In part one of our SEO for ecommerce mini-series, we explained the process of keyword research to help ecommerce brands find, target, and implement the right keywords, so their stores rank high on search engines and increase their visibility and sales. 

This, however, isn’t a task you can get away with only doing once. If you want to stay successful, it’s important to occasionally take stock of how your website is doing from an SEO perspective and make changes when necessary to truly see results.   

In this blog, we’ll walk through auditing your store/blog content, analyzing data from tools like Google Keyword Planner, Analytics, and Search Console, and optimizing your strategy based on those insights to ensure your website gets the traffic you expect. 

What is Keyword Optimization?

As part of a good ecommerce SEO strategy, keyword optimization is the process of taking stock of all the keywords your website is ranking (and trying to rank) for, determining which keywords actually align with what your target audience is searching for online, and updating your webpages and content strategy to increase your site’s visibility on the search engine results page (SERP). 

Think of it like: if keyword research for your online store is step 1 of your content strategy, keyword optimization is step 2. It’s an opportunity to assess your website's performance and make adjustments to enhance it. 

Why Keyword Optimization Matters for Ecommerce

The process of on-page SEO for ecommerce isn’t a one-and-done task. Search engine algorithms get updated, new tools like AI/LLMs appear in the mix, and competitors pop up to dethrone your pages from the coveted #1 position on Google. This forces brands to constantly be on the lookout for new ways to improve their rankings and stay relevant online. 

After implementing your initial keyword strategy, you need to audit performance and refine your approach. This ensures you’re not just ranking, but ranking for the right keywords that drive traffic and sales. 

How to do Keyword Optimization for an Ecommerce Website

A healthy marketing strategy is one that constantly evolves as you gain new information and insights, and as trends come and go. Here’s how to ensure you’re always in good standing on the SERPs for the pages and products you care about. 

Step 1: Audit Your Existing Website and Keyword Performance

Start by collecting data on how your site’s keywords are currently performing. Use free tools like Google Search Console for query impressions, clicks, and average position, and Google Analytics for organic traffic, bounce rate, conversions, as well as SEO platforms like Ahrefs or SEMrush for deeper insights. These tools help identify which search terms you’re ranking for and how much value those keywords bring to your site.

When you start the auditing process, review these metrics:

1. Impressions: How often a given page appears in search results. 

2. Average Position: The average ranking of your page for a given keyword. When you began your keyword research, you should have associated a combination of short and long-tail keywords with website pages. Review if those pages are actually ranking for those keywords. 

3. Clicks/Click-through Rate (CTR): How many people clicked through to your page via the SERP. High impressions with a low CTR may signal an opportunity to improve your title/meta description. 

4. Organic Traffic and Conversions: Visitors and sales coming from search. Are the visits from certain keywords actually converting into customers?

Next, review the data. Ensure your pages rank for keywords relevant to your business. You could be at position #1 for any number of keywords, but if the content of the pages that the clicks on those searches are generating doesn’t match the intent of the person visiting your page, your bounce rate will increase, and your sales will stagnate. A spike in organic visits is great, but only if these visits are relevant. 

Ensure that your most important keywords, i.e. the ones that are core to your business, are ranking high and that your traffic is good. If overall organic traffic is low, try targeting high-volume keywords or adding additional long-tail keywords to broaden your reach. 

Pinpoint which pages/keywords are performing well and which are underperforming. For high-performing content, note what’s working, for example, a blog post that’s ranking #1 for a niche term. 

For low performers, figure out why. Is it low on content? Wrong keyword targeting? Poor on-page SEO? Once you’ve created a list of content/pages to work on, it’s time to start optimizing. 

Step 2: Find New Keywords to Weave into Your Pages

Just like you did when you originally started to create content and optimize your ecommerce site, it’s time to compile a fresh list of keywords to target. Head into your keyword research tool of choice and create a list of keywords that you want to improve rankings for, as well as new keyword opportunities discovered through your data analysis. 

This might include keywords you’re ranking for but not on page 1 (high potential), keywords your competitors rank for that you don’t, or new long-tail queries that showed up in Google Search Console.

Next, develop a keyword roadmap by assigning each target keyword, or cluster of closely related keywords, to a specific page on your site. Ensure that each page has a clear primary keyword focus. This prevents overlap and keyword cannibalization. For each keyword, choose the best-suited page or plan to create a new page, if needed. 

For the pages that weren’t performing as expected, swap out the keywords and phrases and replace them with similar ones that are likely to do better on the SERP, based on your research. 

When updating your content marketing strategy, ensure that while you’re consistently putting out fresh content, you’re also going back to edit content that isn’t ranking as expected. Sometimes this will involve adding new sections to your blog, A/B testing titles and headers, or rewriting meta descriptions and updating tags. While you’re at it, double-check that your image alt text and file names are also correctly set based on your page’s keywords. 

Sometimes optimization means removing or tweaking what’s already there. If certain pages or blog posts are outdated or performing poorly, decide whether to improve, merge, or remove them. For example, an old blog post targeting a keyword that no longer has search interest, or the search intent doesn’t match the content, could be redirected to a newer, more relevant post.

Google likes fresh content, so whenever you update something, add a note to the top of the article to state that you updated the piece on x day for x reason, and ensure the publication date reflects the date of your most recent update. 

Finally, optimize how your pages link to each other. Add internal links from high-authority pages, like your homepage or popular blog posts, to the pages you want to boost, using descriptive anchor text that includes keywords where appropriate. A strong internal linking structure helps distribute “SEO equity” throughout your site and helps search crawlers find all your important pages.

Step 3: Track Website Performance and Adjust

After making optimizations, keep an eye on your SEO metrics over time. Set a schedule to review the same data you collected in your initial audit: rankings, organic traffic, impressions, CTR, and conversion rates. Use Google Analytics, Search Console, or your preferred SEO dashboard to see trends for specific keywords and your website content as a whole.  

Next, review other metrics like average time on page, bounce rate, and most importantly, conversion rate from organic traffic. For an ecommerce site, increased relevant traffic should ideally lead to more add-to-carts or sales. Tracking these KPIs will tell you if your SEO improvements are translating into real ROI.

Make it a habit to perform periodic SEO audits of your site. For example, a mini-audit quarterly and a comprehensive audit annually. This doesn’t mean overhauling your strategy every few months; instead, check in on the fundamentals: no new technical issues, content is up-to-date, and you’re still aligned with your keyword strategy.

Most importantly, understand that SEO is an ongoing process. Use the data you gather to make iterative tweaks. For example, if after two months a keyword’s ranking has stalled at page 2, try something new: consider further updating the content, building a couple of quality backlinks to that page, or refining the meta title to be more compelling. 

If another keyword suddenly starts gaining traction, consider capitalizing on it by adding more related content. SEO algorithms and search trends can change, so a keyword that performed well last year might need a refresh this year.

Conclusion

Keyword optimization is an ongoing, iterative process that demands regular monitoring, analysis, and adaptation. By consistently auditing your website's performance, staying responsive to shifts in search behaviour, and refining your strategy based on the insights you discover along the way, you’ll maintain a strong competitive edge in search results. Remember, the key to successful ecommerce SEO is staying proactive. 

At Blue Badger, we can help you refine your content strategy and optimize your online store to ensure your products and services appear at the top of the SERPs. Get in touch with us today to get started.