Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is something that many companies regard as a nice-to-have, a way to virtue signal, or a way to limit the harm their business causes in terms of things like emissions. This is not how we see social responsibility at Clear Click. Today, we’re taking a closer look at what the term means to us and what our goals are in terms of giving back.

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Why we invest in corporate social responsibility as an SME

The website Investopedia has this to say about corporate social responsibility:

 “Companies that adopt CSR programs have often grown their business to the point where they can give back to society. Thus, CSR is typically a strategy that's implemented by large corporations. After all, the more visible and successful a corporation is, the more responsibility it has to set standards of ethical behaviour for its peers, competition, and industry.”

We don’t think this is enough. Social responsibility shouldn’t be regarded as something that companies have to do in order to appease stakeholders and appeal to the wider public. It’s also not something that should be left only to large corporations with similarly large budgets. 

We all inhabit the same communities and the same planet, so caring for them is on all of us. Businesses of all sizes can find corporate social responsibility initiatives they can get involved in and excited about – and the benefits of this spread wider than you may think.

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The three Ps of social responsibility

The author and entrepreneur John Elkington came up with the term “triple bottom line” in 1994. It’s a framework often represented as a Venn diagram comprising of what are called the three Ps: people, planet and profit. Where these three meet is where you can find sustainability.

However, in 2019, he announced in the Harvard Business Review that he’d like to recall the term. Why?

The reason was certainly not that the need for corporate responsibility had diminished in any way. If anything, it’s needed now more than ever. Instead, Elkington argues that the true meaning of the so-called three Ps has been lost or misinterpreted.

The triple bottom line is often described as an accounting tool, but it was meant to be much more than that – it was meant to make us all think about the future of capitalism and bring forth innovation and disruption. Too often, the focus of the people and planet part of the equation focuses only on limiting harm, while pursuing profit – simple revenue – remains the most important part.

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People and planet

In terms of the triple bottom line model, “people” refers to:

• Your employees
• Their families
• Customers
• Community
• Suppliers

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People-centric social responsibility schemes may involve different philanthropic projects such as employee wellness programmes and donations and volunteer days at things like cancer charities or food banks.

Meanwhile, “planet” encapsulates the impact the business has on the environment, including limiting its carbon footprint as well as its use of natural resources and toxic materials (limiting harm). It also entails proactive initiatives around things like the removal of waste, reforestation and other restoration projects (making progress).

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Profit vs prosperity

Profit is where many organisations fundamentally misinterpret the triple bottom line. Profit is too often reduced to simple financial profit when John Elkington meant the word in a much broader sense, including wider economic impact such as:

• Creating employment
• Generating innovation
• Paying taxes
• Creating wealth

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This definition of profit has much wider implications that can positively impact people and the planet. It has more focus on social than financial profit. For this reason, it might make more sense to think about this part of the triple bottom line equation as prosperity rather than profit. This word is closer to the kind of economic impact originally implicated in the framework.

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Clear Click’s CSR commitments

We subscribe to the idea that corporate social responsibility should entail not just limiting harm, but actively making progress in terms of people and the planet. We also believe that doing good business means much more than simple financial profit. For this reason, we want to put our money where our mouth is.

This means creating an organisation that’s not only a great place to work and do business with, but that also gives back – not as a way to simply reduce harm or as a PR trick, but as a way to make a genuine positive difference.

At present, Clear Click is signed up for Ecologi’s Climate Positive Workforce® initiative. Ecologi is a UK-based social enterprise aimed at offsetting business carbon emissions by investing in carbon avoidance projects and planting trees to help combat rising temperatures. The Climate Positive Workforce® initiative plants ten trees a month and reduces nine tonnes of carbon emissions annually for each employee.

We see this as only the beginning of Clear Click’s social responsibility journey. As we go forward, we want to identify and invest in worthy causes that support people and the planet. Have any ideas for where we could make a difference? Drop us an email and let us know!

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It’s no secret that ecommerce has grown massively in recent years. During the Covid-19 pandemic alone, ecommerce grew by a whopping 55%. All this growth is fantastic news for ecommerce websites, though it also means that competition has never been fiercer: while there are roughly 12-24 million ecommerce sites worldwide,, fewer than a million of them make sales over a thousand dollars annually. 

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On-page SEO for ecommerce websites is nothing short of vital for any retail business who want to be one of those million sites. On-page SEO increases your ecommerce business’s visibility to people looking for your products online, helping you attract visitors to your website, and eventually convert as a sale.

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In this guide, we’ll go over all the different aspects of on-page SEO and how you can utilise them to make your ecommerce website stand out in the SERP.

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What is SEO for e-commerce?

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Search Engine Optimisation or SEO is the process of optimising your website in order to appear higher in search engine results.

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For example, if a potential customer is looking for your product online, typically, they start by searching for the product on search engines like Google to compare prices and features of similar products in the market, read reviews, and search for tips and advice. So, if you follow SEO best practices, your ecommerce site will appear high up in the searches when this person is looking for your product, and they are more likely to shop from your business.

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However, content-centric websites' SEO practices differ from those of ecommerce websites. This is because the goals an ecommerce website has for its website traffic are different from those of, say, a news website. 

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While a news website is looking for people to spend a lot of time reading a page and interacting with it by reading linked articles, commenting, and sharing content on social media, an ecommerce website needs people to add items to cart and make purchases.

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Before we share some ways to help improve the on-page SEO for your ecommerce website, let’s first understand the difference between on-page and off-page SEO practices.

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What is on-page SEO?

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As the name suggests, on-page SEO for ecommerce websites means optimising various elements of your website to add more value for the customer - which in turn helps you to rank higher in search results. This includes, among other things, keyword optimisation, improving your website’s load time, and simplifying your website architecture. 

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On the other hand, off-page SEO is the process of optimising elements outside your website, like increasing the number of backlinks pointing to your website and growing your social media reach. The purpose of these activities is to increase your site's domain authority, essentially telling Google you’re a reputable resource. This, too, will help you rank higher in the SERP.

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It’ worth noting that ecommerce websites are susceptible to ranking lower in search engines because many websites selling the same or similar products have similar product descriptions and product titles. So, as an ecommerce business owner, you need to work on your off-page SEO alongside your on-page SEO to set your business and products apart from the competition.

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How to improve on-page SEO for e-commerce websites

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Google’s whole mission is to provide its users with the most useful search results possible. For your site to be deemed ‘useful,’ you need to be implementing the key on-page SEO techniques outlined below.

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It’s good to remember that optimising your website takes time, effort, and patience before you see results; a time frame of 3 - 12 months is normal for SEO. The following techniques can help you get to the top of the SERP as fast as possible.

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1) Keyword research 

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Keyword research and placement are essential to increase your online visibility. Keyword research involves finding out what terms your ideal customers are using to search for products like yours online, and then peppering them into various relevant places on your website so Google can tell that you’re a good resource on the topic.

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For ecommerce sites, you should keep search intent in mind when doing keyword research. Depending on what stage of the buyer’s journey your prospective customer is in, they’ll be looking for a solution to a problem, researching their options, or looking for the best deal on their chosen product. 

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You can use keywords to target people in each of these stages, but for the purposes of today’s guide, we’ll focus on commercial and transactional search intent - essentially people who are getting ready to purchase.  

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For example, a consumer looking for a laptop might search for “buy new laptop” or “best deals on Dell laptops,” so you might want to incorporate these keywords into your site’s content. 

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Commercial keyword users clearly intend to buy a particular product and are likely to purchase it if they visit your site. So, using these commercial keywords on your site will help you attract an audience that is more likely to shop with you. 

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Some other things to keep in mind while incorporating keywords into your content are:

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• Incorporate keywords that have a high search volume. The larger the search volume, the more people there are searching for that specific keyword.

• Identify keywords that have low competition. While it makes sense to go for keywords with thehighest search volume, this isn’t always the most realistic goal, as a keyword like “buy new laptop” will have fierce competition. Going for lower competition keywords will give you a better chance of ranking in the first page of search results.

• Go for long-tail keywords. One of the best ways to find low-competition keywords is to narrow things down with long-tail keywords. So instead of “buy new laptop”, you might target “best PC laptops for students”.

• Avoid keyword stuffing. Too much of a good thing can spoil your efforts. Google can tell when you’re artificially inserting a keyword in every spot possible. Write for humans, not search engines, and Google will reward you with higher rankings.

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You can find out more about doing keyword research here. Once you have found some relevant keywords, it’s time to put your research to use.

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2) Keyword Placement

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Once you have identified the right keywords to use on your page, it’s vital to place them strategically to maximise traffic. Appropriate keyword placement allows search engines to index your site for those keywords, resulting in a higher ranking on the SERP. 

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You should focus on the following elements to master your keyword placement:

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• Headings – optimise your headings, such as title tags (H1), with relevant keywords so that each page on your website is optimised around a unique keyword. This makes it  likelier to be found by the right audience. Of course, depending on your content, you might have various subheadings (H2, H3, H4, and so on). Apart from improving SEO, subheadings also improve your page’s user experience as your content becomes more structured and visitors can quickly refer to the headings they’re specifically looking for. Use subheaders as signposts for your content and to target secondary keywords.

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• In the first 100 words – mentioning your primary keyword in the first 100 words of content helps search engines understand what your page is all about. The first few sentences should give an overview of the contents of the entire page. You should also naturally scatter your keywords every few sentences. The general rule is to mention your primary keyword every 100-150 words.

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• Optimise images – this involves working on the image’s file name and alt text to include keywords so as to make it more SEO-friendly. These pieces of text link the product and image together and are crucial to your ecommerce website’s SEO.In addition, when uploading the image to your ecommerce site, avoid using default file names. Instead, keep the image file name the same as your product listing name so it’s easier for Google to process the context behind your images. Lastly, make sure you use high-quality images. This helps with SEO, as well as with social media engagement. Follow the image dimensions specified by your website  host to have the optimal image sizes.

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• URL slug  – URLs are an important component of SEO. So instead of automatically generating a URL using a CMS, you should manually create one. Make sure the URL you use contains the target keyword and keep it short – the keyword itself is usually enough for SEO purposes. 

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• Title tags – this is the hyperlink that appears on the search results page, which visitors click to open your page. Title tags allow users to understand what your site is about, leading to a better user experience, and as you know, UX is crucial for your website’s SEO. Title tags are short, usually less than 60 characters. Make sure to mention your target keyword in the title tag. 

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• Meta description – this is the tiny summary of your page that appears under the title tag on the SERP. It gives visitors an overview of the page insight into your page, when they’re deciding which links to open on the SERP. This is why it is critical to optimise your meta description – it indicates to the potential visitors if your page will answer their queries. Meta descriptions are extremely short, typically under 160 characters. Ensure you mention the target keyword and other related keywords depending on the context. Finally, use meta descriptions that are actionable and clearly communicate what your site has to offer the audience.

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• Anchor text – anchor text is a word or phrase that is used to add links to other internal or external sources. Your anchor text should contain the keyword it is targeting or be closely related to the page/website you’re linking to. Linking through inappropriate or random anchor texts makes it difficult for search engines to index your content. 

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• Product descriptions – these are essential not only for SEO but also for helping the customer make an informed choice while purchasing your product. Ensure your product descriptions use the relevant keywords for that product, and make key features of your product stand out. 

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They should include information such as return or exchange policy, reviews, shipping time and charges, and suggestions for other similar products. This way, prospective customers will find it easier to shop with your business because they have all that they need to make an informed purchase. This will help convert your organic leads into paying customers. You should also make sure your product descriptions are unique to your business - more on this below.

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3) Avoid duplicate content

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As an ecommerce website, there are two key aspects to remember when creating content for your product pages:

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1. Your product descriptions and on-site content should be original and not plagiarised from another website, such as your manufacturer. 

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2. Your content shouldn’t be copied from another page on your own site, either. For example, you shouldn’t use the same description for a blue t-shirt and a red t-shirt that are on two different product pages. 

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Unfortunately, not following these two suggestions will significantly lower your search ranking because Google looks for unique content and fresh perspectives.

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The solution for this is simple: draft unique content for each product on your site and ensure it’s entirely original. Of course, this can be labour-intensive if you sell hundreds of products. 

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One solution for this is to group variations of a product and display them on the same product page. This way, you can use the same description for product variations without duplicating your content. This also makes your e-commerce site more user-friendly because customers can easily find product variations without leaving the product page.

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4) Improve page load time

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Page load time measures how fast an internet user can open your website page. Essentially, your page load speed depends on how much time it takes to download all the elements on your website, like images, content, and stylesheets.

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Most ecommerce sites take around 6 seconds to load, while other websites take around 2-3 seconds. 

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Your website loading speed is an important ranking factor, and if you’re not sure what your load time currently is, you can find out using Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool.

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If your site takes a long time to load, people will often leave your website quickly. This increases the bounce rate and reduces the average time people spend on your website. Unfortunately, Google’s algorithm sees this as an indication that your site is not helpful and ranks your site lower in the search results. Therefore, good site speed is essential for SEO.

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A good page load time is essential for conversion, and the highest ecommerce conversion rates occur on pages with load times between 0 and 2 seconds.

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If your site is currently slow, some common issues could be because:

• There is too much content on your site for your server to handle.
• There are too many images and scripts, and they are slowing the page loading.
• There’s a problem with your web host.

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If you want to speed up your site’s speed, you can try:

• Having fewer images
• Compressing files
• Optimising images
• Using fewer widgets
• Having concise content
• Avoiding clutter on the page
• Limiting redirects and HTTPS requests
• Speeding up server response time
• Deleting ghost pages or sections
• Enabling browser caching
• Opting for a better host service

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5) Make sure your site is user-friendly

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Audit your site to track and resolve issues affecting your ecommerce site's user experience.

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You can enhance your site's user experience by ensuring the design is intuitive and that the person visiting your site can quickly find what they are looking for. Good navigation tools, review features, and functional page designs give your site a better ‘feel’ and lead to a better user experience, improving its Google ranking. 

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Here are some actionable guidelines to ensure your page provides a good user experience:

• Have a functional and visually appealing page design
• Make sure ads don’t interfere with any of your content or disrupt functionality repeatedly
• See that your site loads quickly and is optimised for mobile use
• Have some navigation tools on your site to make it easy for the user
• Have clear categorisation of products on your site

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Website optimisation and consistent designs improve the user experience of your ecommerce site and boost your search engine ranking.

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6) Mobile-First Indexing

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Because so much of search traffic now comes from mobile phones, Google uses the mobile version of your ecommerce site when ranking of your website. This is called mobile-first indexing.

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So, ensure that your ecommerce site's mobile version is optimised to be as fast and user-friendly as possible. You can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to assess how mobile-friendly your site currently is.

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Here are some quick tips to help your website be more mobile-friendly:

• Eliminate all filler words and content.
• Disable pop-ups and sidebar options for the mobile view because they don’t work well with smaller screens.
• Add a shopping cart feature to your mobile site.
• Your CTA button should be larger in size and thumb-friendly and should be highlighted.
• Ensure your site content is well-indented and scroll friendly.
• Speed up your website for mobile devices.

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According to Insider Intelligence, the US mcommerce (mobile commerce) will nearly double its share of total retail sales from $359.32 billion in 2021 to $728.28 billion in 2025. Given the massive surge in popularity of using smartphones for online shopping, optimising your online store’s mobile version is crucial.

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7) Blog content

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Having valuable blog content is a powerful tool to boost the on-page SEO for your ecommerce website. This is because blog content allows you to target valuable keywords and provide more value to your website visitors, making them more likely to purchase from you.. Writing blog posts also allows you to display expertise in your niche and attract a new audience interested in reading your posts.

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Here are some tips for creating informative, SEO-friendly blog posts for your ecommerce website:

• Answer questions your customers typically ask you. For example, if you sell olive oil, some titles for your blog posts might include “what olive oil to choose for salad dressings” and “the health benefits of olive oil”.
• Your posts can educate your readers about ways to make better purchases online, such as what to look for to buy quality products within your niche, or how to use their new purchase best.
• Your blog posts should include good-quality images to break up the text and keep the reader engaged.
• Your blog posts should link back to the products you are selling.
• You should ensure that your content is adding value to your readers, free of grammatical errors, and not plagiarised.

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Regularly posting blog content on your ecommerce site will help you gain your audience’s trust and boost your website’s rankings.

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8) Reviews

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Customer reviews are crucial in showing new customers that you are a credible business. People tend to trust the word of their peers over someone who wants to sell them something. Online reviews serve as social proof that other people have shopped and had a good experience with your company. 

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Customer reviews also do wonders for your SEO because the search engine algorithm views your business as more credible when you have many reviews. These product reviews can also pull into the SERP, grabbing attention and increasing click through rate (CTR).

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According to Reviews.io brands that display product reviews have a 18% higher conversion rate and a 11% higher average order value (AOV).

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Encourage your customers to leave reviews whenever they make a purchase, perhaps with a discount code for their next purchase, and ensure you respond appropriately to your customers’ reviews.

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9) Structured Data 

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Structured data – also known as schema markup – allows you to feed the search engines information regarding your website in a language they can understand. 

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As we all know, search engines use algorithms to evaluate your page. So, it’s essential to use language on your site that can be easily processed by search engines. Basically, you don’t have to depend on the search engine algorithm’s ability to correctly understand the content of your site alone; you can use structured data to directly feed this information to be displayed in the SERP.  

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By using structured data, you can display crucial information such as reviews and ratings, price range, and product availability right on the SERP. This improves your click-through-rate as customers have more relevant information about your product before even visiting your site. 

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10) Internal Linking

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Creating links between different pages on your website improves the organic ranking of your website. This is called internal linking.

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You should implement two strategies for internal linking: linking between pages to spread link equity and capitalising on anchor text. Internal linking allows you to build a strong interconnected network within your site, allowing search engine bots to efficiently crawl and index your site. It essentially creates a clear road map of your site for them. As with most elements related to SEO, it also improves UX by enabling easier navigation for customers. 

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Depending on the size of your site, you may have numerous pages, including layers of categories and subcategories. As consumers make their way through your site, the pages can go from general to highly specific. So, strategic internal linking is an effective mechanism to tell search engines and visitors about the most important and relevant pages. 

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How Clear Click can help with on-page SEO for your ecommerce website

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Ecommerce is a fiercely competitive landscape, and you need to invest in SEO to ensure your business stands out from the crowd. While you can start implementing the strategies we’ve outlined in this guide on your own, improving on-page SEO for ecommerce websites can be a lot of work and require lots of expert knowledge. This is where Clear Click comes in. 

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Here at Clear Click, we help businesses like yours build and implement comprehensive strategies for their  on-page and off-page SEO in order to reach a larger audience, stand out from the competitors, and ultimately drive more sales.

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If you’re interested to know more, book a free consultation call with Clear Click.

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SEO is one of the most cost-effective ways for ecommerce businesses to build brand awareness and generate more website visits. But how do you get started with SEO? And how do you know how well you’re doing and what you should improve? That’s exactly what this guide will teach you. 

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In this article, we’ll go over things you should add to your ecommerce SEO checklist in order to develop a strong marketing strategy for your business. This should provide you with a brief but comprehensive list of things to get you started with improving SEO for your ecommerce website.

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Technical SEO

1. Can Google bots crawl and index your website?

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The number one thing you need to ensure is that Google can find and crawl your website correctly - otherwise, it won’t show up in search results. In order to crawl and index your website effectively, Google’s crawlers need a clear map. This is where your sitemap.xml and robots.txt files come in handy. 

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An XML sitemap is a file that maps out your most important pages, telling the search engine to prioritise them, while not placing as much emphasis on things like old blog posts from several years ago.

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You’ll also want to make sure you have a robots.txt file in your root directory. It works hand in hand with your sitemap.xml file to ensure your website can be crawled effectively and that the information Google’s bots find is indexed accurately. 

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Your robots.txt file is essentially a list of instructions for crawler bots. While you can also submit your XML sitemap directly to Google, it’s enough to have your robots.txt file point to it. Your robots.txt file can also include a list of pages you don’t want to be crawled and showing up in search results, such as your checkout page and WordPress admin page, which is very useful. 

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2. Are your site architecture and linking up to par?

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Having a relatively flat structure to your website makes it easier for Google bots to crawl your website, but it also makes for a better user experience. 

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You should link to all your most important pages from your homepage and they, in turn, should link to their most relevant subpages. In order to keep things as simple, you should be able to navigate between any two pages on your website in three clicks or less.

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Additionally, internally linking to other pages within your website helps Google crawlers understand the structure of your website and the links between different topics. Make sure you use keywords in hyperlinks and remove broken or outdated links periodically.

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3. Have you included structured data?

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Structured data is a way to organise the data on your website in a way that Google can understand. The “language” used to do this is called schema markup. It essentially tells the search engine what type of content lives on a page - is it a product page, a how-to-article, or maybe a review?

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Adding structured data to your website makes for a richer listing for your website in the SERP (search engine results page). This way, when people google something that brings your website up, the listing might include star ratings, extra navigational links to different pages on your website, example products, and more. 

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All of this makes it more likely that the searcher will click to visit your website. Structured data can even help you land the coveted spot as the featured snippet at the top of search results. You can find out more about schema markup here.

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4. Is your website mobile-friendly?

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It’s hardly surprising to say that smartphones have changed the way we do almost everything - online shopping included. And Google has taken notice, which means that if your website isn’t optimised for mobile, it won’t appear in the SERP. 

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Making sure your website is optimised for mobile means, among other things, that your website copy is readable on mobile, that images scale properly and that your links are large enough to click. Luckily, Google has a dedicated tool for testing your website’s mobile-friendliness.

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5. Is your website loading fast enough?

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Your website speed is another technical element that can have a large impact on both your user experience and the way Google ranks your website in the SERP. If a website takes longer than a second or two to load, many people will navigate away instantly. Your website’s loading time also plays a key part in making sure your website is mobile-friendly. 

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Some ways to increase your website’s loading speed include:

• Using a fast DNS system
• Reducing redirects on your website
• Reducing the size of image files

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Google’s PageSpeed Insights is a great SEO tool for optimising your website’s load time.

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SEO Content & On-Page SEO

6. Are you targeting the right keywords?

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In order to show up in the SERP, your website needs to provide answers to the questions your potential customers are asking also known as a search query. This is where keyword research comes in.

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Doing keyword research helps you provide the best possible user experience to your website visitors. It’s also essential for optimising not only your blog posts and product pages but also your home page, contact page, FAQ section, and metadata (more on this later).

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Your keyword research can help you recognise good opportunities for SEO writing in order for you to become a trusted authority on your chosen topic in Google’s eyes.

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For more information on finding and using keywords relevant to your business, check out our dedicated guide to doing keyword research.

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7. Do all of your pages have 250+ words of original content?

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In order for your website to rank high in the SERP, all of your web pages have to be populated with enough original content. 

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For ecommerce sites with hundreds of product pages, this can be daunting. It can be tempting to simply copy product descriptions from your manufacturers, but Google recognises and penalises duplicate content. If you have a lot of duplicate content like this on your website, it’s a good idea to start with creating original content for the product descriptions of your top sellers and work from there.

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Things like category pages are often left pretty empty but these too need original content. 300 words is a good number to aim for, and this is only a few paragraphs that can live at the bottom of the page, underneath links to individual products. 

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When it comes to product pages, your “body copy” should focus on the unique aspects of the product and the problems it solves for the buyer. Some things other things you might add include: 

• Details about fast delivery
• Bundle deals and other discounts
• An enticing call to action
• Answering common questions

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On category pages, you can include more information about the products within the category. You can also make comparisons between different products to help your customer choose the right one. When it comes to the products featured on the category page, make sure their descriptions are coded as text rather than embedded as an image so that search engines can crawl these bits of copy.

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8. Have you optimised your metadata?

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Your metadata includes things like meta descriptions, page titles, and URLs. These should all be the optimal length and include relevant keywords. You can use a free SERP optimiser tool to make sure your site title and meta description display correctly in search results. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

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• Each page should have one H1 (title) tag - this is the page title that appears in search results. It should include your primary keyword.
• Your URL should also include your primary keyword and be on the shorter side, with hyphens separating words.
• H2, H3 etc. tags are for your subheaders and sub-sub headers. These are great places to add your secondary keywords.
• Make sure to add descriptive, keyword-optimised title tags to images, as Google can’t crawl these effectively. Keyword-optimising is important here because many people rely largely on image results when shopping online.

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9. Are you actively building backlinks?

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Having reputable, popular websites link back to pages on your website tells Google you’re a trustworthy authority within your niche. Links like this are called backlinks, and while it can be a lot of work to gain them, they’re highly valuable. 

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By following other SEO best practices listed here, you make it more likely that you gain backlinks organically as people discover your website on Google. However, you can also work on building backlinks deliberately.

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There are lots of great strategies out there for getting more backlinks, but here are just a few:

• Emailing websites with broken or outdated links and suggesting they link to your content instead.
• Find mentions of your website online and ask the webmaster to link to your website if they haven’t done so already.
• Emailing websites that have already linked to your content and telling them about another piece of content they might find helpful.

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The Bottom Line

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Hopefully today’s ecommerce SEO checklist has given you a good idea of where to start building your SEO strategy. If you’d like to learn more about search engine optimisation and why it’s important, you should also check out our dedicated guide to SEO for ecommerce businesses.

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If you’d like some help building your ecommerce SEO strategy, you’ve come to the right place. At Clear Click, our mission is to help small to medium-sized businesses secure their place in fiercely competitive fields like ecommerce. If you’d like to find out more about working with us, book your free, no-strings consultation call with us.

In order to grow your business online, you need to know a thing or two about conversion rate optimisation, also known as CRO. In a nutshell, conversion rate optimisation helps you offer a better experience to your website visitors, making them more likely to become customers. 

In this guide, we’ll give you a broad overview of all things conversion rate optimisation. We’ll go over what some of your conversion goals might be, how to calculate your conversion rate, and some ways to improve it. Without further ado, let’s get to learning.

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What is a conversion?

In order to get started with CRO, you first have to define the desired action you’ll count as a conversion. This will depend on your specific goals. You might, for example, want to track the number of people who contact you with questions about your product or who purchase from you. Some typical conversion goals include:

• Add to carts

• Completed purchases

• Social shares

• Leads generated

• Newsletter signups

• Page views

• Leads closed

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As you can see, the range of what counts as a conversion is pretty broad. You’ll likely have several different conversions you can track throughout your website, and your niche will also have an impact on what the most relevant conversions to track are for you.

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What is the conversion rate?

Your conversion rate is the number of conversions divided by the total number of visitors. For example, if an e-commerce site receives 500 users per month and has 50 sales, the conversion rate would be 50 divided by 500, or 10%. 

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Tracking conversion rates allows you to evaluate the performance of your business online. Having awareness of what percentage of users are completing the goals that have a positive impact on your business allows you to measure the success of your website and identify areas for improvement.

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What’s conversion rate optimisation?

Conversion rate optimisation refers to the actions you can take to improve your conversion rate. By optimising your website and improving the user experience it provides, you make your website visitors more likely to complete the conversion goal you’ve set. 

Conversion rate optimisation helps bring in more business, but it also enables you to lower your cost per acquisition, driving more value from the website traffic you’re already getting.

Conversion rate optimisation involves putting yourself into the shoes of your website visitors in order to understand their needs and wants. Then, you’ll come up with hypotheses of ways to entice them to convert. Finally, you should run tests to prove or disprove your hypothesis in order to make changes to your website based on data.

You might want to start your conversion optimisation efforts by focusing on your highest-value web pages first. For an e-commerce website, these will likely be your product pages, while for a B2B company it might be your pricing page or your services pages which include a contact form. Your homepage is another great place to start, as it serves as the first impression of your company to a large number of potential customers.

Conversion rate optimisation is an ongoing effort - there are always things that can be improved. Your goal should be to always be thinking of ways to offer your leads and customers a better experience, leading to increased conversions.

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How to optimise your conversion rate

There are a number of things you can do to optimise your conversion rate, but it’s important to note that what’s worked for someone else may not work for you and your business. That’s why it’s important that you get to know your own audience in order to better serve them. 

That being said, some of the tips below will help you get started with conversion rate optimisation for your website.

• Make sure you have Google Analytics or something similar set up to analyse your website traffic.

• Talk to your customers. Data is absolutely key. But hearing things directly from your customers offers insights that numbers simply can’t. Make sure to also keep up with your online reviews for valuable insights.

• Run a customer survey. This is essentially the same point as above, but offering an anonymous survey, perhaps with an incentive like a gift card raffle, can help you get more (honest) feedback.

• Add reviews and testimonials to your website for social proof.

• Use a form analytics tool to easily analyse the data from your customer survey submissions and contact forms.

• Test both call-to-action (CTA) buttons and text-based CTAs to see what works better for your website. A colourful CTA button can be eye-catching, but banner blindness is also a very real phenomenon.

• Use a heat mapping tool like Hotjar to find out how your website visitors are interacting with your most valuable pages.

• Implement marketing automation to help drive conversions. You might, for example, set up an automatic reminder email to go out to people who’ve added products to their cart but didn’t complete checkout.

• Improve things like website load times and check your website for broken links and forms to make the user experience of your website as smooth as possible.

• Consider adding chat software to your website to answer visitor questions. This can help convert people who are on the fence about your offering.

• Revisit your website copy. Is it compelling and to the point? Are you using accurate headings and subheadings? Is your copy SEO-friendly?

• Use a CRM software to track and target your website visitors. Read more about CRMs in our dedicated guide to Customer Relationship Management.

• Set up retargeting PPC campaigns to bring website visitors back to convert them.

• Run A/B tests (more on A/B testing below).

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Running A/B tests for CRO

A/B testing is one of the best digital marketing tools at your disposal for CRO, and something any and every business would benefit from. A/B testing essentially involves testing the performance of different variations of your website to see what works and what doesn’t. 

It’s easy enough to assume you know what your audience wants to see. And that may be the case, but without hard data to back up your hypotheses, you’re ultimately just guessing. 

For example, you might have a product landing page that you want to optimise. You have a theory that moving the “add to cart” button from the bottom of the product description to the top of the page, just under the product name, could improve conversions. So, you create a separate version of the product page where you’ve moved the “add to cart” button and show that version to people for a limited time in order to test its performance against your existing product page. 

Running tests like this one by one helps you pinpoint what works and doesn’t work for your specific audience and make incremental changes to your website.

There are a number of great A/B testing tools out there, but you can get started for free with Google Analytics and Google Optimize.

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How Clear Click can help

Getting started with conversion rate optimisation can be intimidating for small business owners. It can be hard to decide where to start, what conversions to track, and what tools to use to gather and analyse data. This is especially true if you aren’t lucky enough to have a large in-house digital marketing team at your disposal. Luckily, there’s help. 

At Clear Click, we specialise in helping small to medium-sized businesses grow with data-driven insights and strategic consulting. We’re experts in PPC, data analytics and SEO. We can help you hone in on where your website optimisation can be improved and make suggestions for changes based on robust data. 

Want to learn more? Book a free consultation with us.

Managing your relationships with your leads and customers can be tricky. In order to build stronger relationships and close more deals, you need to know your audience well. Enter data analytics and CRM systems. 

Robust data is what will allow you to offer the best possible service to your leads and customers and assess the success of your marketing team's efforts. A CRM will help you gather and store this information and automate more menial tasks. Read on to discover how your small to medium size business could benefit from a CRM as well as why we always recommend the Hubspot CRM software to our clients.

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What is a CRM

A CRM, or a Customer Relationship Management system, is a central location that allows you to track and store data about your customers and prospects in order to streamline your sales and inbound marketing. It helps you keep all data about your customers and prospects in one place and automate the more menial tasks in your marketing and sales process.

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Benefits of a CRM system

There are a vast number of benefits associated with CRM for businesses of all sizes. Here are just a few:

1. It improves customer satisfaction 

With CRM software, you’ll be able to see a customer’s full history with you, allowing you to easily personalise your service to them for the best possible experience.

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2. Keep the whole team on the same page 

With all prospect or customer information at your fingertips, it’s also easy for everyone on your sales and marketing team to provide the same great level of service.

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3. Automate data entry

As a CRM automatically logs things like emails and calls, you save time recording these and can spend it on more valuable things.

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4. Be reminded when it’s time to follow up

 Lead nurturing can be a long and complicated process. A CRM helps to automate this process, sending follow-up emails on your behalf, giving you an alert when it’s time for a call, and logging all interactions you have with your lead.

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5. Keep everything in one place

 A CRM system means you can say goodbye to endless spreadsheets that you forget to update. Everything you need to know about your leads and customers will live in one easily searchable database.

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6. It grows with your business 

When you’re just starting out and have a small team, it might feel easy enough to track and store data about your customers through a number of different apps and spreadsheets. However, a system like this isn’t scalable, and will soon start to limit you. A CRM will grow with your business and saves you a lot of time finding and importing your data to a CRM later down the line.

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Why choose Hubspot’s CRM Software

7. Free to use

Especially for small businesses, it can be hard to justify another subscription. Luckily, Hubspot CRM is free to use for an unlimited length of time. 

Many CRM platforms offer free light versions of their products, but these are usually very limited in their capabilities. Not so with Hubspot. While Hubspot does offer a premium version of its CRM, the free version packs a hefty punch. 

You can store up to a million contacts and have an unlimited number of users from your team linked to your account with the free version. Some of Hubspot’s more powerful sales automation tools are exclusive to the premium version. With the free version, you only get access to five email templates, five snippets, and five documents, as well as one meeting scheduling link.

However, the free version should be plenty for small businesses to start with. 

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8. Easy and intuitive to use

Hubspot users consistently praise its CRM system for its ease of use. For one thing, it eliminates the need to search through a bunch of spreadsheets that are only accurate as long your team is vigilant about updating them. Everything you need to know about any single contact is on the same, searchable database. 

Hubspot has also built its software to be as intuitive as possible, and many people will be able to feel like a pro navigating through the software on their first day.

The Hubspot Community can help answer any questions you might have, while the Hubspot Academy can also help you get to grips with more advanced features.

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9.  Integrate it with other tools

You can integrate Hubspot CRM with a huge number of popular apps like Gmail, Outlook, WordPress, Zapier, Mailchimp and much, much more. 

Hubspot itself offers a number of other great free tools to improve your sales and marketing. They offer email marketing, content management, and landing pages, just to mention a few things. You can also track metrics around your ads and link Hubspot with your company’s social media accounts in order to capture data on direct messages, followers, likes and shares.

Hubspot also has a great, beginner-friendly online academy for brushing up your sales and marketing skills, all for free.

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10. Access detailed analytics

Hubspot allows you to track many things about your leads and customers, including website visits and traffic sources. It even offers a free A/B testing kit.

Hubspot lets you get very granular with your audience segmentation. You can, for example, easily filter your contacts to find people who were ready to buy a while back but then went quiet. You can then send these contacts a targeted email with a special discount to encourage them to come back. 

Hubspot contextualises your data and offers actionable insights for improving your sales and marketing strategies. You’ll be able to recognise patterns and cycles within our sales pipeline and find ways to balance things out.

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By the end of 2022, the eCommerce market will grow to account for approximately 20.4% of global retail sales. This suggests that an increasing number of retailers are shifting from traditional retail methods to the internet to sell their products and services. As the eCommerce space becomes crowded, ranking high on the search engine results page (SERP) has become more important than ever. Getting noticed in a competitive environment can be a challenging task.

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Search engine optimisation (SEO) for eCommerce is one of the most cost-effective yet fruitful ways to improve your ranking on SERPs. According to data from Google, 49% of online shoppers say they use Google to discover or find products. Additionally, 59% of shoppers say they use Google to research a purchase they plan to make in-store or online. 

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This signifies that a large amount of users do not arrive on your eCommerce web page directly. This is especially true for businesses that have very little brand awareness online. Unless you’re Amazon, chances are most of your consumers find you through Google.

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Visitors don’t bother looking beyond the top few results on the SERP. According to Search Engine Journal, the click-through rate of the top 5 links on Google is 70.4%. So, if your website is not ranked highly in the SERP, you’re most likely missing out on high amounts of organic traffic. This is precisely why SEO for your eCommerce website is non-negotiable.

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SEO is proven to have the highest ROI of any marketing campaign. However, many eCommerce businesses ignore SEO and tend to focus on social media campaigns or paid ads. While these may be great strategies, they require constant efforts and large budgets. 

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No matter how creative and value adding your products and services are, even the best of them can get overshadowed if you do not optimise your eCommerce site. To ensure you’re receiving a constant stream of high-intent visitors, it’s imperative to follow the best eCommerce SEO tactics. 

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This article is your guide to eCommerce search engine optimisation. We’ll discuss what it is, its various benefits, and most importantly, how to improve eCommerce SEO. 

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What is eCommerce SEO?

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Like most SEO practices, eCommerce SEO is the practice of helping you rank higher on Google search results. Customers generally tend to search for products and services online. For example, if someone is looking for a vacuum cleaner, they’re more likely to Google “Buy a vacuum cleaner” than go directly to your website to look for one. 

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This is why it is critical to understand how Google ranks websites. While there is no definitive guide on precisely which ranking factors are considered and in what capacity, SEO practices are an effective method to rank higher on Google and get more traffic. 

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A eCommerce SEO checklist includes multiple SEO practices – basically anything that is beneficial for your retail website. It includes technical aspects (such as site structure and loading speed), as well as on-page and off-page SEO practices. Each product page should be optimised to draw maximum traffic from search results. Apart from product pages, you should also ensure that your home page, about us page, F.A.Q. page, blog articles, help centre answers, and contact page are optimised. 

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Google ranks websites based on their relevance to the keyword terms that users search for. Google seeks to improve UX as much as possible – the main purpose of the algorithm is to find exactly what people want in their search. While different search engines may have different algorithms, it makes the most sense to focus on Google. As of May 2022, Google accounted for a whopping 92.48% of the search engine market share worldwide. On the other hand, Bing and Yahoo account for only 3.08% and 1.3% of the market share, respectively.

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Another way to gain more traction is to create content in the form of blog posts, videos, podcasts, expert opinions, and more. Having high-quality content helps with positioning yourself as an expert on topics related to your product and services. It also builds authority and consumers start to trust your brand more, leading to higher conversions and sales. 

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Why eCommerce SEO is important 

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Strategically applying eCommerce SEO practices unlocks numerous benefits for your business. Without SEO, your site will be buried under hundreds of other websites. The ultimate aim of any SEO practice is to increase the number of people that visit your site and convert them into customers. Here are some ways in which eCommerce SEO helps your business:

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Increasing brand awareness 

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If you’re a new online retailer or have recently shifted your brand online, chances are most people won’t know about you. Brand awareness is a critical first step in generating sales. eCommerce SEO is one of the most cost effective ways to improve brand awareness. The higher your site appears on the SERP, the more likely it is that potential consumers will click on it and engage with it. 

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You can also consider appearing in Google’s answer box, which is known as a featured snippet. Google’s main aim is to provide consumers with information as quickly and as accurately as possible. If your content or website can quickly answer one of Google’s most searched questions, your website will gain the top spot in the highly visible “answer box.” eCommerce sites can appear in the answer box, which is considered prime real estate. 

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Generating a stream of customers 

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A customer’s online purchase journey takes the form of a funnel. From visiting your website to the checkout process, consumers are lost at each stage. The traditional marketing funnel includes awareness, interest, desire, and action. It relies on a constant stream of new customers entering the funnel. SEO is one of the best ways to constantly drive low-cost top-of-funnel traffic at the awareness stage. 

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In addition, customers start their journeys from interest (research) to action (making the purchase). Their keyword choices are likely to change as they move from the informational to the transactional phase. It’s crucial to target the correct intent at different points in the customer journey. It encourages customers to move to the next stage and increases the probability of conversion. 

Increasing remarketing audiences 

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Cookies are a powerful tool your paid search team can use to remarket your brand to audiences. When customers arrive on your site, either through organic or other channels, your team can place cookies for remarketing campaigns. This way, you can show ads to these customers even when they’re not on your website and have continued with their journey elsewhere. 

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The higher the number of people visiting your site, the larger your remarketing audience is. Retargeting improves the ROI from SEO, as the same customers who visited your site due to good SEO practices will be reminded of your brand repeatedly as they continue their online journeys. They’re more likely to come back to your site if they’re reminded that you provided them with a good user experience. 

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Better user experience (UX)

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To convert site visitors into customers, your site needs to have good usability. Because SEO keeps the needs of the consumer at heart (such as the keywords consumers are using or what they’re looking for), it helps with building a strong UX, which ultimately drives conversions. Better usability also leads to a higher ranking for your site. 

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Keyword research also allows businesses to better understand what consumers are looking for. If you can fill that gap before the rest of the market, you’re more likely to make a sale. For example, if customers are searching for “affordable black denims,” it makes more sense to highlight the affordable options, which improves usability. Moreover, UX has multiple additional benefits, such as customer loyalty and brand differentiation. 

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Lastly, a great UX is something Google takes seriously. When visitors arrive on your site in large numbers only to leave it quickly, Google marks this as bad UX. It demonstrates that your site isn’t relevant for that query or hasn’t been able to satisfy customer demands. This can hurt your rankings considerably. So, it’s crucial to ensure a strong UX.

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Lower paid search costs

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This is a cost-saving yet hidden benefit of eCommerce SEO. Companies spend billions of dollars on paid search costs. While these can be effective, SEO is a much cheaper alternative with a higher ROI. It helps you generate organic traffic without needing massive budgets. 

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In the Search Advertising segment, the average ad spend per internet user is approximately US$286.60 in 2022. This is a massive number considering you need hundreds or thousands of users visiting your website. With the increased use of ad blockers, the ROI on your paid campaigns may be falling. In this case, SEO is an effective, low-cost alternative. 

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Even if you’re considering paid search, SEO helps. Google’s quality score, which measures the relevance of the ads to the landing pages, is used to determine the cost per click. Optimised landing pages imply better quality scores, leading to lower cost per click, while also automatically ensuring higher performance in organic search. 

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How to improve eCommerce SEO

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eCommerce SEO is not about any single variable. It involves working on multiple factors simultaneously to make your website optimised. Broadly, it can be divided into technical SEO and product page or on-page SEO. 

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Technical eCommerce SEO

Technical SEO refers to website and server optimisation techniques. This includes factors such as site architecture, a secure and responsive design, or a faster loading time. 

Website structure 

Website structure is perhaps one of the most important factors in SEO – it directly impacts search engine rankings as well as user experience by making it easier for both users and search engines to find your website and products. 

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Most eCommerce companies should include a homepage, category pages to outline the major type of products on their site, and product pages for individual products. One of the most important decisions in your website structure is how to categorise products. This requires research and a detailed understanding of how people search for products, making it context-specific for your website. For example, if you’re a fashion retailer, you may want to categorise products based on gender, type (formal, informal, trousers, and denims), season, or material. Whereas if you’re a book retailer, you might want to categorise based on genre or age. Make sure each category is populated with at least a few products (2-3 minimum).

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Next, make sure your site is well connected by focusing on how the areas of your site are internally linked. Global navigation should include links to key pages on the site, allowing customers to navigate to priority categories with ease. Make sure to not overdo this and link every category to the global navigation. This can result in a choice overload for customers, leading to bad UX. Additionally, this hinders search engines’ ability to verify the relative importance of pages – pages with higher links are seen as more important, making them more likely to be prioritised on the SERPs. 

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You should also focus on the crawl depth of your website – how many links it takes from the homepage to reach any specific page on your site. Of course, the crawl rate depends on the purpose of your product. A key category should be linked directly to the global navigation (a crawl depth of 1), whereas niche products or informational pages can be much deeper within your site. Basically, ensure you match the importance of a product or any page with the crawl rate, which helps search engine bots get access to important information quicker. 

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Lastly, make sure you keep your site lean. Given the intense competition out there, you don’t want to let search engines crawl on your pages unnecessarily. Help it find your products and pages quicker – search engines should crawl the pages you want to rank higher more frequently. This includes editing filters to prevent unnecessary URL creation, editing categories to link directly to product pages, and processing out of stock and discontinued products. 

Improve your speed

The speed at which your site loads is critical in determining its ability to rank higher on the SERPs. Sites that load slowly lead to a bad user experience, causing customers to leave your site. This indicates to Google that your site provides a bad UX, which could lead to a potentially lower rank. Moreover, customers leaving your site also leads to lower conversion and sales. 

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There are various methods to improve the speed of your site. Such as using a fast DNS (domain name system), making your image files as small as possible, compressing your webpages, and more. You can also use Google’s PageSpeed Insights Tool to discover some insights. By putting in your URL, Google will score your site on mobile and desktop from 1 to 100 and give you suggestions to minimise loading time. 

Create a sitemap

An XML sitemap is a file that provides search engines information about your pages. It tells Google which pages are the most important ones, allowing it to prioritise certain pages and crawl your site more efficiently. Essentially, it acts as a roadmap for search engines. It also contains information such as when a page was last modified and how frequently it is updated. 

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Optimising product pages 

Optimising product pages involves using on-page SEO practices. As the name suggests, these are factors that are on your page, such as title tags and meta descriptions, which you can optimise to improve the visibility of your site. 

Keywords 

Keywords are critical on every aspect of your page – title tags, meta description, URLs, product name, and any other content you produce – as they increase the chances of your website showing up on the SERP if you include keywords and phrases that consumers are most likely to search for. 

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The first step is to find keywords, this is done by conducting keyword research to gain a detailed understanding of what consumers are searching for. Owners of eCommerce sites are often looking to attract visitors with strong buying intent. For example, users searching for “buy black hair extensions” have a high likelihood of purchasing these products. You can either use a keyword research tool (like Ahrefs and Semrush) or use the Google and Amazon search bar to see what they suggest when you type something. 

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Next, you must select the right target keywords. You should consider factors such as keyword search volume, search intent, keyword value, and difficulty before making a choice. Overall, the keywords you select should have high search volume but low competition, allowing you to fill that gap. Then, you must optimise the selected keywords by placing them strategically in your content. This can include inserting them in your title, URL, and other headings and subheadings. Keywords also help with developing product categories, as they convey what customers are looking for, which helps with structuring your website. 

Title tags and meta descriptions 

Title tags are the headlines that appear on the SERP, whereas meta description is a quick summary of your product or page that appears under the title on the search page. Naturally, both title tags and meta descriptions should have the relevant keywords as that determines if a customer will click on that page. If the keywords you mention are more likely to align with a customer’s search query, they’re more likely to open your page. 

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According to Google guidelines, meta descriptions should be unique and be limited to 160 characters or less. Keywords in the description also allow Google to understand what your products are about and rank them on the SERP accordingly. Lastly, promotional modifiers like “X dollars off,” “free shipping,” or “xyz deal” boost your ranking. It piques customer interest, making them more likely to click on your webpage. 

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Optimising URLs

Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) are nothing but online addresses for your website. Again, optimising URLs includes using the right keywords so that the search engine as well as users know what your page is about. 

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There are numerous guidelines for creating the right URL. Some of them include: using short (less than 50 to 60 characters), easy-to-read and easy-to-interpret URLs because Google prioritises accessibility. Remember to use keywords in URLs as they show up in search results. However, excessive keywords are likely to impact your Google ranking. Every page on your site, such as the category page and product page, will have URLs – make sure you optimise each of those. 

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How can Clear Click help?

The online retail sphere is growing, and with that comes intense competition. Whether you’re a new business or a company looking to shift some of their business online, it’s critical to ensure your website and pages are search engine optimised. Customers don’t look beyond the top few search results, making rankings one of the most important factors when it comes to making sales online. eCommerce SEO is the most cost-effective method to gain awareness and improve conversion rates.

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If your website needs SEO support book a consultation call with us. Our SEO team help optimise your eCommerce store to strengthen your organic search traffic.

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It is no secret that internet users are growing increasingly uneasy about how advertisers track their data on the web: 40% of UK respondents stated they were concerned about how companies use their data. In light of these growing concerns, tech giant Google recently announced a plan for a third-party cookie phase out on its browser, Google Chrome.

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The digital marketing industry thrives by delivering relevant target ads to web users. It does this with the help of a massive database of individual data gathered by thousands of companies, primarily through third-party cookies.

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Google Chrome accounts for 64.34% of the global market share (as of April 2022), making it the most widely used browser to use first and third-party cookies. According to Google’s current plan, it will have a third-party cookie phase out by 2023. This shift away from third-party cookies has caused major concern amongst marketers and raises questions about how the decision will impact the effectiveness of digital advertising.

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This article will cover the following topics:

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• What are cookies?
• Why is Google phasing out cookies? 
• How will this impact digital marketing?
• How can marketers prepare?

What are cookies?

Cookies are small files sent to your browser by a website you visit. The website uses these files to track personal information about your visit. This data includes the items you click on, the products in your online shopping cart, or even your username and password.

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Different kinds of cookies are used for different purposes. For example, session cookies are used when you navigate a website; these cookies disappear once you exit the website. On the other hand, tracking cookies create long-term records of multiple visits to the same site.

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While there are many types of cookies, here we’ll focus on first-party and third-party cookies.

First-party cookies 

First-party cookies are created and stored directly by the website or domain. These cookies allow brands to deliver a better and more personalised user experience by collecting data such as language settings and login credentials. First-party cookies essentially store all user data from the user’s interaction with your website but can’t access data from other domains.

Third-party cookies

Third-party cookies are created by external domains, i.e., websites other than those you are visiting directly. These domains include advertising and tracking providers. Third-party cookies allow brands to track user behaviour and habits and help marketers make predictions based on this data. These cookies are also used for retargeting and cross-site tracking.

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Why is Google phasing out cookies? 

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Google lists user privacy as the primary reason for third-party cookies to phase out. The firm believes that “People shouldn’t have to accept being tracked across the web in order to get the benefits of relevant advertising.“ With growing global concern on data privacy, Google faced public and regulatory pressure to enhance its commitment to protecting individuals’ data.

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In response to rumours about Google developing a new tracking system, Google stated they would not be building "alternate identifiers to track individuals as they browse across the web, nor will we use them in our products." 

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While Google Chrome isn’t the first web browser to phase out third-party cookies, it is the largest. Apple blocked these cookies from Safari back in 2020, while Mozilla’s Firefox began to phase them out in 2019. 

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How will this impact digital marketing?

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While eliminating third-party cookies will require marketers to rework parts of their advertising strategy, everything will not change. This section will highlight the areas that are likely to be unaffected by Google’s decision. 

Conversion Tracking 

Paid social conversion and search tags use only first-party cookies. Google will continue to use these first-party cookies, citing them as ‘vital’ in the new privacy-first world. As a result, you will not experience any disruption while tracking standard-click through conversions.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a popular tool to capture data about your website’s visitors: it is used by 55.6% of all websites. It uses first-party cookies set via a piece of JavaScript code that you must add to every page that you want to track. Google Analytics sets four cookies automatically and a fifth via opt-in, which relates to sharing data about your web traffic with Google. With Google Analytics, you can track and generate reports for the number of users, session duration, bounce rate, page views and more.

Retargeting

Retargeting using first-party cookies will continue undisrupted. Ads displayed on Google’s search engine results page are targeted using the individuals’ search queries, thus using a Google or first-party cookie.

Similarly, remarketing on Facebook and Instagram will be unaffected as it is based on user data tracked with Meta cookies and doesn’t involve third-party cookies.

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How can marketers prepare? 

The death of the third-party cookie has generated a lot of nervousness in the marketing community: 41% of marketers feel that the biggest challenge will be tracking the right data.

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If your marketing and advertising strategies rely heavily on third-party cookies, you should consider alternative plans that capitalise on first-party data. Ingrid Burton, CMO of Quantcast, said, "Using solutions that utilise first-party data with AI and machine learning will help communicators reach the right person at the right moment.” 

What strategies can be implemented? 

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With every advancement or change in technology, there emerge new solutions. Marketers, advertisers, and data engineers have been actively searching for alternatives to third-party cookies. Google itself advocates its Privacy Sandbox as a replacement for ad targeting.

Google's Privacy Sandbox

Google will not create technology that tracks users at an individual level; however, it will still be investing in alternatives that focus on group behaviour. Its Privacy Sandbox aims to “create a thriving web ecosystem that is respectful of users and private by default.” 

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The Privacy Sandbox technology works on interest-based advertising using Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC): the idea that groups of users with common interests could replace individual identifiers. This data has proven to be nearly as effective as that from third-party cookies. The FLoC approach hides individual data in the crowd and uses on-device processing to keep a user’s web history private on their browser. 

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By combining functionality with privacy protection, the Privacy Sandbox will not hamper the user experience but instead, make users more confident that their browser is working to safeguard their privacy. At the same time, it will provide an effective solution for advertisers and marketers to generate leads and increase revenue.

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What tools can be used? 

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Optimising your marketing strategy for the post-third-party cookie world can be challenging, but Clear Click is here to help. Clear Click offers a range of services to help your business maximise its interactions with prospective customers using multi-channel insights and strategic consultancy. Our Web Analysts interpret data to calculate the performance of marketing campaigns. This data can help your organic and paid search teams strengthen your advertising efforts.

In the evolving tech space, it’s essential to adapt your advertising strategies, and Clear Click makes this process stress-free! Book a free consultation today to learn more.

The Google Ads Auction Process

As advertisers, we’re often faced with questions about how Google Ads works, and, more importantly, how PPC works. So, we thought that the best way to answer this frequently asked question would be to illustrate the Google Ads auction process.

Below, you will find our updated 2021 Google Ads auction infographic which helps illustrate how the auction process is formatted. Through this useful infographic, you’ll be able to find out;

• How advertisers get entered into each auction
• How Google determines which ads to show, and where they are shown
• How much Google charges advertisers

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Looking for more resources on google Ads, take a look at our Basic Introduction to Google Ads. Or perhaps you need a specialist to help run your Google Ad campaign, you can contact us, we would be happy to help.

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Google Ads

With over 267 million unique visitors and a worldwide market share of almost 86%, Google is the most powerful search engine in the world. Google Ads was rolled out two years after Google.com was founded. As an advertising platform, it has evolved from Google Adwords from its inception to a recent rebrand in 2018, renaming the platform to Google Ads.

Given Google’s enormous reach, the chances are that you have seen and probably clicked on a Google ad, and so have your potential customers. In this guide, you will discover how to use Google Ads and how to optimise your campaigns to achieve the best results. Let’s get started!

What are Google Ads?

Google Ads is a paid advertising platform that falls under the pay-per-click advertising model. Google Ads are a powerful way to send high-quality traffic to your website, prompting your advertisements to appear at the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs) when the user searches for a product or service similar to the one you are offering. Google Ads helps boost your website traffic, get more phone calls, and increase your website conversions.

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Google Ads give you, the advertiser, the ability to create and serve well-targeted ads to users across multiple devices such as mobile, tablet, and desktop. Ads can be created in many different formats spanning across other channels including YouTube, Google Display Network, and Google Shopping Ads. This allows you to reach your target audience where it makes the most sense for them to come across your ad, at a time where they are most likely to engage with it.

Google Ads will also help you analyse your advertising campaigns to increase your performance metrics over time and ultimately aid your business in reaching its marketing goals. In addition to helping you analyse performance, Google is not budget restrictive and allows you to tailor your advertising to suit your budget. Google Ads lets you stay within your monthly budget, and you can stop your campaigns at any time.

How do Google Ads work?

Google Ads operates an auction based bidding system whereby advertisers tell Google the maximum amount they are willing to pay for a click. The amount they actually pay, however, will be just over the next highest bidder which is just how traditional auction bidding works.

To illustrate the auction system we have put together an example. Let's assume there are three ad placements, and four advertisers are competing for those placements. The table shows the maximum price each advertiser is willing to pay for a click, and what amount they pay for the click.

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If you want to learn exactly how the Google ads auction works take a look out our details Google ads auction process infographic. 

How can Google Ad help you advance your business goals? 

There are a number of reasons why Google ads can help advance your business goals. We’ve shortlisted the top 4 reasons for using Google Ads to support your business.

Massive reach

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As the world's most frequently used search engine, Google receives over 6 billion search queries per day, giving you direct access to a substantial amount of internet users across the world. Coupled with the fact that Google Ads has been developed for almost 20 years, you can be sure that the platform will serve you well in helping you reach your paid advertising goals.

Return on investment

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Google suggest that advertisers make $8 for every $1 they spend on Google Ads which translates to a 200% return on advertising spend. This is without a doubt the main reason why you should be considering Google advertising.

Stay competitive

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Another reason you should be advertising on Google is to keep your business competitive within its markets. More than 7 million advertisers use Google Ads to promote their business online, which means even if you are optimising your businesses SEO you still run the risk of losing out to your competitors as Google Ads are placed above organic search results.

Harness intent

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Advertising on Google Ads means your business will be reaching high intent audiences that are most likely to convert into customers. Unlike social media, whereby users are not actively searching for a product or service but still being advertised to, Google Ads are only shown to users actively searching for products and services related to yours.

How to Run Effective Google Ad Campaigns

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Running effective Google Ad campaigns requires knowledgeable and creative ideas. It’s not always a case of pushing £10,000 into Google Ads expecting to get a return on your ad spend. Rather, advertisers need to do their homework to set their campaigns up for success. 

Understand your goals

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Before you begin to invest in any type of paid advertising, it’s important to identify what success looks like for your business. Google Ads can be highly targeted or as broad as you make them, so having a predefined goal will help you mitigate any wasted ad spend.

If you’re on a small budget and aren’t sure where to get started then start by tailoring your Google Ad campaigns around high intent keywords that you believe have the highest chance of generating a lead, or revenue, for your business. 

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Build quality landing pages

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So many advertisers make the mistake of directing traffic to the home page of their website, with little or no thought into how to get the user to take the desired action, such as a newsletter sign up. If you want to increase your conversion rate, you must build highly targeted, user-friendly landing pages with a clearly defined action you want users to take.

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Adopt a test and learn approach

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You should never set up and forget your paid advertising campaigns. Once you start, that’s only the beginning. You’ll need to constantly make adjustments to your targeting, advertising copy, landing page designs, and keyword bidding based on the data you are collecting, and the objectives you are trying to meet.

Make sure that you are constantly testing something in your account. However small or large it may be, by using data and analytics you can make data-driven decisions and provide actionable insights to increase your business performance. 

How Clear Click Can Help

Wondering if Clear Click might be the digital marketing partner your business needs? Our experienced paid search team integrates strong data-driven strategies that help our clients identify growth opportunities and reduce the risk of wasting ad spend. If you want to start reaching your ideal customers and position your brand in the top search results then contact us today! 

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is pivotal in enhancing efficiency, productivity, and customer satisfaction in today's fast-paced business world. Selecting the right CRM software can be a transformative decision for your business.

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This complete guide delves into the key factors you should consider when making this critical choice, exploring various aspects of CRM solutions, implementations, and features. We'll also touch on the selection process, customer data management, and how to streamline your sales process using CRM. So, without further ado, let's embark on this journey to help you make an informed choice that aligns seamlessly with your business objectives.

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What is CRM Software?

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CRM software is a technological solution meticulously crafted to streamline customer relationship management activities. It is a central hub for storing and managing customer data, interactions, and communication. CRM systems offer invaluable insights, empowering businesses to build stronger, more personalised customer relationships, driving growth and profitability.

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Why is CRM Software So Essential?

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CRM software equips businesses with the tools to understand their customers better, anticipate their needs, and provide tailored experiences. It enhances customer engagement, facilitates efficient sales and marketing, supports data-driven decision-making, improves customer service, and adapts seamlessly to your business's growth by handling increasing customer data and interactions.

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Industries Benefiting Most From CRM

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CRM software isn't a one-size-fits-all solution; it's a versatile tool that can significantly benefit various businesses. Here, we'll focus on the top four industries where CRM has a substantial impact on our clients' businesses:

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Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)

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SMEs often operate with limited resources and need cost-effective solutions to manage customer relationships, track leads, and streamline sales processes. CRM software like HubSpot CRM offers an affordable and scalable option.

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Sales-Driven Organisations

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Certain businesses, such as housing developers, insurance firms, and retail companies, rely heavily on sales. They require efficient tools to manage leads and sales pipelines. CRM enables sales teams to collaborate more effectively.

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E-commerce Businesses

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E-commerce companies thrive on understanding customer behaviour and providing personalised experiences. CRM helps them manage customer data, create targeted marketing campaigns, and increase customer loyalty.

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Service-Based Industries

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Service-oriented businesses, such as Software as a Service (SaaS) providers, law firms, and healthcare providers, rely heavily on client relationships and appointments. CRM systems help manage client databases and improve communication.

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Key Factors for CRM Software Selection

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Selecting the right CRM software is a pivotal decision for your business, and it requires careful consideration of several crucial factors. Here, we will delve into these factors to guide you through the process effectively:

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1. Defining Your Objectives

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The first step in choosing the right CRM software is clearly defining your business objectives. What do you aim to achieve with CRM software? Are you looking to increase sales, enhance customer service, streamline marketing efforts, or accomplish these goals? A precise understanding of your objectives is the cornerstone of a successful CRM selection process.

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When defining your objectives, consider both short-term and long-term goals. This clarity will guide you towards a CRM solution that aligns seamlessly with your business strategy.

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2. User-Friendliness

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Opt for a user-friendly CRM system that your team can readily adopt. User adoption is critical to the success of any CRM implementation. Look for software that offers an intuitive interface and provides comprehensive training resources.

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HubSpot CRM is an excellent example of a user-friendly system. Its intuitive design and user-centric approach make it easy for your team to get on board swiftly. Additionally, HubSpot offers extensive training materials and support to ensure that your team is well-equipped to leverage the CRM effectively.

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3. Scalability

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Your business is not static; it's bound to grow and evolve. Therefore, choosing a CRM system that can scale alongside your business is imperative. As your business expands, so will your customer data, interactions, and demands. Ensure your selected CRM can handle this growth without compromising performance or data integrity.

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A scalable CRM, such as HubSpot CRM, is designed to grow with your business seamlessly. Whether you're a startup or an established enterprise, HubSpot CRM can adapt to your evolving needs, ensuring that your CRM remains a valuable asset, not a limitation.

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4. Integration Capabilities

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Modern businesses rely on many tools and software to manage their operations. To enhance workflow efficiency, your CRM must integrate seamlessly with your tech stack's other business tools and software. Integration capabilities are essential for ensuring that data flows seamlessly between systems and that your team doesn't have to perform redundant tasks.

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When evaluating CRM options, check whether they offer robust integration capabilities. A CRM like HubSpot CRM boasts many integrations with popular business tools, enabling you to connect your CRM with your email marketing software, customer support system, analytics tools, and more. This integration prowess ensures that your CRM becomes a central hub for customer-related activities.

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5. Customisation Options

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Every business has unique requirements and processes. Therefore, choosing a CRM software that allows customisation to adapt to your specific workflows is vital. The ability to tailor the CRM to match your business processes and industry nuances is paramount in ensuring that it enhances productivity rather than imposing rigid structures.

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HubSpot CRM and other leading CRM solutions offer customisation options that enable you to configure the software to meet your specific needs. This flexibility ensures that the CRM aligns with your unique business processes, making it a valuable tool rather than a one-size-fits-all solution.

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6. Automation and Reporting

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Efficient automation and robust reporting capabilities are pivotal features to look for in CRM software. Automation streamlines repetitive tasks, increases efficiency, and allows your team to focus on high-value activities.

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Many CRMs excel in this aspect, offering automation tools that help you automate lead nurturing, email marketing, and other critical processes. Additionally, they provide in-depth reporting capabilities that offer valuable insights for informed decision-making. These reports allow you to track key performance metrics, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions to improve customer relationships and overall business strategy.

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7. Cost Considerations

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Budget constraints are a reality for businesses of all sizes. When selecting CRM software, evaluating the total cost of ownership is crucial. This includes licensing fees, training costs, and ongoing support expenses.

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HubSpot CRM stands out as an excellent choice in terms of cost-effectiveness. It offers a feature-rich free version perfect for startups and SMEs looking to start without a significant financial investment. As your business grows, HubSpot CRM's scalability ensures that you can upgrade to paid plans that align with your evolving needs, all while keeping costs under control.

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In conclusion, choosing the right CRM software is a strategic decision that should align with your business objectives, enhance user adoption, accommodate scalability, support integration with your tech stack, offer customisation options, automate tasks, provide robust reporting, and be cost-effective. Carefully considering these key factors will empower your business to thrive and excel in customer relationship management.

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CRM Implementations

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Implementing CRM software is essential for improving customer relationships and enhancing productivity. To ensure a successful CRM implementation, consider these key factors:

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Choose the Right CRM

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Select a CRM system that fits your needs, whether it's a flexible cloud-based solution or an on-premises system for more control.

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Explore Free Trials

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Use free trials to test the CRM's compatibility with your workflow and existing systems. Involve your team to gather valuable feedback.

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Embrace Mobility

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Ensure the CRM works seamlessly on mobile devices, offering mobile apps and responsive web interfaces for on-the-go accessibility.

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Effective Contact Management

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Opt for a CRM with robust contact management capabilities, allowing you to store detailed customer information and customise data fields to meet your needs.

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Streamline Sales Processes

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Look for features that simplify your sales processes, such as lead management, automation, analytics, and forecasting.

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Cloud-Based Advantages

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Consider a cloud-based CRM for its flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and easy data access. This enhances team collaboration and overall productivity.

Implementing CRM should enhance your business operations, improve customer interactions, and make your work more efficient without overwhelming your team with complexity.

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CRM Selection Process

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Selecting the right CRM software is crucial for your business. To make an informed choice that aligns with your needs, follow these steps:

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Define Your Requirements

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Begin with a clear understanding of your business needs:

• Business Objectives: Determine if you want to boost sales, enhance customer service, streamline marketing, or combine.
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• User Roles: Identify the roles and responsibilities of your team members.
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• Data Needs: Assess the type of data you need to manage and how it integrates with your existing systems.
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• Scalability: Ensure the CRM can grow with your business.

Creating a checklist of requirements will be your reference point.

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Research and Compare

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Research different CRM solutions:

• Market Research: Identify CRM solutions suitable for your industry and business size.
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• Feature Comparison: Compare features like contact management, automation, and integration capabilities.
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• Pricing Evaluation: Understand the cost structure within your budget.
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• Customer Reviews: Read customer feedback.

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Request Demos

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Many CRM vendors offer demos. Make the most of them:

• Prepare Questions: Prepare questions relevant to your business.
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• Live Interaction: Request live demos for real-time exploration.
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• User Engagement: Involve key team members for their feedback.
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• Customisation and Integration: Discuss customisation and integration options.
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Demos help you assess how well the CRM suits your needs.

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User Interface

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Consider the CRM's user interface (UI):

• Intuitiveness: Ensure it's user-friendly and easy to navigate.
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• Customisability: Check if you can tailor the UI to your team's preferences.
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• Accessibility: Confirm its usability across various devices.
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• Training and Support: Inquire about training resources and customer support.

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A well-designed UI enhances user adoption and integration into your business operations.

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By following these steps and evaluating CRM solutions based on your requirements, features, demos, and UI, you can confidently select CRM software that elevates customer relationship management.

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CRM Solutions and Vendors

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Selecting the right CRM software is a significant decision for your business, and it often involves considering various solutions and vendors. Let's take a closer look at some of the prominent CRM options available in the market:

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HubSpot CRM

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HubSpot CRM is a popular choice for businesses, especially startups and small businesses. Here's why it stands out:

• Comprehensive Free Version: HubSpot CRM offers a feature-rich free version ideal for startups and small businesses looking to start without a substantial financial investment. This free version includes essential CRM functionality, making it accessible to companies with limited budgets.
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• User-Friendly Interface: HubSpot CRM is known for its user-friendly interface. Its intuitive design ensures quick adoption across your team, reducing the learning curve associated with new software.
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• Seamless Scalability: As your business grows, your CRM needs will evolve. HubSpot CRM is designed for seamless scalability, accommodating your changing needs without compromising performance. This means you can start with the free version and seamlessly transition to more advanced plans as your business expands.
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• Integration Ecosystem: HubSpot offers many integrations, connecting seamlessly with popular business tools. Whether you use email marketing software, customer support systems, or analytics platforms, HubSpot CRM can integrate with these tools, creating a cohesive and efficient workflow.
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• Automation Tools: Automation is a crucial feature of HubSpot CRM. It provides powerful automation tools that streamline your marketing, sales, and customer service processes. Automate repetitive tasks, such as email follow-ups and lead nurturing, to save time and increase efficiency.
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• In-Depth Reporting: Informed decision-making is critical in business. HubSpot CRM offers in-depth reporting capabilities that provide valuable insights into your sales and marketing efforts. Monitor key performance metrics, track lead progress, and identify areas for improvement.

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HubSpot CRM's combination of a free version, user-friendly design, scalability, integration options, automation tools, and robust reporting makes it a compelling choice, particularly for startups and small businesses looking to enhance customer relationship management.

Salesforce CRM

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Salesforce CRM is a renowned solution for its extensive customisation options and scalability. Here's why it's a strong contender:

• Robust Customisation: Salesforce is recognised for its extensive customisation capabilities. It allows you to adapt the CRM to your unique business requirements, processes, and industry nuances. This flexibility ensures that the CRM aligns seamlessly with your specific needs.
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• Suitable for Businesses of All Sizes: Salesforce is versatile and suits businesses of all sizes, from small startups to large enterprises. Salesforce can be tailored to your organisation's needs, whether you're just starting or managing a complex operation.
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• Integration Powerhouse: Salesforce offers an extensive marketplace of integrations. This allows you to connect seamlessly with your existing tools and systems, ensuring data flows efficiently across your tech stack. Integration with popular platforms like Microsoft Office, Gmail, and Dropbox is readily available.

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Salesforce's strength lies in its adaptability and versatility. Its robust customisation options, scalability, and integration capabilities make it a valuable choice for businesses looking for a CRM solution that can grow with them.

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Zoho CRM

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Zoho CRM is a cost-effective solution with advanced automation capabilities and AI-driven insights. Here's why it's worth considering:

• Affordability: Zoho CRM provides budget-friendly plans without sacrificing essential features. This affordability makes it an attractive option for businesses seeking a cost-effective CRM solution.
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• Advanced Automation: Automation is a core feature of Zoho CRM. It offers advanced automation capabilities that can streamline your sales and marketing processes. Automate lead nurturing, email campaigns, and task assignments to improve efficiency.
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• AI-Powered Insights: Zoho's AI assistant, Zia, provides valuable insights and predictions to guide decision-making. It can help you identify trends, forecast sales, and make data-driven decisions to enhance customer relationships.

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Zoho CRM's combination of affordability, advanced automation, and AI-driven insights makes it a competitive choice for businesses looking to enhance their CRM capabilities without exceeding their budget.

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Final Thoughts

Choosing the right CRM software is a strategic decision that can transform how you engage with customers, streamline operations, and drive growth. By understanding your business objectives, considering key factors, and exploring options like HubSpot CRM, you can make a well-informed choice that empowers your business to thrive.

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