A 3-Step Process for Growing Organic Traffic for E-commerce

Editors Note: This is a guest post from our friends at Boardroom.

Growing organic traffic is a critical aspect of building a successful e-commerce business. Unlike paid traffic, organic traffic is sustainable, cost-effective, and often converts better because it draws visitors who are genuinely interested in what you have to offer. After working with hundreds of brands and managing half a dozen of our own, we’ve distilled SEO down to a simple, repeatable process. Here’s a simple 3-step plan to help you boost your e-commerce site’s organic traffic.

Step 1: Keyword Research

Keyword research is the foundation of any successful SEO strategy. It involves identifying the terms and phrases that your potential customers are using to search for products or services similar to yours. Here’s how to get started:

1. Brainstorm Seed Keywords: Begin by listing down a few core terms that are directly related to your products. These are your seed keywords.
2. Use Keyword Research Tools: Tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or SEMrush can help you expand on your seed keywords by providing data on search volume, competition, and related keywords.
3. Analyze Competitors: Look at what keywords your competitors are ranking for. This can provide insights into potential opportunities you might have overlooked.
4. Long-Tail Keywords: Don’t just focus on high-competition, high-volume keywords. Long-tail keywords, which are more specific and less competitive, can drive highly targeted traffic to your site.

Step 2: Optimizing Your Website Content

Once you have your keywords, the next step is to optimize your website content. This includes your blog posts, product pages, and any other relevant content on your site.

1. Create High-Quality Content: Content is king in the SEO world. Ensure that your content is informative, engaging, and provides real value to your visitors. Avoid keyword stuffing and instead focus on natural, readable content.
2. On-Page SEO: Implement on-page SEO best practices. This includes optimizing title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, and using keywords naturally within your content. Make sure your images have descriptive alt texts and that your URLs are clean and keyword-rich.
3. Internal Linking: Use internal linking to guide visitors to related content on your site. This not only improves the user experience but also helps search engines crawl your site more effectively.
4. Mobile Optimization: Ensure your site is mobile-friendly. A significant portion of web traffic comes from mobile devices, and Google considers mobile-friendliness as a ranking factor.

Step 3: Acquiring High-Quality Backlinks

Backlinks are one of the most important ranking factors in SEO. They act as votes of confidence from other websites, signalling to search engines that your content is valuable and trustworthy.

1. Guest Blogging: Write guest posts for reputable blogs in your industry. This not only helps you gain exposure but also allows you to earn high-quality backlinks.
2. Content Marketing: Create shareable content that others will want to link to. This could be in-depth guides, infographics, or original research.
3. Outreach: Reach out to influencers and bloggers in your niche. Build relationships and ask if they would be willing to link to your content. Personalized outreach is more effective than generic emails.
4. Broken Link Building: Identify broken links on other websites and suggest your content as a replacement. This not only helps the website owner fix their broken links but also earns you a valuable backlink.

Pro-Tip: Work with an Expert

Working with an e-commerce coach or expert can provide personalized guidance and industry insights, helping you navigate the complexities of SEO and accelerate your business growth.

Recap

Growing your e-commerce site’s organic traffic can seem daunting, but by following these three steps—keyword research, optimizing your website content, and acquiring high-quality backlinks—you can significantly improve your search engine rankings and attract more visitors.

While the process can be time-consuming, AI tools like Boardroom can streamline these tasks, helping you manage your SEO in-house at just 1% of the cost of a typical outsourced plan. Boardroom’s AI-powered dashboard assists with all three of the steps that we covered today: keyword research, content optimization, and backlink acquisition. By centralizing all of this in a unified dashboard, we make it easier for you to grow your organic traffic efficiently and effectively.

But without a doubt, if you follow the three-step plan for growing organic traffic that is outlined in this post, you’ll see results in a matter of months, if not sooner!