Many people think they know what's best for SEO. But what works for one company might not work for another. If you run a big online store, some common SEO tips can hurt your business. Let's look at four SEO "best practices" that might not be so great for you.

Blog Content: Is It Worth It?

Writing blog posts appears to be an effective way to promote your brand. But if you're only writing blogs to get more people to know about your brand, you might be wasting your time.

• Blogs don't always lead to sales. You measure how well every other part of your business is doing. Why not your blog? Writing blog posts solely because you think it might attract customers isn't a good plan.

• Focus on what sells. Instead of writing blog posts, try to rank higher for searches that people use when they're ready to buy. This means focusing on your product pages and category pages. When people search for something specific and find your page, they're more likely to make a purchase.

Think about this: Will the next blog post you write make you money? Or will it just be ignored?

If you already have blog content, update it. Use internal links to connect your blog posts to your product and category pages. This can help people find what they're looking for and encourage them to make a purchase. It's also important to update old content to keep it relevant.

Some companies publish multiple blog posts every week, but many of those blogs receive little to no traffic. It might be better to eliminate the blogs that aren't performing well. This can improve your website's overall appearance.

Agencies should be honest. If an agency is writing blog posts just because you asked them to, they might not be helping you. A good agency should tell you what will work, even if it's not what you expected.

Backlinks: Don't Just Hope for Them

Getting backlinks from other websites is essential for SEO. But hoping that people will link to your site on their own is not a good strategy.

You might think that journalists will naturally link to your site because you're a big brand. However, most journalists are unaware of who you are. Therefore, you should actively seek out backlinks.

Paying for backlinks may seem unethical, but it can be an effective strategy. If you don't want to pay, you can still reach out to journalists and offer them unique information or insights, such as industry trends, research findings, or expert opinions. You can also utilize services that connect you with journalists seeking sources.

No matter what you do, don't just sit back and wait for backlinks to appear. You need to go out and get them.

Technical SEO: Keep It Simple

Technical SEO involves making sure your website is easy for search engines to crawl and understand. Some people think you need to fix every little technical issue on your site. But if you don't have a massive amount of products, that might not be true.

Yes, it would be great to fix everything. But you only have so much time and money. It's better to focus on the most important things first. For example, make sure your pages are being crawled and indexed correctly. Utilize schema markup, a type of code that you can add to your website to help search engines provide more informative results for users and assist search engines in comprehending your content. Fix broken links.

Don't get too caught up in page speed. If your site loads in under 3 seconds, you're probably fine. Making it load even faster might not make a big difference in your rankings.

Content and backlinks will help you rank higher, faster. Technical SEO is important, but it's not the only thing that matters.

Reputation Management: It's About More Than Just Fixing Bad Reviews

If you run a large business, you likely have some negative reviews circulating. It's essential to manage your online reputation.

If you don't already have one, create a reviews page on your website. This can help you rank higher for searches like "[your brand name] reviews."

It's challenging to remove negative reviews from sites like Reddit and Trustpilot. Instead of focusing all your efforts on addressing the existing negative reviews, try to generate more positive content.

SEO can be a powerful tool to build trust. When your site appears at the top of search results, it signals credibility to potential customers, especially those who are new to your brand. This trust-building aspect of SEO is a significant return on your investment.

Consider how you utilize paid social media. You spend money to raise awareness of your brand among people. And you spend money to retarget people who have already visited your site. You should also invest in SEO.

When people are ready to buy, they will search for what they want. If you don't rank highly for those searches, they're going to buy from someone else.

This urgency is even more pronounced for expensive products. High-priced items often require more research before purchase. If your site doesn't rank on the first page of Google, you risk losing these potential customers to your competitors.

Final Thoughts

Remember, not all SEO advice is one-size-fits-all. As a big online store, it's crucial to tailor your SEO strategy to your unique business context. Focus on what truly matters: ranking for the right keywords, acquiring backlinks, and building trust with your customers.

Ready to take your eCommerce SEO to the next level? Contact our agency to explore how we can create a plan tailored to your needs.