One proven way to drive revenue is by optimising product content for search as part of an SEO strategy.
A PIM (Product Information Management) solution gives you the tools you need to optimise your content for SEO at scale. Therefore, you can use a PIM system to optimise your website content for richness, accuracy, and completeness.
Using a PIM for SEO
Think of PIM as a central repository for all the content you use to populate product pages to sell your products online.
It’s important to remember that product content means two things:
- The information essential to descriptions, like features,
- The Specifications and digital assets, like images, videos etc.
If you have a clothing business, there will likely be many variations of each product. If we take the example of a polo shirt, there will be various sizes, but there will also be multiple colours. Each of these will have data that needs to be managed. Additionally, the business may sell the clothing through other marketplaces as well as their website. This would mean that any changes to the product information, specifications, or stock management may need to be updated multiple times on each marketplace. The repetitiveness of this can quite quickly get out of hand and be very laborious.
This is where product information management comes in, by offering one central location to control this data and synchronise it to all marketplaces at the touch of a button. Only needing to update this information once also means you can include more specifications and product data, which will benefit your customers and search engines. It allows for much more flexible attribution.
The goal of PIM is to drive sales and conversions by presenting potential customers with fully optimised product pages. These have to be bursting with all the information and images customers need to make substantial, informed buying decisions.
Individual products require carefully articulated strategies to rank high in search results. These strategies have to include content optimised for the eCommerce audience and the search engines that the audience uses to find your products. To rank well among SERPs, an eCommerce site must contain optimised pages: correct tags, high-quality product information, enhanced images etc.
Your chosen PIM should grow with your operation to ensure you stay on top of your SEO strategy as your business grows into the future. While most PIMs do not advise you on what information you need to include for SEO (they will usually leave this to your SEO agency), they will help you use the information you have to add depth and quality.
Each PIM is different, but those that are cloud-based work well for collaboration by allowing multiple team members to use the software and make changes simultaneously.
Keywords and Metadata
With PIM, you can incorporate keywords into product management at any time from implementation onwards. This means you can hit the ground running from an SEO standpoint because the content you push out to your product pages is already optimised for search. This allows the shopper to access precise information relevant to their request in the search engine.
What’s more, those keywords can be amended, adjusted, deleted, or changed. This way, you also keep pace with changing trends. If, after implementation, your pages aren’t getting as many views as you’d anticipated, the solution is simple: adjust your products’ keywords in your PIM. It’s an easy way to bring in more traffic.
Meta descriptions play an important role in SEO, and PIM technology gives you quick access to meta descriptions and titles for a product.
In short, a PIM makes sure your product pages present a unified brand message.
Product Tags and Categories
Product tags are short descriptors you connect to your products. They give more detail than simple product names, which are often reflective of broad categories. It is all about product enrichment through the use of product information management.
Different types of customers search for the products they want to buy in different ways. Product tags provide your customers with the ability to narrow their searches down and find exactly what they want more quickly.
When supported by a PIM, product tags enable easy translation into SEO keywords.
The way products are categorised is fundamental, especially for eCommerce websites, and managing this through a PIM is very powerful. The use of categorisation allows businesses to spend more time on your top-performing products, and you can refine the way they work and look to audiences as needed.
Avoid Duplicate Content
On an eCommerce site, duplicate content is counter-productive and can impact negatively on your sales. When a shopper is looking for information on a given product, finding almost identical content on different sales channels can make them feel they are wasting their time.
PIM allows you to adapt your product data to the specifics of each distribution channel:
- Size and structure of the product title,
- Image format,
- Category organisation,
- Tone and approach used for marketing descriptions…
The shopper has access to relevant information at each stage of their customer journey.
By creating unique content in your product descriptions and across your site, you’ll gain a higher ranking than if you stick with the boilerplate information that others are using. PIM can help you put your spin on things.
DAM Functionality (Digital Asset Management)
PIM manages product information, but that information doesn’t mean much without the visual context that eCommerce experiences are built around. This means your Product Information Management solution needs to store product information alongside digital assets, which make up the visual component of your product pages.
Rich digital assets, such as 360-degree pictures, unboxing and installation videos, and CAD drawings (Computer-aided design) enable your customers to make informed buying decisions.
- Because you need to include these digital assets to achieve sales success anyway, optimising them for search is the next logical step. With a PIM that consists of a DAM, you can attach metadata to digital assets. Like product tags, you can write that metadata to include the keywords your customers search for online. You can name all of your images and assets consistently.
Feedback Integration
Feedback from customers is essential for understanding how well your product pages are performing or why they aren’t. Feedback allows you to shape your brand messaging and more fully optimise product pages to drive conversions.
PIM gathers sales feedback in the form of the search terms they’re using on your sales channels. This provides a consistent feed of the newest material to guide updates to your sites to optimise pages for SEO.
Customer Focused
Because you may need to target a different, specific buyer with each of your sales channels, each will need a tailored SEO strategy. PIM allows you to tailor content by buyer and channel to maximise traffic and drive conversions.
With PIM, you can segment product content to feature the precise search terms a targeted buyer will use to find the kind of products you’re selling. Visitors empowered with the information they need to make informed buying decisions are most likely to convert.
Product Information Management software can help you take the keywords showing up in search engines from your pages and transfer them to your social media presence. By using similar keywords across platforms, you can build a recognisable brand and business that your customers will be able to find with ease.
EXAMPLES OF PRODUCT INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS
There are a number of options available to you as an eCommerce website owner, I have collated some of them below, but if I have missed any do let me know and I would be happy to include them:
