Top Tips for Boosting Organic Visibility for Fashion Brands

The eCommerce space is nothing new for fashion brands but recent changes in consumer behaviour have resulted in elevated competition. Fashion brands of all sizes now don’t just have to keep abreast of emerging seasonal trends, they have to fight harder to capture their audience’s ever-dwindling attention spans, using a variety of channels and strategies to attract them to their stores. 

The State of Play for Fashion eCommerce SEO in 2024

Fashion eCommerce remains a hugely profitable and popular business sector (poised to reach a $86 billion valuation by 2030) and it can be argued that fashion brands are prime examples of those that have successfully navigated the complex and evolving eCommerce market. One of the biggest contributors to a fashion brand’s success is establishing a firm, robust online presence through strategic search engine optimisation (SEO) and link building, which is crucial for driving qualified traffic, enquiries, leads and sales. 

SEO itself is constantly changing, with Google moving the proverbial goalposts for achieving high rankings and driving traffic regularly. From core algorithm updates to technical site optimisation best practices, achieving the coveted position number one spot for a fashion brand’s target keywords is rarely a walk in the park. However, fear not, because this guide covers some essential points which will help you elevate your organic search performance, so you don’t have to trawl through a sea of pages with technical jargon and give yourself a headache. 

Justin Aldridge, Technical Director at award-winning SEO agency Artemis Marketing has taken the time to piece together a concise summary of suggestions and tips for fashion eCommerce brands to drive organic growth in 2024. 

Justin eloquently says, “What often separates the most successful [fashion] companies is their commitment to understanding evolving customer search behaviour and meeting users with relevant, engaging content at every stage of the buyer journey.” 

Understand Search Behaviour 

Targeting high-volume search terms and keywords can be an ambitious task within your strategy, due to their competitiveness. If you’re a niche small or medium enterprise (SME), you may find more success targeting specific long-tail phrases that your audience uses when searching for the products or services you offer.

As you start scaling, you may find that local indicators are worth targeting to drive awareness to a business’s location, and thus try and improve your visibility in specific regions. 

Fashion is an industry prone to seasonal fluctuations, meaning that your product categories and collections should align with what people are searching for (at a given time throughout the calendar year). Schedule your optimisation strategy in advance of seasonal demand spikes and plateau periods, such as Christmas or during the release of specific clothing lines.

“It’s challenging to get your site to rank well in search results when there is established competition occupying the top spots, which is why targeting related markets with relevant search terms can often yield more tangible results,” Justin advises. 

Optimise Product Pages and Descriptions

Fashion by its very nature relies on high-quality visuals, arguably more so than text. However, Google cannot read images, which is why your product pages need to have relevant descriptions. Crafting unique, compelling descriptions with a healthy blend of keywords, materials, features, benefits and measurements will add more gravitas to your pages.

Supplement product pages with high-quality, eye-catching visuals. Make sure that your site has a logical URL structure that aligns with your product categories for easy navigation and that each page is user-friendly. Where possible, leverage schema (structured data) markup to enrich your search engine positions with stock levels, prices, reviews, and other eye-catching details that can encourage click-throughs.

“When it comes to product pages and descriptions, it’s always a case of putting the user experience first,” Justin explains. “You don’t have to have thousands of pages or categories, but they should be organised in an easy-to-understand manner, with descriptions containing the essential info, and not stuffed to the brim with keywords. Google is cracking down hard on spammy content, so this will only work against you.”

Create an SEO Content Marketing Strategy

Your fashion site shouldn’t just be a place where people can buy products easily; it should be a place full of relevant engaging content. A smart content marketing plan is vital for building domain authority and satisfying search intent. 

Consider writing regular keyword-focused blogs that address common questions and pain points that your customers face, such as product guides, trends, style advice, and more. Simultaneously, pitch informative guest posts or third-party content to respected and authoritative fashion publications and sites, to earn quality backlinks back to your site, dispensing link equity to your domain. 

Complement your content strategy with guides and articles that exhibit Google’s well-known E-E-A-T principles (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness). Prioritise this more than the inclusion of specific keywords, although don’t ignore them completely. Again, it’s a case of quality over quantity.

“We’ve seen immense changes from the emergence of AI and Google’s constant Spam and Core updates, but one thing has remained constant and that’s that content is arguably the most important ranking factor today,” Justin continues. 

Establish a Stable Foundation

Remember to review your technical architecture and on-site elements like mobile-friendly design and responsiveness. Most web traffic is mobile now, which is why all site pages should be well-optimised for mobile devices. Fast page speeds are also vital for user experience, as Core Web Vitals has emphasised for years, so site owners should ensure that their site satisfies this criteria. Ensure that there are no indexing or sitemap issues with your site by using free tools like Google Search Console. 

Fashion brands that make SEO a marketing priority – complemented by off-site marketing channels like outreach, events, and social media – will be best poised to succeed in the competitive marketplace of today.

By Dakota Murphey

Image by Cottonbro Studio – pexels.com