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SEO basics: A guide to improving search performance
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is one of the most effective ways to drive long-term, sustainable traffic to your eCommerce website. Whilst paid ads can give you quick wins, SEO helps your business get discovered organically by the right people at the right time, without paying for every click.
With more than 90% of online experiences starting with a search engine, improving your visibility in search results isn;t just nice to have, it’s essential Whether you’re a growing brand or an established retailer, understanding SEO basics can give you a real edge in reaching potential customers and boosting conversions.
In this blog, we’ll break down what SEO is, why it matters, and how to start improving your site’s search performance today.
What is SEO and why does it matter?
At its core, SEO is about helping search engines to understand what your website is about so they can show it to people who are looking for the products or services you offer.
It’s how you improve your ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs), which means more visibility, more traffic, and ultimately, more sales. Unlike social media or paid channels, organic search traffic compounds over time, making SEO one of the most cost-effective marketing strategies in the long run.
For eCommerce brands, good SEO means your products are easier to find when people are actively searching. It builds trust, drives higher intent traffic, and supports consistent growth without relying on ad spend.
The three pillars of SEO
There’s a few key areas to focus on when improving your SEO. Here’s a simple breakdown of the three core elements…
On Page SEO
This covers everything that is visible on your website: product descriptions, blog content, page titles, meta descriptions, and image alt text. By using relevant keywords naturally throughout your site, it will help search engines understand your content and match it accordingly to user searches.
Technical SEO
For this, it’s all the behind the scenes part that makes your site easy for search engines to crawl and index. All from site speed, mobile responsiveness, secure HTTPS, clear site architecture, and fixing broken links. It’s all about giving users a smooth experience.
Off Page SEO
Here we go into everything that happens outside your website that boosts your authority, predominantly backlinks. These are links from other reputable websites pointing to your content, which tells search engines that your site is trustworthy and worth ranking.
Getting started with SEO: 7 steps to improve performance
If you are new to SEO here’s a beginner-friendly plan to get yourself started.
1. By setting up a free tool such as Google Search Console, it can give you insight into how Google views your website. You can submit your sitemap, monitor search performance, fix errors, and see which keywords are driving traffic.
2. Make sure you’re identifying the terms that your customers are searching for. Tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ubersuggest, or Semrush can help you find relevant, high-intent key words. It’s best to focus on a mix of short tail and long tail key words. Short tail for example would be ‘trainers’ whereas long tail keywords are more specific such as ‘black running trainers for women’.
3. Once you’ve got your keywords, include them in your product titles, descriptions, URLs, and headings. Don’t overdo it, make sure you write for people first and search engines second.
4. Create helpful content like blog posts, guides, FAQs, this is a great way to answer customer questions and rank for additional keywords. Content that solves problems or gives inspiration can bring in traffic and support your wider marketing strategy.
5. Improve technical performance by ensuring that your site is mobile friendly, loads quickly, and has a clear structure. Google prioritises speed and usability, especially on mobile devices.
6. Reach out to partners, industry sites or bloggers for backlinks to your content. Creating shareable resources such as how to guide or trend reports can also help generate links naturally.
7. Use tools like Google Analytics and Search Console to monitor what’s working and where there’s room to improve. SEO is never ‘done’, it’s about making regular tweaks and keeping your content up to date.
Final thoughts
SEO might seem complex at first, but once you break it down it’s all about delivering a better experience for both your customers and search engines.
By focusing on the basics like keyword optimisation, content quality, site performance, and link building, you can start building stronger visibility and long-term growth without relying solely on paid ads.
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