A thorough understanding of organic search will help you optimize your site for search engines. Learn how to drive traffic using organic search. In the grocery store, “organic” means natural food without artificial additives. Online, “organic search” refers to listings that rank naturally on search engine results pages without the artificial influence of paid advertising.

Ensuring your ecommerce site appears in organic search results can help you expand your search visibility and save on your marketing budget. Here are some of the benefits of organic search and how search engine optimization (SEO) can improve your ecommerce website’s search rankings.

What are organic search results?

Organic search results are lists of search engine results pages (SERPs) that appear in response to a user's search query, displayed according to their relevance to that query. When a user searches for a specific keyword or phrase, a search engine like Google returns a ranked list of web pages that satisfy that query. Some are paid search results, typically pay-per-click (PPC) ads, while others are organic search results, ranked by quality metrics like keyword relevance, backlinks, and domain authority.

Organic space is limited, and most users will choose from the first 10 results. Organic search engine optimization (SEO) strategies improve the relevance of your site to users, increasing your chances of ranking highly in organic search results.

Organic Search vs. Paid Search

There are some key differences between organic and paid search:

location

Paid search results appear at the top of the first search results page. Organic search results appear directly below the paid search results.

Sustainability

Organic search rankings for a site can last a long time as long as the page remains relevant and doesn’t get overshadowed by competitors. Paid search campaigns, on the other hand, don’t last as long. Once the paid campaign ends, search engines stop showing it.

expense

Organic search engine optimization can be more expensive up front. You’ll likely have to pay a freelance professional or agency to create and optimize your content. However, a successful SEO strategy will save you money in the long run. If your site appears organically on the first page of search results, you won’t have to pay for every click.

Paid search advertising may not cost much up front, but it can become less cost-effective over time. With cost-per-click (CPC) search advertising, you pay every time someone clicks on your ad and visits your site. These costs add up over time.

Benefits of Investing in Organic Search

The benefits of organic search may not show up as quickly as pay-per-click (PPC) search, but they have lasting effects. Optimizing your site for organic search can help you:

Brand awareness

The customer journey often begins with a Google search, but consumers rarely go beyond the first page of search results. If your brand is buried at the bottom of the organic search rankings, you are less likely to attract new customers. When your organic search rankings outperform your competitors, your brand becomes more visible and your site builds a reputation as a relevant site.

Increase website traffic and sales

Organic search traffic can lead to increased sales. With a comprehensive SEO strategy, you can drive more visitors to your site, increase interest in your brand, and ultimately convert prospects into paying customers.

Long-term growth

Organic search traffic takes time, but it’s worth building. To increase your search rankings and visibility, you need to create content around keywords that are relevant to your users’ search intent, provide quality information to your readers, and gradually build backlinks. The more customers benefit from your site, the better your brand’s reputation will be. Organic search can help you build a bond with your customers and achieve long-term loyalty.

3 Ways to Optimize Your Ecommerce Website for Organic Search

Organic search engine optimization (SEO) helps you create meaningful and relevant content. Here’s how to get started:

1. Select relevant keywords

Keyword relevance is one of the main factors that Google’s search algorithm considers. Ideally, an e-commerce site is made up of a network of related pages, each built around a unique keyword and providing authoritative information on that topic.

To ensure your content is relevant, first evaluate the search intent associated with each keyword you want to target. Type your keyword into a search engine and scan the results. The results you see will tell you what most users are looking for. Are they looking for information? Are they looking for shopping opportunities? Or are they looking for directions? Some keywords can have multiple meanings. Understanding the search intent will help you choose the most relevant keywords.

Then, you can use tools like Google’s Keyword Planner, Semrush, Ahrefs, and Moz to evaluate the search volume of different keywords. Keywords with high search volume are usually more general and harder to rank for. Keywords with low search volume are more specific. Start by focusing on low to medium search volume keywords that match your niche, and then gradually expand to higher search volume keywords.

2. Setting priorities

Google's algorithm prioritizes high-performing sites, meaning sites that load quickly and are easy to navigate. If your site has unnecessary redirects (to pages that have been removed or moved) or images that aren't optimized for the web, performance can suffer.

When Google crawls a website, it follows links and adds each page to its index. If your website has dead pages and orphaned pages, Google will not index that content, which can negatively affect your site’s organic search ranking. To optimize the technical fundamentals, link your site’s pages with the right internal links.

You can use a tool like the Semrush audit tool to crawl your site and identify problem areas. Pay attention to major issues like broken links or slow-loading pages.

3. Building backlinks

Backlinks are links from other sites to your site. Google’s search algorithm looks for backlinks to determine the authority and credibility of your site. A strong backlink profile can improve your page ranking.

The natural way to get backlinks is to write well and make your content useful to your readers. If you are an authority in your field, other sites are more likely to link to your site. You can also reach out to other website owners to write guest blog posts to build brand awareness and build links to your site.

Organic Search Tracking

Once you have your organic search strategy in place, use these key performance indicators (KPIs) to track whether you’re achieving your goals:

• Organic Traffic : The number of visitors to your site who come from organic search results.
• Search Impressions : The number of times users see your site in organic search results.
• Click-Through Rate (CTR) : The percentage of people who saw your site from organic search results who clicked on it.
• Conversion rate : The percentage of people who clicked on an organic search result and then took a desired action (such as making a purchase or subscribing to an email list).
• Domain Authority : A measure of a website’s authority based on the number and quality of its backlinks. There are several domain authority checker tools available, including Moz’s Domain Authority Checker, Ahrefs’ Site Explorer, and Majestic’s free site explorer.
• Keyword Ranking : This shows how your website ranks in search results for specific related keywords.

A tool to measure and analyze organic search performance

Popular tools that provide insight into your website's organic search performance include:

Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a great tool to start measuring your SEO. It’s free, easy to use, and requires no coding experience. The console shows you a variety of metrics, including impressions, clicks, average position, click-through rate (CTR), search terms, devices, and locations.

Google Analytics

The free version of Google Analytics , when used with Google Search Console, provides a centralized way to monitor your SEO data. You can use it to compare organic and paid traffic, and measure engagement and conversion rates with site content reports. The paid version provides additional detailed performance metrics and historical performance data, as well as dedicated support and access to new features before they are publicly released.

HubSpot Website Grader

This free tool lets you enter your site URL and gives you a report card with actionable SEO feedback on website performance issues, security, user experience, and mobile optimization.

Ahrefs

Ahrefs offers advanced SEO tools for keyword research, link building, backlink analysis, and error auditing. You can also track how your pages rank for your chosen keywords.

Semrush

Semrush measures domain performance (ranking, impressions, clicks, bounce rate). It also analyzes page-level performance to analyze backlinks, suggest keywords, compare content to competitors, and provide optimization advice.

Moz Pro

Moz is a subscription service that provides research tools to track your site’s SEO performance with reports on domain authority, backlinks, on-page SEO, and keyword identification. They crawl your site to identify duplicate content and other factors that can hinder your organic search rankings.

Organic Search FAQs