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In This Article:
What is an E-commerce SEO Audit?
Why is a Regular Audit of an E-commerce Website Important?
Technical SEO Audit
Crawlability and Indexation
Page Speed Optimization
Mobile Friendliness
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
XML Sitemap
Robots.txt File
Canonical Tags
Broken Links and Redirects
Image Optimization
Structured Data
E-commerce Content Audit
Keyword Optimization
Product Page Optimization
Category Page Optimization
Content Gaps
User-Generated Content
Blog Content Development
Content Freshness
Off-page SEO Audit
Backlink Profile Analysis
Social Media Engagement
Brand Mentions
Competitor Analysis
Local SEO Optimization
Link Building Strategy
Search engine optimization (SEO) has many components, and it can be easy to get lost in the weeds when trying to optimize your e-commerce site's SEO. A comprehensive e-commerce SEO audit can help uncover hidden issues and boost your site's performance on Google and other search engines. A good SEO audit checklist covers technical SEO, content quality, site structure, user experience, and more.
What is an E-commerce SEO Audit?
An e-commerce SEO audit enables developers to thoroughly evaluate an online store's search engine optimization. Your goal should be to identify any issue that hinders your site's visibility on search engines. By diagnosing and fixing these problems, you'll improve your store's rankings on Google and other search engines. This will drive more organic traffic to your site, thereby boosting conversions and sales.
Why is a Regular Audit of an E-commerce Website Important?
SEO is a multi-headed beast that can be hard to wrangle. Many factors affect how your site appears to Google. Technical issues, broken links, and outdated content all negatively impact both your rankings and user experience.
By conducting an SEO audit, you make sure every aspect of your site has been checked. Being proactive with fixing SEO issues will invite more traffic to your site and make sure they have a good experience when they visit.
23 Steps to Perform an E-commerce Site Audit
This checklist will help you examine every facet of SEO on your site. From technical SEO elements like crawlability to backlinks to quality content, we'll leave no stone unturned. By following these 23 steps, you'll identify and rectify SEO issues, optimize performance, and drive more organic traffic to your site.
Technical SEO Audit
A technical SEO audit is the backbone of your e-commerce site's optimization strategy. This phase focuses on identifying and fixing technical issues that hinder your site's visibility in search engines.
Download free SEO checklist for self-audit
1. Crawlability and Indexation
Crawlability and indexation are the cornerstones of SEO. No other optimization matters if the search engines can't index your site.
The first step is to check for crawl errors on Google Search Console. These errors will highlight the exact issues that are preventing Google from accessing or indexing your site.
Continually monitor and resolve any issues that Google Search Console brings to your attention. These could involve broken links or blocked resources. Once you address these issues, Google can get back to indexing your site properly so it displays in search results.
2. Page Speed Optimization
Page speed isn't just about good user experience. Search engines care about speed as well. Google knows slow sites frustrate customers. If they know your site is slow, they'll be hesitant to recommend it to users.
Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to analyze your site's loading time. It will highlight areas that are negatively affecting your page load speed. Common fixes it will highlight include compressing images, minimizing HTTP requests, and enabling browser caching.
3. Mobile Friendliness
Most users on the web are now using mobile devices. People find shopping more convenient on smartphones and tablets. Make sure your site is responsive and works properly on mobile devices so as not to exclude these customers.
Use Google's Mobile-Friendly test within Search Console to assess your site's performance on mobile. Like Google's other tools, it will identify issues that plague mobile users. These can include small text, hard-to-tap touch elements, and large images.
Address any issues Google's test brings up, and your site will become more accessible to mobile users. This will increase engagement and reduce bounce rates.
4. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
Customers don't trust unsecured sites. This means Google won't recommend your site either if it is not secured. Adding an SSL certificate encrypts data on your site, making sensitive information more secure.
The easiest way to check if you have an SSL certificate is to look at your site's URL. If you see "https://" in the URL, then your site is fine. If you see just "http://" without the "s," then you'll need to add the SSL certificate.
5. XML Sitemap
XML sitemaps help Google and other search engines to index your site more efficiently. Verify your site has an XML sitemap, and submit it to Google Search Console.
This gives Google a map of all your site's relevant pages. Any time you update your site or add pages, update your sitemap as well.
6. Robots.txt File
The robots.txt file lets search engine crawlers know which parts of your site to ignore. Make sure this file has the proper directions. Otherwise, the crawlers might miss indexing critical pages. You'll want back-end pages to be blocked and any customer-facing page to be viewable.
Google Search Console has a "Robots.txt Tester" tool. This tool specifically checks the robots.txt file for errors or misconfigurations.
8. Broken Links and Redirects
Broken links lead users to dead ends. This will frustrate users, who may just leave your site in response. For outdated URLs, use 301 redirects to guide users and search engines to the correct pages. Fixing broken links with redirects preserves link equity and helps visitors reach the right content. If the page truly no longer exists, delete the link.
As you create redirects, be sure to avoid redirect loops. These loops happen when URLs redirect back to each other, causing the user's browser to crash.
9. Image Optimization
Images can make or break a site's performance. Optimize all images' sizes to improve load times and enhance SEO. Compress images while being careful to not reduce the quality of the image.
Lazy loading is where images are only loaded when they are about to enter the user's view. This approach is helpful as it reduces the page's initial load time.
Also, make sure all images have descriptive alt text. This tells the search engine what the image is, so Google can understand its purpose on your site. This also improves your site's accessibility for sight-impaired users.
10. Structured Data
Properly structured data (or scheme markup) helps search engines understand your site's content. This is especially critical for e-commerce sites with lots of products and categories. Make sure your listings have rich snippets so pricing, ratings, availability, and more show up directly in the search results.
Use Google's Structured Data Markup Helper to add scheme markup to your site. This will make your search listings more informative and attractive, increasing click-through rates.
E-commerce Content Audit
Regularly audit the quality, relevance, and performance of all content on your site. Check product descriptions, category pages, blog posts, and other content. Optimize underperforming pages to improve search engine rankings and have better user engagement.
11. Keyword Optimization
Determine what keywords are providing the highest-quality traffic to your site, and look for similar keywords. Optimize the use of these relevant keywords throughout your titles, the title tag and meta description of blog posts, and headings.
12. Product Page Optimization
The most important pages of any e-commerce site are product pages. The more of these you can get to show up in Google search results, the better your conversions will be.
Use keyword-rich product descriptions to make your product pages stand out to Google. Use informative features throughout the page like customer content, key features, and FAQ sections.
Write unique product descriptions for each page to avoid having duplicate content. Try to emphasize the product's unique attributes.
13. Category Page Optimization
Category pages are key to organizing products for search engines. Make sure relevant keywords are used in titles, descriptions, and headers throughout the page. Include internal links to related categories and products to direct crawlers where you want them to go.
14. Content Gaps
While you conduct your keyword audit and research, it's common to find large gaps in your content. Use tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush to identify these gaps and prioritize them based on search volume.
Plan new content around these gaps, or update relevant pages to optimize them for these new keywords. Filling these gaps improves your site's authority and creates new avenues for users to find your site.
15. User-Generated Content
Google has been prioritizing user-generated content like customer reviews. These also provide social proof, which boosts conversions.
Encourage customers to leave reviews by sending follow-up emails or offering incentives. Have a mechanism for displaying these reviews on the product pages. Displaying reviews builds credibility and helps make sure your site is constantly getting a stream of fresh content.
16. Blog Content Development
If organic traffic is part of your marketing strategy, your e-commerce site needs a blog. Product pages alone won't establish your site as an authority to Google. You need to create informative, keyword-rich blog posts that address your audience's pain points and interests.
Use tools like Google Keyword Planner to identify such topics. Develop lists of content ideas, and organize them into content hubs. Pre-plan internal links between relevant pages and product pages. As you build a network of content on your site, you'll attract more and more high-quality, organic traffic.
17. Content Freshness
Outdated content ages your site in the eyes of both users and Google. Regularly update your key pages, product descriptions, and blog posts with new information and images. Keep a close eye on dates, statistics, or facts that can become obsolete over time.
Off-page SEO Audit
SEO doesn't end with the content on your site. Equally as important is off-page SEO. Analyze backlinks, social media engagement, and overall brand mentions to make sure you have a cohesive internet reputation.
18. Backlink Profile Analysis
A robust backlink profile will improve your search engine rankings. Evaluate the quality and quantity of your backlinks using Ahrefs or SEMrush. If actively building new backlinks, concentrate on high-quality backlinks from authoritative e-commerce websites.
Identify backlinks from low-quality or spammy websites and attempt to disavow them. These kinds of backlinks will actively hurt your SEO rankings unless they are dealt with.
19. Social Media Engagement
Social media engagement can indirectly boost your SEO by driving traffic and brand visibility. Audit your social media presence on Facebook, Instagram, and X. Stay abreast of newcomers to the social media market like TikTok.
Share posts and content with links back to your website. Actively engage with users by responding to messages and comments. These conversations not only boost your brand on these outlets, but you'll also gain insight into what kinds of content resonate with your audience.
Track social metrics such as likes, shares, and comments. As you grow your audience across these platforms, you'll positively influence your search engine rankings by signaling content value.
20. Brand Mentions
Monitor brand mentions that lack a link to your site. These are missed opportunities for backlinks. Once rectified, Google will give you the link authority you deserve from that mention.
User tools like Google Alerts to track where your brand is mentioned online without a link. Reach out to the site owners or authors and politely ask that they include a link in these mentions.
21. Competitor Analysis
Conduct a thorough competitor analysis to gain insight into the strengths and weaknesses of your own SEO strategy. List your top competitors, then use SEMrush or Ahrefs to analyze their SEO across different metrics, such as backlinks, keyword ranks, and content strategies.
Look for opportunities where you can outperform them. List any strong keywords that they rank for but you don't. Incorporate these into your content strategy to capture that traffic from them.
Also, analyze their social media accounts and reviews to find areas for improvement on your site. By constantly monitoring competitors, you can stay ahead in your market, adapt to trends, and continually refine your e-commerce business's SEO.
22. Local SEO Optimization
Local SEO is the lifeblood of any e-commerce business that targets a specific geographic area. Use Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) to manage your local listing on Google. Make sure all information is accurate, including your business name, address, phone number, and hours of operation. Check for consistency across other local listing sites like Yelp, Bing Places, or Apple Maps.
Use local keywords in your content, meta tags, and image alt tags to target regional searches. Ask for customer reviews on Google to boost local visibility.
23. Link Building Strategy
Actively building links to your site improves your site's authority and search engine rankings. Focus on acquiring backlinks from authoritative, relevant e-commerce websites.
Backlink strategies include guest blogging, creating shareable content like infographics, or participating in industry forums. Analyze competitor's backlinks to identify other opportunities.
Reach out to influencers and bloggers in your niche for collaboration opportunities. These can include anything as simple as a review to something as complex as creating a joint piece of content.
FAQs
These frequently asked questions about an e-commerce SEO audit will help you better understand the process and its benefits.
How to do an SEO Audit in E-commerce?
The best way to perform an SEO audit for e-commerce is to start with a detailed checklist and work your way through it. The main categories of an SEO audit are technical SEO (like crawlability and page speed), on-page SEO (like keywords and content), and off-page SEO (like backlinks and social media engagement).
What is an E-commerce Audit?
An e-commerce audit is a comprehensive evaluation of an online store's website performance. It focuses on SEO, user experience, site structure, and content quality. It helps site owners discover areas for improvement across technical SEO, on-page SEO, and off-page SEO.
What Does an SEO Audit Include?
An SEO audit is comprehensive. It covers analyzing technical SEO factors, keyword optimization, content quality, backlinks, and overall user experience, which all play a role in improving search engine rankings.
What is SEO in E-commerce?
SEO for e-commerce means optimizing an online store's website to improve its rankings on search engines. This boosts its visibility when users search for relevant keywords.
What are the Best Tools for E-commerce SEO?
The top tools for e-commerce SEO include:
- Google Search Console: Monitor site performance and submit sitemaps directly to Google.
- Ahrefs or SEMrush: Research keywords and analyze backlinks for both your site and competitors.
- Google PageSpeed Insights: Optimize page speed on your site.
Which E-commerce Platform is Best for SEO?
Many e-commerce platforms have tools for optimizing SEO. However, Shopify and Magento are often considered the best e-commerce platforms for SEO due to their robust feature sets and robust plug-in ecosystem that enables deep optimization.
Summary
Several key takeaways from this guide to e-commerce SEO audits include:
- Perform regular technical SEO audits to identify and fix issues.
- Optimize content for targeted keywords and keep the content fresh by continually updating it.
- Use local SEO for targeting specific geographic areas
- Target high-quality, authoritative, relevant sites for backlink opportunities.
For expert assistance with your e-commerce audit, trust Transform Agency. With our extensive experience and proven results, we know how to drive organic traffic to your site by boosting your search engine rankings.
A seasoned product manager specializing in e-commerce, Helen excels in market analysis and strategic marketing for Magento platforms.
A seasoned product manager specializing in e-commerce, Helen excels in market analysis and strategic marketing for Magento platforms.
