Just in time for peak online holiday shopping, Google has revitalized its e-commerce platform, aptly named Google Shopping. The platform uses AI to display relevant products from across the internet, generate tips for picking the right item, and even customize selections based on the user’s preferences and known shopping habits. Unlike a search engine results page that gives you a list of links, Google Shopping allows you to browse products in a catalog-like format with large images and prominently listed prices.

Of course, as is the case with many of the AI tools currently on the market, Google Shopping hasn’t been perfected. Regardless, retailers need to be aware of these types of platforms and start planning content around their continued growth, both in functionality and user popularity.

So then, how do you increase the chances of getting your products to appear on Google Shopping and other emerging e-commerce platforms? There are plenty of opportunities for your brand to shine on the Google Shopping results page, including product listings, AI-generated shopping advice, as well as sections on other suggested product types.

Luckily for you, that can be achieved by optimizing your product pages through traditional SEO best practices.

Tips For Improving Your Product Pages

Plan your product pages using keyword research. Identify the keywords your audience is searching for and incorporate them into the content on your product pages. This includes page titles, product descriptions, and meta data.

Use high-quality product images with alt text. First and foremost, professional photos look great on your website, and they’ll help your products shine when placed side-by-side with the competition. Adding alt text to your photos not only helps people who use screen readers to hear a description of the photo, it provides data that search engines can crawl so they can make sense of the image. Don’t forget to include keywords here, too!

Don’t skip product descriptions. Although a picture is worth a thousand words, a clear, concise product description is essential for SEO optimization. Adding product specifications (if applicable) can also make a world of difference. Imagine your amazing 7-foot-tall cat tree not appearing alongside your competitors’ because you neglected to add the dimensions to the product page!

Organize your content. It’s not enough to have great pages for individual products. Pages need to be logically categorized on your website. Think of it like a family tree. It doesn’t make sense to have your children appear on the same level as your grandparents. Take a look at your products and decide which larger categories they fall under. Then, create landing pages for each of those categories and make sure the path from the landing page to the product page is clear on the back end.

Implement schema markups on every page. We’re not taking a deep dive into this topic today, but here’s the short version: schema markup (sometimes called structured data) is code that clarifies a page’s content for search engines. By pairing schema markup with your amazing images and web copy, you’re adding an extra layer of assurance that search engines will recognize both your product pages and their content and serve them to users when queried.

Make sure your website is mobile-friendly. Not everyone does their shopping on a laptop or PC. Many website builders (like WordPress) allow you to preview how a page will look on a desktop or on a mobile device. If the mobile version of your page isn’t user-friendly, chances are, users will bounce.

Getting the word out about your brand is hard enough, but ensuring each individual product page on your website is optimized for both search engines and other platforms takes a lot of time and know-how. That’s where the experts at EVG come in. If you’re ready to give your website an optimization facelift, let’s talk.