Online retailing or eCommerce is changing the way people shop. Right from large retailing giants to boutique stores selling trinkets, everyone wants a piece of this lucrative pie.

Though large organizations have the capabilities and teams to handle most of the digital marketing tasks, small players have to do most of tasks associated with SEO by themselves. If you are a single person trying to survive this entrepreneurial challenge or just have access to a small team, you can use following tools for boosting the SEO rankings of your eCommerce website in an organic way.

Ensure Your Website is Mobile Device Friendly

When 50% of the online sales are made using a mobile device, you simply cannot ignore this aspect of white-hat SEO. As a matter of fact, Google, while ranking a website, gives precedence to the mobile friendliness of a website over other important factors. This is especially critical if you have a custom built website. Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool to check your website’s score.

Use URLs that are SEO-Friendly

You will find that many e-Commerce sites use a messy URL scheme by default – one that is full of session information and attributes and it is simply unimpressive. Guessing a URL and filling it is impossible and trying to copy and paste without using a URL shortener does nothing but create a mess. Also, the potential issues with duplicate content it causes has no end.

The best solution is using a better variation on your URL and creating URLs that are SEO friendly. Keep in mind that plain English is always the best.

Create 301 Redirects

Another paramount aspect to tackle to make your e-Commerce website SEO-friendly is to create 301 redirects. However, you also need to keep in mind that a lot of e-Commerce sites are changing and deleting pages. With 301 redirects, you can direct your customers to your new page. In short, a 301 redirect is a way to permanently redirect from one URL to another. This way, you make sure that your potential customer is not turned away from your website empty handed.

Use a Sitemap

If you have changes occurring in your website, the fastest way to update Google about it is an XML sitemap. When you use an XML sitemap, you make sure that there is a complete list of all your pages in the search engine, including links as well as timestamps for the last time changes were made. You do not have an excuse not to utilize an XML sitemap since setting it up for automatic creation is rather easy.

Use Robots.txt to Block System Pages

When it comes to e-Commerce pages, there are often subpages that need to be kept private. You should make sure that these pages are locked in from the search engines, and prevent their indexing on different search engines. All you have to make sure that those pages are disallowed on every user agent.

Create Unique Page Titles

You will find that duplicate page titles, for product pages in particular, are a major hassle. You should make sure that they are spiced up a little to make them unique. Creating a macro is a poignant way to generate them for product pages – keep in mind that there should be enough to make them distinct. You might find that a suitable template to start is <Product Name><Product Descriptor><Brand Name>.

Create Strong Product Pages

As an online retailer, the use of images is necessary, and with it a short description is prudent. You can make the description unique by including a keyword or two in them. Include the price, a well-written description, several images, a separate section for specifications, options for colors and sizes, as well as other choices. You should also include related products, and do not forget customer reviews.

SellerMetrics, developer of Amazon optimization software, explains that since online customers cannot physically see or touch your products, having a detailed product description will let your potential buyers understand what you offer, and this affects their buying behavior. Make sure your product pages are comprehensive, but clear, concise, and true to what you offer.

Use Schema

You definitely need to use Scheme.org which is a Google-sanctioned method to include additional information into a site’s code. When you implement such rich snippet data, you can make it possible for Google to display prices, reviews, and star ratings dynamically for your site’s products. You can make additions to your rich snippet with such changeable information without the hassle of editing the entire snippet every time you make changes to the code.

It is time for e-Commerce owners to adopt something that is engaging and exceptional, especially if you want your e-Commerce business on top of the search engines. SEO-friendly features are what you need to make sure that your e-store is a success.