E-Commerce Seller Financing   •   March 29, 2021

Online marketplaces are a great way for sellers to start or grow their e-commerce activity. They offer large customer bases providing an opportunity to get sales from numerous qualified buyers right away. Yet, you are far from the only seller competing for buyer attention. That’s where marketplace SEO becomes important.

Every online marketplace is also a search engine, allowing users to browse through and find what best suits their needs. So, marketplace SEO allows your product listing to show in relevant searches, increasing your chances of selling and earning profits.

While each of the best online marketplaces has its unique specifics, many of the marketplace SEO tactics are rather universal and can be applied regardless of the platform that you sell on.

What Is SEO?

SEO is short for Search Engine Optimization. It involves estimating what your potential target buyers are looking for and meeting them halfway by helping them find answers to their queries. Optimizing your listings for SEO allows you to not only show up for relevant searches but also to rank and show up higher increasing your chances of making sales.

So, if you have never thought of marketing SEO, it’s about time to invest some time and effort into optimizing your listings.

Tips to Improve Your Marketplace Listing SEO

1. Make Your Marketplace SEO People Friendly

One of the main mistakes that many sellers make is treating marketplace SEO as an isolated concept. Yes, indeed, optimizing your product listings will help you show in better positions. Yet, there is another very important part of the puzzle – the buyer.

And, just like you, the buyer is a human. So, it’s important to treat them accordingly and write your product titles and descriptions with that in mind. Keywords are definitely important, but you should never forget that real people not robots will be buying from you. So, make your listings easy and natural to read.

2. Find the Right Keywords

When buyers search for products, they type in specific words in the search bar. Usually, the phrases that buyers use will be the same or similar.

These will be the keywords, and the number of times people use this phrase will be the search volume of a said keyword. The higher the number, the more people are searching for it. The lower it is, the fewer people are looking for such a product.

So, your job as a marketplace seller is to find a sweet spot where your keyword is broad enough so that it reaches plenty of people, yet also specific enough so that buyers know that this is exactly what they are looking for.

You can brainstorm and list keywords that you believe would be important to your products. Moreover, you can also use tools that can help you identify these keywords.

3. Optimize Your Product Titles

Product titles are extremely important for your marketplace SEO strategy. They will determine how likely potential buyers are to click on them to check out your listings.

So, you may have the best possible product on the market and stellar feature descriptions. Yet, if your product titles are subpar, potential buyers will scroll past and not find out how amazing your products actually are.

So, pick a keyword or a few and craft a compelling title, using the main keyword as close to the beginning as popular. While sometimes using several keywords can be beneficial, make sure that you do to overdo it and simply throw a bunch of important terms together or repeat terms over and over again.

Remember, you should be writing for humans first and foremost and your product titles need to be easy to read. In addition to that, search engines keep evolving. So, they are much smarter and sophisticated than many give them credit, and are often able to pick up relevant keywords even if you make slight modifications to them.

Say you sell hiking boots. Instead of writing something like this:

“Men’s Hiking Boots – Lightweight Waterproof Hiking Shoes Trekking Backpacking Outdoor Mountaineering Black Mid Ankle“

…which provides lots of information yet sounds extremely unnatural, try something like this:

Black, Waterproof, and Lightweight Men’s Hiking Boots for Trekking, Backpacking, and Mountaineering”

You will have used most of the same keywords without making it seem like you just tried to string some words together.

4. Optimize Your Feature Descriptions

Product descriptions will determine whether the buyer clicks on the button and ads your product to their cart. So, don’t skimp on them and take the time to make them descriptive and compelling.

List about 3-10 important features about your product and elaborate on them. Use longer and more specific relevant keywords that buyers may type in but integrate those naturally.

Keep in mind that each marketplace has its own rules. Some platforms like Walmart allow product descriptions to affect search results while others like Etsy won’t take them into account. So, check out SEO recommendations for your marketplace of choice to optimize your product descriptions accordingly.

5. Avoid Overly Salesy Language

Buyers don’t want to be told that your product is the best; they want to decide it for themselves. So, using flashy and salesy language can deter them rather than convince them to buy from you.

Therefore, instead of using opinion adjectives like “best,” “most popular,” “most beautiful,” and similar, opt for descriptive adjectives that highlight your products’ features, e.g., “comfortable,” “durable,” “breathable,” “handmade,” and so on.

6. Offer a Reasonable and Competitive Price

If your products are identical to those of other buyers, make sure that your prices remain competitive. It can serve as the main determining factor for buyers. Platforms can identify identical products and list cheaper products higher, knowing that buyers will likely give them preference.

Nonetheless, look into your competition and what they offer too. If your product is similar to theirs, yet has an edge or features that your competitors do not offer, ensure that your product titles and descriptions highlight that.

7. Don’t Lie

Even if you find a profitable keyword that is sure to improve your rank and increase traffic to your product, omit it if it does not reflect what your product is actually like. You may get an initial boost of clicks and possibly also sales. However, your customers will be disappointed and can leave negative and scathing reviews, damaging your brand’s reputation.

E-Commerce Seller Financing Can Help You Grow Your E-Commerce Business

Investing in a good-quality marketplace SEO strategy may require you to seek external help. If you’d like to accelerate your growth, consider our financing options. Our easy terms, fast approval time, flat repayment rates, and no hidden fees can help you grow your e-commerce business in a predictable manner and without unexpected and unplanned surprise charges.