When it comes to building an eCommerce website, it can be hard to come up with unique and informative content for every single product page you have – especially if you sell a lot of products.
While SEO MCR, SEO consultants Manchester, can help you with writing creative and unique content for search engine optimisation – we will also let you into a secret! Some of your most unique content will be written for you – by your customers!
In fact, Search Engine Watch once published an article entitled “How a customer reviews strategy can impact SEO” which revealed the following amazing statistics:
- 90% of customers read reviews before visiting a business
- 72% of customers will take action only after reading a positive review
- 31% of customers are likely to spend 31% more on a business with excellent reviews
- Reviews can boost your rankings by providing fresh user-generated content
So, knowing you know the benefits that product reviews can bring to your eCommerce business, let’s take a closer look at how you can optimise your product review pages to attract more reviews.
Firstly, you need to understand the customer journey
When people head to a search engine to find something out, they are usually in a certain place on their customer journey.
Some people will be just browsing to see what’s out there. Some people will already know what they want but are trawling through things to find what’s best. While others will be scratching their heads and wondering where to start.
Most search queries tend to be broad at first as people are right at the start of their customer journey. Once they have narrowed things down a bit, they will hone in on a particular product or service.
This is what is Manchester SEO agencies call “user intent”- and there are four main types you need to consider:
- Informational – People have a specific question in mind or want to know more about a certain topic e.g., “what Is searcher intent?”
- Navigational – People want to visit a specific website e.g., “SEO MCR agency”
- Transactional – People know what they want to buy and want to get to that product page straight away
- Commercial – People want to buy but they need a little more convincing to do so e.g., “washing machine reviews”
When it comes to product reviews, commercial intent is where it’s at
So, the commercial intent stage is where the customer is looking for a particular product or service but isn’t quite ready to buy, this is the stage where they are most likely, therefore, to be looking at comparison sites and product review pages in order to help them to weigh up the best option for them.
So, what is a product review page?
A product review page is a page containing useful information that is used to help customers make the decision to purchase.
Other customers use this page to share their thoughts about a product or service after they have used it themselves.
Google has finally realised the importance of these pages and has recently released its ‘best practices for creating high-quality product reviews. There is a lot of information contained in their guide, but our top six tips summarise it for you:
#Tip One: Provide evidence to back up your product claims
Google is eager to make sure that any product review that is placed on your site is a legitimate one and not one that has been written by someone with no experience of the actual product.
So, the best way to show them this is to provide them with evidence that the product has actually been used – you can add photos, videos, or even scorecards to help them understand that.
#Tip Two: Go beyond just a description of the product
Don’t just write a 500-word description of the product, add some context to it and talk about how the product performs in different scenarios. You could talk about how the product might suit different people in different ways or how it could be used in different situations, for example.
Think about things that may not be listed in the product specifications, but that a customer might want to know about, such as:
- What can it be used for?
- How often can it be used?
- How difficult is it to clean?
- How easy is it to get spare parts?
#Tip Three: Recommend other impartial sources of information
Always put the customer first.
Google has tweaked its algorithm a lot in the past 12 months, with the focus now being on rewarding websites that provide customers with helpful content that is user-centric.
Customers tend to be looking for unbiased informative content to help them with their purchase decision.
So, as well as adding your expert opinion on the produce review page you could also add links to other universal reviews – about the product in particular, or something connected to it.
#Tip Four: Always aim for full disclosure
If you are writing a review of your own products or have gifted someone else with one to write about it for you – always be honest about that with the customer.
You can put something like “We own and use all of the products we recommend.”
#Tip Five: Add a biography
If you are an expert in your field, then let the customer know that. You don’t have to have a degree in it, you can just be passionate about the products you sell, but let the customer know so they can see why they should be interested in your review of the product.
#Tip Six: Always ask for feedback
Product review pages work in the same way as YouTube and LinkedIn – comments mean a lot.
So, actively encourage customers to leave comments on your site, and engage with any comments you make.
Customer comments not only help you to nurture a community around your brand but also to drive traffic to your site and position you as a thought leader in your niche.
Hopefully, you have a clearer idea now as to the benefits of a product review page on your website, but this is just the beginning. If you need help with other ways to optimise your website and generate leads, or how you can develop your brand, then please get in touch with the team at SEO MCR.
We are one of the leading SEO agencies Manchester and can leverage all of our experience to help you to achieve your business goals.
