Why Is Optimizing Your Product Page Important?

Creating a good product page entails a lot more than just having good products. While good products can sometimes speak for themselves, they’re not going to be loud enough for the average person to find them without a little help from a thing called SEO. SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is a term thrown around the ecommerce world often, but what does it mean? SEO can involve a multitude of aspects, so it’s hard to pinpoint what’s in need of optimizing, especially on your product page. But exactly how important is optimizing your product page? We’ll let the numbers do the talking this time.

1. When looking to the internet to make a purchase, 93% of people begin with a search engine.

This statistic means that many consumers are beginning their search in the same place, and most of the time it’s through Google. How does this relate to your product page? Your product page should reflect what people might use Google to search for. This comes down to your product titles. They should be clear and relevant, all while relaying the message you want to send in a concise manner.

2. After making a search, 79% of people click on organic listings.

An organic listing refers to the unpaid or natural listings that show up on a search page because they were deemed valuable and relevant to the search that was initiated. This means that the majority of consumers are bypassing the paid listings and going to the first organic results that they find. One of the best ways to improve your organic rankings is to start by perfecting your product URLs. This is something many business owners overlook, lowering their CTR over time. The URLs should give the consumer a clear idea of where they’d be taken if they clicked on the link and it needs to be directly related to what they searched for in the first place.

3. Approximately 95% of people don’t go past the first page of results.

With the possibility of competing against thousands of other businesses, getting onto the first page of Google is no small feat. As a small business owner, you might be thinking there’s no way you could ever end up ranking higher than the larger competitors, but with some effective SEO, that feat becomes feasible. If you’re a small local business, you can start by emphasizing your location on your website. That way, when consumers enter in a search for a product or service you sell locally such as “women’s shoes in Raleigh, NC”, your listing has a higher chance of turning up in the first round of results.

4. Websites ranked number one on the search results page have an average click-through rate (CTR) of 4%, websites ranked number two have a CTR of 12.5% and number three have a CTR of 9.5%.

So now we’re learning that it’s not just important to be on the first page of the results, your position on the first page is also of utmost importance. With so many companies selling the same products, you need to get creative with your product descriptions, because if done correctly, it will elevate the order of your listing. The main advice here is to NEVER copy the descriptions from the manufacturers. You should take the time to create your own listings or hire someone else to write creative listings for you.

5. Around 70% of potential consumers look at reviews before making a purchase.

To take this statistic one step further, reviews increase organic searches by 300% over a 9 month period. The importance of reviews and developing trust between your audience and your brand has been touched on many times before, but it can’t be left out of this one, as it is an essential part in increasing the optimization of your product page.

6. Studies have shown that 40% of consumers will change to a different search result if the first one they come across is not mobile friendly.

The importance of mobile friendly sites cannot be understated! Your product page should always be mobile friendly and well designed. Studies have shown that customers on mobile devices are more distracted, so your messaging needs to be even clearer. You should also make sure that the text on your mobile product page is larger and in an easy-to-read font.

7. Approximately 79% of consumers only skim the highlights of a product page instead of reading it word-for-word.

This isn’t to say that product descriptions aren’t important, because they are. However, product descriptions should be concise and contain only the information that the consumer would deem necessary. When dealing with consumers that don’t wish to spend a lot of time on a product page, what’s the best way to captivate their attention? Images! It makes perfect sense. Would you buy something online without an idea of what the product looks like? Probably not. Therefore, your product page should contain high-quality images. Images provide the consumer with relevant information about the product in less time than reading a lengthy description would. Adding videos isn’t a bad idea either, but images are going to be what takes your product page to the next level.