SEO for retail

In the ever-changing world of retail, a strong online presence is essential to staying competitive. Whether you have a physical store, run an e-commerce site, or combine both, SEO is a powerful channel to attract more customers to your retail business.

In this article, I explain how to set up an effective SEO strategy for retail that will help you become more visible in search engines for both local and national searches.

Why SEO is important for retailers

SEO helps you promote your products and services online, allowing you to generate more traffic to your website and ultimately drive more sales. For retailers, SEO is particularly important because consumers often begin their buying journey online, even if they end up buying in a physical store. By establishing a strong SEO strategy, you ensure that your store or website appears at the top when consumers are searching for the products you offer.

SEO for retail is all about optimizing your website for search engines, as well as improving the customer journey through better product pages, local visibility and strong content that informs and inspires customers.

Optimize product pages: Make your products visible

One of the most important aspects of SEO for retailers is optimizing your product pages. You want to make sure your products are highly visible in search results so customers can easily find them when they search online for specific items.

  • Use detailed product descriptions: Make sure each product page has unique, detailed descriptions. Avoid generic texts from vendors; write your own content that addresses the product’s features, benefits and applications. This not only helps with SEO, but also helps persuade potential customers.
  • Optimize images: Images are crucial in retail, but they should also be optimized for SEO. Give your images descriptive file names and use alt text to help search engines understand what’s in the image. In addition, make sure your images load quickly by compressing them without losing quality.
  • Internal links: Connect your product pages through internal links. For example, if you have a page for a specific type of shoes, link to matching accessories or other related products. This helps search engines better understand your site and can also improve the user experience.

Local SEO: Target the local customer

For retailers with physical stores, local SEO is very important. Many consumers begin their search for products online, but eventually choose to go to a physical store to purchase the product. By focusing on local SEO, you ensure that customers can find your store when they search for products nearby.

  • Google My Company (GMB): Claim and optimize your Google My Business profile. Make sure your business information is complete, including your address, business hours and contact information. Add photos of your store and your products to make your profile more appealing. Reviews also play an important role, so encourage your customers to share their experience.
  • Local keywords: Use keywords such as “store for [product] in [stad]” or “clothing store in [regio]” in your content. This will help you rank better in local searches and attract potential customers to your physical store.
  • Location-specific pages: Create pages for each of your branches if you have multiple locations. These pages should contain specific information about the offerings in that branch, as well as location, hours of operation and contact options. This will help you rank better in local searches.

Content creation: Inspire and inform your customers

Good content can help you attract customers and convince them to buy from you. For retailers, it is important to create content that is both informative and inspiring.

  • Blog about trends and product use: Write blogs about the latest trends in your industry or give customers tips on how to use your products. Consider articles such as “The latest fall fashion” or “How to style your living room with our decorating items.” This helps demonstrate your expertise and can also attract search traffic to your website.
  • Guides and how-to’s: Create comprehensive guides and how-to’s that help customers choose or use the right products. For example, if you own a shoe store, you could write a guide on “How to choose the perfect running shoe.” This type of content provides value to your customers and helps build trust.
  • Seasonal content: Focus on seasonal campaigns and content that responds to your customers’ changing needs. For example, for the holidays, you can create gift guides or write content about “The best gifts for Christmas.”

Some possible search terms (beyond search terms of specific interest to sectors within retail):

Conversion Optimization: Turn visitors into customers

SEO is not just about attracting traffic to your website; you want visitors to eventually convert to purchase. Conversion optimization is therefore an essential part of a successful SEO strategy for retailers.

  • Clear Call-to-Actions (CTAs): Make sure every page on your website has clear and eye-catching call-to-actions, such as “Buy Now,” “Add to Cart,” or “View Our Sale.” These CTAs should encourage visitors to take action and make a purchase.
  • Simple checkout process: The checkout process should be as simple as possible. Minimize the number of steps customers must take to complete their order and offer several payment options. The easier it is to order, the greater the likelihood of conversion.
  • Reviews and customer reviews: Post product reviews on your website to build trust with potential customers. People are more likely to make a purchase if they see positive feedback from other customers.

When doing this, think carefully about what the purpose is on the website of visitors. Do you want more people to store? Then set up your Web site for that. Do you want more online purchases? Then make sure the web shop part of the website is prominent.

Technical SEO for retailers

A fast and functioning website is crucial to the SEO performance of your retail business. Technical SEO ensures that search engines can crawl and index your website properly, while users have a pleasant experience.

  • Mobile-friendliness: Many consumers shop via their cell phones these days, so make sure your website is fully responsive. This means your pages should work well on all devices, and CTAs and checkout options should be easy to use on mobile screens.
  • Optimize Speed: Make sure your Web site loads quickly. A slow website can cause visitors to drop out before making a purchase. Use tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights to improve loading speed by compressing images, implementing caching and reducing heavy scripts.
  • Security and SSL certificate: Your website should be secured with an SSL certificate (HTTPS). This is not only important for building trust with customers, but also a ranking factor for search engines.

In particular, the split between webshop and website is an important one to consider in terms of technology. Make sure this is seamless and that visitors easily end up where they want to end up.

Link building and influencer marketing

To increase your website’s authority and rank better in search engines, link building is an important strategy for retailers.

  • Collaborations with influencers and bloggers: Collaborate with fashion bloggers, lifestyle influencers or other relevant parties to promote your products. These collaborations can lead to valuable backlinks to your website and increase your online visibility.
  • Guest blogs and partnerships: Write guest blogs for related websites in your niche. This helps gain valuable links and make your brand better known.

Conclusion

SEO for retailers is about more than just attracting traffic to your website – it’s about improving your visibility, inspiring customers and converting visitors into buyers. By focusing on product optimization, local SEO, valuable content creation and technical optimizations, you can ensure that your retail business is more findable in search engines. This leads not only to more traffic, but also to more sales and satisfied customers who are happy to return to you for future purchases. Keep evaluating and adjusting your SEO strategy to keep up with the changing needs of your customers and the market.

Senior SEO-specialist

Ralf van Veen

Senior SEO-specialist
Five stars
My clients give me a 5.0 on Google out of 78 reviews

I have been working for 12 years as an independent SEO specialist for companies (in the Netherlands and abroad) that want to rank higher in Google in a sustainable manner. During this period I have consulted A-brands, set up large-scale international SEO campaigns and coached global development teams in the field of search engine optimization.

With this broad experience within SEO, I have developed the SEO course and helped hundreds of companies with improved findability in Google in a sustainable and transparent way. For this you can consult my portfolio, references and collaborations.

This article was originally published on 23 August 2024. The last update of this article was on 14 January 2025. The content of this page was written and approved by Ralf van Veen. Learn more about the creation of my articles in my editorial guidelines.