How to optimize a product page on your ecommerce?

SEO optimization of the product sheet is very important for being found in searches on the main search engines, especially Google. The first step to take is to select the keyword with which you want to appear in the SERP indexing. Let’s clarify that there are no tricks; the purpose of Google's algorithm is to show what users are searching for, and Google offers its paid positioning through Adwords. However, there are sectors that have limitations (alcohol, weapons, medicines, aids for the disabled, to name a few) or that cannot be advertised on Google even though they have no limitations in organic indexing.

HOW TO IDENTIFY THE MOST SUITABLE KEYWORD FOR THE PRODUCT?

It is necessary to identify a non-generic keyword made up of multiple terms that best identifies our product and how it is searched for by our customers. There are two parameters to consider when identifying the key phrase: the number of results provided and the number of monthly searches.

It will be easier to rank in the SERP for a key phrase that has 10,000 results compared to one that has 300,000. To find out the number of results, just perform a search on Google. What is more difficult is discovering how many searches are conducted monthly with that specific keyword. For this purpose, Google provides us with the service: https://adwords.google.it/KeywordPlanner alternatively, you can use services such as Seo Zoom that offer dedicated solutions for finding the simplest and most intuitive keywords.

The most suitable keyword/phrase will be the one that has the best ratio between monthly searches and the number of results in the SERP indexing.
Of course, if the product is niche, the monthly searches will be very low or not detectable.

OPTIMIZE PRODUCT TITLE AND DESCRIPTION.

A large part of the SEO optimization work is done for us by PrestaShop. Arte e Informatica has developed an additional module for PrestaShop to also manage the canonical tag and hreflang tags, which works completely autonomously once configured. The module in question is our Art Webmaster Tools Site Verification and Hreflang. So once the module is installed and configured, we can focus exclusively on the product sheet. It is important to remember that the description must entice the customer to purchase the product, so while aiming for SEO optimization, it is important not to lose sight of the main goal, which is to guide the user to purchase the product, and this will also be greatly appreciated by Google itself.

Particular attention should be paid to the choice of the descriptive product title, as this affects not only SERP indexing but also Google Shopping campaigns. The title should be a maximum of 150 characters, but it is advisable not to exceed 70 characters, as it will otherwise be truncated in search results. The most common format is as follows: Brand + Product Description + Model.

The guidelines to follow are as follows:

  1. The content must be original and not copied from other sites or the manufacturer (always check with https://copyscape.com/)
  2. The product title must include the keyword/phrase we selected for the product.
  3. The keyword/phrase should be repeated in both the short and long descriptions and highlighted in bold.
  4. In the descriptions, we also use synonyms of the chosen word/phrase to keep the text flowing and natural. Google can recognize them, and customers may use synonyms to search for the product.
  5. Do not overdo it by repeating the word/phrase in the text; twice in a text of about 300/400 characters including spaces is more than sufficient.
  6. Separate paragraphs and descriptions with different concepts in the long description using Header 2. For example, we could title the product features in H2: “Features keyword/phrase:”

On the product page, in order to encourage purchases, it is very useful for delivery times to be clearly visible in the format "Order within 4 hours and 5 minutes and receive between Thursday and Monday." For this purpose, an additional Prestashop module such as Estimated Delivery is necessary.

For the reasons stated, it is not possible to improve SERP indexing by uploading products from XML or CSV files from suppliers (e.g., Drop Shipping), because the descriptions in that case are not original, but common to thousands of other e-commerce sites.

Other useful information that should appear on every product page includes:

  1. Logos of payment methods;
  2. Return policy details;
  3. Phone number and hours for placing orders by phone (if this option is available). Some customers prefer human contact, especially in non-high-tech sectors.
  4. Product sheet, especially for high-tech products, it is advisable to use the "Features" tab when adding or modifying the product, as this will also allow your customer to make comparisons between products.

CAPTION FOR IMAGES

Prestashop automatically uploads images and will insert the product title as the caption, however, when we upload multiple images, it is advisable to modify this caption by selecting a different one for each image, for example: “product side view”. Prestashop allows us to modify the image captions even after they have been uploaded by going to the “Images” tab during the creation or editing of the product sheet.

INTERNAL LINKS AND REVIEWS

Internal links are very useful for indexing purposes; if the product has accessories, we should add them to the product sheet from the product tab by going to “Association” and selecting, in addition to the category and main category, also the manufacturer. At this point, we add the product accessories by searching for them in “Accessories”. If the product is an accessory for another product or a replacement part, it will be useful for it to appear as an accessory of the relevant product(s).

Use of Tags: in the product sheet information, in addition to the title and descriptions, we also find the “Tags” field. This field is very useful for internal search and is even more useful for creating links to similar products, which we can reference by entering the link: https://yoursite.ext/en/search?tag=tagname.”

To simplify our work for this purpose, additional modules for Prestashop such as “Icon tags” can be very useful, which display icons related to the product features in the product sheet, allowing us to link to a page that shows all products containing the same TAG. Other modules like Related Products can also be very useful, although we need to evaluate how their use affects the loading time of the product sheet.

Arte e Informatica has developed the PrestaShop Art Brand module that allows displaying both the information and the link to the manufacturer/brand of the product and to the same brand's products, thus enhancing not only the customer browsing experience but also the internal links. It is very easy to install and configure, but to use it effectively, the manufacturer sheet in “Catalog > Manufacturers” must be filled out with the logo and description.

Another very useful technique is to review your products by creating guides, videos, and useful tips and publishing them on your own blog, on social networks such as Facebook and YouTube, remembering to include the link to purchase our product. Our goal is always to sell, not to gain sterile FANS and collect LIKES that tell us how good we are. Otherwise, we could post pictures of butts and breasts, which will always perform better, but won’t generate any additional sales. The more valuable the guides, reviews, and videos we create, the more users will be interested in sharing them spontaneously, and external links, as long as they are spontaneous, are very much appreciated by Google.

As much as you may find external links for sale online or guides recommending creating a network of landing pages to scale SERP indexing, ignore them as these techniques worked until 2012, but now Google’s algorithm is very good at recognizing non-spontaneous external links, and you risk being penalized. However, landing pages can be very useful for other situations and web marketing techniques, especially in Adwords campaigns related to promotions or the market launch of new products.

PRODUCT REVIEWS AND COMMENTS

It is very important to allow and encourage customers to leave reviews on the products they have purchased, especially if we use a module that allows leaving ratings with Google rich snippets (which will show stars with the rating left by your customers in the SERP search) and these are then shared on Facebook with the relevant link to the product. Our intention is always to sell, not to receive applause. The impact on the SERP index will be minimal, but Google’s rich snippets will make your e-commerce more visible, attracting more customers.

META TITLE AND META DESCRIPTION

Now ignored by Google (used solely to display the link to our site in the SERP), they are still useful for internal site search and for other engines like Bing, so it is advisable to fill in the SEO fields of the product sheet. If you are not experts, trust the Friend URL set by default by Prestashop. However, if you have modified the product title, click on “create” to update it based on the new title. In the Meta title, enter a descriptive title of the product, and in the description, provide its description in less than 160 characters. The rules are the same as those you used for the product title and its short description.

CONCLUSIONS

Google also cares a lot about the security of its users, so in SERP indexing, you will achieve a better position if your e-commerce has an SSL certificate installed. Therefore, installing a certificate not only offers greater protection to your customers and gives a sense of greater professionalism but also helps with search engine positioning. However, there are no tricks or magic formulas; the more detailed and well-maintained the product sheet is, the higher you will rank in SERP indexing. The more likely it is that some customer will spontaneously share it to recommend it to a friend, the more conversions there will be, meaning the transformation of visits into sales, which is and remains the main goal of an e-commerce. Completing the product sheet with tips and videos, especially if these are original and published on your own channel, helps both the customer decide to make a purchase and find the product.

Author: Loris Modena

SENIOR DEVELOPER

Per Ind Loris Modena, owner of Arte e Informatica, started working in the IT sector in 1989 as a system administrator responsible for the maintenance and installation of computer systems. He began programming for the web in 1997, focusing on CGI programming in PERL and later transitioning to programming in PHP and JavaScript. During this time, he became familiar with the Open Source world and the management of Linux servers.

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