Positioning of an online store – what to remember at the beginning of the work?

Already 73% of Internet users shop online – according to this year’s edition of the report “E-commerce in Poland 2020”. This is an improvement from the previous study by as much as 11 percentage points. According to the report, the most popular devices in the online shopping process is a laptop (80% of indications), followed by a smartphone (69%) and a desktop computer (50%).

Such a high score is due to the pandemic period and the restrictions that have appeared in the economic and social life in our country. Pandemic prompts even more online purchases. More and more online stores are being created on this wave, which makes it not easy to break through with an offer. Having an original product, it will be much easier to position your own store. However, if our business environment is competitive, it will be necessary to carry out extensive positioning activities in Google search.

7 tips what to keep in mind when positioning an online store.

1. Positioning builds image

Let’s start from the fact, that positioning an online store is not only a high result in the Google search engine. Positioning is a very complicated and lengthy process. We are able to do the basics ourselves. In the long run, however, we cannot do without the help of a professional SEO agency.

Positioning consists of several elements. Technical SEO, requiring programming knowledge as well as analytical knowledge. Positioning will make your brand stronger on the market. Secondly, it will create a professional image of the store, and increase brand recognition. And most importantly – increase the number of customers.

2. Optimize your website content

Content consists of both product images and descriptions. Content is also the division into categories and subcategories of the website. SEO specialists point out that a well-optimized store website makes it possible for us to reach each product on it in 2-3 clicks.

The content of our page consists of category descriptions, which should be comprehensive and oriented to the fullest possible coverage of the topic. This includes product descriptions. Here we have two approaches to the topic. These may be copied descriptions from the manufacturer or individually created content. Originally created content is associated with much more work put into our online store. However, independently written product descriptions, and thus original content will make the page better indexed by Google robots. Avoid the so-called duplicate content, which negatively affects the position of the store in Google search.

The third element of the content comprising the page of our store is to build a blog, which in the form of industry articles will describe products, issues and trends related to the theme and range of our store.

3. Choose the right keywords

The selection of keywords is one of the most important aspects in the positioning process of online stores. Our keywords will consist of product categories, which are in our store. On the other hand, these will be the proper names of specific products found in the store. In this case, let’s take the most distinctive or even the most sought-after products from the store.

In selecting keywords, seasonality is also important. if we run a clothing boutique, in the autumn-winter period and in the spring-summer period there will be different words, and at the same time words that correspond to the accessory products of the period.

There are two types of words – short and long tail. In the short tail strategy the page is positioned for general phrases, not very precise, but often typed in the search engine. In the long tail strategy, we position the site for very specific, specific phrases that have a lower search rate.

4. Take advantage of professional tools

1. Semstorm will help you analyze your competitors’ actions and choose the right keywords.

2. Senuto can help you analyse the visibility of your website, monitor its position in Google.

3. Google Keyword Planner will find words or phrases related to your services. This tool will analyze your business and choose the best matching phrases.

4. Google Search Console will eliminate code errors and test your site for usability.

5. PageSpeed Insights also from Google analyzes the content of the page and then suggests ways to increase the speed of its display. Research shows that if your website takes longer than 5 seconds to load, only 1 in 10 users will stay on it. And if it takes longer than 3 seconds, a third will get impatient and go elsewhere.

6. Google Data Studio – will unleash the power of data generated by you and your site. The advantage of this tool is the possibility to include in one report data from various sources (e.g. The use of Google AdWords, Google Analytics).

5. Take care of your mobile website

Taking into account the positioning of the store, first of all it should be optimized for mobile devices.

In the Keyword Planner, we also discover what percentage of searches are on mobile devices and what percentage are on desktop devices. SEO/SEM activities today make no sense without a well prepared mobile site. For example, the share of mobile inquiries for the word “women’s sandals” is as high as 77.5%, “sports shoes” (69.1%), “bathroom tiles” (69.3%), “petrol lawnmower” (74.8%), “games for PS4” (79.4%), and “floor panels” – 73%.

The “E-commerce in Poland 2020” report shows that among the youngest group of respondents aged 15-24, smartphones are indicated by as many as 92% of them as a device used in the online shopping process.

6. Social media support

We’ve already mentioned blogging on an online store. Another element is social media presence. Each platform has a different specification and group of users.

1. Facebook is the most popular social media platform and thanks to it we will achieve a wide reach.

2. Instagram will be useful for us to build an image with graphics and high quality photos.

3. TikTok is a great place to promote products, especially those aimed at a younger target group. Its specificity based on video materials will allow us to present our product also in an interactive form.

4. LinkedIn, on the other hand, is a service for professionals, so the content that we previously placed on our company blog will also work there.

7. Linkbuilding

Positioning websites, and thus online stores, has always been associated with gaining links from other sites to your own site. In the past, the more links leading to our site, the better. But Google’s algorithms have changed and today only the most valuable links count. This year is being called the year of content marketing in general. What it means? Focus on creating engaging content that benefits your audience. The forms of such content are varied – it can be content on a company blog or website, but also videos on YouTube, reports, infographics, podcasts or online streaming. All of these should link back to our store.