Writing product descriptions that are optimised for SEO is essential for any e-commerce business. By constructing product descriptions that are useful for both people and search engines, you ensure that your products will be visible on search engines and effective at converting users that view them. Of course, this is easier said than done, and writing effective product descriptions that are also well-optimised for search engines is challenging.
We asked SEO specialists Go Mungo SEO for their advice on how to write optimised product descriptions. This is what they told us.
Do Make Product Description Persuasive and Natural
One of the most common mistakes we found being made when writing product descriptions is focusing too heavily on search engines at the expense of human users. If your product descriptions aren’t persuasive and easy for a human to understand, then even if search engines bring people to your products, they won’t be effective at converting them.
Don’t Depend on Manufacturers’ Descriptions
Product descriptions are usually designed to be informative and functional, not persuasive. Some manufacturers will be listing products with the goal of persuading retailers to buy them rather than individual consumers. As a result, their product descriptions will be aimed at this audience instead of general consumers.
Manufacturers’ descriptions are useful for pulling out key product information and features, but you shouldn’t look to them for persuasive arguments. You also shouldn’t simply copy them wholesale, which is what many websites do. Google doesn’t like duplicate content and copy and pasting descriptions can harm your SEO.
Do Highlight the Key Features
In order to make a decision about whether to purchase your products or not, your audience needs to know what their key features are. Your product descriptions must highlight all of the most important features of a product. What constitutes a ‘key feature’ will vary between products. However, they should be easy to identify because they are the product features that a consumer will use to decide whether to make a purchase.
Don’t Forget About Your Target Audience
When you are writing your product descriptions, don’t forget about who you are writing them for. If you try to make your descriptions too broad so that they will appeal to people outside of your target audience, you risk reducing their impact and making them less effective. Write your product descriptions for your target audience first and foremost, and don’t get hung up trying to make them appeal beyond this.
Do Keep Your Language Simple
Product descriptions should be informative and persuasive. There is room for you to be creative with them, but you should ensure that your language remains simple and easy to understand. If you are throwing around long words or using language that your target audience isn’t going to understand, your descriptions will be ineffective.
Writing good product descriptions that are optimised for search engines while also being persuasive to human readers isn’t difficult, but it is easy to get wrong. Sticking to the dos and don’ts above will ensure that you get it right.
