Now it’s here. The first own JTL-Shop. Category pages have been created and the first items will soon be sold via the new webshop. Targeted search engine optimizations should also ensure continuous growth, which will significantly increase the visibility of your JTL-Shop and its products. In this blog post, we will show you the first important precautions you should take when entering your product range in order to be attractive not only for your visitors, but also for search engines.
What does the search engine want and why is it important for me?
Let’s take a closer look at the industry giant: Google’s business model largely revolves around its own search engine. Google aims to provide the best search results for queries that Internet users submit to the search engine using keywords. This search result should have the greatest possible relevance to the search query. With every search query, the search engine user reveals a specific expectation and pursues a specific goal. The search engine tries to fulfill this expectation in the best possible way with the results. If this is successful, the user will continue to use the search engine in the future.
In addition to price search engines, search engine ads and affiliate programs, search engine optimization is another way of directing visitors to the store. Appropriately designed SEO measures can already target users with the intention to buy. The advantage is obvious: the traffic generated via the organic search results on the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) is free of charge. Rather, the number of visitors depends on the rankings occupied and the search volume for the respective keyword(s). In the long term, search engine optimization is therefore a very profitable channel because customers are picked up where they start their search. The result: a high willingness to buy meets a precisely selected listing. For this reason, SEO belongs in every online marketing portfolio of an up-and-coming online store.
In order for you to benefit from SEO and achieve your goals, you should take a few essential basics to heart when maintaining your product range. If you consistently follow the following tips, you will create good conditions for being adequately recognized by search engines. It should go without saying that these measures alone are generally not enough to catapult you to the top positions within a few days. Nevertheless, each individual piece of the mosaic has its place in the overall work of art that is SEO and is important for the overall perception and success of your efforts. With this in mind: Good luck with your optimization!
Tip no. 1: Unique and high-quality content
Write unique and original texts wherever possible. Don’t think about the search engines, but about the people who are supposed to buy your product. Bidder your visitors interesting additional information that they won’t get from the competition. If your product descriptions are too sparse and don’t differentiate you from the competition: Why should the search engine choose you?
Show your visitors that you love and understand your products. Poor content is just as counterproductive as a lack of content. Plan enough capacity to write appealing and really convincing product descriptions. Only then will your product range be appealing and your store increasingly relevant for search engines.
But please don’t overshoot the mark: especially at the beginning, motivation is very high and you want to appear directly in the top rankings for competitive search terms, such as “buy towel”. For this reason, the keyword or keyword combination is very often used in all descriptive texts, headings, in the title tag and also in the meta description. This does not necessarily make the content more readable and the keyword density could quickly reach a critical level. An “over-optimization” does not bring you any advantage.
Duplicate content (DC) also stands in the way of good search engine positioning. DC stands for duplicate content and describes a situation in which identical content can be found under two different URLs. This happens above all when manufacturer article descriptions are entered in the store, which are also used by the competition. Therefore, never copy the common and usual texts and use them carelessly in your store. Your own description texts not only ensure better rankings, but can also highlight the key unique selling points of your listing.
Additional tip: Sometimes duplicate content is unavoidable. If you offer items in different variants and each variant has its own page, you should link these pages to the parent page using a canonical tag. This way, the search engine recognizes that the child item is a copy of the parent article and does not consider the duplicate text as duplicate content.
Tip no. 2: Concise metadata
Many store operators underestimate the importance and power of metadata. As a rule, however, the organic search results on Google & Co. are made up of precisely this information, namely the meta title and the meta description. You should pay high attention to these texts and make sure that they list unique selling points and key product features. The meta description should also contain a specific call to action (CTA), which ensures that the potential customer clicks on your ad.
You control the metadata in JTL-Wawi at item or category level (item details, category details). To do this, go to the Description tab in the item or category and select the Metadata tab in the next step. Here you will find the input fields for the title tag, the meta keywords and also for the meta description. You can disregard the meta keywords as they have not been taken into account by the relevant search engines for many years.
Practical tip: When processing a large number of items, it is a good idea to prepare a CSV file with the necessary data. This metadata can then be easily imported into the ERP system using JTL-DataTransfer. In our JTL-Guide you can familiarize yourself with the extensive possibilities of JTL-DataTransfer.
You can and should also store high-quality metadata for the CMS pages in the front end of your JTL-Shop, such as the start page. To do this, scroll to the bottom of the page on the respective CMS page. There you will find the described fields Meta-Title, Meta-Keywords and Meta-Description.
Tip no. 3: Excellent product images
It may be very tedious, but it can be a decisive competitive advantage: Avoid using the usual manufacturer images. If possible, create your own high-quality product images. Search engines also like the uniqueness of the image information provided. Google Image Search also increases your chances of being found and helping new visitors to your store.
You often see in online stores that the item images are clearly too small. Item images should be at least 300 pixels on the shortest side. Ideally, however, the resolution of the images should be even larger for detailed views in the online store. In many cases, the quality and informative value of the product images is a decisive factor in the purchase decision.
However, make sure that the image files are moderate in size so as not to strain the loading times and therefore the speed of your store. You can make the appropriate image adjustments in JTL-Wawi under Settings -> Convert images. Other free tools, such as tinyjpg.com, where you can compress your images without losing quality, are also useful aids.
In addition to the image and file size, the alt tag for describing the images is also crucial. Search engines cannot yet sufficiently recognize the images on a website and the alt tag gives us the opportunity to add a description of the image.
The Alt tags can be stored in JTL-Wawi under the item attributes. To do this, open the Attributes/characteristics tab in the respective item details. Now add the img_alt_1 attribute under the JTL-Shop attribute group. Now add the desired description text to the attribute description. This should be short and concise and contain a relevant keyword for the item.
Additional tip: Place the keyword that you use for the alt tag in your description text for the item.
Conclusion: The squirrel eats hard!
Serious search engine optimization is not a craft that produces the desired results overnight. A lot of work, attention to detail and patience are required to benefit from better rankings.
Provide your JTL-Shop with the texts and special features that set you apart from the competition and offer your customers real added value. Only then will you generate noteworthy traffic via organic search in the long term.
These recommendations and tips can only be a start. If you would like to find out more, I would be happy to support you and offer you appropriate advice and services with my online marketing agency SaphirSolution.de.
But for now, I wish you every success with the first measures to optimize your JTL-Shop!
