Sound familiar? It's not the store's fault. Instead, it's more likely an issue with SEO. Whether you are a new business or an established one, the right SEO support can make or break your business. For instance, if you're in the north, partnering with a local SEO Agency Stockport may give you the local advantage you need to outperform your local and national competition.

Why E-commerce SEO Is Unique

There are different types of SEO. There's a difference between ranking a blog article. Ranking hundreds of product or category pages in front of a buyer that's prepared to make a purchase is a completely different ballgame. With e-commerce, you need to be an expert in site structure, crawlability and data structures. It's all well and good to get traffic, but the traffic that turns into sales is what really grows your business.

What to Look for in an SEO Agency

Proven E-commerce Experience

A good case study is that of a UK furniture retailer that hired an SEO agency. It increased revenue from organic traffic by 369% from £44,822 in a month to £210,408 in the same month while going head to head with the likes of IKEA, John Lewis and Argos. That's what the right SEO Agency, with the right ecommerce strategy, does.

Technical SEO Capability

Ecommerce issues are often technical. Slow loading, product pages with duplicate content, bad site structure, crawl issues, all of these silently destroy a website's rankings and often go unnoticed by store owners. A good agency can deal with complex site structures, large product catalogs and how to get visibility in the crowded marketplace. Be sure to ask the agency how they conduct technical audits and what their process is for resolving on-page issues when signing the contract.

Transparent Reporting

Don't be made to chase your agency for reporting or wonder what your agency is actually getting up to month-on-month. Top SEO agencies provide you with clear reporting on what's happening and how it's impacting your business not just rankings, but organic revenue, click throughs, and conversions. The best ecommerce SEO agencies work with their clients as if they are a part of their team, and are responsive and flexible to their needs. If an agency is unclear about their services or uses "big words" that should be a cause for concern.

Ecommerce Platform Knowledge

If you have a store built with Shopify, Woo Commerce, Magento or Big Commerce, the agency you hire should be really familiar with that platform. They all have subtleties that impact the way search engines read your content. Agencies that use a one-size-fits-all approach to all of these platforms may fail to take account of these.

Red Flags to Watch Out For

If an agency promises you the top spot in a short period of time, be wary. No one can guarantee that. Google's algorithm is sophisticated and ever changing; anything to the contrary is likely to be unethical. Be wary of agencies that rank sites but not revenue. It's possible to be up 300% in traffic and 10% in revenue - this is a symptom of targeting the wrong keywords. For ecommerce brands, keywords need to have commercial or buyer intent. If the digital marketing agency is not targeting commercial keywords, this traffic will not buy.

Questions to Ask Before You Sign

Do you have case studies for ecommerce sites like mine? What is your 90 day plan? How do you prove that you're successful? How will you keep up with Google algorithm changes? Who in the agency will be handling my account?

SEO is More Important Than Ever

The value of the global SEO services market in 2023 was $82.3 billion and is expected to increase to $143.9 billion by 2030. This is a testament to the importance of organic search for all types of businesses. In the case of ecommerce businesses, SEO is no longer a nice-to-have but essential to your business model. The great news is that an SEO expert can help you even against the odds. You can (and do) compete with the big guys if you have a good strategy and are consistent with your efforts.

Conclusion

When it comes to hiring an SEO agency to work with your ecommerce site, it is a critical decision. The best choice will know your products, your target audience and the industry you are in. Don't go for the cheapest. Don't be fooled by glitzy claims or dashboards. Make sure they have experience with ecommerce websites, are technically proficient, transparent about what they do and are doing, and focus on driving revenue, not just traffic.