Best WooCommerce SEO Deep Dive: Optimizing Your Store

Having an online store is great, but it won’t matter if nobody finds it. You need to get people to visit your site and look at your products if you want them to buy. So how do you make that happen? Let’s talk about how to optimize your store and products to get the best WooCommerce SEO.

Product Descriptions

The biggest mistake I see people make in their online stores is with their product descriptions. They think they don’t need to put much effort into those because they have photos. And you absolutely need photos, but… Google isn’t going to rank your product page because you have photos. Your product description needs words.

At a minimum, you need 300 words of text that describe your product. And not only a description, consider this your sales text. What can you say about this product that might make someone want to buy it? What’s your unique selling proposition?

A Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is a marketing concept that highlights the distinctive features or benefits of a product, service, or brand that sets it apart from competitors in the minds of consumers. It’s essentially what makes a product or service stand out in a crowded marketplace and gives customers a compelling reason to choose it over alternatives.

What is a unique selling proposition?

A USP should convey a clear and memorable message about why a product or service is better or different from others. It often focuses on a specific aspect such as quality, price, innovation, convenience, or customer service. Having a strong USP helps businesses attract customers, build brand loyalty, and increase sales.

Your product description should also contain your keyword and choosing a keyword can be tricky.

Pick a keyword

First, think about your product. If someone was going to Google and searching for your product, what would they type into Google? It might not be the product name. Figure out what people are searching for so that you can optimize your product for that keyword or phrase, and remember this should be unique to every product. You should not have multiple products with the same keyword. Use a tool like kwfinder.com or moz.com to verify if your keyword is good.

Where to put your keyword

The goal when using keywords is to get your website to get triggered when someone searches for it, so it’s important to be strategic when implementing your keywords into your strategy.

In the title

One of the biggest indicators to Google of what your product is is in the title, so you need to use the keyword in the title. If your primary title is the product name, and your keyword isn’t in the name, then it may be that you need to revamp the product name to include both your product name and your keyword.

In the description

The product description MUST use the keyword! If you want your product to be found for the keyword, you need to use it in the product description.

In the page slug (URL)

The URL of your product contains important information that tells the search engines about your product. You need to use your keyword in that URL. By default, the URL in WordPress is just the product name, so if you don’t specify, it could be long, unwieldy, and not use your keyword. Take an extra minute and change the URL of your product to use your keyword.

In the filenames of your images

One of my biggest pet peeves is when people don’t rename their images. When you take a photo on your phone or with a camera, the filename is something like IMG_34821.jpg and that doesn’t tell Google ANYTHING about what that image or product is about. If you have 5 product images, rename them all to your keyword and make it sequential. For example, if you are selling sunflower ornaments, your images should be named sunflower-ornament-01.jpg, sunflower-ornament-02.jpg, etc.

This name does not appear anywhere on the front end of your site, but Google can see that in your source code and it’s just another little touchstone that indicates what your page is about.

In the Alt Text of your image

Alt text, short for “alternative text,” is a brief description of an image or graphic element on a webpage. It is primarily used in HTML markup to provide textual descriptions for images for accessibility purposes. But it’s also a clue to the search engines about what your page is about. The Alt Text shouldn’t JUST be your keyword. It should be a description of the image. But… figure out a way to include your keyword into that description. It’ll go a long way.

In your meta title

A meta title, also known as a title tag, is an HTML element that specifies the title of a web page. It’s displayed on search engine results pages (SERPs) as the clickable headline for a given result and appears in the browser’s title bar or tab when the page is loaded. Meta titles are important for search engine optimization (SEO) as they provide both search engines and users with a concise and relevant summary of the content on the webpage. They should accurately describe the content of the page while incorporating your keywords. Make it something that inspires people to click too.

This isn’t something you’ll see on the page, but it’s important.

In your meta description

A meta description is an HTML attribute that provides a brief summary of the content of a web page. It’s typically displayed underneath the meta title on search engine results pages (SERPs) as a snippet of text that describes what the page is about.

An effective meta description should be concise, compelling, and relevant to the content of the page. It should accurately summarize the page’s content and encourage users to click on the link to learn more and it should include your keyword.

A few other WooCommerce SEO tricks

Consider adding a blog.

You can use your blog to generate tons of content as well as create opportunities to link back to your products.

A blog for an online business that sells physical products can cover a wide range of topics to engage and inform your audience. Here are some ideas:

1. Product Features and Benefits: Highlight different products in your inventory, discussing their features, benefits, and how they can solve customers’ problems or fulfill their needs.
2. How-To Guides and Tutorials: Create instructional content that demonstrates how to use your products effectively or provides DIY tips related to your products. For example, if you sell kitchen appliances, you could write articles on recipes, cooking techniques, or kitchen organization tips.
3. Product Comparisons: Compare similar products in your niche to help customers make informed purchasing decisions. Include factors like price, quality, features, and customer reviews.
4. Customer Reviews and Testimonials: Share customer testimonials, reviews, and success stories to build trust and credibility with potential buyers. You could also encourage customers to submit their own reviews or share photos of them using your products.
5. Industry News and Trends: Keep your audience informed about the latest developments, trends, and innovations in your industry. This could include updates on new technology, materials, or design trends relevant to your products.
6. Behind-the-Scenes Content: Give readers a glimpse behind the scenes of your business, such as how products are designed, manufactured, or sourced. This humanizes your brand and creates a stronger connection with your audience.
7. How Your Products Are Made: If applicable, provide detailed information about the manufacturing process of your products, including the materials used, production techniques, and quality control measures.
8. Seasonal and Holiday Gift Guides: Create gift guides tailored to different seasons, holidays, or special occasions, showcasing products that make great gifts for specific audiences.
9. Customer FAQs: Address common questions and concerns that customers may have about your products, shipping, returns, or other aspects of your business.
10. Sustainability and Ethical Practices: If your business prioritizes sustainability or ethical practices, share stories and initiatives related to these values. This could include information about eco-friendly materials, fair trade practices, or charitable partnerships.

I regularly write on this blog telling people to write a blog. But this is one of the best ways to draw traffic to your site. You probably can’t and shouldn’t write a 1500 word product description. But you can write a 1500 word blog post that links to your product.

Add Internal Links

An internal link is a hyperlink that connects one page of a website to another page within the same website domain. Basically, find opportunities with your site to link back to your products and then, this is very important, make the anchor text of your link the keyword you are using for your product.

Don’t ever use “click here” as the link. The keyword should be the words you click on that takes you to the product. This is very important.

Seek out Backlinks

A backlink is when another website links to your product. One of the easiest backlinks you can get is to add a post to your Google Business Listing. Of course, you have to have a Google Business Listing for this to work, but if you do, add a post!

You can also add links to social media, and you should. Consider going on a podcast to talk about your business, and ask them to link back to a specific product page. Maybe offer a free product in exchange for a review. Consider participating in forums, groups, or commenting on other websites.

---

SEO isn’t just one single thing. SEO is the culmination of a multitude of things. All these tiny little things you can do, on their own, don’t mean much, but when combined, can make a big impact.