Semalt:10 Things You Need To Remember When Optimizing Your Sustainable Fashion Store

Do you run a sustainable fashion store and wonder how to combine the requirements of the marketing world with your values? Find out how to find your way through the SEO jungle and become known in the search results, effectively reaching the right audience.

Here are 10 things you need to remember when optimizing your sustainable fashion store.

1. Carry out a proper analysis of key phrases

We emphasize it at the very beginning because without a really well-conducted analysis of key phrases in such a specific (and at the same time competitive) industry; it will be challenging to obtain satisfactory results. What should you focus on when conducting a word analysis for a sustainable fashion store?

Valuable phrases tailored to the needs of your real customers.
Relevant Phrase Volumes.
The level of competitiveness of keywords that can be achieved with your budget.
Long-tail phrases.
The analysis of key phrases and long-tail phrases can be done with the Dedicated SEO Dashboard tool.

2. Take care of basic on-site technical optimizations

In every online store, regardless of the industry, some optimizations must be made on the page to help you stand out in the search results. Below, is what needs to be on your to-do list, but does not require a unique approach related to the specifics of your business:

Increase of your site speed.
Website layout adapted to the requirements of Google.
Schema data.
URL structure.
Titles and meta descriptions of subpages.

3. Create a good link-building strategy

Get backlinks from other websites related to sustainable fashion - topical flow is a must-have in your industry.

Organic link building is something worth investing your time and budget in. How can you do that? Enter into a relationship with the owners of websites, blogs, or other companies with whom it will be possible to cooperate. You can create industry articles for them or offer product reviews - the ideas are virtually endless.

4. Take care of the content on the blog

This part will be longer because it is very important to you!

Google continues to appreciate content that is good: high-quality, professional, trustworthy, and answering important questions users may want to ask.

Remember that your blog is a place where you can show that you know your stuff and prove your position to search engines - be sure to include expanding (or creating) your blog in your 2022 marketing plan.

The EAT strategy (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) is great for building the reputation of online stores. What do you absolutely need to remember?

Create long, valuable content.
Don't use clickbait (and in your industry, don't use greenwashing to attract customers!).
Rely on specialists.
Regularly update your entries, preventing the content from becoming outdated.
Remember about search intent. since November 2021, this is another very important aspect that Google takes into account when evaluating websites - you need not only to position yourself for given phrases but also understand what and why users enter in the search engine. For example, you can use the help of the keyword intent analysis of the Dedicated SEO Dashboard tool. More in the article: DSD explained.
Make sure your content is really useful. Find out what phrases users are searching for and answer their questions, even if they seem obvious to you. This will allow you to build a relationship with your users and turn them into potential customers and - in the future - into loyal brand ambassadors. What can you do to make sure the content you create is helpful?
Check what users are looking for on the web. Tools such as the Dedicated SEO Dashboard, Answer the Public, Ubersuggest, and SEMstorm will help you with this.
Link to products in the content of articles. Since you write about how to wear woolen sweaters, why not show users your own suggestions?

5. Enter a variety of content: graphic, audio, and video

Do you think that texts in your industry are enough? Fashion has its own rules and nothing attracts users' attention more than interesting, varied content. So let's start from the beginning.

Put a lot of high-quality photos on the site

At the same time, you need to ensure that they are properly optimized for SEO - so forget about uncompressed graphics of several megabytes each, because after some time, the page will start running with them much, much more slowly than it should.

Make your content easily shareable

Shares play an important role in acquiring external links and also, allow you to reach a wider audience and build your reputation on the web. Simple solutions, such as adding a social media share button, can be real game-changers in the fashion industry.

Create video content

They don't have to be typical ads - go ahead and experiment with vlogs, guides, and even animations (don't forget to add a link to your website, because it's very important for SEO!).

A sustainable fashion podcast?

Why not! Audio forms are gaining in popularity every year, and by the way, they are a form of content that can be easily used in many ways. Background to video, transcription to article... the ideas are endless. Remember that the competition in the fashion industry is huge, and you must be original enough to stand out.

6. Remember the importance of graphics

• Take care of high-quality images

This is the basis of prospering in the online fashion world - graphics and photography must be the center of your website, helping your audience to be as close to your brand as possible.

• Show how the products look on the models

Why are we writing about it in an SEO tutorial? Because it is often the key to conversion - once you get valuable traffic to your website, you need to ensure that it does not go to waste, that is, guide users to the end of the purchasing process, and in the case of a sustainable fashion store, photographs with a good description can turn out to be extremely important.

• Make sure your graphics are optimized for SEO

Don't forget about how graphics affect page speed. Saving them in appropriate formats or lossless compression can significantly speed up the loading of your website - and this is one of the aspects that Google takes into account when evaluating pages. Also, remember to meet the requirements of Core Web Vitals.

• Optimize alt texts for all graphics

Thanks to this, Google can easily read what is on them and display, for example, in Google Graphics - and in the case of the fashion industry, it is extremely important! Complete the ALTs in all photos, even those that seem less important to you - the items in the SERPs will show you the difference.

7. Create really good descriptions of products and categories

• Make mention of sustainability in your descriptions.

Thanks to this, you will not only saturate the website with the right key phrases related to the topic of sustainability but also show users your intentions. Be sure to highlight:

What really sets you apart?
What does your supply chain look like?
What about the ethicality of employment of your employees?
What materials do you use and where do you source them from?
How do you care for the environment when manufacturing and transporting your products?

8. Don't forget about the specificity of your target group

We mentioned earlier how important a unique marketing approach is in the case of sustainable fashion - you cannot bet on typical strategies such as cross-selling, giant sales every season, and other trends specific to fast fashion.

Instead, you often have to make difficult but responsible decisions that will shape a uniform image of your brand: this applies to product copy, blog articles, or even subpage titles, headings, and meta descriptions.

Remember: customers who value sustainable fashion will also value ethical and sensible businesses. It is under them that you need to create your SEO activities strategy.

9. Adapt your website to the requirements of mobile devices

If you are not sure what proportion of your users use mobile devices, just look at the summaries from Google Analytics or Google Search Console. However, we can already guarantee that even if the final purchase takes place from a stationary device, smartphones play a huge role in the entire sales process.

According to a Shopify report, 60% of users believe that the quality of the mobile version of the page plays a significant role in choosing the online store where they will complete their purchase.

So what do you have to do?

make sure that the shopping path on mobile devices is clear and legible;
check if all functions, buttons, and links work on the mobile;
make sure that the graphics are properly compressed;
check the service report on mobile devices and solve any problems;
allow users to complete the purchase without registering in the store;
avoid creating small, cumbersome buttons, and placing buttons too close to each other.

10. A good UX!

Great website design is the basis for effective sales and extending the time users stay on the website. But did you know that it can positively influence SEO?

After all, Google wants to provide users with the best experience related to online activity, so it wants to make the experience with sites that rank high in search results as pleasant, simple, and good as possible.

What do you have to remember?

In SEO, you don't impose a purchase on your users, but when they really need you - you are in the search results for them.

Following the latest SEO trends is extremely important for sustainable fashion stores in 2022: change is necessary to succeed despite the economic crisis and huge competitors.

Also, sustainable fashion and SEO are definitely a well-chosen duo. Keeping in mind the 10 most important principles of positioning your store, you will successfully climb to the top of the search results! Just remember to:

Perform key phrase analysis.
Take care of basic on-site technical optimizations.
Create a good link-building strategy.
Take care of your blog content.
Enter a variety of content (audio, video, photo).
Remember the importance of graphics for the fashion business.
Create really good descriptions of products and categories.
Do not forget about the specificity of your target group.
Adapt your website to the requirements of mobile devices.
Set a good UX.

If you need to learn more about the subject of SEO and website promotion, we invite you to visit our Semalt blog.