SEO for an online shop, for beginners: the step-by-step guide
Published on , updated on 7 min read The 123Ventes team
SEO is the word everyone says with a knowing look and nobody ever really explains. People picture secret codes, mysterious algorithms and experts charging a fortune to tell you that “you need content”.
In reality, for a craftsperson’s or shopkeeper’s online shop, the essentials come down to a few simple steps, and you do not need to be a computer expert. It takes a bit of method… and a lot of patience. Here is the path, step by step.
1. What Google is looking for, in two minutes
When someone types “handmade donkey milk soap”, Google wants to show them the page that answers best. To choose, it roughly asks itself three questions:
- what is this page about? It works this out from the headings, the text and the photos;
- can it be trusted? It checks whether other sites mention it, whether it is secure, whether it has been around for a while;
- are visitors happy with it? A page that loads fast, reads well on a phone and answers the question stands every chance.
Keep these three questions in mind: they are worth more than any trick.
2. Find the words your customers use
The classic trap is writing in your own trade language. You say “glazed stoneware vessel”, your customers type “ceramic vase”. And Google looks for what your customers type.
To find the right words, you do not need a paid tool:
- start typing the name of your product into Google and look at the suggestions that appear: these are real searches;
- scroll to the bottom of the results page: the “related searches” give you more ideas;
- listen to your customers at the counter or at the market: how do they ask for your products?
Aim for precise rather than broad. On “candle”, you will never get ahead of the big chains. On “fig-scented candle, rapeseed wax”, you have a real chance. And if you sell locally, add your town or region: “cheese shop in Vence” is a search very few sites compete for.
3. Take care over the title and description of every page
The title is the blue line shown in Google’s results. The description is the two lines underneath. Together, they act as your shop window: they are what makes people want to click, or not.
- Before: “Home – My shop”. After: “Handmade silver jewellery in Nice – Atelier Lune”.
- Before: “Product 12”. After: “Blue stoneware bowl, handmade, dishwasher-safe”.
A few simple guidelines:
- a title of about 60 characters, with the important word at the start;
- a description of about 150 characters, written like a small ad: what it is, who it is for, why buy it from you;
- a different title for every page. Ten pages all called “Shop” are ten pages Google cannot tell apart.
4. Write product pages that answer questions
A product page with one photo and “Pretty bowl, €35” gives Google nothing to say about it, and the customer neither. A good product page answers the questions people ask you at the counter:
- what it is for, and who it is for (as a gift, for yourself, for the kitchen, for the garden);
- how it is made, with what, by whom;
- dimensions, weight, colours, sizes;
- care, storage, guarantee;
- dispatch time and whether it can be collected.
No need for a novel: a few sincere sentences are enough, as long as they are yours. Copying the supplier’s description means publishing the same text as dozens of other sites, and then Google has no reason to prefer you. It is also one of the most common beginner’s mistakes, whatever the platform.
5. Light, well-described photos
Google does not see your photos, it reads them. Three habits help it a great deal:
- name your files before uploading them: “blue-stoneware-bowl.jpg” rather than “IMG_4521.jpg”;
- describe them with alternative text, when your tool allows it: “blue stoneware bowl on a wooden table”. It is also what visually impaired people hear when they visit your shop;
- make them lighter: a phone photo often weighs several megabytes. Reduced to 1,500 pixels wide, it still looks good on screen and loads much faster.
6. Organise your shop like a real shop
In a well-kept shop, you find the cups next to the teapots. Online it is the same: clear categories, with names your customers understand (“Silver jewellery”, “Soaps for sensitive skin”), help both visitors and Google.
Link your pages together too: on a teapot’s page, a link to the matching cups. Every link is a little signpost, for your customers and for Google alike.
7. Think mobile and speed
Most of your visitors will arrive on a phone, and Google looks at the mobile version of your site first to rank it. So visit your shop on your phone, like a customer would: can the text be read without zooming? Does the basket work all the way to the end?
For speed, Google’s free PageSpeed Insights tool gives you a score and some advice. There is no point aiming for 100 at all costs: slowness usually comes from photos that are too heavy or a pile of add-ons installed over time.
8. Be on Google Maps, and collect reviews
If you have a workshop or a shop, a Google Business Profile listing is probably the most rewarding step on this list. It is free, it appears when someone searches for your trade near them, and it can link to your online shop.
Fill it in completely (opening hours, photos, description, link to your site) and ask your happy customers for reviews. The simplest way: ask in person, at the moment the customer thanks you. Reply to every review, including the bad ones, calmly: readers mostly look at your reply. To go further on this subject, read our guide to selling locally online.
9. Introduce your shop to Google with Search Console
Google Search Console is a free tool that tells you, in plain terms, how Google sees your site. You set it up once and come back to it from time to time. Three things to do there:
- add your site, then prove that it is yours (Google guides you step by step);
- submit your sitemap: it is the list of your pages, which helps Google find them faster;
- look at the “Performance” report once a month: which words people find you with, how often you are seen, how often people click.
This report shows you your customers’ real words, sometimes very different from the ones you imagined. Then reuse them in your titles and product pages.
10. What is best avoided
- Repeating the same word everywhere: “handmade soap, our handmade soap is a handmade soap”. Google understands perfectly the first time, and your customers run away by the third.
- Buying links by the hundred for a few euros: at best it is useless, at worst Google holds it against you. A link from the tourist office or your craftspeople’s association is worth far more.
- Believing anyone who promises first place within a fortnight. Nobody can honestly guarantee that.
11. Be patient (and consistent)
SEO is a vegetable garden, not a microwave. For a brand-new shop, it generally takes anywhere from a few days to a few weeks for Google to discover it, then several months for it to find its place on competitive searches.
A realistic pace for a beginner:
- the first week: titles and descriptions of the main pages, Google Business Profile listing, Search Console;
- the first month: product pages rewritten for your 20 best sellers, photos renamed and made lighter;
- after that: a new product or a useful page now and then (care tips, size guide), and a monthly look at Search Console.
SEO brings visitors, but it does not do everything. For the other ways to get yourself known, from the QR code at the till to the newsletter, see how to attract customers online.
And with 123Ventes?
Much of the technical side is already done for you. The sitemap is created automatically and updated as soon as you add a product. As long as the shop is closed to the public, it stays empty, so that Google does not remember a half-finished shop. Mobile display and HTTPS are included, and the main photo of each product uses its name as alternative text.
For every page, and in each of the shop’s 5 languages (French, English, German, Spanish, Italian), you set the title, description and keywords yourself. The details are on our page about SEO for your online shop, and all the tools are on the features page.
All for €29.90 a month, or €319.90 a year, with no commission on your sales: see the prices. And if you would rather we took care of it, we can work on your SEO with you, by the hour. A real person, in Vence (in the south of France), who explains what they are doing.
Conclusion
SEO for an online shop is not magic. Words chosen the way your customers type them, clear titles, product pages written by you, light photos, a well-filled Google listing, and Search Console to see what works. Then a little every month, without panicking. Google always ends up noticing the shops that answer people’s questions well. It is just a bit slow on the uptake.
👉 Try 123Ventes for free and see how simple it is.