Killer content for SEO: Comparing and reviewing your own products

One effective way for you to market your web shop is by comparing your products, doing in-depth reviews, and testing them. Read here about how to get more customers via comparisons, reviews, and tests.

When you operate a web shop, there is no way around search engine optimization. It is among those disciplines of digital marketing that yields the highest ROI – Return on Investment.

There are many ways for you to strengthen your web shop via search engine optimization. First and foremost, it is important that it be structured properly, so you have the best possible conditions for the content you publish to be found in the search engines.

If the technical foundation for your website is not sound, it will be difficult for you to get high rankings, even if your content is great. But how do you even make good content that can be used to marketing your web shop and the products you are selling?

Be there when your potential customer is researching

Essentially, it’s a matter of developing quality content that matches the intent your potential customers have when searching. A potential customer will always need to go through a detailed research phase before selecting which product to buy – and where they should buy it.

You can take advantage of this by reviewing, testing, and comparing select products from your selection. Make sure the products you are reviewing, testing, and comparing actually match searches at a certain volume.

One example might be a ‘vs’ search, where a user enters two products in order to read a comparison between them. Potential customers will often compare products from different brands in order to figure out which one is better suited for their needs. By being there in the searches supporting this decision-making process, you have the opportunity to sway the user to select a specific product – and even to purchase it in your web shop.

Comparing products

The first thing you need to do is to develop a search term analysis. It is important that you not just base your content on intuition, but rather develop it around data that support your hypothesis. There are several tools you can use when creating a search term analysis.

Most professional SEO tools, such as Semrush and Ahrefs, offer a tool that enables the estimation of search volume for a specific search. You can take advantage of this when looking for inspiration for your content. If you have a specific product in your web shop that you would like to sell in greater quantities, you can enter the name of the product followed by ‘vs’.

This will presumably be followed by a number of suggestions indicating which products users want to compare with the product in question. One example might be ‘Samsung Galaxy S20 vs iPhone 10’.

An alternative to the above approach might be to enter ‘Samsung Galaxy S20 vs’ directly into the Google search window. Now, Google itself will suggest popular searches starting with the words you entered. You can use these when looking for options for developing your content.

Once you have identified which products you want to compare, you develop a detailed comparison of the products, after which you name a winner. Make sure it appears credible, but don’t be too negative when reviewing a product that is part of your selection.

You can compare your products in various ways. A great way to do it, however, is to do some kind of benchmarking at the top of your page, so a visitor can see the result of your testing immediately. There are several examples of how to do this, but it is a good rule of thumb to assign stars to various features, like they did on this page.

Testing and reviewing products

Another, but equally effective, approach for attracting attention to your web shop in the Google search results is to test products you offer in your selection. Again, the first thing you do is a search term analysis. Here, you identify the products for which your potential customers would like to read testing results.

When you have identified a product that garners a level of interest, you do in-depth testing that takes everything into consideration. In most cases, you will be able to find similar tests elsewhere on the internet to use for inspiration.

Make sure you never plagiarize your competition, but you can use their content as inspiration for the development of your own thorough test, which is actually valuable for the user.

Don’t focus exclusively on the positive aspects of the product if there are negative aspects. This signals a lack of credibility and makes the user want to click back out. If you want success, it’s a matter of being as objective as possible, although sincere excitement is not off limits.

You can influence potential customers in the decision-making phase

The techniques discussed above are extremely effective for developing good Google rankings. First and foremost, potential customers are already in the decision-making phase when they are searching for comparisons and tests.

They have already done their initial research of products they are interested in buying, and now they are just looking to be convinced completely. This is where you can reach them and influence them to buy the specific product you carry in your web shop. You can follow this up with a clear call to action, so you ensure they shop in your store.

Comparisons, tests, and reviews have long been used in affiliate marketing, but unfortunately, it is a discipline few web shops actively use. There is no good reason for this, since they have been proven to work, and a number of affiliate websites make reasonable revenue with this approach.

When you work with content marketing in this way, you can get 100% of the sale, rather than just sending your visitor on to another web shop, where they can make their purchase. Remember to include purchase buttons for the products you are comparing, so people can buy the product as well.

A company that has had success with this approach

One good example of a company that has had success with this approach is My Investment – a Danish company that offers investment courses. Most of their customers are attracted by in-depth reviews of their own products and services.

In fact, 80% of their customers arrive via Google. The content is optimized to accommodate specific searches regarding the services they offer. This turns out to be an extremely effective way to create hot leads that are ready to buy online.

Regardless if you run a web shop, a consulting company, or some other kind of service that earns you money through online sales, you will be able to adjust the above approach to your particular company. There will always be people who do online research before purchasing.

There is no reason not to take advantage of this – and if you play your cards right, you will be able to use this approach to most of your products. It’s all about influencing the potential customer at the right point in the decision-making phase.