Difference between SEO for eCommerce vs service websites

SEO for eCommerce and service based businesses each have different SEO needs and goals, therefore requiring tailored approaches to increase chances of reaching their target audience and achieving marketing goals.

This article briefly covers the core SEO practices that product-based eCommerce websites and service websites have in common, followed by more depth insights on the key differences in their SEO approach.

Both eCommerce SEO and service SEO aim to increase visibility on search engine result pages (SERPs) and brand visibility. They share these aspects of SEO in common, both need to optimise for the following:

On page SEO

• Metadata
• Keyword research
• Headers
• Content quality relevant to target audience
• Keyword rich URLs

Technical SEO

• Fast site speed
• Mobile optimised
• Improve website crawlability with internal linking strategies
• Secure connection (HTTPS): Using HTTPS to secure the website and build trust with users and search engines

UX

• Logical navigation
• Uncluttered, intuitive design
• Valuable content

The main differences between eCommerce SEO and service SEO lie in the target audience, search intent, keyword strategy, content strategy, technical SEO and link building approach.

SEO for eCommerce stores optimise primarily to sell products. Their target users are actively searching for specific items, often using long-tail, product-focused keywords, while service-based SEO focuses on optimisations to attract potential prospects and generate high quality leads, to attract a broader audience interested in the website’s content, utilising a wider range of keywords.
Will now explore each of these areas in depth for each business type:

• Goal – eCommerce SEO is tailored specifically to drive traffic to product and category pages, help customers find products, increase online sales, and improve the overall user experience of your store.
• Target audience – In the latter stages of the buyers journey, in the consideration or decision phase, where potential customers actively search for specific products to purchase.
• Search intent – Users with high transactional intent to buy looking for product details, prices reviews and comparisons.
• Keyword strategy – Features product-focused keywords in product title, descriptions and metadata.
  • Tend to use highly specific, long-tail keywords with clear commercial intent (which may have low search vol., yet higher conversion rates)
    E.g. ‘womens navy cotton t shirt’, ‘best winter running shoes’, ‘sustainable tote bag’
  • Use of transactional keywords
    E.g. ‘buy adidas shoes online’
• Content strategy – Product pages require unique optimised content even if products are variants of the same category. Avoid using manufacturer descriptions, provide unique descriptions. Product category pages require keyword-rich titles, filters, and well-structured navigation. Product variant handling includes dealing with sizes, colours, styles and prices.
  Can use a more creative approach in SEO strategy to attract customers by promoting products through visual content and product descriptions to target a wider audience.
• Offers and promotions – require SEO strategies to target relevant and seasonal keywords, create landing pages and focused content marketing.
• Reviews and ratings – can highly influence purchasing decisions, prioritise UGC for SEO in e-commerce, encouraging customers to leave reviews and display them on product pages to build credibility and also provide fresh unique content search engines value.
  

  “Over 70% of shoppers begin their buying journey by searching for products on Google, Bing, or other search engines.”

  Source: Public Media Solution

  • Consumers often look for product reviews, comparisons, and recommendations before purchasing.
  • Ranking for relevant keywords like “best wireless headphones under £200” can drive massive traffic to an e-commerce website.
• Stronger Visual focus – Product image optimisation using descriptive file names, alt tags, high quality images and videos, showcasing product from various angles and in use are key for promoting products through visual content.
• Technical SEO – Ecommerce businesses have more complex technical SEO needs. They must ensure secure payment gateways, seamless checkout processes, and optimal product page performance.
• Relies more on Structured data – helps search engines understand context, increases chance of Google displaying rich snippets sharing price, information and ratings in features outside of traditional organic results (shopping carousels, people also ask, AI answers).
• Product SEO presents a further consideration in using dynamic structured data to manage inventory and product availability to provide real time data to search engines to display accurate, up to date product info on search results.
• Link building approach – focus on links from lifestyle coverage, influencer and PR outreach, news websites
• Strong Site architecture – essential for eCommerce SEO from navigation and urls to product discovery. Logical Category and sub category structure is essential for UX, crawlability and indexing.
• Internal Linking strategies – include featuring related products, featured collections, and breadcrumbs to improve user flow.

• Goal – SEO for service businesses is tailored to engage users with valuable content, brand awareness and establish topical authority for particular niche.
• Target audience – Broader audience interest in content, info or services.
• Search intent – Could be any stage of buyers journey from awareness to decision. Seeking info, education or entertainment than ready to purchase.
• Keyword strategy – Keywords focus more on commercial and informational keywords. Use relevant keywords to resonate with the target audience, aligning with services. E.g. how to knit for beginners or benefits of stretching.Keywords tend to cater to users at any stage of the buyer’s journey from a variety of purposes including those:
  • Seeking basic info, comparisons or tutorials
  • Researching service and industry specific terms
  • Searching for informative educational content for target audience pain points and offering solutions

    See our guide on keyword research for beginners

• Content strategy – Service-based websites generally contain fewer pages than eCommerce websites.
  Content marketing plays a more significant role for service based websites focusing on providing:
  • How tos and tips
  • Guides
  • Articles establishing topical authority as industry experts

These are ideally provided across diverse content and multiple formats to address different user intents, including:

• • Blogs
  • Videos
  • Infographics
  • Podcasts
• Reviews – for service-based businesses, reviews are key on Google Business Profile, Trustpilot and industry directories to build credibility and trust. Providing timely responses to reviews and feedback demonstrates commitment to customer satisfaction.
• Structured data – Different types of structured data may be used for service business websites such as blog, article, FAQ and author schema.
• Greater focus on Local SEO – from location landing pages, online directory citation management to use of local keywords.
• Link building – focus on gaining links from guest posting, partnerships with complimentary businesses or links from relevant local organisations.
• Site architecture – in general, service SEO is less complex than eCommerce SEO, with fewer pages and usually negates the use of filters and issues arising from duplicate product listings.

While both eCommerce SEO and service-based SEO for websites aim to increase visibility on SERPs, they both require unique approaches in their strategy in order to achieve long term sustainable results and marketing goals.

eCommerce websites focus more on optimising product pages and category subpages, with target users in mind who are in the latter stages of the buyers journey, with high intent to buy. It requires more technical expertise in shopping experience and utilisation of appropriate structured data, with unique challenges of dealing with high volumes of product pages, product variants, product availability and payment gateways.

Service based websites have a broader audience at any stage of the buyer’s journey from awareness to decision making. This tends to convert slower than eCommerce offerings and requires more trust building and engaging content to resonate with the target audience across multimedia. The focus is more on providing informational and educational content, including content strategies showcasing user pain points and providing solutions, content for entertainment or sharing unique perspectives, with emphasis on creating content that positions them as experts in their niche industries.

Understanding the SEO differences between eCommerce and services helps businesses craft the right SEO strategy depending on their website type.

Save time to focus on your business strengths by working directly with an SEO expert to craft a tailored approach that fits with your business needs.

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