9 SEO Questions To Ask Before Launching
An eCommerce Site
Before launching an eCommerce site, asking the right SEO-related questions is crucial to ensure your site is optimized for search engines from the start. Without the right strategies in place, even the best products or services can get lost in a crowded digital marketplace.
At K6 Digital Marketing, we specialize in crafting successful eCommerce SEO strategies for businesses to reach success, and we’re here to help guide you through the process.
Here’s a list of key SEO questions to ask before launching your eCommerce site:
1) What Is My Business?
This might seem like an obvious question with obvious answers, but clearly being able to articulate your business to a brand-new prospect in a new market can be challenging. We tend to be biased and we believe that our words are clear, because we are so familiar with what we sell, and we forge that new markets will not be as familiar with us.
So, it is important to use the same words and phrases that your potential customer uses in your site content. This means adding those words to prominent places such as the navigation and in prominent headers and graphics.
This not only allows your site to rank better for important keywords, it also helps align the buyer with your site content and search engines like Google will reward that. Clear messaging aligns with SEO success.
2) Who Is My Target Audience?
Knowing your audience helps drive every SEO decision. Are you targeting B2B or B2C customers? What are their search behaviors? What words do they use when seeking answers to questions and solutions? Building an SEO strategy around your ideal customers ensures that your website reaches the right people with the right message at the right time.
3) What Products Or Services Will I Sell?
Define the products or services that will make up the core of your eCommerce business. SEO for an online store thrives on content that speaks directly to these offerings. From product descriptions to category pages, each element must be optimized for both users and search engines.
4) What Are My Goals?
Without clear goals, it’s impossible to measure SEO success. Beyond the general goals of increasing brand awareness, driving traffic, or boosting conversions, it’s best to create some short-term specific goals around specific revenue targets or certain products. Setting these objectives early on helps shape a tailored SEO strategy that aligns with your business needs.
For example, you can decide on a set of specific product categories that represent the highest profit margin, or categories that have a strong value proposition compared to the competition. Digging into keyword research to pull out the specific manner that customers search these categories of products should result in stronger content to build at the beginning stages of your site launch.
5) What Value Do I Provide To Customers?
Your unique value proposition plays a vital role in search engine rankings and user engagement. Why should customers choose you over your competitors? This question helps shape both your SEO strategy and overall marketing efforts.
When working through this important question, be very specific – and think about your customers’ needs and questions. For example, what specific problem does each particular product solve, and what questions do your customers ask about the issue? Each of these answers needs to be developed into content on your website, preferably content that search engines can easily find and process. Addressing real-world questions with your particular value proposition is a powerful way to reach customers.
6) Who Are Your Top Competitors?
Analyzing competitors is essential to uncovering valuable insights that can shape your eCommerce SEO strategy. This process involves studying what keywords they rank for and understanding the types of content they prioritize. By doing so, you can identify gaps in their content that present opportunities to stand out. If a competitor has a strong presence in product-focused keywords but lacks informational or educational content, creating resources that answer common customer questions or provide value beyond products could draw more traffic to your site.
In addition, examining how competitors engage with their audience through blog posts, social media, or other channels can reveal strategies you might integrate or refine. This deep dive into their content approach and keyword targets allows you to build a more robust SEO plan tailored to fill in their gaps and capitalize on any weaknesses. Effective competitive research doesn’t just help you mirror successful tactics; it gives you a roadmap for setting yourself apart in a crowded digital market.
7) Who Will Manage Marketing and SEO Efforts?
SEO isn’t a “set it and forget it” process. Will you have an in-house team or outsource to experts? Having a dedicated person or agency to handle technical SEO, content marketing, and continuous optimization will ensure long-term success.
A dedicated SEO specialist or agency will be able to focus on a number of tasks for your site, including conducting keyword research to drive targeted traffic, optimizing on-page elements, and monitoring site performance through analytics. They’ll manage technical SEO aspects like improving site speed, fixing crawl errors, and ensuring mobile-friendliness. Content strategy and execution are also crucial, as regular blog posts, product descriptions, and optimized landing pages help maintain visibility in search results. Additionally, they’ll stay updated on SEO best practices and algorithm changes, making adjustments as needed to keep your site competitive. With a skilled SEO professional at the helm, your site will be better equipped to attract and retain customers over time.
8) Who Will Design and Develop My eCommerce Site?
SEO and web design go hand in hand. A well-designed site that’s user-friendly and fast-loading plays a crucial role in how search engines rank your pages. Ensuring that your web development team understands SEO best practices is critical.
Key technical issues like crawlability, duplicate content, page load speed, and mobile optimization can significantly impact an eCommerce site’s SEO. With numerous product pages, a clear site structure is essential for search engines to navigate and prioritize content effectively. Implementing unique descriptions and canonical tags prevents duplicate content issues, while optimizing images and compressing files enhances page speed. Additionally, responsive design ensures a seamless experience across all devices.
When your development team understands these specific SEO challenges and incorporates solutions during the design phase, your site will be better positioned to rank effectively and provide an excellent user experience.
9) How Will My eCommerce Site Be Structured?
Your site’s structure impacts everything from how users navigate your products to how search engines crawl and index your pages. Thoughtful architecture, with main categories, sub-categories, and possibly brand-specific pages, ensures that users can easily find what they’re looking for, creating a smoother shopping experience. A clear hierarchy also guides search engines, helping them understand which pages to prioritize and making it easier for your products to rank in search results.
Main categories and sub-categories are essential for organizing products logically, especially if your site has a broad product range. For instance, if you sell apparel, having categories like “Men’s,” “Women’s,” and “Kids” with sub-categories for each (such as “Shirts” or “Pants”) helps users and search engines alike navigate more intuitively. Brand pages can be valuable as well, allowing loyal customers to shop by brand and giving you another opportunity to target brand-related keywords.
Additional SEO Considerations for eCommerce Sites
What Platform Will I Use to Build My eCommerce Website?
Your choice of eCommerce platform—whether Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, or another—has a major influence on your site’s SEO potential. Each platform comes with built-in SEO features, but they also have limitations that may require extra customization for optimal performance. For instance, some platforms make it easy to manage URL structures, while others may need plugins to handle metadata or implement schema markup. Choosing a platform that aligns with your SEO goals and understanding where it may fall short will save time down the road. While every platform has strengths, prioritizing SEO-focused development from the outset is crucial to ranking success.
What SEO Strategies Should I Focus On Pre and Post-Launch?
Pre-launch SEO is about creating a strong foundation. Setting up optimized URLs, titles, meta descriptions, and structured data from the beginning helps search engines understand your site better. Additionally, planning for keyword-focused landing pages and a clear navigation structure can prevent future restructuring headaches. Post-launch, SEO shifts to growth—building authority with content marketing, earning backlinks, and analyzing performance through Google Analytics and Search Console. Implementing structured content updates, responding to keyword performance, and continuously tracking metrics will help maintain and improve your rankings over time, although it requires consistent effort.
How Will I Build Good, Quality Content (E-E-A-T)?
Creating content that reflects Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) is essential for building trust with both users and search engines. High-quality product descriptions that address user questions and incorporate relevant keywords are just the beginning. To truly elevate your content, consider integrating user-generated content like reviews, creating detailed blog posts, and addressing customer pain points with FAQ sections. Building this level of content isn’t a one-time task—it’s an ongoing process of adding value that helps your site stand out as a trusted resource. Investing in E-E-A-T content can be labor-intensive, but it yields lasting SEO benefits.
What Results Should I Expect From SEO After My eCommerce Website Launches?
SEO is a long-term strategy that requires patience. Initially, you may see small gains as search engines index and understand your new site, but true momentum typically builds over months. With consistent optimization, you can expect to see organic traffic growth, higher search engine rankings, and, ultimately, more conversions as you refine your approach. A strategic SEO plan from the start can accelerate results, but sustained effort is key to ongoing improvement. Results can be promising, but reaching and maintaining a competitive edge requires focused work, often benefitting from a dedicated SEO professional or team.
Choose K6 Digital Marketing’s eCommerce SEO Strategies for Your Website
At K6 Digital Marketing, we understand that SEO for eCommerce is a specialized field. We don’t just implement generic strategies; we tailor them to your unique business needs.
By partnering with us, you can focus on growing your business while we handle the SEO complexities—no need to worry about the latest updates in SEO best practices, site speed, or optimizing product pages for search engines.