Being visible online and ranking well on search engines (such as Google) are critical to achieving eCommerce success. But with ever-changing algorithms and consumer trends, what worked six months ago won’t be as effective now. Conducting a regular eCommerce SEO audit allows you to identify areas for improvement and fix technical issues. It will also optimize your content and marketing strategies to keep you ahead of the competition.
An eCommerce SEO audit is a comprehensive review of your online store’s search engine optimization (SEO) performance. It examines all the elements that impact your website’s visibility and ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs). This includes an analysis of your site’s technical infrastructure, content, user experience, and off-site factors such as backlinks and social signals.
In this guide, we look at how to conduct an eCommerce SEO audit to ensure your site is fully optimized for search. As a result, you’ll drive more qualified traffic, improve your conversion rates, and boost sales.
Why eCommerce SEO Audits Are Essential
Online retailers face unique challenges compared to traditional websites. For instance, eCommerce sites typically have large product catalogs with hundreds or thousands of individual pages. This can lead to issues like duplicate content, where search engines can’t determine which page is the most authoritative.
eCommerce sites also utilize dynamic URLs that change based on filters, categories, or a user’s shopping cart. It then becomes difficult for search engines to index and rank the content.
An eCommerce SEO audit can identify duplicate or thin content, fix URL structures, and ensure product pages are properly optimized. It also examines the user experience, checking for things like site speed, mobile-friendliness, and internal linking that can impact search rankings.
What’s more, an audit provides valuable insights to guide an ongoing content and marketing strategy. Specifically, it can reveal opportunities to create more compelling, search-optimized product descriptions, develop link-worthy blog content, and improve the overall visibility of the online store in search engine results. This holistic approach is essential for eCommerce businesses to stay competitive and maximize their online sales potential.
Key Components of an eCommerce SEO Audit
It’s important to examine the key components of an eCommerce SEO audit so you can create a roadmap to improve visibility, traffic, and revenue.
Technical SEO Audit
This examines the underlying technical infrastructure of the eCommerce website. It looks at factors such as site crawlability, page speed, mobile usability, and the implementation of structured data.
Crawlability refers to how easily and effectively search engine bots can navigate, understand, and index the pages of a website. Key aspects of crawlability include:
- How pages are linked together—good internal linking helps bots efficiently navigate the site
- Clean, logical URL structures
- Properly configuring the robots.txt
- XML sitemaps
- Page load speed
- Redirects
On-Page SEO Audit
The on-page audit aims to optimize individual product and category pages. This includes evaluating elements such as meta titles, descriptions, header tags, image alt text, and the quality and relevance of the product copy.
Content Quality Audit
The content quality audit looks at more than just the product pages. It examines other site content like blog posts, buying guides, and educational resources.
Backlink and Link Profile Audit
The link profile audit assesses the quality and quantity of inbound links. Internal linking structures are also evaluated to ensure astrong information architecture.
User Experience Audit
Finally, the user experience audit evaluates factors such as site navigation, conversion rate optimization, and overall ease of use.
Step-by-Step Process for Conducting an eCommerce SEO Audit
Based on the core SEO audit components outlined above, the following steps and tips will help you work through essential areas for optimization:
1. Technical SEO
- Evaluate your site’s crawlability. Check internal linking and the URL structure, and implement XML sitemaps.
- Analyze site speed.
- Optimize elements such as image quality and compression, browser caching, and code minification.
- Ensure your website is mobile-friendly.
- Properly implement structured data markup to help search engines better understand your product information.
2. On-Page SEO
- Optimize product and category page titles, meta descriptions, and header tags for target keywords.
- Enhance product copy by incorporating relevant keywords and providing detailed, unique descriptions.
- Optimize image alt text to improve both visibility and accessibility.
- Ensure consistent use of schema markup to highlight key product details.
3. Content Quality
- Review your blog, buying guides, and other informational content to ensure it’s valuable and engaging.
- Identify opportunities to create new content that addresses your customers’ pain points and search queries.
- Optimize content for relevant keywords and internal linking.
4. Backlink and Link Profile
- Analyze your backlink profile to identify high-quality, relevant links that boost authority.
- Evaluate your internal linking structure to ensure it supports strong information architecture.
- Fix any broken links.
5. User Experience
- Assess your site’s navigation, search functionality, and overall ease of use.
- Identify and address any friction points in the customer journey that may impact conversion rates.
Tools To Use for Your eCommerce SEO Audit
While an SEO audit may seem complex and intricate, there are tools to help you simplify the process.
Google Search Console
This free tool from Google provides valuable insights into your website’s performance in search results. It helps identify technical issues, such as crawl errors, indexing problems, and site health. The Search Console also provides data on your website’s impressions, clicks, and average position in search. This allows you to track your SEO progress over time.
Ahrefs
Ahrefs analyzes your website’s backlink profile and identifies opportunities for link building. It provides detailed information on your competitors’ backlink profiles so you can find high-quality link sources to target. Ahrefs also offers keyword research and content analysis features, which can help you optimize your on-page content and uncover content gaps.
Screaming Frog
Screaming Frog is a powerful web crawler that helps identify technical SEO issues on your eCommerce website. It can crawl your entire site, providing detailed information on URL structure, meta tags, image optimization, and other on-page elements. The tool also finds duplicate content, broken links, and other potential problems that can hinder performance.
Google PageSpeed Insights
This tool analyzes the loading performance of web pages. It also gives specific suggestions to reduce page load times, like compressing images, minifying CSS and JavaScript, and enabling browser caching.
SEMrush
SEMrush is a comprehensive SEO suite that offers a wide range of features for eCommerce SEO audits. Specifically, it can help you conduct keyword research, analyze your competitors’ strategies, and identify opportunities to optimize content and build links. SEMrush also provides insights into your website’s overall health, such as technical SEO issues, on-page optimization, and user experience factors.
Elevate Your eCommerce Strategy With a Comprehensive SEO Audit
A thorough SEO audit is an essential investment for any serious eCommerce contender. However, it can be time-intensive and requires in-depth insight for optimal results.
By hiring a professional for the job, you can save time, ensure you meet the latest search engine requirements, and achieve great results.
Unleashed Technologies is a leading provider of digital strategy, custom software, and web development services. Our expertise in eCommerce website development empowers businesses to thrive in an evolving digital landscape.
We regularly monitor and analyze key metrics such as traffic, conversion rates, sales, and user engagement. With these insights, we continuously adapt and optimize your website so it’s more effective and responsive to the evolving market. As a result, you can ensure sustained growth and success.
Our full suite of website services is designed to help you unlock the full potential of your online presence. Ready to boost your eCommerce success? Let’s connect.
