Building Effective Product and Service Pages With SEO in Mind

Shopping online means stepping into a department store so large it's impossible to imagine everything you might find. Worldwide, more than 2 billion people buy products online every year. Unlike shopping in a brick-and-mortar store, though, it's easy to instantly compare options, and that means buyers love to do their research. This vast and valuable market isn't made up of people who just snap up the first product they see; instead, it's full of buyers who want to know as much as possible before they buy. Does your strategy for web content take this into account?

If it doesn't, you're missing out on opportunities to generate leads and convert them to sales. Today's digital marketplace practically demands rich product and service pages. A product photo and the manufacturer's basic information about the item are no longer sufficient. In fact, such bare-bones pages can turn buyers away—and fast.

So how do you sell products effectively or market your services to buyers? Content that fleshes out these pages and provides vital information is the answer. Let's take a quick look at what makes these pages work for you.

Know What Keywords You Need To Target

Keyword research is your best friend here. You won't always be able to effectively target the broadest or most difficult keywords. However, digging into the data can reveal long-tail keywords and related phrases that you can effectively target for reliable ranking. Knowing where you want to land is key before your campaign takes off. You have to do the homework.

Master the Metadata

Page titles and page metadata are so easy to overlook—and so easy to master when you put in the effort. Not only is good metadata a must-have to rank effectively, but the descriptions you write will be a major factor in motivating users to click through to your page. From the optimal length to keyword inclusion, know what metadata means for your campaign's effectiveness.

Be Unique and Add Your Voice

No one likes duplicate content — not users and especially not Google. Instead of deploying boilerplate across your product or services pages, ensure that there is plenty of variety to go around. The more unique your pages, the better. Fulfilling this requirement also allows you to add some of the flavor of your brand persona and its voice to selling your products and services. Make the page about more than just what's for sale; make it about who's selling it, too.

Answer the Burning Questions Your Buyers Might Have

Want an easy and effective way to make your product pages more SEO-friendly? Answer some key questions. "FAQ" sections are an easy way to build more content into your pages while providing opportunities to incorporate keywords and boost your ranking. Users with questions about a product or service punch those questions directly into Google. When your business is the one that shows up with web content that has the answer, buyers notice.

Don't Forget About Speed

Remember, loading speed is an important metric for SEO, but you need to think about speed on all platforms, not just regular computer users. Nearly half of all ecommerce sales in the US come from mobile device users, after all. Your product pages should be speedy, mobile-friendly, and easy to navigate.

Bringing All the Elements Together

Every business needs to find the best formula for their brand and within their industry. Some companies may need to focus more on the finer details of a product so buyers can drill down to find exactly what they need. Others will benefit more from a narrative approach that inspires buyers to imagine using your product or service. Discovering which approach gives you the best results is an integral part of the process.

As one of the cornerstones of web content for ecommerce businesses, you can't afford to overlook the value of building attractive product and service pages. Is your business selling itself to buyers as effectively as possible? Now might be the perfect time to re-evaluate your approach.