Effective SEO Product Description Strategy for eCommerce

People have unique ways of searching for things online. Certain words and terms are more commonly used when browsing for products online. Certain voice or tone strikes the right cord, building trust in the buyer. That’s why you need to work on an SEO product description strategy.

If your product information is unclear, not helpful, or doesn’t add any value to your shoppers’ online search experience, there is a 20% chance of purchase failure. Additionally, SEO not only helps your products get discovered but can ultimately win you sales too. With the description actually being the pitch that can get your customers to hit the ‘add-to-cart’ button, you can’t ignore working hard on them. 

Do your keyword research, take up reverse engineering to see how the competition is making their products rank with descriptions, and come up with a solid strategy for writing product descriptions for SEO. 

Let’s get you a head start with the following tips and examples on SEO product descriptions.

How to make your products ‘searchable’ with SEO product descriptions

You’ll agree that there are tons of products being sold online. Tons of them are similar or the same as what you are selling. So, how do you make sure that the internet wins you the major chunk of the target audience rather than sending it to the competition? You are aware that the only way to make this happen is to be on the first few slots on Google.

If you aren’t occupying the first five rankings you are actually nowhere in the competition. This, of course, doesn’t apply to brands that are being directly searched by shoppers. Big names like GAP, Nike, or Sephora don’t need to fight for search slots. 

But, if you are a small and growing eCommerce store on Shopify, you know how important it is for your products to get discovered. Unless people know what you sell there is no chance that they’ll ever buy from you. Implementing an eCommerce SEO checklist ensures your store stays visible and competitive in search results.

Here’s your guide to getting started with product description for SEO.

Bring in the human touch for human search

Web crawlers aren’t going to buy from you. So, the number one rule to writing good product descriptions that actually sell is to shift your focus from writing for these bots to writing for real people. Now, we aren’t saying that it’s okay to not pay heed to the requirements and guidelines of search web crawlers. 

However, optimize for those technicalities once you’ve actually identified how people search for products and what they want to know about any product that they are purchasing. That’s how you create ‘usable’ content. Your descriptions should help your shoppers make a sound purchase decision. 

Looking for bulbs online, a user is likely to look for types of bulbs, or make a specific search for a certain type, say fluorescent lighting bulbs. When writing your description make sure that you help the user with this ‘intent’ driven search behavior. Another intent that the user basis purchase on is the cost of those fluorescent bulbs that he is considering to purchase. Spin your description to provide the most value as per these factors. 

A good keyword tool will help you identify the most searched keywords online as well as the competition around them.

Focus on the benefits of your product

Because you are writing for humans, write in a language that helps them know ‘what's in it for them’ to make the purchase. Instead of putting the spotlight on features focus on the benefits or value that the shopper gets out of the product. Of course, this varies based on what you’re selling. For example, a professional camera or a mobile phone will require you to mention the specs clearly. 

Moreover, a feature-based product description sounds impersonal. If you focus completely on the product it might even seem like you are selling too hard. Read the following copy and you’ll know what we mean. 

Round edged hat with fur lining. Available in red and blue color variants. 

It seems boring, right? Also, what does a fur hat help with? What season is it good for? There is absolutely no information about these factors that can help the shopper understand whether to buy or not. Now, read the following:

Your perfect winter headgear is soft, warm fur lining. Like it in blue or red? Take care of the cold season in hot style.

Definitely, the second option is more usable. The only additional tip here is to use keywords having researched terms like winter headwear, winter caps, winter hats, etc. 

Here’s another screenshot of excellent product copy that clearly describes why you must buy Thompson Tee sweat proof shirts.

While you’re at it, don’t forget to take note of these 8 ingredients that are ruining your perfect product page recipe. 

Get the product description length right

How short is too short? And, how long is too long? Tough question because you don’t have any standard length defined for writing product descriptions for SEO. 

Let your audiences’ needs to decide the optimum word count of your product descriptions. And, your buyer’s needs will vary based on their level of awareness (and thus their buying stage) about your product.

When specific search queries are made people already know what they need and how they’ll benefit from a certain product. These shoppers are on the high awareness level and closest to the purchase funnel. Your product descriptions at this stage should give them the best push to hit buy. Fifteen odd words should be enough to convince and convert your potential buyers. 

Consider the following example of Bio Fresh Face Wash featuring on Amazon. 

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For the exact search on fruit face wash, the description clearly states what the product contains, the quantity, and the skin types it is suited for. Nothing fancy needed here.

Understand and define your target audience

There are products that are universal. And, then there are those that are widely used by a specific section of buyers. These products resonate better with the needs and the ideologies of a particular segment. Consider ‘environmentally conscious’ shoppers as an example. These people take product ingredients and their buying process very seriously. 

Your product descriptions must resonate with the wants, intent, motivations, likes, and dislikes, of your target audience. If you can create an emotional connection with your audience through your SEO product descriptions, the results are even better.

Consider organic sanitary pads as an example. This product doesn’t sell well with everyone. They are expensive and still largely an unexplored product. A lot of women are shifting to organic sanitary pads though, given how environmentally hazardous are the ones that are purchased by majority women.

Now, again, depending on the awareness stage of your shoppers, your product descriptions must either talk to the point about ‘your product’, or give an introductory glimpse to potential buyers. Ranking second on Google, here’s how Saathi writes clear product descriptions for people searching for organic pads online. Their copy focuses on the fact that people in ‘India’ (their target audience) might be looking for something completely biodegradable.

Keep alive the uniqueness in each descriptive

Don’t use a standardized template or format for all products when writing product descriptions for SEO. It will make the descriptions sound boring. Without making them sound monotonous, create a copy that reflects your brand’s image. 

One practical advice here would be to steer clear from using manufacturer descriptions. Firstly, these manufacturer descriptions are already on the internet and any duplicity in content is penalized by Google. 

A Moz article states that when SEO product descriptions read like near-duplicates, search engines are unable to recognize them. This can hinder the visibility of all of your products and pages. That’s why, no matter, where all you have listed your products other than on your own website, you need to re-create copy to keep them all unique.

Secondly, the copy written by the manufacturer largely focused on contents and features. It’s too technical and plain. Google appreciates creativity. 

If you are selling something like laptops, you should sound professional. Yet, you can get a bit creative with the tone and writing style. 

On the other hand, tongue-in-cheek humor goes well with dresses, accessories, and cosmetics. 

The following are two examples from the same company that manufactures beard grooming products. See how they nail branding, alongside giving a unique flavor to their products. 

Create snackable, scannable, readable content

We pointed out that there is no optimum length for product descriptions. Well, this doesn’t mean you can go on and on writing stories. The idea is to keep content and information easily digestible in one cursory read. 

That’s why even if you have long descriptions, make them more snackable with bullet points.

Amazon products always have a bulleted description of the listed products. The same technique can be used by individual store owners on their own website for spinning SEO optimized product descriptions. 

Practical eCommerce exemplifies how to use bullet points to write SEO product descriptions that boost sales. Here’s an image for reference just in case you feel like quickly scanning through a bullet-pointed description:

Wrapping it up

There are more than ways than can be listed in one post on product descriptions for SEO. To add to what we have talked above in the post there are other actionables, including optimizing meta descriptions and product title for SEO. 

Using keywords that you wish to rank for in your ALT text always works. And, so does using images in your product descriptions. 

With time, technology is also changing the way people search has also undergone a huge change. 

Voice command reigns the world wide web today. Therefore, it’s just as important to work on an SEO product description strategy for voice search. These tips and tactics are sure to make your products more (easily) discoverable by the right people. 

Have ideas and insights to share? Drop-in a comment and we’ll get back in no time.