Whether you don’t see the value of search engine optimization, or you don’t believe you have any chance of competing with the more established eCommerce websites in your industry, marketers will always swear by its immense importance. But is it really all that? And is it possible for an eCommerce website to succeed without search engine optimization? If you are still on the fence and unsure what to do, give this article a quick read and decide from there.
Can an eCommerce website succeed without SEO?
First of all, that largely depends on how you measure success. For example, if this is a bit of a side hustle for you and you would be more than happy selling a dozen or so products a month, covering your costs, and making a little profit, then you might just get away with it.
However, the truth is, SEO is so much more than just ‘digital marketing’. It’s not just about increasing your brand awareness and online visibility, or driving more ‘ready to spend’ traffic through to your website; proper SEO practices are all about making sure that when that traffic does arrive on your website, it has the best possible chance at converting.
Technical and on-page SEO = health, hygiene, and performance
This is one of the most common misconceptions with SEO; many business owners believe that having a good looking website that functions well is enough. It’s not. SEO is designed to take standard websites and make them the best that they can be; to squeeze out every ounce of potential in terms of health, hygiene, performance – and indeed security.
Without these website optimizations in place, the few people who do reach your website will be far less likely to convert. Take page load speed as one example:
- 70% of consumers admit that page load speed impacts their willingness to make a purchase.
If your website hasn’t been properly optimised, the odds are that you’ll fall into the slow performance category, which puts you at an even greater disadvantage.
Securing organic traffic will be practically impossible
Without SEO, attracting organic traffic to your website will be incredibly difficult. Not only is the eCommerce industry already excruciatingly competitive, but with 71% of organic traffic going through the 1st page of Google (and numbers as high as 92% in recent years), if you aren’t doing any other form of marketing in order to attract customers, your website will be all but invisible.
There are other ways to market your website
Admittedly, there are many other ways of marketing your website – however, even if you decide to run some PPC advertising, social media marketing, email marketing, video marketing, and/or the many other digital marketing methods available today, SEO is and always will be the backbone. Without a well-optimised website, you’ll be fighting an already uphill battle with a bag of bricks tied to your waste.
Alternatively, if you have a physical premises and you are thinking about investing in an online grocery store, you could perhaps trial some local SEO in Sydney for example; then, measure how many more customers you get through the doors over the coming months and see how things improve. This could give you the confidence you need to start investing in your online store’s long-term success.
Conclusion: It’s no secret that the most successful eCommerce websites crush their SEO
Rather than ask the question: “is it possible for an eCommerce website to succeed without SEO?”, the real question should be: “why would you want to try?”
The fact is, eCommerce is an already saturated and incredibly competitive industry. Doing it without SEO is only going to make it even harder.
That said, with a reputable SEO agency on your side, you can cut through the noise with a well-crafted strategy that is designed especially for you. That way, connecting with your audience and converting as many clicks into customers as possible can be your reality – as opposed to scraping by with the few people who happen to randomly chance upon your store instead.
In conclusion, the answer is no. An eCommerce website without SEO is going nowhere.
