Shift4Shop eCommerce Blog | SEO (4)

Have you started an online store, only to realize that opening day was only half the battle?

Once you’ve set up shop, how long did it take you to rank on the first page of Google for a product or keyword vital to you?

If you’re like most website owners, the minimum time to start ranking for a product with your new website is 12 months. Most times, it can take 24-36 months.

And how would you feel if, after 12-36 months, you realize you’ve done your SEO all wrong and need to start completely over[...]

The number of advertisers on Facebook doubled in 2018, with cost per click metrics increasing by over 92%.

Unless your eCommerce store doubled its AOV (average order value) or cut ad spending in half, you’re now seeing less profit and more competition than ever in leading networks like Facebook, Google, and Amazon.

If you’re like me, new customers come from a variety of channels:

1. Advertising (which can be increasingly expensive)
2. Word of mouth referrals (which are free, but not scalable)
3. [...]

If you sell products online, I bet the following thought has crossed your mind more than once:

“How can I get consistent (and hopefully free) traffic to my product pages?”

The answer, of course, is search engine optimization, or ecommerce SEO in this case. Given time and effort, optimizing your product pages is truly worth it.

A study conducted by Chitika revealed that the first result on Google searches receives almost double the impressions of the second result.

Almost double!

The higher[...]

At one time, search engine optimization (SEO) was all about playing to an algorithm. With tiny scraps of information from Google, marketers crafted broad-spanning but formulaic SEO strategies, hoping their sites would rank higher.

The world’s biggest search engine has evolved greatly since the days of simply appeasing an algorithm. While that’s still important, the Google of today is mostly concerned with encouraging a better user experience. That means the engine now favors websites that[...]

Most online business owners think that social media and SEO are two separate entities and have their own distinct goals.

That’s not true: social media and SEO are linked to each other for providing relevant and useful content to the audience. Both social media and SEO complement each other and help enhance the overall online marketing efforts.

There are more than 2.77 billion social media users in the world. The uninitiated may think that social media is only useful for getting in touch with[...]

Everyone has an opinion, right? But when it comes to running your business, getting customers to express their opinions about it can be a key to online success.

Online reviews are of increasing importance in digital marketers’ search engine optimization (SEO) marketing efforts. Reviews not only signal consumers’ sentiment, but also influence the search engine rankings that can make or break a business.

Link building should be a fundamental stage of your SEO strategy. If you’re just getting started at SEO, don’t freak out! Building and conducting a link building strategy can be done smoothly with these practical tips.

The whole process of link building consists of manually getting links from other websites to your own with the ultimate goal of increasing both traffic coming from different parts of the web (referral traffic) and increasing the authority of a website.

To get started, let’s take[...]

When talking about digital marketing, the topic of SEO always comes up. It’s at the core of all online marketing. And without it, your online presence suffers.

However, SEO strategies branch out, depending on your online business model. For example, if you run an online store, your strategy will be different from that of a YouTube content creator.

Today, we’ll focus on SEO for online stores selling products from drop shippers. We’ll outline a “2019” 5-Step plan for you!

Google is the most popular search engine for shoppers to find a product. The popularity of search means a good deal of natural traffic may come from the search engines.

To get a top ranking in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), you must learn a slew of rules or search engine algorithms that are updated frequently. In other words, whatever is true for today may not be true next year.

In this article we have compiled tips from a team of seasoned SEO professionals with an updated knowledge of[...]

What are some SEO trends that will make an appearance in 2019?

If there is one thing that’s constant about SEO, it’s that it’s always changing. From HTTPs to mobile usability to RankBrain to mobile page speed, staying at the top of Google search requires continual effort.

And the best way to help your business in 2019, just like every other year, is to stay on top of the changing landscape of SEO.

Of course, when it comes to SEO trends to look out for in the new year, you may have noticed that[...]

Amazon, Google and now Facebook are all vying to be the digital assistant you go to for all your personal household needs. From shopping reminders to connecting with family over video calls, these tech giants want to be part of it all.

According to TechCrunch, over 47.3 million U.S. adults have access to smart speakers, and the market value for digital assistants worldwide will rise to $8.56 billion by 2019.

And every tech giant wants to come out on top. In this article we'll review the[...]

Businesses are paying more attention to SEO because of the potential benefits that come from making their websites more visible to the public. It seems like common sense, but not enough people prioritize the optimization of their websites. Some businesses have been around for a while and already have an established customer base, but they understand the need for a website and throw one together quickly and cheaply.

Unfortunately, that’s not enough in this day and age. Many people who visit a[...]

Want to give guest blogging a shot but don’t know where to start?

Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered!

Despite so many other ways to promote your business, like Instagram or Snapchat, 53% of marketers still claim that blogging is their top priority when it comes to inbound marketing. That’s why many of them choose to invest in guest blogging as an effective link building strategy.

Nevertheless, guest blogging is a rather controversial topic and many marketing professionals still remain skeptical[...]

The voice recognition industry is growing rapidly and it’s expected to exceed $601 million by 2019. Of course, the voice tech is getting smarter and more sophisticated daily. Stats show that Google’s technology is now 95% accurate. And, the most beautiful thing about it is that it’s now available to anyone. You need only a smartphone to conduct voice search queries and give voice commands. Most importantly, it’s making our lives much simpler. You can now find the desired information easily,[...]

Long before Amazon released the Amazon Alexa Echo devices, Amazon acquired another company by the name of Alexa, one that provides commercial web traffic data and analytics.

Though the two companies belong to Amazon, and share the same name, there is no correlation between the two. In fact, there is some indication that the digital home assistant company had no knowledge of the commercial web traffic site prior to the release of the Amazon Echo. The digital home assistant was actually[...]

As someone with an interest in selling online, you're probably aware of SEO (search engine optimization) as the process involved with getting a website ranked higher in search results provided by Google and other search engines. But did you know you can use certain SEO techniques to increase the visibility of your eBay listings? You can — and you should!

Here are the SEO techniques you can use to optimize your eBay listings.

SEO is no walk in the park.

In fact, as far as online marketing is concerned, it’s easily one of the most intimidating disciplines.

High price tags, technical jargon, and esoteric “rules” prevent many ecommerce store owners from even getting their feet wet. If you’re among their ranks, we don’t blame you!

That being said, search engine optimization doesn’t actually have to be as confusing as it often seems.

In fact, you’ll likely see the most benefit from employing only the most fundamental[...]

E-commerce businesses have to pay very close attention to their SEO strategy in order to make sure it’s up to date with Google’s algorithms. Not doing so can put your website at an unnecessary disadvantage. The higher your ranking on Google is, the easier it is for people to find your website; the easier it is for people to find your website, the more likely your conversions will increase. Here’s our 20-point on-site SEO to-do list for e-commerce websites.

1. Identify Keywords You Already[...]

Link building is hard. That’s a fact.

One thing we see from a lot of companies is treating link building as a one off project. They create a piece of content, identify some potential sites that may want to link back to that piece of content and then outreach to those sites. Whilst this can be successful in gaining a few links in the short term, it’s not a sustainable way of building the authority of your content piece.

If you really want to nail your link building efforts, it’s got to be a[...]

Google is always trying to provide a richer experience to their users. That’s why Google improves its SERP features and shows Direct Answers, Featured Snippets, Knowledge Graphs, Top Stories and much more.

These Google SERP features get more clicks, traffic, and CTR from Google Search and also help you to gain trust from users and show off your business like a big brand.

And if you are running an e-commerce store then these rich snippets can also help you to increase your visibility, CTR,[...]