Dropshipping is the entry point for many new ecommerce retail ventures, but selling essentially the same product as hundreds of other online stores makes search engine optimization challenging.
With a payment card, a logo, and a few clicks, entrepreneurs can quickly launch an online store by combining an ecommerce platform such as Shopify, BigCommerce, or WooCommerce with dropshipping apps such as Dsers, Spocket, or SaleHoo.
Advertising
The products for a dropshipping-enabled ecommerce shop could come from multiple sources, including AliExpress. These shops work on thin margins, effectively practicing retail arbitrage.
The relatively small margins can complicate advertising since just about any dip in ad performance can eliminate profits or worse.
To be sure, there are ways to market an ecommerce dropshipping business successfully, and while ads are the best option for most new stores, traffic from organic search listings and from visitors directly is essential for long-term success. This fact brings us back to dropshipping’s inherent problem: competition.
Almost without exception, whatever product a store chooses to source from a dropshipping service will be available on dozens, if not hundreds, of similar online shops, all vying for prominent search engine rankings.
Hundreds of online stores offer this Star Trek t-shirt from AliExpress.
SEO
SEO is typically iterative — no single procedure guarantees a top ranking on Google.
One SEO strategy for dropshipping is to build a content site that sells products — a content-then-commerce approach. Optimize for articles, videos, podcasts, and related, and then promote the dropshipped products within that editorial content.
Here are five content-then-commerce SEO tactics.
Identify content keyphrases
Classic keyword research is the best place to start for dropshipping SEO. But focus here on content phrases, not transactional or product.
In my research, every dropshipping shop selling the “Live Long and Prosper” licensed adult t-shirt from AliExpress is looking for a long-tail keyphrase. Avoid the crowd and seek keywords for the content.
Content marketing
A content-then-commerce strategy requires creating and distributing articles to target search engines and engage readers.
The articles should be clear and engaging, with proper HTML headers and tags. Repurposed articles make quality social media posts, generating what SEO practitioners call “social signals.” The number of followers, likes, and reposts a shop has on X or Instagram could inform search engines about the business and impact rankings.
Finally, some content marketing efforts, such as customer surveys, could be newsworthy.
Classic link building
Acquiring backlinks for a dropshipping store is perhaps the most difficult and valuable SEO tactic. It is vital for building credibility with search engines, but it demands hard work.
Compelling, original content will likely attract links organically. Otherwise, link building could include writing guest posts or contacting other sites to request links.
Media relations
The aim of media relations is to get links from large news sites.
SEO practitioners were excited to learn that Google’s index of links to global websites resides on three tiers of (massive) computer servers: random access memory, solid-state drives, and hard disk drives. These storage types differ in cost and speed.
The assumption is that Google considers links on the fastest tier (random access memory, or RAM) more valuable. Popular news sites typically reside on that tier and are therefore the best backlinks.
Structured data markup
Structured data markup from the Schema.org vocabulary, JSON-LD, or similar serves at least two purposes.
First, this uniform, structured info tells search engines what a page is about. Structured data could distinguish a site selling “Live Long & Prosper” t-shirts from one offering health tips for prospering over a long life.
Most SEO pros believe that structured markup increases the likelihood that a page will obtain a rich snippet or an AI-generated citation.
The Basics
This list of SEO tactics for dropshipping could have been much longer. Instead, I’ve focused on content and assumed that ecommerce platforms would provide technical components such as HTML tags, site speed, mobility usability, and more.
