SEO Mistakes When Building an Online Store

Due to the rapid change in shopping habits and the migration of businesses online, many people believe that starting an online store is very simple and guarantees success.

However, it often turns out that despite an excellent offer, products or services do not sell well, and the website records few views. To avoid wasting time and money, it is worth paying attention to the most common mistakes made by entrepreneurs and their solutions already at the stage of building an online store.

Lack of originality and inappropriate keywords

Small entrepreneurs find it much harder to rank at the top of Google search results compared to large companies that have had their own websites for years. Originality is therefore an important asset for them. Every description on the site should be unique and created specifically for each product. Additionally, it should include keywords that support the SEO process. Unfortunately, a common mistake is copying descriptions from manufacturers' websites or competing stores. Consequently, the Panda algorithm, responsible for content analysis, considers such texts duplicates and reduces the website's visibility.

Texts should contain a so-called “call to action,” encouraging customers to make a purchase. Large, well-known brands that have built their position over years may afford to omit this element. Encouraging purchases or staying on the site can be placed, for example, in the form of a welcome banner. This is most often done using verbs such as “order,” “choose,” “buy,” “collect,” or “click.”

Lack of content strategy

Once product or service descriptions are prepared, it is important to establish a plan for subsequent publications that will support the store’s activity and improve SEO. Creating good descriptions is not the end of the creative work. They cannot be created once and then left to chance. To generate significant traffic, you must regularly provide users with interesting and unique content. Start by carefully analyzing articles created by competing companies. Note down questions and doubts that arise in your mind – these will become unique posts for your customers. Decide how you want to present them – you can start a company blog, create a social media page, or open a channel on YouTube.

Remember that your website should be visually attractive, drawing users with its appearance and pleasant color scheme. Ensure proper proportions between graphics and text. If the site mostly consists of photos, videos, and animations, Google’s bots may consider it insufficiently valuable. Additionally, graphic elements can overload the site, resulting in slower loading times.

Lack of a mobile version

Mobile phones are for millions of people a way to shop, manage finances, and relax. Over 60% of website traffic comes from mobile devices, so your online store’s site should have a mobile equivalent or a responsive version to display correctly on all screen sizes. Creating a mobile version will not only increase traffic to your e-shop but also improve its ranking in Google search results.

Also, pay attention to user convenience – enlarge the most important buttons, avoid overly large banners, and ensure the font is readable. Pay attention to the length of the purchasing process. If it is too long, potential customers may abandon their purchase before completing the order. Users dislike clicking through many subpages, checking and unchecking unnecessary consents, and providing excessive information. The simpler the ordering process, the higher the conversion rate.

The mistakes described here are just the tip of the iceberg of smaller and larger shortcomings made by online store owners. If you want to be sure that your website will achieve a high ranking and gain new customers, entrust it to specialists from an interactive agency. Contact us, and we will be happy to help.

We offer professional support at every stage of the project – from creating the online store to preparing unique product descriptions.