If you’re a fashion marketer, or an agency working with a new fashion client, then you know that SEO is essential for online success.
But what makes fashion e-commerce SEO unique? And what are the best practices that you need to follow?
In this article, I’ll explain everything you need to know about SEO for fashion e-commerce. I’ll cover the basics of SEO, and explain why it’s so important for fashion businesses. Then I’ll take a look at the unique challenges faced by fashion marketers, and discuss the best ways to overcome them.
Why Does SEO Matter for Fashion E-commerce?
SEO is important for all businesses that want to succeed online, but it’s especially important for fashion e-commerce businesses, for a few reasons:
- The fashion industry is extremely competitive. In order to succeed, you need to make sure that your store is visible in search results.
- Fashion trends change quickly. This means that you need to be able to adjust your SEO strategy on the fly, in order to keep up with the latest trends.
- Fashion customers are often looking for specific items. This means that your store needs to be optimized for relevant keywords, so that customers can find what they’re looking for.
If you want your fashion e-commerce business to succeed, then you need to make sure that you’re doing everything you can to optimize your store for search engines. At the end of the day, if you want more people to find your fashion brand online, SEO for fashion e-commerce is what you need.
What Makes Fashion E-commerce Unique?
There are a few things that make fashion e-commerce unique which need to be taken into account when optimizing a store for search engines:
- The fashion industry is image-heavy. This means that your store needs to be optimized for image search, as well as traditional text-based search.
- Fashion customers are often looking for specific items. This means that you need to be able to target long-tail keywords effectively.
- There is a lot of competition in the fashion industry. This means that you need to be extra-vigilant about monitoring your SEO performance, and constantly looking for ways to improve your results. There is no room for “set it and forget it” when it comes to your SEO strategy.
These are just a few of the things that make fashion e-commerce unique. If you’re optimizing a store for this industry, then you need to be aware of these challenges, and find ways to overcome them.
Best Practices for Fashion E-commerce
So, what are the best practices for fashion e-commerce? Here are a few things that you should keep in mind.
Build a User-Friendly & Mobile Friendly Website
The first step is to make sure that your store is user-friendly and mobile-friendly because 69% of customers are shopping right from their mobile devices.
In the fashion industry, it’s important to make a good first impression. If your store is difficult to navigate, or doesn’t look good on mobile devices, then customers are likely to click away and never come back.
Make sure that your website is designed with the user in mind. Use clear and concise text, easy-to-use navigation, and high-quality product images. And test your site on multiple devices to make sure that it looks good and works well no matter where it’s being viewed.
In general, mobile friendliness means your page should appear clear, concise, and easy to read from a small screen. The page should load quickly, have clear navigation, and avoid popups that are difficult to close. Make sure your copy isn’t cut off or moved onto a separate line due to the smaller screen size. Your customers should have the same experience on your site no matter what type of device they are using.
Want to see this in action? Let’s take a look at Express’s mobile page:
Express does a great job of covering all the key details I mentioned. The text is concise and clear, the user can easily navigate it with a small screen, and any popups are easy to close. Whether they are on desktop or their smartphones, shopping is easy.
Optimize Your Product Pages for SEO
The next step is to make sure that your product pages are optimized for SEO. This means using the right keywords, and including all of the relevant information that potential customers might be looking for.
Make sure to include product titles and descriptions, as well as customer reviews and ratings. And use high-quality product photos to give visitors a clear idea of what your products look like.
In addition, you’ll need to make sure that your product pages are properly canonicalized. This means that if you have the same product in multiple colors or sizes, each page should be treated as a unique page. This will help to prevent duplicate content issues, and make it easier for search engines to index your pages.
Use Rich Snippets to Stand Out in Search Results
Another way to optimize your product pages for SEO is to use rich snippets. Rich snippets are bits of code that you can add to your pages, which help to improve your listings in search results.
For example, you can use rich snippets to display product ratings, customer reviews, and other information. This will help your listings stand out in search results, and can help to increase click-through rates.
Type almost any product description into Google search and you’ll see at least one type of rich snippet appear.
Studies found that having a rich snippet can increase your click through rates by as much as 677% and drive 20-40% more traffic than products without rich snippets.
Use High-Quality Images
In the fashion industry, images are everything. High-quality product photos can make a big difference in whether or not someone decides to buy from your store.
Make sure that your product photos are clear and well-lit, and show your products from multiple angles. In addition, you should use descriptive filenames and ALT text, to help improve your results in image search.
Finally, you’ll need to make sure that your images are properly sized. Large images can take a long time to load, and can hurt your SEO. So make sure to optimize your images for the web, and resize them before uploading them to your site.
Source: Abercrombie
Pay Attention to Your Site’s Speed
Site speed is an important ranking factor for all websites, but it’s especially important in the fashion industry. In this industry, shoppers are often looking for fast results, and they’re not willing to wait around for a slow website. In fact, 53% of mobile site visitors will leave a page if it doesn’t load within three seconds. If it takes as long as ten seconds to load, the bounce rate will increase by 123% compared to a loading speed of one second.
Your e-commerce platform should be built on a fast and reliable hosting solution, so that your store can load quickly and reliably. Check out my list of the best e-commerce platforms to make sure your website is set up for success.
In addition, you’ll need to make sure that your pages are as lean as possible. This means removing any unnecessary code, and minimizing the number of HTTP requests. You can use tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights to test your page speed, and to find ways to improve it.
Below is an example of what Google’s Page Insights can show you in seconds.
Add Calls to Action (CTAs) That Stand Out
Your website’s calls to action (CTAs) should be clear and easy to spot. After all, if potential customers can’t find your CTAs, they’re not going to click on them. And what good is a product page if no one ends up buying?
Make sure that your CTAs are placed prominently on your pages, and use strong language that encourages visitors to take action. One study found that adding a sense of urgency increased convection rates by 332%. For example, instead of using a CTA like “Submit,” you might use a CTA like “Add to Cart.”
In addition, you’ll want to make sure that your CTAs are mobile-friendly. With more and more people shopping on their smartphones and tablets, it’s important to make sure that your CTAs are optimized for these devices.
Finally, you’ll want to use A/B testing to experiment with different CTAs, to see which ones are most effective. This will help you to fine-tune your CTAs, and ensure that they’re conversion rate is as high as possible.
Don’t Forget About Local SEO
If you have a brick-and-mortar store, or if you sell to customers in a specific geographic area, then you’ll need to make sure that your website is optimized for local SEO.
There are a few things that you can do to improve your local SEO, including:
- Creating business listings on directories like Google Business Profile, Yelp, and Foursquare
- Adding your business address and phone number to your website
- Optimizing your website for local keywords
- Creating local landing pages
- Getting listed in local directories and journals
Fashion E-Commerce Linkbuilding
Having a healthy backlink profile is one of the best things you can do to increase the overall SEO performance of your site. What makes a healthy profile? High-quality, authoritative sites linking back to your content.
Because we are focusing on the fashion niche, it’s important that you focus on sites that are relevant to that audience when it comes to your linkbuilding efforts. But how do you set yourself up for success? Here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Quality over quantity: Don’t fall into the trap that you can equal 1 top-quality backlink with a dozen smaller ones. If the niche is relevant and the site is legitimate, those smaller backlinks can be useful. But you still want to try and land those big fish.
- Make sure the site’s tone matches: If we’re talking purely SEO, this isn’t necessarily as important. But for e-commerce, you also want sales. Tone matters more here. If the site you are getting a backlink from makes fun of a product that you sell, don’t expect a lot of sales from that link.
- Get granular with niches: Like my last point, a site can seem like a good backlink at a glance, but not be as strong when you look closer. For example, if you get a backlink from a fashion blogger who also blogs about supplements, that’s going to dilute the message a bit.
Overall, if you do your due diligence and have high-quality pages on your site to link to, you’re going to see more success with this strategy.
Keep an Eye on Your Competition
In the fashion industry, it’s important to keep an eye on your competition. See what they’re doing, and see what’s working well for them. Then, you can adapt their strategies to your own business.
One way to do this is to use a tool like BuzzSumo, which allows you to see the most popular content in your niche. This can give you an idea of what topics are resonating with your audience, and what kinds of content you should be creating.
You can also use a tool like Ubersuggest to spy on your competition’s keywords. This can help you to see what keywords they’re targeting, and how well they’re ranking for those keywords.
Finally, you can use a tool like Open Site Explorer to see who’s linking to your competition’s website. This can give you an idea of which websites are sending them the most traffic, and which websites you should be trying to get links from.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are a few frequently asked questions about SEO for fashion e-commerce:
What are the most important ranking factors for fashion e-commerce?
Some of the most important ranking factors for fashion e-commerce include mobile-friendliness, site speed, and relevancy.
What are some good keywords to target for fashion e-commerce?
The keywords you choose need to be relevant and specific to what you offer. For example, if you sell clothing, some good targets are “women’s clothing,” “men’s clothing,” and “children’s clothing.”
How can I improve my fashion e-commerce store's SEO?
There are a number of things that you can do to improve your fashion e-commerce store’s SEO. Some of the most effective methods include using high-quality images, paying attention to site speed, and using relevant keywords throughout your site.
How much does it cost to improve SEO?
Your budget may impact your marketing efforts but shouldn’t impede you from making sure your fashion e-commerce website is set up to be an effective sales magnet. Check out this article to learn how to market an e-commerce store on a budget.
Some of the most important ranking factors for fashion e-commerce include mobile-friendliness, site speed, and relevancy.
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" } } ] }Conclusion
SEO is important for fashion e-commerce businesses, but it can be a bit different than other types of e-commerce businesses. You won’t always know what e-commerce customers want but you can make sure you’re doing whatever is in your control to make sure they find your site and are happy shopping on it.
SEO for fashion e-commerce is a unique challenge, but one that can be overcome with the right approach. Learn how to optimize your website even more with these helpful e-commerce traffic tips.
What’s your favorite website to shop on and why?
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