I like to find websites to explore their SEO based on my own preferences. I’ve looked at scratchings recently and I’ve looked at coffee, and I think it’s only right that I now turn to alcohol. One of my favorite drinks is rum, which is what ultimately led me to find online spirit retailer Craft 56°.
I explored quick wins for them around search terms or keywords that they’re on the cusp of doing well for. This normally means they don’t require a lot of work to perform really well. So, let’s take a look at what I found.
Keyword Ranking Quick Wins
I’m looking for keywords that they’re ranking for in positions 11 to 20, i.e. those keywords that are on page two of Google.
You can do this for yourself by looking in Google Search Console, which I’ll show you how later. I don’t have access to their GSC dashboard, so used AHRefs instead.
I quickly discovered 414 keywords that Craft 56 is ranking on page two for. The majority of those keywords wouldn’t need much effort to nudge them onto page one.
Mermaid Vodka
The keyword “mermaid vodka” is one I decided to drill into for more detail.
AHRefs says that it gets 600 searches a month. In my experience, that usually represents half to a third of the actually available volume. It has a difficulty score of one, which means it should be fairly easy to rank on the first page for.
Craft 56°’s website is in position 18 for it at the time of writing.
On-page Improvements to Hit Google’s First Page
The ranking page for “mermaid vodka” is actually titled “Mermaid – Salt Vodka.”
A quick search on the page reveals that the keyword “mermaid vodka” doesn’t appear at all, which is probably why it’s not on page one. My instant thought is to get those exact words—”mermaid vodka”—onto the page.
There are other things I’ve noticed about this page which could be limiting its prospects of hitting Google’s coveted top-10 organic positions.
- The content is very thin. The product description is 59 words—next to nothing. The only other content on the page related to the product is 83 words. So, in total, there’s only around 140 words. It wouldn’t be hard to improve upon this.
- Then there’s the quality of the content. While not necessarily about ranking, helpful content improves ecommerce conversion rates. Look at the “perfect serve” section which suggests: “try it neat with some ice.”I
Most people could figure that out on their own, so this kind of content needs to be more engaging and informative. It should read as if real thought has gone into considering the best outcomes for the buyer.
If you visit the maker’s website, for example, the Isle of Wight Distillery, you’ll notice the page for this product is much more detailed. They use bigger imagery, more descriptive language, and there is commentary about how the drink is made.
These are all things that could easily be pulled into Craft 56’s site to enrich the page.
Craft’s use of headings, titles and descriptions could also be improved.
I used the free Detailed Chrome extension for a quick analysis. You can see in my video (below) that the title is flagged as too short. They could use more characters and make better use of that real estate on Google’s homepage, which can improve click-through rates.
Conversely, the description is flagged as too long and just lifted directly from the page content. No specific description has been written for Google to display, and I would strongly recommend doing that to improve click-through rates as well.
As for the headings, I noticed a big no-no: there are two H1 tags on the page.
There should only be one unique H1 per page, and it should be relevant to the website. So, “Craft 56” needs to be changed to something more specific, like “Mermaid Salt Vodka.”
H2 headings, like “tasting notes” or “the perfect serve,” are great places to include relevant keywords. For example, “Mermaid Salt Vodka Tasting Notes” could be more effective.
Be careful with this though, I’m not suggesting keyword stuffing—that’s poor SEO practice. Google doesn’t like it, and it’s obvious to human readers. You won’t rank well if you stuff keywords.
However…
You also won’t rank for a keyword if it doesn’t appear on the page. Google is ultimately a dumb algorithm, it needs to be fed the right ingredients to make the correct ranking decisions. It’s essential to find a balance and make sure the keyword appears naturally throughout the page.
Using Search Console to Discover Page-2 Keywords
As promised above, here’s how you can find the keywords your ecommerce website is ranking for on page two.
Go to Google Search Console, select “Average Position,” scroll down to the filter option, and set the position filter to greater than 11.
This will show you all the keywords that are ranking between positions 11 and 20. You can then export this data to a Google Sheet and sort it for easier analysis.
The Video
If you’d like to see me walk and talk you through this example of improving the position of page-two keywords, then watch the video below.
How to Move Keywords from Pg2 to Pg1, Summary
In summary, Craft 56 has a pretty easy opportunity to move from position 18 into the top 10, at least. This feels like a straightforward change for a comprehensive ecommerce store like this one, with a large domain rating (DR), a huge range of products, and a good reputation. I’d suggest going through and making those simple changes.
And remember, that’s just the beginning. They’ve got another 400+ keywords in a similar position that they could be boosting to the top of Google’s ranking, brining in more free traffic and sales.
Alternatively, work out what could be holding your ecommerce website on page two of Google by reading this post.
Hopefully, I’ve made it clear how you can do this for your own ecommerce site.
If you’d like me to apply my decade of SEO experience to your website and find those quick wins for you, just fill in the form below and I’ll be in touch.