Most ecommerce stores do not have a traffic problem. They have a "right kind of traffic" problem.
Right now around 43 percent of ecommerce traffic comes from Google’s organic search results, and organic drives close to 23 percent of all online orders.
Across industries, organic search is still responsible for roughly 53 percent of website traffic, and it is only down about 2.5 percent year over year despite all the noise about SEO fading away.
So if your store runs on paid ads and brand awareness only, you are leaving a big slice of sustainable revenue on the table. As a team at Design Henge in Chicago, we see this every week when brands ask about SEO services for ecommerce website projects.
Let’s get real about what actually moves the needle.
First, Who Needs Ecommerce SEO Right Now?
If you run:
- A Shopify or WooCommerce store
- A custom ecommerce build tied into your ERP or inventory system
- A niche online shop selling physical products, digital products, or subscriptions
SEO should be more than “meta tags” on a checklist.
Our typical clients for SEO services in Chicago are:
- Owners of growing online stores sick of paying for every click
- Marketing leads under pressure to improve return on ad spend
- Agencies and brands that already fixed design and speed but still see flat organic traffic
All of them ask the same thing: “What do we change first so Google and real humans both pay attention?”
That is what this guide is about.
Start with Search Intent, Not Just Keywords
Most ecommerce brands jump straight into tools and chase big head terms. That is how you end up stuck on page two.
Smarter play: build your SEO around search intent.
Think in layers:
- Category intent
- “men’s leather jackets,” “vegan skincare sets,” “gaming keyboards under 100”
- Product intent
- “brand model X review,” “product size guide,” “product free shipping”
- Problem intent
- “gift ideas for new dads,” “how to style white sneakers,” “best laptop for accounting students”
Practical moves here:
- Group keywords by intent and by funnel stage, not just by volume
- Map those groups to category pages, product pages, blog posts, and FAQs
- Use natural long phrases in titles, H1s, and on page content
When we plan SEO services for ecommerce website clients, we borrow the same mindset we use for SEO for accountancy firms: understand the buyer’s questions, then make sure every step of that journey has a page that actually answers them.
Tighten Your Technical Foundations First
If your store is slow, bloated, and messy under the hood, all the copy tweaks in the world will not save it.
A few data points:
- Every extra second of load time between 0 and 5 seconds hurts conversion rates, and mobile users are even less patient.
- The average global ecommerce conversion rate sits around 2.9 percent, so tiny gains from speed and UX matter a lot.
Technical basics to lock in:
- Clean URL structure with readable slugs, not parameter soup
- One canonical version of each page to avoid duplicate content issues
- An XML sitemap and a sensible robots.txt file
- Fast, mobile friendly templates that respect Core Web Vitals
- Proper HTTPS everywhere with no mixed content warnings
On client projects, our SEO services team pairs with development so fixes to things like image compression, lazy loading, and JavaScript bloat actually ship, not just sit in an audit document.
Make Category Pages Your Traffic Magnets
For ecommerce, category and collection pages are often the main gateway from search results.
Yet a lot of them look like this: logo, H1, grid of products, tiny filters, footer. No real content.
Better approach:
- Use a clear H1 that matches how people search, not just a brand term
- Add a short, above the fold introduction that explains the range and key benefits
- Place a fuller buying guide section lower on the page so it does not push products down
- Include internal links to subcategories, popular filters, and key content hubs
Here is why this matters: organic search drives around half of website traffic for many businesses, and categories can rank for big money phrases when you treat them as landing pages, not just grids.
For a brand using our SEO services in Chicago, we often see the first big traffic lift come right after we rework a handful of core category pages.
Turn Every Product Page into A Mini SEO Asset
Product pages should not be copy pasted from the supplier sheet. Google has seen that content a thousand times.
Think about product pages like mini landing pages:
- Unique descriptions that speak to real buyer concerns, not just specs
- Scannable structure with bullet points, short paragraphs, and subheadings
- Size guides, care instructions, and shipping details written in plain language
- FAQs on the page for objections like returns, durability, or compatibility
A few bullet points that quietly help SEO:
- Use descriptive image file names and alt text that describe the product honestly
- Add product schema so search engines understand price, stock status, and ratings
- Link from each product back up to its category and to related products with clear anchor text
When your SEO services for ecommerce store plan treats each product detail page as indexable, useful content, you start building a huge library of long tail terms without writing a single blog post yet.
Lean On Reviews, UGC, and Social Proof
Here is where a lot of stores are leaving money and rankings untouched.
Ecommerce platforms that treat reviews as “set and forget” miss extra content, fresh keywords, and conversion boosts. A strong review strategy can significantly lift both organic performance and sales.
What helps:
- Make it easy to filter and search reviews by rating, size, or use case
- Pull key quotes into the main product copy for social proof
- Use review schema so stars can appear in search results where appropriate
- Respond to reviews, especially negative ones, in a calm and helpful way
For some clients, we also bring in user generated photos and Q&A sections to give buyers more confidence. Those elements help SEO because they add fresh, relevant language to the page without you writing every word yourself.
Fix Internal Links Like Your Rankings Depend On It
Because they do.
One study found 86 percent of ecommerce brands are weak on internal links, even among sites with strong organic visibility.
Simple internal link habits that work:
- Link from blog posts to relevant categories and products, not just to the home page
- Build “best of” and “compare” pages that connect clusters of related products
- Use breadcrumbs so users and search engines can see the hierarchy clearly
- Avoid orphan pages by making sure every product is linked from at least one category and one content piece
Strong internal linking is just as useful when we handle SEO for accountancy firms. The difference is that accountants link service pages, resources, and case studies, while ecommerce links categories, products, and buying guides. The principle stays the same.
Keep A Simple Content Engine Running
You do not need a giant content team. You do need consistent, useful content that supports your products.
For ecommerce SEO we like:
- Comparison guides like “X vs Y: which is better for [use case]”
- How to articles that show how to get more value from your products
- Gift guides for seasons, events, and buyer personas
- Buying checklists that help users pick the right size, style, or model
This kind of content supports both SEO services work and performance marketing, because you can send paid traffic to pages that actually help people choose. Over time, it also builds authority around your categories.
Track, Test, and Keep Tuning
SEO for ecommerce is not a one time setup.
The brands that win treat it as an ongoing channel, just like email or paid search. Reports on ecommerce SEO ROI show average returns climbing from 0.8x at six months to more than 5x after three years as content, links, and technical fixes keep stacking.
Helpful habits here:
- Check Google Search Console for queries, click through rates, and indexing issues
- Watch revenue by landing page inside your analytics, not just sessions
- Run small on page tests on key templates before rolling changes out everywhere
- Review product and category performance quarterly, and adjust content where you see opportunity
When we run SEO services in Chicago for ecommerce brands, we build dashboards that speak like business reports, not just vanity keyword rankings. That way you see how the work ties back to orders, revenue, and lifetime value.
FAQs About Improving SEO for Ecommerce Websites
How long does ecommerce SEO usually take to work?
You can see small lifts from technical fixes and obvious content gaps within a couple of months, especially if your store had clear issues. Bigger gains, where organic traffic becomes one of your top channels, usually show up between 9 and 18 months. Studies on ecommerce SEO ROI back this up, with returns increasing sharply after the first year as your content library and authority grow.
Do I need separate SEO services for ecommerce and for my blog?
Not really. You need one SEO strategy that treats product pages, category pages, and content pieces as parts of the same system. Product content brings in buyers close to purchase, blogs and guides support early stage research. Professional SEO services for ecommerce website work connect both so visitors can move naturally from information to product.
Does page speed really matter that much for ecommerce SEO?
Yes. Search engines use speed and Core Web Vitals signals as ranking factors, and customers punish slow sites even more. Data shows conversion rates drop as load time moves from about two seconds toward five, especially on mobile. That means every image you compress and every script you trim can have a direct effect on both rankings and sales.
How is SEO for ecommerce different from SEO for a normal brochure site?
The mechanics are similar, but the scale and stakes are higher. Ecommerce SEO has to handle thousands of URLs, complex navigation, faceted search and filters, duplicate content risk, and inventory changes. On top of that, each product page must pull double duty as a sales page and an SEO asset. A brochure site can rely on a handful of strong pages. Stores rarely have that luxury.
Is it worth hiring SEO services in Chicago if my store sells outside the city?
Definitely. Location mainly matters for collaboration and time zone. If your brand is US based and you like working closely with a partner you can call during your day, choosing SEO services in Chicago can be smart even if your customers are spread across the country. For local pickup or showroom models, local SEO becomes an extra layer on top of your ecommerce work.
Quick Recap and What to Do Next
Ecommerce SEO is not magic. It is a mix of solid technical foundations, smart intent driven content and constant small tweaks that keep you aligned with how people actually search.
If you want help building that system, Design Henge offers SEO services as part of our digital advertising and web development projects, with a focus on growth minded brands that care about long term results, not just vanity rankings.
You can reach the team at (872) 268-5809 or through the contact form. We are based in Chicago and work with ecommerce businesses across the US that want SEO to feel less mysterious and more like a clear, measurable channel.
