Ecommerce SEO: 6 Powerful Strategies to Boost Rankings

Every online store needs ecommerce SEO to survive – it’s not optional.

I’ve done this myself—running and growing multiple stores as both an owner and an SEO consultant.

Organic search traffic is your foundation for lasting success. Unlike paid ads, it brings customers to your site for free – month after month.

Take Ruggable, for example.

Their SEO strategies now bring in over 1 million visitors every month—10 times more than paid ads.

This proves it: SEO takes time, but the payoff is very large—often beating paid campaigns in the long run.

We’ll explore proven ecommerce SEO techniques in this post.

From choosing the right keywords to organizing your website, you’ll discover how to attract more visitors and increase sales. 

Let’s get started!

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

Perform Keyword Research

Every ecommerce SEO strategy should begin with keyword research.

Why is it so important?

Because keywords guide every SEO task on your website.

For example, without the right keywords, you can’t properly optimize your product and category pages.

Even your site’s technical SEO depends on keywords since search engines analyze them in your URLs and site structure.

Simply put,

Keyword research is essential for your ecommerce success.

Now, let’s explore how to discover valuable keywords that your customers are searching for—and how to select the best ones for your site.

How to Search Keywords for Product and Category Pages

Most keyword research guides focus on “informational keywords.”

These are search terms people use to find helpful content, like “How to make pour-over coffee.”

While informational keywords can be useful for ecommerce, your main focus should be on keywords related to product searches.

(Like “Chemex coffee filters”.)

Why is this important?

Your main goal is to find the right keywords that bring visitors to your site.

So, when researching keywords, focus on those directly related to your products.

Here’s how.

Look at Amazon Suggest

Yes, Amazon is likely your competitor. but it’s also the largest ecommerce platform. That makes it a great place to find product keywords.

Here’s how to use Amazon for keyword research:

Go to Amazon.com and type a keyword related to your product in the search bar.

Type a keyword related to your product in the Amazon search bar, but don’t hit enter yet.

Amazon will automatically suggest similar keywords that people frequently search for.

The keywords suggested by Amazon are very specific, often referred to as long-tail keywords.

These keywords are beneficial for your research because they usually lead to higher sales compared to shorter, more general terms. Additionally, they face less competition, making it easier for your products to be found.

You should repeat this process for the most important products on your site.

Use Keyword Tool Dominator

Keyword Tool Dominator is a free tool that helps you find popular keywords from Amazon’s search suggestions.

To use it, simply type a main keyword into the tool.

The tool will provide you with many keyword suggestions.

———–

Yes, this tool helps you quickly find long-tail keywords using Amazon’s search suggestions. It also provides more keyword ideas for you to use.

For example:

When I typed ‘organic dog food’ into Amazon’s search bar, it gave me 10 keyword suggestions.

But this tool found 95 ideas instead.

Before we move on, let’s use one more feature on Amazon that’s great for finding keywords for category pages.

Check Amazon (and Competitor) Categories

A lot of ecommerce sites focus on random keywords when optimizing their websites.

This is a BIG mistake. Even though category pages might not bring in as many sales as product pages, they still drive revenue. That’s why it’s worth spending time finding the right keywords for your category pages.

And the best way to do that?

Check out the categories your competitors are already using.

If you’re competing with Amazon, click the ‘All’ button at the top of their homepage. This will show you Amazon’s main categories, which can give you ideas for your own site.

You need to read also: Amazon PPC: Everything You Need To Know.

These keywords might be too general for your site.

Click on a relevant category and explore its subcategories for more specific options.

Take the category ‘Fitness’ as an example. When you open it up, you’ll see smaller categories like ‘Exercise & Fitness,’ ‘Yoga,’ ‘Sports Medicine,’ and ‘Accessories.

Now we’re talking.

Imagine that your website offers helpful dog food.

The “Pet Supplies” category is where you would go:

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

Amazon will show you the keywords they use for dog food products in the filters on the side of the page.

These are all useful keywords you can use for your dog food category pages on your online store.

Amazon is a useful tool for finding category page keywords, but it’s not the only option.

Check out niche-specific competitors in your industry as well.

For example, if your online store sells premium headphones, visit websites like Headphones.com.

Just like on Amazon, check how competitors optimize their category pages and note the keywords they use.

Add those keywords to your list.

By now, you should have a strong collection of:

Product-focused keywords from Amazon’s suggestions and competitor analysis

Category-based keywords from Amazon’s categories and top competitor pages

Long-tail keywords that target specific, low-competition search terms

But we’re not stopping here.

After gathering these keywords, it’s time to dig even deeper using one of my favorite keyword research tools—SEMrush.

Try SEMrush

The strategies I’ve shared should help you create a strong list of keyword ideas.

SEMrush is different for e-commerce keyword research.

Instead of just generating new ideas, it shows you the exact keywords your competitors are using successfully.

Here’s how to use SEMrush for your e-commerce site:

1. Sign Up: Start by signing up for a free 14-day trial (no credit card needed).
2. Use the Tool: Go to the “Organic Research” tool and enter a competitor’s website in SEMrush’s search box.

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

Nice!

If you want to find every possible keyword using SEMrush, start with the “Competitors” report.

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

Do the same analysis for the competitors you just discovered.

This will provide you with plenty of keywords to use for years to come.

Use Google Keyword Planner

Last but not least we have the trusty Google Keyword Planner (GKP).

GKP (Google Keyword Planner) is a useful tool for finding keywords, but coming up with unique keyword ideas can be challenging.

For example, if you type a keyword like “organic dog food” into GKP (Google Keyword Planner), it will show you very similar terms, such as “best organic dog food” or “organic dog food brands.”

However, if you explore deeper, you can discover hidden gems—keywords that aren’t just slight tweaks of your original search term.

Since Google Keyword Planner doesn’t provide many unique keyword ideas, it’s better to use it for checking search volume and understanding if people are looking to buy (commercial intent).

• Pro Tip: Watch for changes in search results (SERP).

For ecommerce searches, the results page often looks unique. Features like filters, shopping ads, and product carousels can take over, making it tricky to tell the difference between paid ads and organic listings.

This change in search results could impact your SEO plan. To stay visible, focus on improving your content and product pages to stand out from the competition.

How to Pick the Right Keywords for Ecommerce Products and Categories

Now that you have a list of potential keywords, you might be asking:
“Which keywords should I pick?“

The solution? Use this simple four-step checklist to find the best keywords for your ecommerce site.

#1 Search Volume

This is the most important factor to consider when looking at a search term. 

After all:

If people aren’t looking for a specific word or phrase, then it won’t help your website, no matter how good your content is or how high you can rank in search results.

That being said, I can’t give you exact numbers for search volume. In some fields, 100 searches a month is considered a lot, while in other areas, 10,000 searches a month might not be significant at all.

As time goes on, you’ll start to understand what counts as a “high volume” keyword and a “low volume” keyword in your industry.

To find out how many times a keyword is searched, just enter it into Google Keyword Planner (GKP). Look for the number of searches in the “Avg. monthly searches” column.

Some keywords have HUGE seasonal variations.

You will obviously see more searches for “ugly Christmas sweaters” in December than in June.

Many keywords that aren’t tied to a season still have times when they are searched more or less throughout the year. For example, “organic dog food brands” are searched four times more in April than in December.

Why?

Who knows.

It’s important to pay attention to these changes because they can directly affect your profits.

Pro Tips: To quickly see how the search volume for a keyword changes throughout the year, enter your keyword into Mangool’s KWFinder. It will provide a useful chart showing the monthly search volume data.

#2 Determine Keyword-Product Fit

This is a big one.

If you find a keyword that gets a lot of searches, you might think it’s a great choice, right?

Well… not necessarily.

The keyword might not be a perfect match for the products that your website offers.

If the keyword you choose is not very related to what you sell, people searching for it are unlikely to buy anything.

Before you go on to the next steps, make sure the keyword you’re thinking about is a perfect match for your site.

For example, if your site sells Japanese green tea bags and you find a popular keyword like “matcha green tea powder,” it might not be the best fit.

Even though you only sell tea bags and not green tea powder, you could create a page about matcha green tea powder. This might help attract those searchers and lead them to buy your tea bags instead.

But it’s tricky to pull off.

Generally, Conversion rates for poorly matched keywords are low.

That’s why I suggest exploring other product categories only after you’ve fully researched the keywords your target customers are looking for.

Even if a keyword has fewer searches, I recommend picking a more specific one that fits your business better, like “green tea online.”

It may have fewer searches, but it’s likely to lead to more sales because it matches your products better.

Now that you have a list of keywords that match your products, it’s time to check if the people searching for them are ready to buy.

#3: Validate There’s Commercial Intent

Ranking #1 for a high-volume keyword is great.

However, ranking #1 for a high-volume keyword that only attracts casual browsers is not as beneficial.

Before you choose a keyword, check if it’s being used by customers who are willing to spend money or just looking around.

You can easily do this with SEMrush.

Just type the keyword into the search box and click “Search.”

Look at the “Intent” box.

Super helpful to know!

This is a great way to create a list of keywords that will bring shoppers to your ecommerce site who are ready to make a purchase.

#4 Size Up the Competition

Now it’s time to find out how difficult it will be to get onto the first page of Google.

Here’s how:

SEMrush’s “Keyword Difficulty”

This metric helps you understand how competitive a keyword is to rank for.

It shows how hard it is to rank for a keyword in your industry by looking at the authority of the websites already ranking for it.

The Personal Keyword Difficulty (PKD%) takes this further by assessing how difficult it is specifically for your website, using SEMrush’s AI.

It checks how relevant your site is to the keyword and compares your site’s metrics to those of competitors on the search results page (SERP).

You can find your Personal Keyword Difficulty score in SEMrush’s Keyword Overview tool.

To do this, enter a keyword in the search box, then add your site’s URL and click “Search.”

You’ll see something like this:

The higher the score, the harder it is to rank for that keyword on Google.

Keyword Targeting and Page Optimization

Here’s a simple trick: Search for the keyword you want to rank for and check the top 10 results to see if those pages are well-optimized for that keyword.

Why is this helpful?

It helps you see if you have a chance to rank higher.

f the top 10 pages aren’t fully related to the keyword, you might be able to outrank them.

For example:

Search for “bamboo cutting board with handle.”

You might notice some of the top results aren’t fully focused on this exact keyword.

Some people are confused about where the handle is on the cutting board.

Others can’t find many bamboo options.

If you sell bamboo cutting boards with handles, you can optimize your product page for the keyword “bamboo cutting board with handle.”

This could give you a good chance to rank in Google’s top 10 results.

• Pro Tip: Focusing on the exact keyword isn’t as important as before. But if you optimize your page for a very specific keyword, it can help you rank better than pages that aren’t fully optimized.

Now that you have a list of keywords that people search for, have low competition, and can lead to sales, it’s time to organize and improve your ecommerce site structure.

Set Up an SEO-Friendly Website Architecture

When designing an ecommerce website or organizing its pages, it’s an important factor for SEO on any site.

But it’s even more important for ecommerce sites.

Ecommerce sites usually have many more pages compared to a blog or a local business website.

With so many pages, it’s crucial that your site structure helps both users and search engines easily find everything.

The Two “Golden Rules” of Ecommerce Site Architecture

There are two key rules to follow when setting up your ecommerce site’s structure:

Rule #1: Keep it simple and easy to grow.

Rule #2: Make sure every page is no more than three clicks away from your homepage.

I’ll explain these rules in more detail soon.

But first, let’s look at an example of how poor site structure can hurt your SEO.

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

Here’s an example of a site structure that breaks the two golden rules:

What’s wrong with this setup?

First, it’s not simple. It’s confusing to figure out where everything goes.

Second, it’s not easy to grow. Every time you add a new category, you have to add a new layer and reorganize everything.

Also, it’s too deep.

Most links to ecommerce sites point directly to the homepage, not deep pages.

When your site structure is too deep, the link authority gets weaker by the time it reaches your product and category pages.

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

You want your product pages to be no more than three clicks away from the homepage.

• Pro Tip: If your site is not set up well, don’t move pages around until you talk to an SEO expert and a developer. They’ll ensure that old pages correctly redirect to the new ones.

Example of an Ecommerce Site Structure that’s Good for SEO and Users

Let’s look at an example of a well-organized ecommerce site.

In this setup, the link authority is focused on the product and category pages.

This helps those pages rank better in Google and makes it easier for Google to find and index all the pages.

Here’s how this would work for an ecommerce site that sells shoes.

Not only is this good for SEO, but it’s also great for users. A simple, easy-to-navigate site helps customers quickly find the products they want.

Here’s a real example of a site with excellent structure: PetSmart.com.

Let’s say you want to buy a new dog food bowl for your pet.

You start at the homepage, click on “Dog,” then choose “Bowls & Feeders.”

You’ll see a list of products in that category.

In just three clicks, you’ve found what you need.

And because PetSmart uses a simple site structure, Google can easily index all their pages.

Optimize On-Page SEO

Now that your site structure is set, it’s time to focus on optimizing your product and category pages for ecommerce SEO.

For most ecommerce sites, these pages bring in the most traffic and sales.

It makes sense: Someone searching for “white deep v-neck undershirt” is closer to buying than someone just searching “buy undershirts.”

So, here’s how to optimize your product and category pages with the right keywords:

A “Perfectly Optimized” Ecommerce Page

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

Now, let’s go through each part of this page:

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

You should include your main keyword in your page’s title tag.

But don’t just stop there.

Adding words like “cheap,” “deals,” or “best” can help your page appear in more specific searches.

For example, if your main keyword is “noise canceling headphones,” don’t just use “Noise Canceling Headphones at Headphones R’ Us” as your title.

Instead, add words people might use when searching for “noise canceling headphones.”

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

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

So, your title tag could look like this:

Title Tag: Use Words Like “X% Off” and “Lowest Price” to Get More Clicks

Google says that pages with higher click-through rates (CTR) may get a boost in search rankings for that keyword.

Why? Because higher CTR = more clicks = more sales.

There are certain words and phrases that make people more likely to click on your link.

These are called “Click Magnet Words.”

Here are some great Click Magnet Words for ecommerce product and category pages:

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

Here’s an example of these words in action:

Description Tag: Use Phrases Like “Great Selection,” “FREE Shipping,” and “All Our Items Are On Sale” to Get More Clicks

Your site’s description tag isn’t as important for SEO anymore, but it’s still very important for getting clicks.

The same Click Magnet Words I mentioned for title tags also work for description tags.

The difference is that you have more space in the description tag to use longer phrases.

Here are some 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 lowest price.

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

Product and Category Page Content: Focus on Detailed Descriptions and Smart Keyword Use

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

You want to write good content, but you also need to think about conversions (turning visitors into customers).

Here are the three most important SEO tips for ecommerce pages:

1. Write Descriptions of 1,000+ Words

Longer product descriptions help your page rank better on Google.

Why? Because Google needs enough information to understand what your page is about, and more content helps with that.

Take the cookware store Any day as an example.

Their product pages go into detail, with high-quality images, infographics, FAQs, and even GIFs.

Each section has detailed information about the product’s features and how to use it.

Their pages easily have over 1,000 words.

The more content you give, the easier it is for Google to understand your page. Plus, detailed content helps customers know exactly what they’re buying.

So, it improves the user experience too.

To be clear:

You may not be able to write 1,000 words for every page on your site. If that’s the case, focus on writing long descriptions for your top 10-50 most important product and category pages.

For example, this Amazon product page for a KitchenAid mixer has over 1,600 words.

..and this doesn’t even include the reviews at the bottom of the page, which add over 1,500 more words.

Use Your Keywords Naturally

After writing your detailed product description, the next step is to make sure your target keyword appears naturally throughout the content.

The goal isn’t to use the keyword a certain number of times, but to make the content easy for Google to understand without overdoing it.

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

For longer descriptions, you can add the keyword once for every extra 200-300 words.

This keeps the keyword use balanced with the length of the content.

Google likes it when your important words (keywords) show up early in your content. Think of it like the start of a conversation—what you mention first feels most important.

Example:

If you’re selling “organic coffee beans,” make sure those words appear in the first few sentences of your webpage (like the first 100 words). This helps Google understand what your page is about and can improve your search rankings.

• Tip: Don’t force it! Write naturally, but try to include your main keyword near the top.

3. LSI Keywords

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

For example, if you’re optimizing a product page for “slow cookers,” related keywords include:

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

See how that works?

Here’s how to identify (and apply) LSI keywords for ecommerce SEO.

Step #1: The Amazon Eyeball Test

First, go to Amazon and search for your main keyword.

Then, look for words that appear often on the category page….

…or product page for that keyword.

Pro Tip: See what related words your top-ranking competitors use and use them too!

Step #2: Google Keyword Planner

Use Google Keyword Planner: Enter your main keyword into this tool

See Suggestions: Google will give you a list of related keyword ideas

Step #3: Sprinkle These In Your Content

Add LSI Keywords: Use the related words naturally in your product descriptions and page text.

URLs: Use Short, Keyword-Rich URLs

We analyzed 11 million Google search results and found a link between URL length and rankings.

Short URLs rank higher on Google’s first page than long ones.

Ecommerce URLs are usually longer because they include categories and subcategories, like:

https://example.com/category/subcategory/product.html

But avoid making URLs too long (50+ characters). Long URLs can confuse Google and weaken your keywords.

Here’s an example of a URL that’s too long:

(Not only is this URL too long, but it also contains unnecessary details like “productID.300190600.”)

When creating SEO-friendly URLs, make sure you also want to make your URLs keyword-rich.

For category pages, use a short description of the category:

https://example.com/kitchen-appliances

For subcategories, add them after the category in the URL:

https://example.com/kitchen-appliances/slow-cookers

For product pages, include the main keyword for the product, using dashes (“-“) to separate words:

https://example.com/kitchen-appliances/slow-cookers/6-quart-crockpot

Internal Links: Strategically Link to High-Priority Pages

One great thing about ecommerce SEO is that internal linking happens almost automatically. Your site’s navigation naturally creates many internal links.

That said, strategic internal linking is a key ecommerce SEO best practice, so it’s worth focusing on.

Specifically, link FROM authoritative pages TO important product and category pages.

Suppose you just published a blog post that gained many backlinks.

And you have a product page ranking No. 5 on Google for “moleskin notebooks.”

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

Implement Product Review Schema to Display Rich Snippets on Google

If you’re looking for an easy way to stand out on Google’s first page, rich snippets are a great choice.

Ecommerce sites, in particular, can earn one of the most attention-grabbing rich snippets: reviews.

Here’s an example:

How can you get these eye-catching snippets?

By adding Schema markup to your ecommerce product pages.

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

While you can set up Schema markup manually, it can be tricky. That’s why I suggest using Google’s handy Structured Data Markup Helper.

Pro Tip: Use Google Search Console to verify that your Schema is correctly implemented.

Once you have Schema set up, you’ll find “Rich Results” under the enhancements section in the sidebar:

(Note: I don’t have live Schema set up, so that report doesn’t appear for me).

Resolve Technical Problems

Technical SEO is crucial for all websites, but it’s especially important for ecommerce sites.

Ecommerce sites typically have a large number of pages, which increases the likelihood of technical SEO issues arising.

Additionally, many ecommerce pages don’t receive as many backlinks, meaning technical SEO can often be the deciding factor for ranking on Google’s first page.

For instance, if you’re competing with a similar site, a technical SEO issue could be the difference between securing the 4th spot and ranking No. 1.

That’s why conducting regular technical SEO site audits is essential.

How to Perform a Technical SEO Audit on an Ecommerce Website

For this example, we’ll use SEMrush. Its Site Audit tool is ideal for ecommerce sites with many pages.

Besides 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, locate “Site Audit” under “ON PAGE & TECH SEO” in the left sidebar:

Enter your website and click “Start Audit.”

Once completed, you’ll get 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 for a more detailed analysis.

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

This is especially important for ecommerce sites with numerous product pages.

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

You’ll receive a prioritized list of issues to address. For each error, SEMrush provides:

• A description of the problem
• An explanation of its SEO impact
• Instructions on how to fix it

This helps you focus on resolving the most critical issues first.

How to Resolve Common Technical SEO Issues on Ecommerce Sites

Problem: Too Many Pages

Having thousands of pages can make creating unique content a huge task and result in duplicate content problems.

How to Fix It:

• Identify Pages to Remove or Noindex: Use your CMS (like Shopify) to locate low-performing products. Review Google Analytics for pages with minimal traffic or conversions.

• Delete, Noindex, or Consolidate: Remove pages that don’t generate traffic or sales, noindex unnecessary variations, or merge similar products into one “super page.”

Pro Tip: Focus on the 20% of products that drive 80% of your sales

Problem: Duplicate Content

Duplicate content can negatively impact rankings, but it can be handled 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: Implement “rel=canonical” tags to guide search engines to the primary version of a page.
• Use Canonical Tags to Differentiate Pages: Use the canonical tag to distinguish between duplicate and original pages.

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

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

Product Page #1:

Product Page #2:

As you can see, the content on both pages is nearly identical, which isn’t ideal.

Problem: Thin Content

Thin content provides minimal value and can negatively affect rankings.

How to Fix It:

• Identify Thin Pages: Use tools to detect pages with fewer than 250 words.
• Enhance with Quality Content: Expand key product and category pages to 1,000+ words, incorporating detailed descriptions, features, and user-generated content like reviews.

Our analysis of over 11 million Google search results revealed that longer content generally outperforms thin content in rankings.

Templates streamline the process, making it significantly faster.

Here’s a sample template for a product page description:

Problem: Site Speed

Site speed affects both SEO and conversion rates.

How to Fix It:

• Upgrade Hosting: Choose high-quality hosting (at least $50/month) for faster load times.
• Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN): A CDN improves site speed and enhances security.
• Optimize Images: Compress and export images properly to reduce file sizes.

Drive Traffic with Content Marketing

Content marketing can attract a large volume of targeted traffic and significantly enhance your eCommerce SEO strategy.

The question is:

How can you leverage content to improve rankings and drive more traffic to your eCommerce website?

Here’s a step-by-step guide…

Step #1: Discover Where Your Target Customers Spend Time Online

Identify popular forums, social media groups, and blogs where your target audience actively participates, and use these insights to shape your content strategy.

For example, if your target audience consists of coffee enthusiasts, you’d want to explore platforms like Reddit’s coffee community.

Step #2: Understand the Words and Phrases Your Customers Use

Now that you’ve identified your target audience, pay attention to the words and phrases they use to describe their challenges and concerns.

These phrases are keywords your audience uses when they’re not actively shopping. They serve as great topics for creating blog content.

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

Next, focus on creating content that’s truly the best of its kind.

How can you achieve that?

Once you’ve completed step three, go back to the beginning and implement the entire SEO strategy once more.

By consistently publishing content on your ecommerce site, you’ll see that these links, traffic, and social media shares will help improve the ranking of your product and category pages.

For instance, the popular cookware ecommerce site Williams-Sonoma.com has an impressive blog that offers recipes, cooking tips, interviews with chefs, and much more.

Check Also: Social Media Marketing Packages in India 2025.

One of the main reasons so many sites link to them is their high-quality content.

Step 4: Leverage User-Generated Content (UGC)

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

It enhances engagement, builds trust, and keeps users on your site longer.

But that’s not all.

UGC also helps search engines understand and rank your content more effectively.

How?

By demonstrating that real people are engaging 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 encourages users to share their action-packed videos for a chance to be featured by GoPro.

Also Read: Why Content Is Important For SEO.

These videos keep visitors 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. This helps build trust and keeps users interested.
• Share Different Types of Content: Post unboxing videos, testimonials, and reviews.
• Optimize for Search: Add keywords to video titles and descriptions.

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

Build High-Quality Links

In this section, I’ve got TWO detailed case studies on ecommerce link building for you.

In the first case study, you’ll see how Chris built links directly to his ecommerce site’s product pages—without using any content.

Then, you’ll learn how Mike used two creative link-building strategies to increase 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 who was struggling with link building.

So, Chris tried The Moving Man Method.

After applying this strategy, the number of links pointing to his client’s website skyrocketed.

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

But the real story lies in the types of links he got—contextual links from highly relevant sites in the electronics niche.

Chris earned links from a popular consumer electronics website, a Danish news site, and an editorial in an online electronics magazine. What’s even more important is that many of these links pointed directly to product and category pages.

Read Also: SEO vs Digital Marketing | What is the Difference?.

Here’s how he did it step-by-step:

Step 1: Find Outdated, Moved, or Expired Resources

Step #1 is to find resources that are outdated, expired, or no longer working.

Since Chris was working with an ecommerce site, he focused on companies that had recently gone out of business.

No matter what you sell, there are likely businesses in your industry that have shut down—and they may have thousands of links pointing to their old site.

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

Since pages on out-of-business websites are still technically active (they don’t show 404 errors), broken link checkers can’t identify them.

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

They give you link-building opportunities that your competitors might not even know about.

So, how can you find these outdated resources?

Here’s a strategy that works really well:

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

These sites acquire domains that have value (like traffic, backlinks, or both) and organize them in one place, making it easy to browse through them.

Chris spotted 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 shut down.

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

Chris thought to himself:

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

And he was right.

This leads us to step #2…

Step 2: Find Pages Linking to the Outdated Resource

Once you’ve found a popular but outdated resource, it’s time to look for sites that link to it.

Start by grabbing the URL of the outdated resource.

If it’s a single page (like a tool that’s no longer working or a service that’s been discontinued), use the URL of that specific page.

If the whole site is down, just use the homepage URL.

Take a look at the number of referring domains. The more referring domains, the more link opportunities you’ll have.

Next, click on “Backlinks” to see all the pages linking to the outdated resource you found.

And this brings us to the final step:

Step 3: Send Emails, Get Links

Now it’s time to inform people about their outdated link.

Here’s a sample email you can use (this is the actual outreach email Chris sent):

As you can see, Chris didn’t just point out the outdated link. He also provided a replacement.

The best part? The replacement was a page on his client’s site 🙂

When you send short outreach emails and help improve other people’s sites, email outreach usually works really well!

That’s all there is to it.

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

Mike Bonadio launched an ecommerce site in the wedding industry.

Knowing how competitive the wedding space is, Mike understood he needed to build links quickly.

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

One day, Mike was browsing various wedding-related Facebook groups.

He noticed that many of these groups hosted events that featured products from wedding vendors.

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

And he was right! This simple strategy led to a lot of great links.

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

Step 1: Find Industry Groups That Host Events

Join a few Facebook groups related to your industry. Then, check the “Events” tab in each group.

Step 2: Look for Events That Need Products

Search for upcoming events where your products could be a good fit.

Some events may even mention that they’re looking for vendors.

Step 3: Contact Event Organizers

Get in touch with the event organizers and ask if they’d like to feature your products at the event.

You can ask if the products you send will be featured in the group or in press coverage. If not, simply send them free products and hope for the best.

Step 4: Ship Your Products

You can ask for unused items to be returned, but it’s usually easier not to deal with return shipping.

Step 5: Stay Updated

Stay in touch with the event organizer about the event, especially when they’re writing posts. Keep track of everything and watch for your products or photo shoots to be featured. Make sure you’re credited with a link when it’s published.

Some events get featured on high-authority sites with strong domain authority. Here’s an example on a DA77 site:

Nice!

Step 6: Thank the Organizer

Be sure to thank the organizer and offer to collaborate again on future events.

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

LEGIT.

Start Growing Your Traffic Today

Now that you’ve seen how ecommerce SEO can boost your store, it’s time to take action.

Begin by focusing on the keywords and optimizations that will make the biggest difference. Choose a strategy and get started.

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

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