SEO is no longer simply nice to have. It’s a critical component of modern business. Unfortunately, many brands are utilizing SEO strategies across their home pages and blogs but overlooking their product pages.
These exact product pages are an underutilized asset when it comes to search engine optimization. With the right approach, they can be the key to propelling a business (and what it sells) to the top of SERPs. That makes product pages ideal for achieving more than the standard SEO goals. Get your products to the top of a Google search query and you’re one step closer to a sale.
The good news is that optimizing your product pages for SEO is incredibly straightforward. Here’s what you need to know.
1. Learn the Basics
Many peopLe think that SEO is extremely complicated, and so they disregard it and lose sales as a result. The fact is that learning the basics of SEO is very easy. It’s more than just about pleasing search engines, it’s about utilizing what you have in hand to create a more proactive customer service. Learn about your keywords, with a focus on long-tail keywords.
There are plenty of online resources available that’ll teach you all you need to know about SEO. Even if you’re new to the concept, learning the basics of SEO is the first step to knowing how to optimize your products pages. Both search engines and your target audience will then be able to find your products easily when searching for them.
Many business owners think that social media is the key to being found more easily online. The problem is that platforms like Facebook can actually harm your reputation, which will then affect your SERP performance.
2. Use Meta Descriptions
When you use a search engine, the meta description is that little intro text beneath the page title. It’s visible to consumers and lets them know what to expect when they click on the link. If you don’t use meta descriptions on your product pages, then you’re missing out on high-value SEO real estate.
There are character limits to a meta description (usually between 150 and 160 characters is optimal). However, they’re ideal for adding CTAs and your most valuable keywords. Don’t stick to simply using product descriptions. Entice your audience with your meta description.
3. Use Excellent Visual Elements
When you think of SEO, it’s easy to focus entirely on the text element. Visuals are just as important. From the perfect product images that have been optimized with alt-text to videos that show real people using your products; these visuals can be the key to making a sale.
When trying to tackle large-scale digital transformations, it’s extremely easy to overlook the fine details. Images and video content are extremely important for both product pages and SEO, so don’t dismiss how much value they provide to your audience.
4. Gather Reviews
Although consumer behavior has changed in recent years due to global disruption, customers still rely on reviews of the products they want to buy. Now, those consumers are reading reviews for even the smallest purchase. So having reviews on your product pages is incredibly important from a customer satisfaction perspective.
Reviews can also be marked up with schema tags, which then adds value to your SEO strategy. This kind of microdata is challenging to get right and relies on some awareness of coding. Fortunately, there are plenty of cutting-edge tools available that can automatically generate that data for you for easy addition to your product pages.
5. Faster Product Pages
A slow-loading product page will lead to a high bounce rate. The modern consumer doesn’t want to wait more than a few seconds for a web page to load. While there are different ways to improve SaaS SEO and other products, all of the improvements will be for nothing if your product pages load too slowly.
If your pages load too slowly, visitors will head back to their search engine, and those search engines will remember that your page didn’t resolve that customer’s query. The result is that your will start to appear lower down on SERPs. Speed up your product page loading times so they’re lighting fast. If you use a website hosting service, make sure to use one that has a CDN.
6. Optimize your URLs
The URLs on your product pages need to be very clear and readable to people. If your product page URLs look like this:
www.businessname.com/php.?id6738&edit1
Then neither search engines nor people will have any real idea what that page is about. Instead, you want your URLs to look like this:
www.businessname.com/product-category/product-name/
Not only does this make navigation easier (which itself is better for SEO), it also gives you the chance to use some of your highest value keywords in the URL itself. That’s great for search engines because they can identify immediately what your page is about. Just as brands have access to a wider range of communication tools than ever, there are also plenty of resources for doing keyword research.
Make sure that you limit your URLs to lower than 2,083 characters, and stick to lowercase letters only. Use hyphens to connect separate words, and use brand names in the URL when applicable.
Don’t Wait to Optimize Your Product Pages Through SEO
Businesses that utilize SEO are always going to be easier to find than those that neglect it. While it’s common sense to apply the best SEO strategies to home pages and landing pages, product pages are where you earn your money. That’s why it makes sense to fine-tune those pages with the best SEO practices.
The key thing to remember is that, when applied well, SEO doesn’t just make you more appealing to search engines. It also improves the customer experience because those customers can also understand what they’re going to do when they click on a SERP link. An improved customer experience enhances trust, making it easier than ever to make a sale.
Don’t forget that if someone is looking for a specific product, it’s likely that they are in the final (or next to final) stage of the buyer’s journey. Optimize your product pages through SEO and it could easily become the most profitable decision you ever make.
