Websites need every moving part to work seamlessly. New and returning customers may not stick around to get invested in products or services if they can’t find anything through a site’s search engine. Use these tips to optimize your e-commerce search results and help your site meet each user’s intent.
1. Show Related Search Content
Sales will quickly fall if customers can’t find what they need in a website’s search engine. However, related search content could meet their needs if they’re looking for an unavailable item. Your website’s coding or a widget can make this possible.
Complementary search suggestions connect consumers with products that will fulfill their needs while their desired product is out of stock. Given that more than 50% of logistics managers expect supply chain issues to cause delays through 2024, suggesting related products or services to site visitors could result in more sales between restocks.
2. Sort the Results
Your website’s algorithm is the central component influencing every consumer’s virtual experience. It should sort the search engine results according to their needs. Potential customers won’t all need the same thing, so create a search option that includes filters such as:
- Price Low to High
- Top Sellers
- Top Rated Products
- Best Match
- New Additions
3. Improve the Search Engine Speed
Customers don’t want to wait for a page to load, even if they intend to purchase the item in their virtual cart. Removing options like refreshing the entire page when adding new filters or going to the following results page can improve your site’s speed. Configuring on-page ads to avoid cluttering the load time with multiple videos or changing graphics can also help.
4. Avoid Alphabetical Listings
When someone searches for a new shirt on an e-commerce site, they likely want to see shirts in different styles and colors. If the shirts appeared alphabetically, the potential customer might tire of seeing the same design from one brand for longer than a page or two.
It’s better to avoid alphabetical product listings altogether. Instead, optimize search filters so consumers can personalize their shopping experience. You can also provide a mix of places where products are available to keep browsers interested.
They might like seeing you list more niche products on different e-commerce marketplaces with pricing that better fits their budget. Selling on numerous marketplaces and linking out to them from your search engine results provides more variety for customers who want to access products quickly, compare them and pick the one with the best price.
5. Leave a Breadcrumb Trail
Leave the bread loaves at home and jump online to create a digital breadcrumb trail. It’s how your website’s algorithm remembers what each user most recently searched. The consumer can click back through the breadcrumb tabs or page labels to refine their search without reloading the site.
6. Activate Infinite Scrolling
When a potential consumer reaches the bottom of a search engine results page (SERP), they might see numbered pages that require reloading the entire website to view one at a time. That delays their shopping experience and may cause them to search for products from another e-commerce business.
Consider activating infinite scrolling to optimize your e-commerce search results and make search more mobile-friendly for users. Users won’t have to wait between pages to see new products, making buying what they came to find more accessible.
One thing to note is infinite scrolling removes links at the bottom of traditional search result pages. Any pages with endless scrolling should feature those links on sidebar menus so users can still find links to your business’ about page, contact information and other crucial site components.
7. Provide Clear SERP Content
Customers appreciate organized search engine results. If they enter a keyword to find leather boots and your site loads a page with differently sized images, fonts and missing links, they’ll buy what they need from another business.
Evaluate your current search engine content appearance and take notes on improvement ideas to make your website easier to navigate. Product images should appear in the same sizes and fonts should match each item description. Every link needs to work if consumers will purchase a product. Switching between columns and grid results can also improve how they tell items apart or scroll through various options to browse what’s available.
8. Install an Autocomplete Tool
Many websites feature an autocomplete tool. When someone types a product or service in the site’s search bar, autocomplete reveals a dropdown box of query predictions. Customers may click on the suggested products to make their search faster or finetune their typed query based on the incorrect suggestions below the box.
Optimize Your eCommerce Search Results
When consumers can find products and services more quickly on a business’ website, they have a better experience that’s more likely to bring them back for future purchases. Optimize your e-commerce search results by trying some of these tips. You’ll finetune your site so every visitor finds what they need without delay.
