The e-commerce sector has been experiencing robust growth for several years, with the COVID-19 pandemic further expediting its rapid expansion. Extended lockdown periods necessitated an increased reliance on online shopping, with these new consumer habits anticipated to endure post-pandemic. Businesses aiming to thrive in the post-COVID landscape must bolster their online presence.
Integrating SEO best practices into your digital marketing strategy is the most effective and cost-efficient means of enhancing your online visibility. However, the dynamic nature of technology makes keeping abreast of the latest SEO trends a challenge for many companies. The effort is worthwhile, as the top three search engine results pages (SERPs) receive 75% of all clicks for a particular search query.
Below, we outline the future SEO trends and best practices for e-commerce, assisting your business in crafting an impactful digital marketing plan for the upcoming year. Adhere to these anticipated SEO best practices to enhance your SERP rankings, increase brand visibility, and elevate revenue generation in 2021:
In contrast to past search engine algorithms, which prioritized domain authority as the primary organic ranking factor, future SEO trends will emphasize content quality in determining a page’s SERP placement. With a 92% market share, Google holds a significant influence over shaping the industry’s future SEO trends and best practices. Google’s recent algorithm updates have made content quality pivotal for ranking success.
Google’s May 2020 Core Update has enabled less established domains to outperform well-established brands if they provide valuable, higher-quality content. This update introduced Google’s EAT principle, encompassing expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. EAT is a standard employed by Google’s AI algorithms to assess content quality on a webpage.
Google’s May 2020 Core Update penalizes industries producing low-quality content while rewarding those offering valuable information. The update downranked the games and entertainment sectors while boosting the organic rankings of news, business, and health industries. Future e-commerce SEO best practices involve crafting content that aligns with Google’s EAT principle to improve SERP rankings and enhance brand exposure.
Content marketers can no longer rely on extensive backlinking to boost their SERP rankings with short, low-quality content. Google’s AI algorithms are increasingly adept at identifying thin content and demoting such pages in organic search results. Producing comprehensive, authoritative, and reliable content that adds value to your audience is among the most effective SEO best practices for 2021 and beyond.
To create content that meets Google’s EAT standards, begin by researching your target audience to understand their needs. Once you’ve identified their concerns, develop engaging content that offers practical solutions. Support your content with data, facts, and statistics from reputable sources to establish authority and trustworthiness. High-quality content that satisfies Google’s EAT principle will improve your business’s organic rankings and differentiate you from competitors.
The era of ranking at the top of SERPs with short, keyword-heavy articles has passed. New Google algorithms favor lengthy, in-depth content, with articles exceeding 3,000 words often securing top positions in organic search results. A 2019 SEMrush report indicates that long articles receive three times more traffic, three and a half times more backlinks, and four times more shares than shorter articles.
Long-form content will become increasingly crucial as a ranking factor in the future, making it one of the most effective SEO best practices to enhance your business’s SERP rankings. Regularly developing long-form content can be time-consuming and costly, but it yields a high return on investment. You may outsource content marketing to an SEO agency or establish an in-house team of professional writers to produce high-quality, informative articles for your audience. Long-form content can drive more traffic to your site, increasing business revenue.
Voice search is rapidly growing in popularity due to its convenience and ease of use. A 2019 eMarketer report revealed that nearly 40% of American internet users used voice assistants for online searches. With voice recognition technology improving, optimizing content for voice search is a future e-commerce SEO best practice that can help expand your online business to reach new audiences.
Optimizing your content for voice search involves identifying conversational language people might use to search for your products or solutions. Incorporate voice search phrases as secondary or tertiary keywords to expand your site’s reach to those using voice commands. Voice search optimization can drive more traffic to your site, increasing sales.
Consumers are increasingly turning to specialized or vertical search engines to find specific products or solutions. Optimizing images and videos is among the best SEO practices for 2021, as visual commerce grows and reaches a broader audience.
Optimizing images for search engines can significantly boost traffic to your e-commerce website. Use detailed alt text and keyword-rich file names to enhance image search rankings. Adding images to your sitemap facilitates search engine crawling and indexing.
Investing in video marketing is essential if you haven’t already. According to Oberlo, 54% of consumers want to see more video content from businesses or brands they support. A HubSpot study found that 90% of consumers believe video content aids in their purchasing decisions. Optimizing video content for search engines is one of the best e-commerce SEO practices for 2021, enhancing your business’s exposure and sales.
Google’s mobile-first indexing, introduced in 2019, prioritizes the mobile version of web pages in search rankings. Ensuring your e-commerce website is mobile-friendly is a critical SEO best practice for 2021, enabling your site to rank well in Google’s SERPs.
Data science will play an increasingly important role in determining your organic rankings in Google’s SERPs by 2025. Utilizing data science and analytics tools to monitor your website’s performance and user experience is crucial for identifying areas of success and improvement.
The global COVID-19 pandemic has permanently altered consumer shopping habits, pushing many online. To thrive in this new landscape, businesses must adopt the latest e-commerce SEO best practices into their digital marketing strategies. The SEO best practices outlined above will help e-commerce businesses improve their organic rankings, expose their brands to more potential customers, and drive more traffic to their sites.
If you’re looking to enhance your organic rankings in search results and grow your e-commerce business in 2021, Coalition Technologies can assist. Our award-winning team of digital marketing specialists will develop an SEO strategy tailored to the age of artificial intelligence, preparing your e-commerce business for the future. Contact us at (888) 506-7096 to learn how we can elevate your online business to new heights.
