Everyone knows that search engine optimization (SEO) is the core driver of digital marketing, but how can you get started with this process? SEO is the key to getting more leads and traffic for any website but it's hard to know where to begin.
SEO is important for any business and not just because it drives traffic. Search engine optimization helps build authority and positions brands as the expert in their field. A fashion brand cannot afford to ignore this side of the business and the opportunity to stand out in what is already an overcrowded market.
In this article, we take a look at SEO for e-commerce fashion brands and what you should know before diving head first into the complicated world of SEO.
7 SEO Tips to Help Your Fashion Brand Stand Out
1. Research the Keyword Profile Before Taking Action
Keywords are the phrases that online users type into search engines, and a fashion brand needs to make sure they are ranking for the right ones. It's equally important these keywords are in all the right places on the website in order to gain traction.
Keyword strategy is also changing all the time. In the past, it was common for fashion brands to squeeze as many keywords as possible into a blog post, description or page, but "keyword stuffing" is now something that can destroy your strategy.
This is why keyword research is critical, and digital marketing agencies devote a lot of time to it before settling on a profile of keywords. What are the most relevant words to the fashion brand that will generate the most traction at the lowest cost? That is the question your market and keyword research should seek to answer.
And then there's branded keywords…
2. Focus on Branded Keywords for Strategic Value
Branded keywords refers to keywords associated with a specific fashion brand. These keyword phrase can be discovered through research and can work really well for strategy because the competition is much less for these phrases.
For example, instead of focusing on keywords relating to the most comfortable summer outfits, a piece of content might be optimized with the phrase "AW Design summer outfit" or another other brand name.
Online customers that use these search terms already know about the fashion brand and will often perform this search to find more information. If they find the information they need, there is a high probability that such customers will make a purchase or respond to a call-to-action.
According to Digital Authority Partners, branded keyword searches are usually carried out just before the moment of action or conversion. This is why they hold strategic value for fashion brands and should feature heavily in SEO strategy.
3. Pay Close Attention to Metadata and Featured Snippets
Meta information is an area of SEO which many website owners ignore and search engines pay close attention to this data. Metadata might include meta descriptions, meta titles, and so on, on the website and these small pieces of information are often the difference between users clicking one search result instead of another.
In fact, search engine crawlers use metadata to identify and rank content, which means keywords also need to be included in this data. It's all about relevance, and you might even think about this metadata like the front of a brick and mortar store.
Either way, you must focus on getting the meta information right and know that Google in particular uses this data to create featured snippets. Featured snippets are highlighted on search results pages, and marketing agencies know how to format websites so they can show up in this way.
4. Perform Regular Checks to Ensure Maximum Speed
Have you ever left a website because it was slow to load? Speed is extremely important for SEO and a technical aspect that not only affects the user experience but also search rankings.
Search engines factor in the speed of a website when it comes to ranking a website. Website load speed should be fully reviewed on a regular basis to ensure everything is working quickly and fast.
Outdated software or defunct plugins are common causes of slow-to-load websites. Oversized images and content should be compressed, and you can use SEO tools to spot these critical issues.
5. Improve and Update Existing Content
It's easy to forget that existing content often needs to be updated. Competitors can take advantage of your badly optimized content and start ranking for keywords that you should have already included in your content.
Old content also needs to be updated when that content was not optimized correctly the first time around. You can start by improving the readability of blogs or web pages and then insert branded keywords to put that piece of content to work. Check out this great piece from Hubspot on how to revive an old blog article for SEO.
This is where keyword research comes in handy. Optimizing existing content rather than producing fresh content is a much faster way to rank. If the content is no longer valid, you can also re-purpose this content to be more relevant and up to date.
6. Acquire Quality Backlinks to Rise through the Search Rankings
Acquiring the right backlinks is a sure way to gain traction online over time. This is also a way to build credibility for a fashion brand and create awareness. But how might you begin collecting these invaluable backlinks?
You can earn backlinks organically by creating highly valuable content. In addition, guest blogging and testimonials also work really well. Search engines account for social media posts and forums like Quora in their algorithms, and SEO tools, such as Ahrefs, are a powerful way to see what works for competitors and adapt for your own use!
For most fashion brands, working with an SEO agency is a more cost effective way to amass a portfolio of backlinks that will help the website move up the search rankings.
7. Build the User Experience Your Customers Deserve
Speed is just one factor that helps shape a user experience, and page errors and confusing navigation are just a couple examples of why online users might not have an exceptional experience on a fashion brand website. According to the Harvard Business Review, digital design drives user behavior, so this is definitely a priority that SEO needs to address.
User experience is especially important for a fashion brand, because it directly impacts the image of the brand. This user experience also impacts whether or not people stay on the website or make a purchase and decide if they want to come back at a later date.
As if that's not enough, search engines take all of this into account in terms of search rankings, and a bad user experience (whatever the reason) is something to avoid at all costs!
A full website review can establish what might be going on and then can you start building the kind of user experience the customer deserves. After all, online users value experiences just as highly as they do bargain or discount codes!
Final Thoughts
SEO is a process that uses content principles to help improve the ranking of your fashion brand website on search results. This will inevitably increase traffic, leads and sales, while improving the authority and credibility of your fashion brand.
But should you outsource this task to an SEO agency?
The most successful fashion brands outsource their marketing efforts. Aside from the convenience that comes with outsourcing a complex task, the right SEO agency saves time and money while achieving the kind of results fashion brands need to thrive in these uncertain times.
Get in touch with one of our team at Digital Authority Partners to get started.