Shopee and Lazada are the leading e-commerce marketplaces in Thailand, with millions of daily active users and thousands of sellers. To maximize your marketplace visibility on these platforms, it’s important to understand the role that SEO (search engine optimization) plays in your store’s success.
What is SEO?
SEO is the process of optimizing your online content to rank higher in search engines, making it easier for potential customers to find your products. On Shopee and Lazada, this means optimizing your product listings with target keywords and interaction with your customer so that your products appear at the top of the search results. This will improve how visible you are in the online marketplace.
Why is SEO so important?
As a rule: the higher you rank in search, the higher your conversion, the more trust the platform has in your store, and the more you can grow your sales. In addition, SEO helps you to attract customers organically. That means, without paying for advertisements. Your store should never rely on paid traffic from advertisements only. There has to be a balance between organic and paid traffic if you want to run a profitable business.
Key Components to maximize your marketplace with 4 easy steps
To maximize marketplace visibility, follow these tips:
1) Title Winner
A product title is the first thing that customers read when they search for a product. It accurately describes your product and its unique selling points. Product titles need to be clear and matching with your product. Don't try to add words that don't match your product because the platform will punish you. The more clicks your product receives when they search, the more trust the platform has in your store, and the more traffic they will send your way.
Expert tip: There is limited space to show product listings, so to entice customers to click, make sure the first fifty characters include the most important keywords.
What does a good product title look like?
It includes the name of your brand, a description of your product, and its unique selling points. This leaves room for keywords that match your audience's interest, and words that your customer use to search for similar products to yours. These are called target keywords.
2) Fill it Up, with a Full Product Description
Make sure your product listings are complete and well-organized, with clear and concise descriptions, high-quality images, product videos, and appropriate pricing. If there is space for five product images, use this space and put five images. There is no need to stuff your product descriptions with target keywords because a product description is to provide more details about your product, which can convince customers to buy.
Expert tip: Using relevant and descriptive tags helps the platform’s search algorithm better understand your products. The more complete your data is, the better the algorithm can recommend your products. Adding value to the platform will pay out eventually; the better you perform, the more visible you will become.
3) Make it worthwhile
Encourage customer reviews and interaction with your products. High levels of engagement improve your product’s visibility and build trust with potential customers. Customer trust helps you to become more visible but will eventually create returning customers for you.
Expert Tip: use a small incentive to convince customers to leave a review. This can be through providing an excellent customer experience, photo-worthy packaging, personal delivery note, or a small goody. People love to share, the good and the bad! Therefore, do not underestimate this part. Smart marketers understand the power of social sharing.
4) Free Traffic Channels: Content Marketing
Last but definitely not least, make use of content marketing. Big e-commerce platforms like Shopee and Lazada are now in competition with video applications like TikTok. Not only are they looking for more users, but they are also looking to boost their user’s time inside the platform. They have added many content channels to promote your products, which is good news for you. Sharing product videos, brand videos, and customer experiences is a great way to boost your visibility. That said, live streaming is really the cherry on the cake. Even though it is still in the early stages in Thailand, you can beat your competition by creating a habit among your customer base, making them watch your daily/weekly live-streaming show will boost your store conversion.
Expert tip: Understand that you need to provide the platform an incentive to promote you organically. The more resources you put available for promoting your products inside the platform, the more visible you will get. Your content is what keeps users inside the platform.
In conclusion, SEO is a crucial component of success on Shopee and Lazada, helping you reach potential customers and increase your visibility and sales. By following these tips and continuously monitoring your store’s performance, you can optimize your store and achieve the results you’re looking for. For more tips, please read more about our thoughts.
This article is written by Kelly Hezemans, who writes solely from her 10-year experience in eCommerce in Asia marketplaces. If you need help maximizing your visibility inside Shopee or Lazada, iBoost Marketplace Store Management Services is ready to help you.
