How Can SEO-Optimized Product Descriptions Drive Your E-Commerce Business?

The internet has revolutionized the way in which we shop, making it increasingly easy to compare products with those belonging to competitors.

Post-COVID-19, the majority of consumers and shops have moved online, meaning that competition is fierce for e-commerce businesses. While someone may have a better, more affordable product, if the copy isn’t persuasive enough, it’s likely that a competitor will win the sale.

In the case of many small businesses, a potential buyer may not even be able to see your website listed, never mind your product descriptions. When searching for a product, we rarely click past the first page of results as we are more likely to trust those that search engines rank higher. This suggests that your position in the rankings is even more crucial.

So, how do we get Google to rank us higher?

This is where SEO comes into our product descriptions. SEO stands for “search engine optimization”, indicating that we need to tailor our content to be picked up by algorithms in order to be recognized by the likes of Google and Bing as useful and relevant. The first step to boosting traffic is through the implementation of keywords.

These are the words that users type into the search bar when looking for products and can be sourced by copywriters with specialized software. Theoretically, the more keywords you integrate into your descriptions, the more bases you are covering, and the more likely you are to reach a wider audience.

But does that mean we write descriptions for search engine bots instead of people? No, it doesn’t. Quite the opposite…

Our recent work for Heal’s

Pleasing your audience is the most important aspect for search engines, given that their main concern is usability. Search engines’ function is to help find users exactly what they are looking for and keyword stuffing and shallow content isn’t helpful to humans. If this is what users are presented with, they are likely to immediately exit your product page and, as a consequence, search engines will rank your website lower.

However, if e-shoppers seem satisfied and spend longer browsing your product, or even better; they make a purchase — the search engine perceives this as highly relevant content and therefore rewards you by boosting the ranking of your listing. This occurs based on the number of click-throughs, the duration visitors spend “window shopping” and the all-important converted sales.

Seo-optimized product descriptions for people, not bots

There are many ways you can make product descriptions SEO-friendly for people. The first step is to envisage your target audience and engage them by using language that speaks directly to them. This involves cultivating a tone that appeals to the relevant demographics and truly identifying their pain points to offer solutions with your products.

This leads to the importance of implementing persuasive prose. Persuading an audience can be achieved by demonstrating how your product can improve their lives with relatable examples, as well as the use of the personal pronoun “you” instead to help keep readers engaged.

While elaborating on your products’ unique selling points is essential for standing out from the competitors, it’s also important to keep it simple, concise, and relevant by highlighting the key benefits and features.

The best way to present them is in bullet point form, while also adopting a clear word choice. People are often in a hurry when surfing the web, so this allows them to process the information quicker, which in turn, will facilitate the sale of your product.

Finally, original and unduplicated content can give your product descriptions credibility and build trust between your business and the consumer. Avoiding generic language will allow your descriptions to be more exciting, and refraining from lifting content used by other companies gives you the opportunity to develop your own brand voice.

Our recent work for Sofia Refer

Crafting SEO product descriptions is a balancing act

While you can optimize your product pages with countless keywords, that doesn’t mean consumers will be convinced to actually click through to your listing. On the other hand, you can write compelling copy, but without the implementation of keywords, there is a risk that no one will see it.

With this in mind, the ideal SEO strategy for product descriptions involves a balancing act of all the above factors in order to drive your e-commerce business along the pathway to success!