3 Essential SEO Tools for Every eCommerce Business Owner | Friday SEO Tip

Greetings from beautiful Grand Junction, Colorado!

I’ve been fortunate enough to spend some time here hiking, and it’s been a refreshing break. Today, I want to share some valuable insights with you about Shopping Markup that every eCommerce business owner should know. If you manage an online store, this is especially important for improving your visibility in search results. Check out the video above to learn more.

Recently, Google’s Search Off the Record podcast featured an episode on this topic, and I highly recommend giving it a listen. But for now, here’s a breakdown of the key takeaways and some tips for leveraging SEO tools to boost your site’s performance.

How to Stand out in Google Search with the Right Markup

Let’s say you’re searching for blue hiking boots. You’ll likely see a few paid ads at the top of the search results—that’s where businesses “pay to play” for visibility. But what about the organic listings below the ads? If you want to rank in that section, here’s what you need to do:

1. Use Schema Markup (schema.org)

Schema markup is the language that Google speaks. It’s a form of structured data that helps search engines better understand the content on your site. For eCommerce sites, you want to include the right fields—such as product name, price, color, and size—so Google knows exactly what you’re selling. If Google can easily identify that you sell blue hiking boots, your products are more likely to appear in relevant searches.

2. Leverage Google Merchant Center

This is essential for getting your products in front of the right audience. Google Merchant Center allows you to provide detailed information, like product variants (different shades of blue, for example), stock availability, and pricing. This added specificity can give you an edge when Google matches your products to customer searches.

3. Utilize Google Search Console

This is your go-to tool for monitoring and optimizing your site’s performance. I show an example of how one of our clients is using Google Search Console in the video above. It offers a dedicated Shopping tab where you can track how your product snippets are being displayed in search results. It also flags any issues that could prevent your items from showing up correctly. In eCommerce, small technical details can make a big difference, and this tool ensures everything is running smoothly behind the scenes.

Take Your eCommerce Game to the Next Level

If you haven’t already, I highly encourage you to start using these tools. They’re designed to help you optimize your website, improve your visibility, and ultimately drive more traffic and sales. Google Merchant Center and Search Console are especially powerful for making sure your products are categorized correctly and displayed optimally on Google’s search results pages.

Exciting News—Speaking at SearchCon 2024!

On a personal note, I’m thrilled to announce that I’ll be speaking at SearchCon 2024, which is next week on September 12th and 13th in the Boulder area. This is one of the top SEO conferences out there, and it’s perfect for those looking to dive deeper into advanced strategies. I’ll be covering how to get featured in Google’s new AI Overviews—a feature that could drastically change the SEO game moving forward. If you’re looking to stay ahead of the curve, this is the session you won’t want to miss.