Samuel Edwards

Every year, more time-strapped consumers are lured by the convenience and low prices offered by online retailers. The global pandemic has only escalated the rise of retail eCommerce sales around the globe. What follows are recent eCommerce statistics, outlined a few charts. eCommerce at a Glance 2021 total eCommerce sales are expected in the United States are estimated at $933.3B (eMarketer) The annual growth rate of eCommerce continues to reach double digits at 14.4% (IBIS) The total profitability of the industry remains fixed at roughly 4% of overall eCommerce sales eCommerce share of overall Online retail sales continues to grow and is estimated at 15% in 2021 (Statista) Based on data sourced from the US Census and Statista, an estimated 20% of total retail sales will be shop online this year compared with 7.6% a mere five years prior, making the eCommerce industry one of the fastest-growing industries in the United States. Amazon is the Undisputed Whale Amazon’s share of the overall pie continues to grow: Total Amazon’s share of overall eCommerce is up to roughly 40% of total shop online and their online sales, with Walmart lagging behind at 7%   eCommerce Revenue Outlook Historical and expected growth of e-commerce remains strong.   eCommerce Products & Services Mix The share of online merchandise across all channels has remained steady over the last few years: Computer Hardware: 18.4% Clothing, Footwear & Accessories: 18.2% Furniture and Home Appliances: 9.1% Medication and Cosmetics: 7.8% Sporting Goods, Toys, Games & Hobby Items: 7.2% Food, Beverage and Alcohol: 2.3% Office Equipment & Supplies: 5.5% Other Merchandise: 31.5% Additional eCommerce Industry & Growth Stats Accelerated by higher levels of disposable income and consumers’ growing propensity to conduct services online, industry revenue is expected to rise by a considerable 12.2% per year on average during the last five years. Moreover, the low startup costs associated with launching an online store have facilitated strong enterprise growth during the period, with the number of industry operators anticipated to rise 18.4% per year on average to 176,505 companies. Consumers are increasingly leveraging their mobile internet connections to online purchases items on the go, enhancing the ease and convenience of online shopping. According to Criteo’s latest State of Mobile Commerce study, nearly 30.0% of Online shoppers’ e-commerce transactions are now mobile Online shopping. The percentage of Online shoppers services conducted online Shopping or shopping online is expected to rise from 8.2% in 2010 to 10.7% Growth in this relatively new industry has coincided with the increasing ubiquity of internet access. The costs of obtaining an internet connection and a computer or mobile devices have declined considerably over the past decade, making it more affordable for consumers to connect to the internet. Wages are expected to account for a mere 5.4% of industry revenue, reflecting a 12.4% increase over the five-year period and staying constant as a share of the revenue. The looming threat of regulation may hamper sales, and heightened competition is projected to slow profit growth in the coming years. eCommerce SEO Here at SEO.co, we have deep expertise in eCommerce SEO, working with clients on both Amazon search optimization as well as Shopify and BigCommerce SEO. How can we work with you on your next global eCommerce business or your eCommerce businesses and campaign? Citations:  Carter, Britanny (2025). IBISWorld Industry Report 45411a. E-Commerce & Online Auctions in the US.

What do you do when you lack funds and need a way to cut through the noise and reach people in new ways when your traditional marketing strategies aren’t working? For many, guerrilla marketing is the answer. What is Guerrilla Marketing? The concept of guerrilla marketing is derived from the idea of guerrilla warfare. It’s a gritty, under-the-radar approach that aims to disarm the competition through clever, creative, and unforeseen methods that are unique and organic. In the context of warfare, guerilla marketing tactic are predicated on the element of surprise. Armies use sabotage, ambushes, raids, and decentralized fighting forces to overwhelm much stronger enemies with unpredictable attacks. And while guerilla marketing isn’t nearly as intense, it’s equally as creative. The term “guerrilla marketing” was coined by business writer and entrepreneur Jay Conrad Levinson in the early 1980s. The father of the movement wrote numerous books about so-called guerrilla tactics and his thoughts surrounding marketing have become increasingly relevant in the digital age. The goal of guerrilla marketing is to play on the element of surprise. This approach is effective for a number of reasons. Most importantly, it yields benefits like: Memorability & Recall  What was the last great billboard you remember seeing? Can you recall a recent TV commercial or piece of digital content that you engaged with? Most people struggle to recall anything beyond the last couple of days. And when people do recall an ad, it’s only because it was unique. The entire premise of guerrilla marketing is to be unique. When you execute well, there’s much better recall and superior long-term benefits. Budget-friendly While there are plenty of expensive guerrilla marketing campaigns, the beauty of this strategy is that you can execute on a minuscule budget. This provides a wealth of new opportunities for business owners who don’t have access to four-, five-, and six-figure marketing campaigns. Viral Marketing Potential  In today’s internet and social media age, clever marketing gets recognized and shared. If you execute well, your outdoor guerrilla marketing strategy could go viral. This increases exposure exponentially and provides a massive return on investment. While traditional ads still have a place in today’s marketplace, people are becoming less and less attuned to standard billboards, flyers, and banner ads. The only way to stand out is to do something unique and different. guerrilla marketing plays on this idea by initiating clever marketing campaigns that stand out above the rest. 10 guerrilla Marketing Tactics A Guerrilla marketing campaign is at its best when it’s unique, instantly relatable, and able to be shared. (This latter aspect increases its potential for virality). Here are some marketing ideas you can use to inspire your own campaigns: 1. Go Totally Opposite of the Competition If you notice everyone in your industry moving in one direction toward an obvious angle, it could be a good tactic to temporarily move in the opposite direction. (We say “could” because this isn’t necessarily true in every industry – particularly ones with sensitive subject matter.) Let’s say, for example, that every one of your competitors is talking about how they offer the lowest or best price. You could run a guerrilla marketing campaign where you talk about how you offer the highest price. It can be done so in both a tongue-in-cheek manner, as well as a serious proposition that positions you as the authority figure and leader in quality. When you take a strong contrarian stance, people take notice. And though there will always be a certain faction of people who are turned off, many will be magnetized to what makes you unique. If nothing else, your brand will be memorable. 2. Try Unique Business Cards Who says business cards have to be boring? Even a small slip of paper can provide an opportunity to engage in . And while it may cost you significantly more on a per-unit basis, clever cards can make a huge statement.guerrilla marketing campaigns Examples of creative business cards include: A cosmetic surgeon who used circular latex inserts within a woman’s profile to create the appearance of enlarged breast implants. A cheese shop that found a way to incorporate small metal graters into the card’s surface, which created a functional, pocket-sized cheese grater. A tearable business card for a divorce lawyer (featuring contact information on both sides of the tear. A foam business card that comes rolled up in a rubber band. Upon unrolling, you realize that it’s a mini yoga mat. A personal trainer’s stretchy business card that resembles an elastic resistance band. A seed packet and other businesses card for a lawn care company. (Contains actual seeds inside the envelope-style card.) We often think of business cards as a boring and predictable piece of marketing unconventional marketing. However, even traditional elements such as this can be utilized as clever guerrilla-style “attacks” for increasing engagement. 3. Leverage User-Generated Content Sometimes it’s best to let your hair down a little and not take your brand too seriously. You aren’t the only one who can create content for your brand. In fact, your customers might even be better equipped to do so. And it’s for this reason that sharing user-generated content on your website and social media platforms can be effective. User-generated content works especially well when you have a rabid fanbase who is skilled at creating visual content like images, videos, and creative designs using your products. Fashion and athletic wear brands are good examples. By getting people to post pictures wearing the attire, companies can repost for free and highly-effective social proof that outperforms the efficacy of paid content with professional models. 4. Street Marketing Street marketing is one of the classic use cases of guerrilla marketing. It provides an outlet for almost unlimited creativity. And when compared to other categories, this tends to generate the most noticeable impact and chance for virality. (It can also be among the most expensive options, depending on how you execute.) Two specific examples come to mind. The first guerrilla marketing

If you’re creating good content, then surely, you’re using images and videos with it … right? If you simply optimize the use of your Google images, you could tap into a whole new world of search traffic: image search. Google Image Search can be a remarkably potent resource to help generate traffic to your website. With a monthly active user base of over 1 billion, this tool offers an immense potential audience, allowing you to enhance your website traffic and conversions. Here we provide some tips on how to optimize the usage of Google Image Search to amplify traffic to your website. Optimize Your Images To boost traffic with Google Image Search, it’s crucial to optimize your images. This involves using specific and descriptive file names, tags, and captions for your images. Also, ensure that your images are the correct size and format for the web, as these aspects can significantly impact their loading speed. Choose the Right Image File Type When you’re choosing which image to use, look at what kind of file type it is. You want to choose JPG images or WebP, but preferably WebP. For some reason, they just seem to perform better with image searches and end up ranking higher. One reason may be that JPGs are readable by any kind of browser a user might be searching with. Or it may be that it’s easier to compress the size of JPG images or use. You don’t want tiny images; you want them to be clear and represent the idea behind them. But large images increase load time, which is never good. Use High-Quality Images Utilizing high-quality images can be a game-changer when it comes to driving traffic to your website. Visitors are more likely to click on images that are of high quality, visually stunning, and crystal clear. So, take the time to make sure that your images are of the utmost quality possible. Using and Choosing Keywords The first thing you want to do is give each photo a clear, easy-to-read, and relevant title. Don’t use gibberish that tells the search engines nothing about the image. For example, don’t stick with AG133NOV.jpg. This might help you with organizing which file is where, but it will do you NO favors in terms of img search or SEO. Next is the Alt tag. Fill this in with relevant (but brief) information and keywords to help the search engine understand what is contained in the image. Someone who is visually impaired may visit, and this tag will tell them what’s in the image too. (They use special browsing equipment that reads text for them.) Lastly, put the description to good use. This isn’t completely necessary, but it doesn’t hurt. Here you can elaborate a bit more about what’s depicted in the image. Incorporate Relevant Keywords Including pertinent keywords in your image file names, alternate tags, and captions can boost your images’ search ranking on Google Image Search. Make sure that your keywords are specific, relevant, and accurately depict your images. Create, Original Distinctive Images Crafting unique and one-of-a-kind images can help your website stand out from the hoards of generic stock photos and increase your chances of gaining more traffic. Instead of using trite stock images, consider generating custom images that align with your brand message and aesthetic. This strategy can make your website and images stand out in Google Image Search results. Whether you Photoshop unique, creative images for your blog or you take photos of your products, you want your images to be unique. It’s also been shown that using multiple images will usually help them rank better, as long as you follow all the rules for each image. Tip: With the new Google Trends, you can research a wealth of information about any search term. This can help with image or picture Google search, too. When you go to Google Trends, enter your search term and click Explore. As soon as you do, a whole lot of things load on the screen. Click on “Web Search” to the left (see below). A menu will open to the right. Click on “Image Search.” That will open a chart of how many times people have searched for that term with image search. (Note: this number isn’t exact; it’s relative to searches as a whole.) You can also see other related search terms being searched for on image searches. Okay, so now you have the basics of driving more Google image search traffic just by optimizing your images. But if you want to get the most out of this, there’s still more you can do. Promote Images on Social Media Promoting your images on social media can help expand your audience and drive more traffic to your website. Using relevant hashtags, descriptions, and captions can make it easier for users to find and share your images, amplifying your reach and driving more traffic. Implement Schema Markup Employing schema markup can aid Google in understanding your image content and enhancing their visibility in search results. By adding schema markup to your images, you can provide additional information to search engines, such as image names, creators, and subject matter, thereby increasing their search rankings. Track Your Results Lastly, it’s vital to keep track of your results to evaluate how your images are performing in Google Image Search. Tools such as Google Analytics can help you monitor the number of clicks and impressions that your images are receiving. You can use this data to make any necessary changes to enhance your images’ performance and, in turn, increase traffic to your website. Fix The iFrame Roadblock When people click on an image after you search Google Images, they’re taken to a special web page that features just your image. They don’t necessarily come to your page and see all the glorious content you’ve worked so hard to put together. The image actually shows in an iframe and visitors have to keep clicking to get to your real page, which some

Some of the best content on the web uses multiple pages to cover the same idea. For example: A blog series or related blog topics, organized on-site with a menu A piece of pillar content with a supporting, ancillary Q&A section A content cluster where multiple sub-topics are arranged around a head, money key phrase and folder Simply put, great content will always attract huge numbers of visitors and keep a site ranked highly in search whether you understand in-depth SEO tactics or not. If you have a longer blog post, splitting it up into multiple pages may help your blog’s visibility in search. Most likely, traffic to other pages on your blog will come from both off-site link building efforts or on-site internal links.  If you write a blog post that’s longer than 3,000 words, your best option may be to split it up into multiple pages.  In addition, you may be able to increase your ranking by implementing a multiple-page post that includes easy navigation to subsequent pages. Here are some additional tips for improving SEO with longer blog posts, multiple pages and blog series. Break Blog Posts into Multiple Pages Breaking down a post into multiple pages is likely a good idea when: The blog post length is 2,000 words or more You have a lot of facts with images that could create a slide You have in-depth content that requires multiple keywords per page When you break up an article into multiple pages, you can target different keywords per page and also help your optimization for search with those keywords. You don’t have to place all of your keywords on a single page, which means you can spread your keywords throughout the content without worrying about the consequences of stuffing your blog post. In addition, more users will click through your first post to see the other pages and will more than likely engage with each of your pages. However, multiple pages also have some issues. One con of a multiple page post for SEO is that people will more than likely just link to the first page of the post. If you have something really blog-worthy or links on other pages, they may not be seen because only the first page is linked. All the link juice stays on the first page. Another problem with multiple page blog posts is that content is typically slim on the subsequent pages. You can’t add too many keywords or optimize your content for multiple pages if you only have 100 words per page. However, slide blog posts can be very popular and rank well just on their own while also including internal and external links. Do Blog Series Work for SEO In many popular blogs, you will see a blog series like “Favorite Mexican Dinner Night Recipes Volume 1” or “Top Strategies for Email Marketing: Beginner.” You can see how these blog series will develop into a multi-part post series that continuously expands upon information. There are several uses for blog series with SEO. 1. Break Up Longer Blog Posts for Easier Reading If you have written a blog post that’s 2,000 words or more, you should consider breaking it up into a blog series. This allows you to focus on great content that will intrigue readers and then also get readers to click through your blog, which treats them to a longer stay on your site. The key is to link to the next blog post at the top and bottom of the post. You can also use the “related topics” links at the bottom of your post to allow readers to skip to a part of the series that they prefer to read. We do this regularly with our longer posts by breaking them up into multi-part series with a link-able table of contents within the body of the content, just like we did with this piece on local SEO: 2. Multiple Points of SEO You can create separate keyword lists for each blog post series allowing each post to rank on its own. You don’t have to keyword stuff any of the content because you have plenty of content written to spread out your images, links and keywords. 3. Save Time You can plan blog post series for weeks giving you an easy post at least twice a month with a subject that you know is already popular with your readers. The main point is that you should focus on blog post series that have a lot of traffic. Tracking the traffic and comments on your blog post series is important to understand what topics to go forward with in the future. 4. Good for Video Videos have become the most important feature of any blog. If you have a blog post series, you can partner it up with a video series. This gives your site and post more visibility while also increasing the chances that it will be shared. A blog post series is a great way to break up content and make your blog easier to read. Since these are single posts, you can still link to them and use separate keyword lists to drive your SEO strategy. How to Use Internal Linking with Multiple Page Blog Posts Internal linking is a beneficial strategy to make your site stickier. Visitors stick around by clicking on links to other pages of your site and reading more content or browsing other products. If you have multiple pages or a blog series, you can use internal backlinks to increase SEO and make it easier for readers to browse content. Some tips to follow with internal linking are: Use descriptive anchor text for internal links “Google Play Review” rather than “my last review”  Don’t overdo it with links Readers just ignore any post with too many links Two internal links per page, two external links per page is best  Remember to add external links for balance In addition, if you have multiple pages with a blog

Foreign or international SEO refers to the method of optimizing your website and search presence for a global audience. It helps display your website to searchers from different countries, even if they speak other languages. While international SEO strategy or local SEO strategy might seem like an alien idea, it’s not as different from traditional local SEO as you may think. Essentially, you use geo-targeting, local landing pages and other localization signals to show your content to users from around the globe. Everything else is the same as it is in traditional SEO as your site attracts organic traffic from the multiple countries you’re targeting. The great thing is that oftentimes performing SEO outside the United States can be easier for several reasons: There is less competition in given niche international markets or global markets, particularly for same languages outside of English. Google (and even competing sites) run different algorithms with less complexity in foreign jurisdictions, so ranking factors aren’t as extensive and site vesting is often not as long. Lower number (supply) of total competitors. Does Your Business Need Foreign SEO? Google accounts for nearly 70% of all global search traffic. If you want your website to be discoverable by an international audience, you must optimize it according to Google’s guidelines. For starters, use Google Analytics and other search engines tools to check where your website’s traffic is coming from. If you notice that a bulk of them are located in a different country from you or speak a different language than the one your content is in, it’s best to optimize your website to create a better user experience for them. This will enable you to maximize profit by marketing and selling your products in a previously untapped international markets. Foreign SEO offers different challenges from local SEO. Your most significant consideration is whether the money you’re investing in building the site and its systems will be worth the potential returns. That’s why, before optimizing your website for foreign traffic, there are some factors you’ll need to consider. We’ve outlined these for you below. Assess Audience Goals For Your Brand 60% of marketers divulged that inbound SEO brings them the highest quality leads. That’s why it’s a good idea to explore your audiences so you can be sure that they share your business’s goals. Google Analytics allows you to check your current foreign organic visibility, conversions, and traffic using the following metrics: The languages and target countries feeding your website’s organic traffic Keyword trends and popularity by page for top languages and target countries The volume of organic traffic through search engines by local language and country The conversion rate for your website’s top languages and different countries Use these metrics to explore your target audience’s content needs and determine whether they can be turned into qualified leads. Your Capability To Deliver Goods And Services To A Foreign Audience You may be well-equipped to provide your existing local audience with the products or services you offer, but can you scale it up for international customers? If you don’t offer international clients an equally smooth customer experience, it could cause severe damage to your online reputation. For international SEO strategy, it’s imperative that you have the necessary resources to create a dedicated page on your website for the country or language you’re targeting. You’ll also need to ensure that you can provide your audience customer support in their language. If you want to offer foreign customers a smooth experience, your content should be easy for them to understand. Auto-translated content will stand in the way of your success—instead, you need professional translations of your copy. How To Begin Foreign SEO Here’s how you can do this: Choose A Niche You’ll need to start by looking into a foreign affiliate program. Filter your search by category and country to find a program in your target location that matches your needs. Say you already have a niche and an English-language affiliate website that’s performing well. In that case, it’s best to begin with the same niche for your foreign site so you can use your experience and research—thereby saving you money and time. Buyer Intent Keyword Research Optimizing your website for the right keywords is crucial in foreign SEO—just like traditional local and international SEO. You can only do this once you know which keywords to optimize for. Research shows that the CTA for long-tail keywords is 3% to 5% higher than other searches. Similarly, “Where to buy” + “near me” search queries have increased by 200%, and “Best” + “right now” global searches have grown by over 125% over two years. However, the keyword selection phase is tricky for foreign SEO despite these insights. You have to consider language and cultural differences that may be lost in translation. Even small changes in phrases could cause you to miss out on a substantial amount of foreign traffic. To ensure that you’re using the right keywords, you can use Google or other search engines Translate. Once you’ve translated the parent keyword into the language you’re targeting, you can use Ahrefs to check how it ranks. You can also check different variations of the same key phrases by using a language extension that allows you to switch back and forth between English and the target languages. Look at the top-performing sites for your niche. Which conduct keyword research do they rank high for? You can use these keywords to check which services and products you should be offering to your foreign audience and optimize your website for them. Choose A Domain Your niche research should include whether you’ll require a local domain extension to rank better. You can check this by looking at the SERPs for the keywords you’re targeting. Do the websites on the page mainly use country-specific domains, or are the results a mixture? In some regions, you’re likely to face restrictions in the process of obtaining a country code top-level domain (ccTLD). If you’re targeting a country in the

When you’re looking to set up your online store, Shopify is a great choice. But, just because you have a shop set up and ready to go doesn’t mean people are going to flock to it. Shopify is an amazing platform for eCommerce, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have to work to rank it to get people to shop there. Much like with a shopify site that produces content, eCommerce sites have to be search engine optimized to pop up in the search results over their competitors. The good news is, it comes with some Search Engine Optimization features (Shopify SEO), which will help you get started, but you’ll have to put in some work to get your shop up there in the rankings. Is Your Site Built to be SEO Friendly? When we talk about the way your site is built, we’re talking about how easy it is to use. Can users find what they’re looking for easily? This is where organization and simplicity help you to achieve your goals. Organization starts with making sure the items on your shopping site are easy to find, if a user clicks on shoes, it shouldn’t be showing them tennis racks, right? When a user is able to easily find what they are looking for, they are more likely to explore other things, this not only equates to more potential sales but longer stay time on your site. Longer stay time equals higher ranking with Google. Organization doesn’t mean cramming your shop full of categories and drop-down menus and separate pages. That’s where simplicity comes in. Make it organized, but don’t go all-in on subdividing your content. For instance, if you sell shoes, it’s a good idea to separate sneakers and dress shoes. However, separating your dress shoes into five other categories will just get confusing and hard to navigate, especially depending on how you index it. The idea is to make it easy enough so that users can organically find what they are looking for and maybe stay a while in the process. Improve the Interface This next tip ties into the first but focuses more on the actual function of your site rather than the layout. The big key here is to make sure your site is optimized for mobile users. Google has moved to “mobile first” indexing, meaning desktop is considered as ancillary for crawling and ranking purposes. There are tools within Google that will allow you to track your mobile device friendliness. Believe it or not, a lot of your shoppers will be browsing on their mobile phones and there is an entire process of optimizing for mobile. Other tips include having multiple payment options, using small images to improve performance and load times, turning off any background shopify SEO apps you’re not using, and avoiding the use of sliders. Much of what you’re doing is improving the loading times of your pages and minimizing the hassle of actively browsing your site. This will make users want to stay and shop. If it takes too long to load, or users are bombarded by large obnoxious product images, they will likely be turned off and go shop elsewhere. Keywords Matter Too Just like with content creation, you want to use the relevant keywords or target keywords related to the products you sell in meta descriptions with high search volume. That means looking for what your potential customers would look for on the search engines and tailoring your site to those keywords’ meta description. It isn’t that complicated in terms of sales keywords. Simply think to yourself, “If I wanted to buy what I sell, how would I search for it in Google?” (Keyword research). If you’re not sure, you can find inspiration from social media, as well as forums, and even competitors’ sites. Once you have a good idea of how customers are searching, you can select the keywords that are most relevant and will have the most impact on search engine results (keyword research tool). Build Out Your Site to be More Than Just a Store Yes, we know, you’re trying to sell products, that doesn’t mean you can just stick some pictures and prices up and start selling. Having a web presence means just that, having a presence. Having a threadbare eCommerce side with just some product pages on it isn’t going to rank highly at all. The first thing to do when building out your site is to optimize product pages or category page. Using the right titles, tags, and headers will help your product pages and blog posts rank when people search for “where to buy” whatever it is you’re selling. Put some thought and effort in as well. If you sell t-shirts don’t just label your tags with the word “t-shirt” see what other categories, you fit in and create the appropriate tags. It’s important to clearly identify your space and then try your best to fit into it. You can add blogs and other content to your site related to your field to help it rank higher. You can also use link building to help drive traffic and increase ranking. Just make sure that you link with reputable sites that have a good reputation or your ranking won’t do anything but slide. Use All the Tools & Services at Your Disposal Some tools and plugins have been developed for Shopify that help you with optimizing your site for SEO. There are tools to help you consistently update your site to stay ranking and relevant as well as SEO tools that alert you to problems with the site and other features that you can add to help you with keyword saturation and other issues. You should also make use of all the data that Google analytics gives you about your site to track organic traffic and how well your site is performing. This will let you determine how you’re doing, whether you need to advertise more, add new products or change your