The right keywords in product names and descriptions are important for your search engine optimization. Nowadays, customers find everything by search—and you want to leave enough “bread crumbs” for them to find you, which are the keywords that interest them!
Keyword and ecommerce SEO can be broken down into many parts. Let’s take a look at how search works with Pinkoi products, how to come up with the right keywords, how to optimize them, and the tools that will help you.
1. Pinkoi’s Google search SEO
Every search engine has its own ranking method. Since most customers search on Google, it’s natural we want to prepare keywords that Google will easily pick up and “recommend” a page to the user.
Before working on your product listing, let’s see examples of places we are already using keywords to lead traffic to Pinkoi.
Product categories for Pinkoi browsing
Every product category is optimized with chosen keywords in a short description that the search engine can “crawl”. For example, for washi tape products, related keywords like stationery, designed, notebooks, and writing are included.
Product categories for a Pinkoi shop
Similarly, the product categories in a Pinkoi shop is also very visible in search results. The categories are all highly related keywords that could improve ranking for a page of a shop.
▲ In this search result, the text in product categories (washi tapes, stationery) and shop description help people searching discover Yohand Studio.
▲ In this search result, all the product categories in La Dolce Vita such as cards and postcards, stickers, etc., which are highly related keywords that can lead traffic to the La Dolce Vita shop.
2. Find your own product keywords
Now that you know pre-set keywords already exist to bring traffic to Pinkoi and your shop, it’s time to decide the keywords that’s unique to you. Before optimizing, we need to brainstorm first.
1. Brainstorm product descriptions your customers are looking for
“Don’t overthink it—most customers search with simple keywords,” advised our keyword expert in marketing team. Really think about how customers would search for a product like yours, and list keywords starting from the most generic and broadest terms so it’ll reach the biggest audience possible. Then, apply this process to different attributes like material, style, production method, etc.
For example:
Accessories, jewelry, necklace, long beaded necklace
-> red necklace
-> glass necklace
-> glass bead necklace
-> Elegant necklace
2. Brainstorm features and contexts your customers are looking for
Besides keywords that describe the product, also use keywords that describe the context and value, because customers begin the search with certain goals in mind. There are so many “long beaded necklaces” on the web that if you don’t add more feature and context keywords, your page might never get discovered.
Customers purchase your product for specific purposes. The purposes might be complex, such as gifting purpose, purchasing purpose, DIY purposes, etc. Diving into these psychological factors will help designers target customer needs more accurately for better products. —Kokomu Music Box & Gifts
For example:
Long beaded necklace
-> handmade necklace, handmade beads, etc.
-> one of a kind necklace
-> boho style necklace
-> layer necklace
-> graduation gift necklace, festival necklace, etc.
3. Tool of the trade: Google Keyword Planner
Keyword Planner is your best friend when it comes to brainstorming keywords. In Google Adwords, go to Keyword Planner under Tools and select “Search new keywords using a phrase, website or category”.
For example: search for “beaded necklace” and “Get Ideas”. Rank the result by Avg. monthly searches, and you’ll get many ideas for the most generic terms to incorporate into your product listing.
▲ You’ll get add group ideas with distinctive product categories.
▲ You’ll also get keyword ideas from popular searches.
3. Optimize your product title and product description
Now, let’s start putting these ideas to your product listing. We are optimizing for two audiences: One is for search engines—hence “SEO”!—to improve ranking and visibility. Another is for customers, who are searching for something and will click on a link if they think it is relevant to their needs.
Here’s what to keep in mind:
1. Keywords in product name has a bigger influence on SEO
Search engines rank pages based on many factors, and your product name in a Pinkoi shop is one of the most important. Therefore, be sure to:
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Eliminate content that doesn’t add to your keyword relevancy, such as product number, non-descriptive terms, symbols, etc.
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Check the length of your product name in Google search results and Pinkoi site search. If it looks short, you can add more highly related keywords to utilize the space. If it is too long and cut off, make sure the important keywords are visible.
2. Keywords in product description should echo product name
When the content in product description echoes the words in product name, the ranking will improve for this page. So apply that list of highly related keywords here!
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Mention the main keywords in product names again. Save the secondary keywords from the product name and use them here.
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Refer to Pinkoi’s recommended product description template to create content that is relevant for both customers and for search.
Remember the check list? Head to Writing Great Product Descriptions: 5 Questions to Ask Yourself for details!
3. Optimize for Pinkoi site search
When customers are already on Pinkoi, searching for products they need, good SEO practices generally apply. The product name, product descriptions and product photography are still the most important factors, and the ones you have biggest control over. Other factors that improve your ranking might include amount of sales and reviews, frequency of being shared and added to wish lists, etc.
4. Tool of the trade: Google Trends
Sometimes similar terms come along, like “tote bag” and “shoulder bag”. You can use Keyword Planner again to compare the average monthly search, or use Google Trends to compare search amount.
Go to Google Trends, and simply type in different keywords in the search bar, separated by commas.
You can also shorten the time range to a year or two. You will be able see if a term is more popular and if there are seasonal or recent trend that affected the popularity.
4. Clear up misconceptions about keywords and search
1. Sounds like the more keywords, the better?
No! Relevant and related keywords that are easy to read are better. Remember our two audiences, customers and search engines? Customers know abused keywords when they see it, and nowadays, search engines do, too, and neither like it. A page overloaded with keywords trying to be everything to everyone will not be popular with humans nor machines.
2. Sounds like it’s all about keywords! Where’s my brand personality?
You can still name your product according to your brand style and creativity, but what’s important is that you know keywords play a big role in helping your products get discovered. There is endless amount of content on the web, and without using popular keywords, people have very slim chances of finding your product.
3. Can I find a perfect combination of keywords and use them in every single listing?
It’s not a good idea! Duplicated titles will divide up the traffic you were supposed to get. If a set of words were to gain a specific amount of traffic from a search result, 4 listings with the same words will further up divide that amount by four, which means much lower ranking for your page! Therefore, always put in the difference in every product listing, such as the color variant.
4. Any other tips to increase my visibility?
Backlinks! Backlinks are links from other websites to your page. A page with more backlinks ranks better in search results, because it means people want to share it with others online. So, when your page is ready, try to share them on other channels such as social media, blog, forums, etc. and encourage others to link to you.
Remember, in the online world, traffic means everything, and good keywords and SEO is almost free traffic. So, start checking your keywords and SEO for your product pages now!
More learning resources at Pinkoi Handbook
► ► ► Writing Great Product Descriptions: 5 Questions to Ask Yourself
► ► ► How to Engage Your Social Media Fans to Increase Sales on Pinkoi
► ► ► How to do a Creative Themed Photo Shoot for Your Products
