WooCommerce: improve the SEO of your e-commerce site

SEO: why is WooCommerce suitable for SEO?

The WordPress WooCommerce plugin   currently powers almost 30% of all e-commerce sites on the web. The vast majority of digital marketers prefer this open-source plugin over its competitors because it is  natively SEO Friendly . Its advantages relating to natural referencing are multiple:

• Optimized source code
• Compatible with several SEO optimization plugins accessible on WordPress
• Flexible solution and easy customization

Related: How to Choose the Right Keywords For your SEO Strategy

Like WordPress, WooCommerce is designed with SEO-optimized code. The fluidity of the plugin and its simplified architecture mean that the merchant websites it feeds have no difficulty in being explored and indexed by search engine robots. The extension also does not affect the technical performance of the platforms it runs: loading speed, accessibility, etc.

In addition to being itself very suitable for natural referencing, 

the WordPress WooCommerce extension is easily associated with other SEO plugins which allow a number of technical optimizations to be made. One of those plugins that fit perfectly into the WooCommerce ecosystem is Yoast WooCommerce SEO. The latter offers many interesting features including those relating to the optimization of the Sitemap XML file, the configuration of structured data and the management of the breadcrumb trail...

Finally, WooCommerce and WordPress greatly facilitate the task of website managers with regard to the creation of articles, the modification of content, the configuration of URLs, the filling of meta tags and all the other optimization actions necessary to boost the natural referencing of the pages (product sheets, category, etc.). The ease of use of the interface also makes it accessible to everyone, even to the most novice people in natural referencing.

WooCommerce: how to optimize the referencing of your e-commerce?

To get the most out of the WordPress WooCommerce extension and achieve your search engine visibility goals, you must perform certain technical and semantic optimizations after the actual creation of your merchant website. These actions concern, among other things: page titles, meta tags, textual content, URLs, images, customer experience, navigation on the website, etc.

Optimize your page titles for SEO

The title (title tag) of a web page is very important for natural referencing. Indeed, it is one of the elements on which the search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.) rely to identify what is being discussed on the analyzed page. This allows engine algorithms to classify information into the right categories in order to present it to users who need it. The title tag  also serves to inform users, because it is the one that appears in blue in the SERP when a web page is ranked among the search results.

In order for your WooCommerce store to generate traffic and conversions, you must therefore pay particular attention to your page titles. To be SEO, each product page must have a title tag that describes its content as clearly and succinctly as possible.  Stick to the 65-character limit so your titles don't get truncated on search engine results pages. It is also advisable to integrate keywords into your title tags to optimize them from a semantic point of view. Keep in mind, however, that it must remain readable for users.

Offer an attractive meta description

Like the title tag, the meta description is important for SEO because it serves to inform users of the content of the page. Located just below the blue link in search results, it influences the click-through rate and organic traffic of a web page. This is why its writing must be optimized. In no more than 150-160 characters, you should provide an  engaging description that will drive users to your product page . Your main keywords must therefore be present in this short meta description  and the marketing phrases. For more effect, you can also include an effective call-to-action at the end of the paragraph.

Integrate unique product descriptions and sheets

The fundamental principle of quality SEO copywriting on a WooCommerce site is originality. Each product you offer on your website should have a unique and rich description . It is important not to use the descriptions of the manufacturers, as this could be considered duplicate content by the Google algorithm and penalize your natural referencing.

Remember to integrate keywords into your product sheets to enrich them semantically. Descriptions should be consistent and pleasant for users to read. Finally, you must also think about structuring the content properly with Hn tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) and put the main ideas in bold if necessary. The use of bulleted lists in articles also allows the content to be airy and easier to read for visitors.

Properly configure your product URLs

By default, the WordPress WooCommerce plugin does not offer an SEO optimized URL structure. You can change this on the WordPress dashboard in Settings > Permalinks. To optimize the natural referencing of your WooCommerce website, opt for personalized short links with keywords. You can also configure the links so that the title of each page is automatically integrated into its URL. The referencing structure will thus be consistent throughout the website with links such as  website.com/product-name.

Optimize the internal linking of your e-commerce

To optimize the referencing of your e-commerce site which runs under the WordPress WooCommerce plugin, you must set up a good internal mesh . This requires  the integration in each product sheet of internal links pointing to other items  in your catalog. Care must be taken to ensure that recommendations from other content remain consistent and relevant. From an SEO perspective, you can also link from the blog section of your WooCommerce store to the product pages. The internal linking guarantees a good distribution of the SEO juice, which makes it possible to fairly boost the visibility of all your important web pages on the search engines.

Add alt text to your images and videos

Whether on social networks or on your website, visuals (images and videos) are essential to illustrate your articles and present their instructions. But they can also be an SEO lever for your online store created with the WordPress WooCommerce plugin. To do this,  add alternative text (a very short description with keywords) to your visuals by filling in the Alt tag .

The main use of this feature is to indicate the content of images to the visually impaired, but it is also used by Google for referencing visuals in Google Images. Your WooCommerce store can therefore be accessed from this section of the search engine.

Simplify and optimize the customer experience

Simplifying and improving the user experience is at the heart of Google's concerns. Therefore, the search engine is increasingly highlighting websites that guarantee a good browsing experience for users. Your WooCommerce store should be  easy to navigate and intuitive if you want to optimize its ranking in the SERP. Customers must be able to find the products they are looking for in a few clicks without getting lost in the tree structure of the platform. Integrating faceted filters into the navigation of your website will be a great help in this regard. It is also necessary to think of implementing an internal search engine when the products offered are very numerous. Choosing a WordPress theme suitable for SEO will also be useful for optimizing the interface.

Display the breadcrumb trail on your e-commerce site

To help your customers easily navigate your WooCommerce store,  consider displaying breadcrumbs at the top of your pages . This navigation tool simplifies the task for visitors and allows them to memorize more easily the paths that lead to the product pages that interest them. You can use the Yoast WooCommerce SEO extension to implement it. Search engine robots are attentive to user behavior on your website and therefore consider the presence of a breadcrumb  as a positive signal for the user experience.