How could you not be using e-commerce today if you are a vendor who sells your wares online?
It’s time to review your search engine optimization strategy again.
To increase customer traffic to your website, you may need to tweak your SEO process.
You will be able to boost your search engine rankings once you have a better understanding of SEO.
There are software tools that can provide data and alerts about the website’s overall health and performance.
Using SEO tools can help you find areas of potential as well as vulnerabilities or problems that are preventing you from ranking higher in search engine results pages, or SERPs.
When Internet users visit your website, Google shows the results of their search queries in this format.
Organic search results, paid Google Ads results, Knowledge Graphs, featured snippets, and video results are all part of the SERPs.
Some conventional marketing strategies are becoming outdated as online shopping continues to grow in popularity.
However, the success of your SEO ranking is still an important part of your marketing strategy.
Marketing with SEO
One of the most cost-effective marketing techniques you can use is search engine optimization.
It acts as a magnet for customers who are actively searching for your goods and services on the internet.
SEO is more important now than it has ever been.
According to Steve Wiideman, president and CEO of Wiideman Consulting Group, more customers are turning to the Internet for goods and services they may have previously purchased offline before the pandemic.
“Restaurants have thrived by partnering with delivery services like Doordash, Postmates, Uber Eats, and Grubhub, or by creating keyword-rich pages on their websites.
Off-premises searches for delivery, takeout, carside, curbside, or outdoor dining are answered by keywords “According to the E-Commerce Times, he said.
Applebee’s, for example, saw a 37 percent increase in organic visits in 2020 compared to 2019 and a 167 percent increase in online orders.
Despite a 23 percent drop in traffic from Google Maps due to fewer consumers seeking directions, he noticed that online orders from Maps and “3-Pack” map listings in organic results were up by over 27 percent.
“Customers’ purchasing preferences have changed, some forever.
These new online ordering customers have discovered the ease of ordering online and will most likely stick to their new routine even after the pandemic is over “Wiideman said.
The E-Commerce Times spoke with Steve Wiideman about the fundamentals of developing a 2021 SEO plan.
Applebee’s, Public Storage, IHOP, Skechers, Blake Pizza, Technicolor, Bosley, Belkin, Linksys, Homes.com, FIDM, Essentia Health, and Grand Seiko are only a few of the brands he’s collaborated with.
Wiideman developed and teaches the California State University Fullerton’s Website Optimization and Strategic Search Engine Marketing online course, as well as the University of California San Diego’s SEO Tools and Analytics course.
He teaches at the University of California, San Diego, California State University, Fullerton, and Fullerton College, and was recently hired to write a textbook for a popular online college learning service.
Is SEO’s effect more relevant for general commerce or e-commerce, according to E-Commerce Times?
What is the reason for this?
Wiideman, Steve:
For many factors, e-commerce is likely the most effective marketing tool for companies today.
When a transaction can be connected to a particular channel, such as search, social, email, referral, or other marketing, it’s much easier to track ROI on marketing efforts.
Second, when making a purchase, many users save their details or create an account, enabling advertisers to use remarketing campaigns, newsletters, and loyalty programs, both of which minimize the cost of more costly advertisement mediums including bidding on keywords in the Google Search Network.
What does a good SEO campaign entail?
Wiideman: Basic main performance measures, or KPIs, are used to assess SEO success.
Many marketers consider the following to be the most important:
a. Organic sales growth year over year and month over month
b. Sales growth from maps and 3-Pack listings on a year-over-year and month-over-month basis.
Other KPIs that the different members of the SEO team might be tracking include:
a. Change in technical site problems as a percentage
b. The percentage of time it takes for a mobile page to load.
c. Average keyword location of monitored and tracked keywords (often segmented by category or business objectives)
d. The number of new inbound links obtained via upper funnel/informational content (such as FAQs).
Over the course of a year, a good campaign would have reached and surpassed its initial KPI targets.
Here’s a connection to a prototype that we use for a number of our restaurant chain clients.
This template has developed into a Google Data Studio dashboard over time, but it is still as useful today as it was when it was first created.
How do businesses create a good SEO plan for 2021?
Wiideman: Businesses can develop a successful SEO strategy by devoting one to three months to analysis and preparation, with the following deliverables from a seasoned strategist:
a. SEO Audit (Technical) b. Competitive “Baseline” Report
c. Create a connection between auditing and strategy
d. In-depth keyword research (existing data and competitive insights)
e. Taxonomy and Information Design Strategy for the Website (based on keyword research)
f. SEO Strategy for Local and/or E-commerce
The research’s action items are compiled into a project management framework such as Monday.com, Basecamp, Jira, or (our favorite) Smartsheets until it’s done.
To ensure transparency, tasks are delegated, prioritized, and due dates are added.
What has changed as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic in terms of what people look for and how they search?
Wiideman: The use of the words “near me” and “online” has seen the most improvement in how users act in search engines.
With less people going out to shop, online shopping has never been more relevant.
Businesses are and visit-to-sale (conversion) rates by designing mobile shopping experiences that involve a visitor’s thumb during the experience rather than a keyboard.
As previously mentioned, enhancing content by addressing keywords will keep the kitchen lights on in the restaurant industry.
How can online retailers stop SEO rip-offs?
Wiideman: Today’s SEO is becoming more open.
Spam calls promising to “rate you #1 in Google” are not as popular among business owners.
Instead, as part of their survival plan, they are staying up late to teach themselves.
This is why we created our free SEO Masterclass: to arm business owners with the knowledge and skills they need to manage SEO in-house and avoid being duped by cold-callers.
