No one can buy your products if they can't find them. You could have the best professionally-shot product images, a competitive price, and an incredible product – it doesn't matter. If your product isn't ranking in Google (let's be honest, it's the only search engine that matters), you will make fewer conversions, fewer sales, and less revenue.
To attract visitors to your site, you need SEO product descriptions to get ranked on Google. Consider that the top three spots in Google receive two-thirds of all clicks on a search page – if that's not you, you're missing out to your competition.
Mastering writing product descriptions for SEO will expand your organic traffic, leading to more sales and customers. Below, I reveal what makes the best product descriptions for SEO. Here's what you need to do.
In this guide:
What is an SEO Product Description?
An SEO product description is nothing more than a product description written to rank better in Google. SEO, or search engine optimisation, is the art of improving a page's ranking in the biggest search engines (usually meaning Google). An SEO product description can land the all-important number one spot in Google using keywords, an engaging writing style, and clever formatting.
Why do SEO Product Descriptions Matter?
Let's face it: if you're not ranking on the first page of Google, you don't exist. At least not to customers. Worse, the top five positions dominate, experiencing substantially higher click-through rates.
Estimates differ depending on the study, but according to Ignite Visibility, here's the average click-through rate based on ranking:
Position 1 – 43.32%
Position 2 – 37.36%
Position 3 – 29.90%
Position 4 – 19.38%
Position 5 – 10.95%
Position 6 – 10%
Position 7 – 5.28%
Position 8 – 4.13%
Position 9 – 4.13%
Position 10 – 3.11%
The evidence is stark. Fall outside the top three or four results, and you'll see less traffic. That means fewer views, fewer customers, and fewer sales.
Businesses hoping to seize these critical positions need to ask some tough questions:
What keywords should you target?
How often should you use keywords?
Should you write for search engines or people?
How long should your product description be?
How to Write the Best Product Descriptions for SEO
1. Always write for customers
Never ever write for bots. Doing so won't just put off prospective customers; it can also harm your long-term ranking. Think about it: Google isn't trying to rank your site to please our AI overlords (not yet, anyway). They want to match the right search results to the searcher's query.
When customers click on a site, Google monitors how they respond. Your site ranking is hurt if your bot-friendly content immediately puts them off and they click elsewhere. On the other hand, if they're highly engaged, your site rises in the rankings.
What's good for customers is good for search engines is good for you.
That doesn't mean you can neglect keywords – you can't. But your content needs to be engaging, informative, and enlightening. Ask yourself: how does this help my buyers? How do these SEO product descriptions add value?
2. Target the right SEO keywords
Keywords are words or phrases related to the search terms customers use. Choosing the right SEO keywords is about getting your product description in front of the right people. There's no point in targeting keywords favoured by health fanatics if you're a soft drink brand. Here are some critical factors to consider:
Search volume. How many people search for a given keyword.
Competitiveness. How hard it is to rank for a given keyword.
As a rule, the shorter the search term, the more competitive it is to rank for – for example, ranking for "running shoes" is substantially harder than ranking for "off-road running shoes for women." Adding specificity lowers the competitiveness but at the expense of search volume. Targeting the right SEO keywords is, therefore, a balancing act.
For new sites or product pages, you'll want to avoid targeting highly competitive keywords – going for "running shoes" or "soft drink" will be nigh impossible to achieve.
But there's another factor you might want to consider…
3. Select high-intent keywords
The longer the keyword, the more intent it has. After all, it takes more thought to formulate a sentence or string of specific words. Such searchers know what they're looking for. While these keywords typically have less search volume, they more than make up for it in terms of high intent.
Motivated customers seeking a specific product are more likely to purchase your product when they find it. Maybe they want a face cream full of vitamin C – if so, ranking for Vitamin C face cream (assuming your product contains this ingredient) will be a surefire success.
Don't go too specific, however. Reeling off your ingredients list is not a keyword. Rather, a long-tail keyword should be specific enough to increase customer intention but not be so obscure that it receives one search every year.
After you've selected your keywords, sprinkle them through your product description. Try not to overdo it or go for a mix of keywords. The best places to put your primary keyword are in the URL, the page title and H1, the image alt, and a couple of times in the body of the text.
4. Don't forget about the title tag and meta description
Ruminating on product description writing is important. But you should also summarise your SEO product description into up to 155 characters to create your meta descriptions. That's the summary included below the URL in the search engine results page – you'll likely have read many meta descriptions to get a preview of a page's content.
Like writing your product description for SEO, your meta description ideally needs to include your keyword – and include your keyword in the title tag for added benefit.
5. Tailor your product descriptions for the search engine
While I've largely been talking about Google, that's not the only relevant search engine. Amazon, Etsy, and eBay, to name a few, are also prominent search engines tailored solely to products.
Most of these sites rely on the same principles listed above. But there are a few differences. Let's go through each of these major search engines:
Google is the top search engine – it's not even close. For businesses, Google initially uses keywords, phrases, and meta descriptions to rank content. Then, as product pages receive more traffic and a higher retention rate, the page will rise in the rankings.
Amazon
Amazon is to products what Google is to webpages – a giant repository with over 300 million active users. Amazon prioritises keyword relevancy, seller authority, click-through rate, conversion rate, and reviews when determining its ranking order.
Etsy
Etsy isn't just a search engine; it's also a marketplace. Unlike the former two sites, keywords aren't quite as relevant here. Rather, content, age, quality, shipping cost, language, and translation are paramount. That's not to say a compelling product description isn't necessary to seal the deal.
eBay
eBay is an auction site with a search component. Product listings need to have a well-written, efficient title. To determine its rankings, eBay uses keywords, quantity, image quality, product category, detailed product descriptions, shipping costs, and return policies in its algorithm.
6. 'No Index' incomplete pages
Got numerous similar product pages? Tread carefully. Search engines struggle to know how to process near-duplicate product descriptions, resulting in a loss of visibility across all your pages. Unfortunately, your product descriptions must be 100% unique – including product titles.
If you've yet to publish your new product descriptions for SEO, add a "no index" meta tag to those pages to ensure the search engine doesn't index them, harming your site's ranking before you're ready. Otherwise, Google could perceive the pages as spam behaviour – something Google penalises heavily.
SEO Product Descriptions Take Time… Trust an Expert
Mastering the art of writing product descriptions for SEO is challenging. As you launch new pages and expand your business, you don't need the added pressure of creating unique product descriptions for every single page.
Ready to take your product descriptions to the next level? Impeccable Writing can help! We know exactly how to write SEO-friendly descriptions that will rank high and drive sales.
Book a free consultation with us today and learn how we can optimise your product pages for maximum visibility and profitability. Don't settle for mediocre descriptions - schedule now and start seeing the results you deserve!
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