.

Once you’ve exhausted these keyword suggestions, it’s time to move onto one of my favorite keyword research tools: Semrush.

Try Semrush

The strategies I outlined so far should have helped you get a hefty list of keyword ideas.

But Semrush is a little bit different when it comes to ecommerce SEO keyword research.

Instead of focusing solely on generating new ideas, the platform also allows you to discover the exact keywords your competitors are already ranking for.

Let’s take a look at how you can use this tool to find keywords for your ecommerce site.

First, sign up for a free 14-day trial (no credit card needed).

Then, navigate to the “Organic Research” tool and enter a competitor into Semrush’s search field:

Under “Positions,” you can see all of the keywords that your competitor ranks for:

Nice!

If you want to squeeze every keyword out of Semrush, check out the “Competitors” report:

Semrush will show you sites similar to the one you’re looking at.

Repeat this process with the competitors you just found.

This should give you enough keywords to last you until 2037.

Use Google Keyword Planner

Last but not least we have the good ol’ Google Keyword Planner (GKP).

GKP can be a very helpful keyword tool, but generating unique keyword ideas can be difficult.

For example, if you enter a category page keyword like “organic dog food” into the GKP, it spits out super-close variations of that term:

That said, if you do some digging, you can find some gems that aren’t straight-up variations of the keyword you just typed in.

Because the Google Keyword Planner doesn’t generate a lot of unique keywords, I recommend using it to check search volume and commercial intent.

How to Choose Keywords for Ecommerce Product and Category Pages

Now that you have a list of potential keywords in-hand, you’re probably wondering:

Which keywords should I choose?

The answer? Use this four-step checklist to identify the best keywords for your ecommerce site.

#1 Search Volume

This is (by far) the most important metric when evaluating a search term.

After all:

If no one searches for that keyword, it doesn’t really matter how well it converts or how easy it is to rank on Google’s first page.

That said, there’s no way for me to give you specific search volume recommendations. In some industries, 100 searches per month is A LOT. In others, 10k monthly searches are nothing.

Over time, you’ll get an idea of what a “high volume” and “low volume” keyword is for your industry.

To find the search volume for a given keyword, just pop it into the GKP. You’ll find the number of searches in the “Avg. monthly searches” column.

Some keywords have HUGE seasonal variations.

You’re obviously going to get more searches for “ugly Christmas sweaters” in December than in June.

But there are lots of non-seasonal keywords that have peaks and valleys throughout the year. For example, “organic dog food brands” gets 4x more searches in April than December.

Why?

Who knows.

But it’s an important thing to note as these fluctuations can directly impact your bottom line.

#2 Determine Keyword-Product Fit

This is a big one.

Let’s say you find a keyword that gets tons of searches. It must be a winner right?

Well… not neccessarily.

The keyword may not be a perfect fit with what your site sells.

If the keyword you pick is even a little bit of a stretch compared to what you have for sale on your ecommerce site, people that search for that term aren’t going to convert.

So before you move onto the next two stages in this process, double-check that the keyword you’re considering fits your site like a glove.

For example, let’s say your site sells Japanese green tea bags. And you come across a high-volume keyword like “matcha green tea powder.”

Even though you don’t sell green tea powder (only tea bags), you might be able to create a category page around this term…and convert those searchers to what your site actually sells.

But it’s tricky to pull off.

Generally, conversions for imperfect-fit keywords are low.

That’s why I recommend stretching into other product categories AFTER you exhaust keywords that your target customers search for.

Even though the keyword may get fewer searches, I recommend choosing a keyword that’s much more targeted to your business, like “green tea online”.

It has lower volume, but conversion is likely to be higher due to better product fit.

Now that you’ve got a list of keywords that people search for (and fit well with your site’s products) it’s time to see if these searchers are ready to whip out their credit card and make a purchase.

#3: Validate There’s Commercial Intent

Ranking #1 for a high-volume keyword? Awesome.

Ranking #1 for a high-volume keyword that tire-kickers search for? Less awesome.

Before selecting a keyword, evaluate whether it’s being used by high-spending customers or by those just browsing.

Fortunately, this is super easy to do using Semrush.

Just enter the keyword into the text field and click “Search.”

Look at the “Intent” box.

Our example keyword, “healthy green tea,” is mostly used by people looking for information.

But “matcha green tea” has a commercial intent. These searchers want to buy.

Super helpful to know!

This is a great way to build a list full of keywords that will attract searchers to your ecommerce site who are ready to buy.

#4 Size Up the Competition

Finally, it’s time to see how hard it’ll be to crack Google’s first page.

Here’s how:

Semrush’s “Keyword Difficulty”

This metric gives you an idea of how competitive a given keyword is to rank for.

It measures how competitive it is to rank for a keyword across the industry. It considers the authority of domains already ranking for that keyword.

Its Personal Keyword Difficulty (PKD%) goes a step further by evaluating the difficulty specifically for your domain using Semrush’s AI.

It assesses how relevant your site is to the keyword and considers your domain’s metrics against competitor domains on the SERP.

Find your Personal Keyword Difficulty score in Semrush’s Keyword Overview tool.

Start by entering a keyword into the search field. Then, enter your site’s URL and click “Search.”

You’ll see something like this:

The higher that number, the harder it is to rank for that keyword in Google.

Keyword Targeting and Page Optimization

Here’s a good trick: Search for the keyword you’re interested in ranking for. Look at the top 10 results. See if the pages are optimized for that keyword.

How is this helpful?

It can let you know if you have an advantage.

If the pages you see in the top 10 are only semi-related to the keyword, you may have an opportunity to outrank them.

For example:

Search for “bamboo cutting board with handle.”

Notice how some of the results aren’t optimized around this specific term?

Some of these searchers are wondering where the heck the handle is.

Others aren’t finding a large selection of bamboo.

If you sell bamboo cutting boards with handles, you could optimize one of your ecommerce category pages around the keyword “bamboo cutting board with handle.

You’d have a good shot of cracking Google’s top 10.

Now that you have a list of keywords that get searched for, have little competition, AND are likely to turn into buyers, it’s time to set up and optimize your ecommerce site architecture.

Set Up an SEO-Friendly Website Architecture

When it comes to ecommerce website design or site architecture—or how the pages on your site are organized and arranged—is an important SEO consideration for ANY site.

But it’s doubly important for ecommerce sites.

That’s because your average ecommerce site tends to have significantly more pages than your average blog or local pizza shop website.

With that many pages, it’s critical that your site architecture makes it easy for users and search engines to find all of your pages.

The Two “Golden Rules” of Ecommerce Site Architecture

There are two important rules to keep in mind when it comes to setting up your ecommerce site’s structure:

Golden Rule #1: Keep things simple and scalable

Golden Rule #2: Keep every page three (or fewer) clicks from your homepage

I’ll have more details on these two rules in a minute.

But first, let’s look at an example of how the wrong site architecture can hurt your SEO efforts…

Example of How NOT to Setup Your Ecommerce Site’s Architecture

Here’s an example of a site architecture that breaks the Two Golden rules:

What’s wrong with this picture?

First, it’s not simple. It’s hard to understand the logic of what goes where.

Second, it’s not scalable. Every time you want to add a new category, you need to create a new layer…and reorganize your existing categories and subcategories.

But it’s also way too deep.

Most of the links that point to ecommerce sites point to their homepage.

And when you have a “deep” site architecture, that authority is diluted by the time it reaches your product and category pages.

In this example, it takes six clicks to reach the first product page.

(You want all product pages to be three clicks or fewer from your homepage.)

Example of an SEO- and User-Friendly Ecommerce Site Architecture

Let’s take a look at an example of a well-optimized ecommerce site architecture.

As you can see, link authority is concentrated in the site’s product and category pages.

This concentrated authority helps these pages rank in Google. It also makes it easy for Google to find and index every page.

Here’s an example of how this would look for an ecommerce site that sells shoes:

Not only is this great for SEO, but users will love it, too. That’s because a simple, flat architecture makes it easy for browsers to find the products they want.

Let’s take a look at a real-life example of an ecommerce site with AWESOME architecture: PetSmart.com.

Let’s say you want to get a new dog food bowl for Fluffy.

You’d head to the homepage, and click “Dog.”

Then, “Bowls & Feeders”

And you get a list of products in that subcategory:

Within three clicks, you’ve found what you want.

And because Petsmart uses a flat site structure, Google will fully index all of their pages.

Optimize On-Page SEO

Now that you have your site architecture all set up, it’s time to focus on the on-page aspects of ecommerce SEO—including category and product page optimization.

For most ecommerce sites, these two types of pages generate the lion’s share of traffic and sales.

This makes sense if you think about it: Someone searching for “white deep v-neck undershirt” is much closer to making a purchase than someone searching for “buy undershirts.”

With that, here’s how to keyword-optimize your product and category pages:

A “Perfectly Optimized” Ecommerce Page

Let’s look at an example of a “perfectly optimized” page from an ecommerce site.

Let’s break down each of these elements:

Title Tag: Add Modifiers Like “Buy,” “Cheap,” and “Deals” to Get More Long-Tail Traffic

You (obviously) want to use your target keyword in your page’s title tag.

But don’t stop there.

Adding “modifiers” to your title tag can help you show up for more long tail searches.

Let’s say your target keyword is “noise canceling headphones.”

Instead of making your title tag “Noise Canceling Headphones at Headphones R’ Us, you want to add a word or two that people might use when searching for “noise canceling headphones.”

Here are some common terms people use when searching for products in Google:

• Cheap
• Deals
• Review
• Best
• Online
• Free shipping

So, your title tag could be something like this:

Title Tag: Use Click Magnet Words like “X% Off” and “Lowest Price” to Boost CTR

According to Google, pages that get clicked more in CTR may get a SERP boost for that particular keyword.

That’s because: Higher CTR = more clicks = more sales.

Fortunately, there are a handful of words and phrases that magnetically move a person’s cursor to your result.

I call them “Click Magnet Words”.

Here are some of the best Click Magnet Words for ecommerce product and category pages:

• X% off (“25% Off”)
• Guarantee
• Lowest Price
• Free Shipping
• Overnight Shipping
• Sale

Here’s an example of these words in action:

Description Tag: Include Phrases Like “Great Selection,” “FREE Shipping” and “All Our Items Are On Sale” to Maximize Your Page’s CTR

Your site’s description tag used to be an important part of on-page SEO.

Even though that’s not the case anymore, your description tag is VERY important for CTR.

And the title tag Click Magnet Words that I listed above also work for description tags.

The only difference is that, with a description tag, you have more room to include longer phrases.

Here are a few examples of phrases you can use in your description tag to get more clicks:

• Get the best prices on ____ today.
• Save X% off on ____.
• All of our ____ are on sale right now.
• Get FREE shipping on all ____ today.
• Click here to see all of our exclusive deals on _____.
• Great selection of ____ at the guaranteed lowest price.

Here’s an example of a description tag optimized for clicks:

Product and Category Page Content: Focus on In-Depth Descriptions and Strategic Keyword Placement

Optimizing product and category pages is one of the hardest parts of ecommerce SEO.

Yes, you want to write high-quality content.

But unlike a blog post, you also need to keep conversion rate in mind.

Here are the three most important on-page SEO tactics that I recommend for ecommerce pages:

1. Write 1,000+ Word Descriptions

Longer product descriptions help your page rank higher on Google.

Why?

Because Google wants to understand what your page is about. And the more content you provide, the better it can do that.

Take cookware store Anyday as an example.

Their product pages go deep.

They include high-definition images, infographics, FAQs, and even GIFs.

Each section is packed with information about the product’s features and how to use it.

Their pages easily surpass 1,000 words.

The more content you provide, the better Google can do its job. Plus, in-depth product page content helps customers understand what they’re about to buy.

So, there’s a user experience benefit too.

To be clear:

It might be impossible for you to write 1,000 words for EVERY page on your site. If that’s the case, I recommend writing long, in-depth product descriptions for the top 10-50 most important product and category pages.

For example, this Amazon product page for a KitchenAid mixer boasts over 1,600 words…

…and that’s not even counting the reviews at the bottom of the page (which add another 1,500+ words).

2. Sprinkle Your Keywords

Once you’ve written your in-depth product description, the next step is to ensure your target keyword appears naturally throughout the content.

The goal isn’t about hitting a specific number but about making your content easy for Google to understand without sounding forced.

For example, if your target keyword is “6 quart crockpot,” aim to use it 3-5 times in about 1,000 words of copy.

However, for longer descriptions that extend beyond that, you might want to include the keyword once for every additional 200-300 words.

This keeps the keyword usage proportional to the length of the content.

3. LSI Keywords

Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) keywords are words and phrases that are closely tied to your main keyword.

Let’s say you were optimizing an ecommerce category page around the keyword “slow cookers.” Terms closely related to that keyword include:

• Crock-Pot
• 6 quart, 4 quart etc.
• Timers
• Pressure cooker
• Manual
• Recipes
• Stew
• Soup
• Programmable
• Stainless steel

See how that works?

Here’s how to find (and use) LSI keywords specifically for ecommerce SEO.

Step #1: The Amazon Eyeball Test

First, head over to Amazon and search for your target keyword.

Then, take a look at terms that appear multiple times on the category page…

…or product page for that keyword.

Step #2: Google Keyword Planner

Next, enter your target keyword into the Google Keyword Planner.

Then take a look at the keywords that Google suggests to you:

Step #3: Sprinkle These In Your Content

Finally, sprinkle the LSI keywords that make sense into your product or category page content.

URLs: Use Short, Keyword-Rich URLs

Our analysis of 11 million Google search results found a clear correlation between URL length and rankings.

Specifically, we found that short URLs tend to rank higher on Google’s first page than long URLs.

Because you run an ecommerce site, your URLs are probably going to be longer than other sites.

That’s because your URL will include category and subcategories in your URL. For example: https://example.com/category/subcategory/product.html

However, that doesn’t mean you want your URLs to stretch to 50+ characters. That’s because long URLs confuse Google and dilute the impact of the keywords in your URL.

Here’s an example of an unnecessarily long ecommerce product page URL:

(Not only is this URL a mile long, but it contains unnecessary junk like, “productID.300190600”.)

Speaking of using SEO-friendly terms in your URL, you also want to make your URLs keyword-rich.

For category pages, include a one- or two-word description of that category:

https://example.com/kitchenappliances

Follow the same process for subcategories. Only this time, the subcategory will come after the category in the URL:

https://example.com/kitchenappliances/slowcookers

Then, for product pages, include just your target keyword for that product, separated by dashes (“-”).

https://example.com/kitchenappliances/slowcookers/6-quart-crockpot

Internal Links: Liberally Link to High-Priority Pages

One of the nice things about ecommerce SEO is that internal linking is done almost automatically. That’s because your site’s navigation usually creates a lot of natural internal links:

That said, strategic internal linking is definitely an ecommerce SEO best practice. So, you should spend some time on it.

Specifically, you want to internally link FROM authoritative pages TO high-priority product and category pages.

Let’s say you just published a blog post that’s generated a lot of backlinks.

And you also have a product page that ranks No.5 in Google for “moleskin notebooks.”

You’d want to add a keyword-rich anchor text link from that post to your product page.

Implement Product Review Schema to Get Rich Snippets Displayed in Google

If you want an easy way to stand out on Google’s first page, rich snippets are a great option.

And ecommerce sites have the opportunity to get one of the most eye-catching rich snippets out there: reviews.

Here’s an example:

How do you get these awesome snippets?

By implementing Schema markup on your ecommerce product pages.

Schema is a special code that helps search engines (like Google and Bing) better understand your page’s content.

You can manually set up Schema markup, but it’s not easy. That’s why I recommend using Google’s excellent Structured Data Markup Helper.

Fix Technical Issues

Technical SEO is one of those things that’s important for ALL sites… but doubly so for ecommerce.

That’s because ecommerce sites tend to have LOTS of pages. And all of those pages increase the changes that technical SEO issues will crop up.

Not only that, but most ecommerce pages don’t have that many backlinks pointing to them. Which means that technical SEO is often the “tiebreaker” on Google’s first page.

For example, if you and your competitor are neck-and-neck, a technical SEO issue can be the difference between the 4th spot and a coveted No. 1 ranking.

That’s why regular technical SEO Site Audits are key.

How to Run a Technical SEO Audit on an Ecommerce Website

For this example, we’ll use Semrush. Its Site Audit tool is perfect for ecommerce sites with numerous pages.

In addition to Semrush, here are other SEO tools you can use for ecommerce site audits:

• DeepCrawl
• Sitebulb
• ScreamingFrog
• Site Condor

To use Semrush for your ecommerce SEO site audit, find “Site Audit” under “ON PAGE & TECH SEO” in the left sidebar:

Enter your website and click “Start Audit.”

Once complete, you’ll see an overview of your site’s health, including:

• Overall health score
• Number of errors, warnings, and notices
• Thematic reports (Crawlability, HTTPS, Core Web Vitals, etc.)

You can click on any of these reports to get a deeper analysis.

For example, the Crawlability report shows how easily search engines can access and index your site’s content.

This is crucial for ecommerce sites with lots of product pages.

Head back to the overview and click on the number in the “Errors” section.

You’ll get a prioritized list of issues to fix. For each error, Semrush provides:

• A description of the problem
• Why it matters for SEO
• How to fix it

This makes it easy to tackle the most important issues first.

How to Fix Common Technical SEO Issues On Ecommerce Sites

Problem: Too Many Pages

Having thousands of pages can make unique content creation a monumental task and lead to duplicate content issues.

How to Fix It:

• Identify Pages to Remove or Noindex: Use your CMS (e.g., Shopify) to find low-performing products. Check Google Analytics for pages with little traffic or conversions.
  

  

• Delete, Noindex, or Consolidate: Remove pages that do not bring traffic or sales, noindex unnecessary variations, or combine similar products into a single “super page”

Problem: Duplicate Content

Duplicate content can hurt rankings, but it can be managed effectively.

How to Fix It:

• Noindex Unnecessary URLs: Noindex URLs that don’t need to be indexed, such as filter-generated pages
• Use Canonical Tags: Apply “rel=canonical” tags to direct search engines to the primary version of a page
  

  

• Write Unique Content: Create unique descriptions for products, especially on key pages. Consider using templates to streamline this process.
• Avoid Boilerplate or Copied Descriptions: Don’t reuse the same product descriptions across pages. Modify boilerplate content to keep it unique and valuable for both users and search engines.

For example, here’s an example of duplicate content on two different ecommerce product pages:

Product Page #1:

Product Page #2:

As you can see, the content on these two pages is almost identical. Not good.

Problem: Thin Content

Thin content offers little value and can significantly impact rankings.

How to Fix It:

• Identify Thin Pages: Use tools to find pages with fewer than 250 words
• Bulk Up with Quality Content: Write 1,000+ words for key product and category pages. Include detailed descriptions, features, and user-generated content (e.g., reviews).

Our data from analyzing over 11 million Google search results found that longer content tended to rank above thin content.

Templates make this process go significantly faster.

Here’s an example template for a product page description:

Problem: Site Speed

Site speed impacts both SEO and conversions.

How to Fix It:

• Upgrade Hosting: Invest in quality hosting (at least $50/month) to ensure faster load times
• Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN): A CDN speeds up your site and enhances security
• Optimize Images: Compress and export images for the web to reduce file sizes

Drive Traffic with Content Marketing

Content marketing can help you get LOTS of targeted traffic and significantly boost your ecommerce SEO efforts.

The question is:

How do you use content to get higher rankings and more traffic to your ecommerce website?

Here’s a step-by-step guide…

Step #1: Find Where Your Target Customers Hang Out Online

Identify popular forums, social media groups, and blogs where your target audience engages and use these insights to guide content creation.

For example, if your target audience is made up of coffee snobs, you’d want to check out places like Reddit’s coffee community.

Step #2: Learn What Words and Phrases Customers Use

Now that you’ve found your target audience, you want to keep an eye out for words and phrases that they use to describe their problems and issues:

These phrases represent keywords that your audience uses when they’re NOT shopping for products. These make great keywords for you to create blog content around.

Step #3: Create an Outstanding Piece of Content Around That Keyword

Next, it’s time to create content that’s the bar-none absolute best on the planet.

The easiest way to do that?

The Skyscraper Technique (click here to learn more).

And when you’ve finished step three, start back at the top and execute this entire SEO strategy again.

When you consistently publish content on your ecommerce site, you’ll find that all of these links, traffic, and social media shares actually help your product and category pages rank better.

For example, the popular cookware ecommerce site Williams-Sonoma.com has an outstanding blog that features recipes, cooking tips, interviews with chefs, and more.

Which is one of the main reasons that so many sites link to them.

Step 4: Utilize User Generated Content (UCG)

User-generated content (UGC) is a powerful format for ecommerce SEO

It boosts engagement, builds trust, and increases users’ time on your site.

But that’s not all.

UGC helps search engines understand and rank your content better.

How?

By showing that real people are interacting with your brand.

(Pretty cool, right?)

Don’t just take my word for it.

According to Billo’s guide on UGC SEO, strategically placed customer reviews, photos, and videos help search engines better understand and rank your content.

For example, the GoPro “Be a HERO” Challenge inspires users to share their action-packed videos for a chance to be featured by GoPro.

These videos keep people on your page longer and show search engines that your content is valuable.

Here’s how to use UGC:

• Embed UGC Videos: Add customer review videos to product pages. It builds trust and keeps users engaged.
• Promote Content Variety: Share unboxing videos, testimonials, and reviews
• Optimize for Search: Include keywords in video titles and descriptions

By using UGC, you can improve rankings, grow traffic, and build a stronger community around your brand.

Build High-Quality Links

In this section, I’ve got not one but TWO in-depth ecommerce link building case studies for you.

In the first case study you’ll see how Chris built links directly to his ecommerce site’s product pages… Without ANY content.

Then you’ll read how Mike used two creative link building strategies to boost his ecommerce site’s organic traffic by 2,272%.

Case Study #1: How Chris Got Backlinks from Popular Tech Blogs

Backlinko reader Chris Laursen had an ecommerce client that struggled with link building.

So Chris decided to try The Moving Man Method.

After implementing this strategy, the number of links pointing to his client’s website shot up like a rocket:

Sure, it was great that Chris built so many backlinks…

But the TYPES of links that he was able to get (contextual links from highly-relevant sites in the electronics niche ) is the real story here.

Chris secured links from a popular consumer electronics site, a Danish news website, and an editorial in an online electronics magazine. Notably, many of these link directly to product and category pages.

Here’s how he did it step-by-step:

Step 1: Find Outdated, Moved or Expired Resources

Step #1 is finding resources that are out-of-date, expired or not working.

Because Chris was working with an ecommerce site, he zeroed in on companies that had recently gone out of business.

But no matter what you sell, there are businesses in your industry that have gone under…and have THOUSANDS of links pointing to their old site.

In many cases, the domain name actually expires. When that happens the entire site gets replaced with parked pages, like this:

Because pages on out-of-business websites are still technically working (they’re not 404s), broken link checkers can’t find them.

Although parked domains are harder to find than broken links, the advantage of using them is this:

They hook you up with link building opportunities that your competition doesn’t know about.

So: How can you find these outdated resources?

Here’s one strategy that works really well:

When an authoritative domain expires it’s usually picked up by a big domain auction site like GoDaddy Auctions, NameJet or even Flippa domain search.

These sites have picked up domains that had something going for them (either traffic, backlinks, or both). And they organize them in one place to make them easy to sift through.

Chris noticed a parked domain in the same niche as his client (iPhone cases): edge-design.com.

Edge Design used to sell customized iPhone cases…before they closed.

And it’s a product that his ecommerce client sells.

Chris thought to himself:

“If we’re linking to Edge Design’s website, I bet other sites are too.”

And he was right.

This brings us to step #2…

Step 2: Grab a List of Pages Pointing to the Outdated Resource

Once you’ve identified a popular-but-outdated resource, it’s time to find sites that link to it.

First, grab the URL of the dead resource.

If it’s an individual page on a site (for example, a tool that’s not working anymore or a service that a company no longer offers), enter the URL of that specific page.

If the entire site is down, you can use the homepage URL:

Glance at the number of referring domains. The more referring domains, the more link opportunities there are for you.

Finally, hit “Backlinks” to see all of the pages linking to the outdated resource that you found:

And this leads us to the last step:

Step 3: Send Emails, Get Links

Now, it’s time to let people know about their outdated link.

Here’s a word-for-word script you can use (this is an actual outreach email that Chris sent out):

As you can see, Chris didn’t just tap the person on the shoulder and let them know about the outdated link. He also gave them a replacement.

It just so happens that the replacement is a page on his client’s site 🙂

And when you send out brief outreach emails and improve other people’s sites email outreach tends to convert REALLY well:

That’s all there is to it.

Case Study #2: How Mike Built Links to His Wedding Ecommerce Sites

Mike Bonadio launched an ecommerce website in the wedding space.

And considering how competitive the wedding industry is, Mike knew that he needed to build links fast.

Here’s the strategy that Mike used to get a HUGE influx of links.

One day Mike was poking around various wedding-related Facebook groups.

And he noticed groups put on events… events that featured products from wedding vendors.

Mike realized that he could use these events to build links his groomsmen gift shop, Groomsday.

And Mike was right! This simple strategy led to a bunch of great links.

Let’s break down the strategy step-by-step:

Step 1: Find Groups in Your Industry That Put On Events

Join a few Facebook groups in your industry. Then check the “events” tab inside the group.

Step 2: Look For Events That Need Stuff

Look for upcoming events where your products might be a good fit.

Some events even say that they’re looking for vendors.

Step 3: Reach Out to Event Organizers

Reach out to the people hosting the event. Ask if they would like to feature some of your products at the event.

You can ask up front if products that you send will get featured in the group or in press coverage. Otherwise, just send them free stuff and hope for the best.

Step 4: Ship Your Products

You can ask for unused items to be sent back. But it’s easier to not have to deal with return shipping.

Step 5: Stay In The Loop

Keep in touch with the event organizer about the event. Specifically, when they’re writing a post about the event. Keep track of everything and watch out for your event or photo shoot to be featured. And make sure you’re credited with a link when it goes live.

Some events get published on super high DA sites with tons of authority. Here’s one on a DA77 site:

Nice!

Step 6: Thank the Organizer

And offer to work together again on a future event.

The links from this campaign helped boost Mike’s traffic during the wedding season by 2,272% compared to the previous year:

LEGIT.

Start Growing Your Traffic Today

Now that you’ve seen how ecommerce SEO can transform your store, it’s time to act.

Start by focusing on the keywords and optimizations that will deliver the biggest impact. Pick a strategy and dive in.

Need more help? Check out our guide to on-page SEO for even more ways to boost your rankings.

The sooner you start, the faster you’ll see results.