How SEO works - A guide for online shop owners!

SEO - search engine optimization!

To briefly clarify the concept of SEO, it is simply an abbreviation for Search Engine Optimization - or search engine optimization in English. But what is it?

Exactly as the name suggests, it's about optimising your website for search engines to get the best possible results when people search for something that you might be selling through your online shop. We're playing with the idea that your business sells fitness clothing and accessories. If someone searches for 'gym bag' (which is something you sell!), you obviously want your online store to appear as high up in the search results as possible, while looking as relevant as possible so that they visit your site. 

It's more important than ever to keep up with Google

In Sweden, the Google search engine is used exclusively by the most people. All 97% of internet users search for information on Google - in other words, it's safe to say that it's important that you have a website that's liked by Google! Moreover, according to the Swedish Internet Foundation's annual "Swedes and the Internet" survey one in four Swedish internet users shopped online more during the pandemic than they usually did in the past, one in five also think they will shop online more after the pandemic. What can we conclude from this? Well, firstly that it's a very exciting time to be an e-tailer of course, and secondly that it's incredibly important to be at the top of Google results if you want to take advantage of the rise of e-commerce. Time to search engine optimise!

A few basic tips that will take you far

Of course, it's possible to get completely bogged down in the promised land of search engine optimisation and there's also an incredible amount you can do to customise your website down to the last detail. However, here are some simple tips to get you started:

• Create good, relevant content. Try to put yourself in the mindset of both Google and the person searching on Google. The searcher obviously wants to find what they're looking for, and Google in turn wants to make the best and most relevant suggestions possible. To make both Google and the person happy, it is important that the content of your web page is as good as possible with clear headings and relevant content with the right keywords and so on. Simply tailor the content to what people are searching for and make sure they are not disappointed when they visit your site.
• Use the right keywords. Keywords are words that people usually google to find web pages like yours. So try to use the right keywords in both the headings and text of your page. If you're selling a gym bag called "Athletic trunk X5", it might be wise to at least include the words "sports bag" or "gym bag" in conjunction with the product. Keywords can sometimes be difficult to figure out on your own, so you can use various analytics tools - Google's own version is called Google Analytics. You can see what people have searched for to get to your site.
  
  
• Don't be too spread out. Try to keep your topics to a minimum per web page, but write well and fill in with good and relevant information about the specific topic. Don't mix a lot of different topics, but rather split it up into several pages. This is because Google prefers it when it is clear what a specific page is about, as it can then feel more confident that the result presented to the person googling is relevant. Again, it's about the content itself, which should be as good and relevant as possible based on what the visitor googled in the first place.
  
  
• Write meta descriptions for your pages. There are features for filling in so-called meta descriptions of the pages on your website, which is basically a short description of what is on each page. This is also the description that appears on Google when people search and get your page as a suggestion. Let's say you have a page where people can find all your gym bags - here it would be good to have a meta description of the page that briefly describes that you sell lots of good gym bags at really good prices. The meta description will not appear on the page itself, but only in the search results on Google. Keep the description short and concise and - if possible - make sure you have meta descriptions on every page of your website!
  
  
• Put alt text on your images. Just like you can make meta descriptions of your web pages, you can put so-called alternate text, "alt text", on the images on your website. The alt text briefly describes what the image represents or what the purpose of the image is, mainly to help people who for various reasons cannot see the image without some kind of aid, such as a reading tool. Google also likes it when images have alt text, as it makes your site look more user-friendly - which can give you a boost in search results.
  
  
• Analyze, test and redo. Do a market analysis to find out who your competitors are, how they work and what words visitors search for. How can you differentiate yourself and what keywords do you need to compete for? What can you do better? Then just test, even if you only make small changes to your website it can make a big difference in the long run. Try, change, redo and be patient!

Are you stuck? We can help!

Can't find the right settings to search engine optimise your e-commerce? Don't understand Google Analytics? Or maybe you just need some help? We're here for you! Our customer service team will be more than happy to guide you through the features of the platform so you can get the settings just the way you want them. If you want additional help with SEO, keyword analysis or getting started with Google Analytics, we have partners who can help with that too. Get in touch and we'll help you out!