People don’t just search for beauty products on Amazon, they still use small independent websites too. Statistically speaking, the United Kingdom is one of the top three cosmetic users in Western Europe, after Germany and France.

As I always recommend, let’s start by putting ourselves into our clients’ shoes…

Why do we search for certain products on independent websites? Because we want something unique, bespoke.

We have often mentioned that SEO is done by three main elements, like a triangle – the famous three sides of the SEO triangle are:

  • Coding
  • Content
  • and Backlinks

Let’s start with the first side of the triangle, Coding.

Any eCommerce, not just for beauty products but in general, can be created on a specific platform like Shopify or Magento, but you can also have eCommerce websites on more general platforms like WordPress or Squarespace, even on Wix.

Technical SEO can be done more or less according to the type of platform you choose. However, some platforms like Wix, Squarespace and Shopify don’t allow you to do all of the technical changes that you would need to fully optimise a website because there are some coding assets that we cannot access, as the source code is not completely accessible.

However, most of the changes that are the fundamentals, the real basics, and the most important can be done throughout all of the platforms.

The second part of the triangle is Content.

We need to start thinking again about keywords, and how to search with the specific tools in the Google database, and ask ourselves:

What do people search for when they need this specific product?

And again come back to think about long-tail keywords and how some keywords can be too difficult to rank for, a vanity figure, if you are a small business and not a giant.

Instead of hoping to rank generally for something like “shampoo”, which would be extremely difficult (just think of how many competitors are out there!), you can carve your own niche by explaining precisely what the product does and make sure that you can be found in the specific, targeted, laser-focused moments in which someone needs your product.

Think of keywords like:

  • intensive hydration shampoo
  • sulfate-free shampoo
  • moisture retention shampoo
  • shampoo almond oil
  • eucalyptus shampoo bar

These are much more targeted and for this reason easier to achieve and rank for.

Another point to think about in the Content… don’t forget that your descriptions must be like your shop assistant in your absence. Your website’s visitors will be interacting with your product pages on their own, so the product description must be long, interesting and exhaustive enough to make sure that you can make the sale. It must clarify anything that the prospective buyer would like to know about that product, and possibly also give some peer-to-peer, third-party validation, in the form of other customers’ reviews.

Google does show reviews and other interesting elements relating to your products on the results pages like the price, which makes the conversion much easier if the right set of structural data is present.

The third and final side of the SEO triangle is backlinks.

This is a long, long topic that we will be discussing over the next weeks.
You will find people trying to sell you backlinks, including those who email you out of the blue and manage to skip any sort of spam filter you have, promising you that tomorrow you’ll be on the first page of Google!

Buying links is not much different from buying followers on Instagram: it’s an artificial shortcut and generally, it doesn’t end well. As with most artificial shortcuts, you may not get penalised if you use them, but Google usually won’t count them really.

How do you then get real, high-quality backlinks to your eCommerce website?

With beauty products, in particular, we have seen how the industry has grown to celebrate Influencers and there are plenty of bloggers who are extremely happy to be reviewing your products as part of an agreement with you. You may have to pay them for the service, or in some cases, it can just be letting them try a sample of what you offer.

The beautiful thing about having a real backlink coming from a review of this kind is that it doesn’t just count as one more inbound link coming to your website – these links will generate real referral traffic from the influencers’ audience, so it’s a double win with that link that you’re getting.

Here are some examples of types of beauty companies we’ve been supporting with SEO recently:

  • Afro Hair Care products
  • Organic-Cotton Towels
  • Handmade Organic skincare
  • CBD-infused beauty products and more

So, if you are producing or selling independently beauty products online via your own website as eCommerce and you would like to grow the sales you do with your website, reach out to us for a free consultation.

eCommerce is one of the types of websites for which doing SEO is a no-brainer – you sell products online, they should be found online. Plus, the return on investment for an eCommerce website with SEO can be particularly impressive.

So if you would like to Be Found Online, you know what to do – get in touch!