As of 2023, Amazon was still the top dog in the eCommerce game, but Walmart Marketplace came in second place with a gross merchandise value (GMV) of $134 billion.
Amazon is getting crowded, though, and shoppers are starting to note a decline in overall product quality. It’s no wonder why more dropshippers are embracing Walmart Marketplace to stand out.
However, selling on Walmart is no picnic, either. You have to follow effective search engine optimization (SEO) strategies to gain a top spot in the search results.
You’ll drive product visibility and make more sales by working with eCommerce search algorithms through the power of SEO.
In this guide, we’ll explain how the Walmart SEO algorithm works, offer tips on optimizing your Walmart store's organic rankings, and introduce a helpful tool that will free up more time—so you have more bandwidth to handle SEO.
SEO stands for search engine optimization. This is a technique that dropshippers use to make their product pages rank higher in search engines.
For eCommerce sellers, SEO involves optimizing various listing elements to ensure they appear higher in search engine results, making them more accessible to potential customers.
From rewriting a product description to experimenting with promotional pricing, the right tweaks will help you show up in more customer searches, whether through Walmart or Google SEO.
SEO is a broad discipline, but you need to understand these eCommerce SEO components to win at Walmart SEO:
You might be busy selecting products and running your dropshipping business, but SEO matters. Without it, shoppers couldn’t find your listings or buy items from your store.
Following SEO best practices is the best way to boost your store’s visibility and bring more customers to your listings.
You can apply SEO best practices just about anywhere, whether it's your own website or Walmart Marketplace. That said, Walmart has its own sophisticated search engine algorithm to rank products in its search results.
You’re probably selling on multiple platforms, but Walmart SEO deserves its own special place in your daily routine.
As of 2022, there were over 150,000 sellers on Walmart Marketplace—a 66% increase over 2021. Needless to say, the platform is pretty competitive. Failing to invest in SEO could cause you to miss out on thousands of potential sales.
Walmart has stringent standards for its third-party sellers, but it also has very clear guidelines for improving your Listing Quality Score. Walmart ranks listings based on:
Even the best-performing Walmart dropshipping stores have opportunities for optimization. Follow these seven tips to improve your Walmart SEO.
Start by finding relevant keywords for your store, products, and shoppers. Identifying the keywords your target audience uses regularly makes it much easier to rank higher in Walmart search results.
Some store owners hire SEO agencies to do this, but you can do keyword research yourself with these tips:
Try to compile a list of five keywords per product.
The best (and most frustrating) thing about SEO is that you’re never really “done.” The keywords you choose today will likely change in a few months, so this doesn’t have to be perfect. What matters is that you monitor your Walmart rankings over time and adjust as needed.
If you don't see improvements, go back to the drawing board and rethink your keywords. It will require rewriting product listings to reflect the changes, but that’s just how SEO goes.
Nobody sets out to create subpar listings. It’s tempting to put out bare-bones product descriptions when you’re in a hurry, but Walmart SEO prefers descriptive, helpful product listings.
Follow these guidelines to boost your listing quality:
Not sure about your listing quality? Check out the Listing Quality Dashboard, a free tool Walmart provides to all sellers.
The dashboard evaluates the completeness of your content, whether you offer competitive prices, and how much positive feedback you've received from shoppers. Check your dashboard at least once a week to understand where your listing stands and what you should improve.
They say a picture’s worth a thousand words. In Walmart SEO, the right picture could be worth thousands of dollars in sales, so don’t overlook the power of multimedia in Walmart SEO.
Not only does it make you stand out in the search algorithm, but multimedia also gives shoppers a better idea of what to expect.
Include at least four professional product images with a minimum size of 1000 x 1000 pixels. Ensure the images have a white background to keep the focus on the product. You can also include a few lifestyle shots of the product in use.
Video content is also a great idea. Film how-tos, demos, and product showcase videos highlighting key features.
The downside is that creating multimedia yourself is expensive and time-consuming. Fortunately, you don’t have to do this alone. Consult Walmart’s list of vetted suppliers to create professional-grade multimedia.
Shipping speed is one of the biggest factors in Walmart SEO.
Enable Three-Day Shipping and apply for Walmart Two-Day Shipping. If approved, your listings will display an expedited delivery tag and rank higher than products with slower shipping speeds.
If you’ve ever dealt with logistics, you know shipping can get tricky. Enroll in Walmart Fulfillment Service (WFS) to offer fast shipping without headaches.
With this option, Walmart gives you access to preferred shipping rates and hassle-free fulfillment. WFS does come at a cost, though, so do a cost-benefit analysis to make sure this is a fit for your business.
Walmart wants to offer competitive pricing, so it’s no surprise that prices affect Walmart SEO rankings. Some Walmart sellers manually adjust pricing multiple times a day to stay competitive, but that can be time-consuming.
Pricing automation tools like Spark Shipping handle this for you, automatically adjusting prices based on competitor activity, market trends, and customized rules.
Discounts and deals are also a clever way to rank higher in Walmart search. Applying clearance tags to products can significantly increase their visibility in the search results.
Whatever you do, don’t run out of stock when you sell on Walmart.com. Walmart penalizes dropshippers who run out of in-demand products. Out-of-stocks hurts the customer experience, damage your seller’s reputation, and may result in you losing sales.
This is why it’s best to sell on Walmart Marketplace only once you have an established store and reliable supply chain. Follow these tips to stay in stock, no matter what:
Shoppers can’t see or touch your products in person, so they rely on reviews to decide whether they want to make a purchase or not.
Plus, Walmart search prioritizes listings with plenty of positive reviews.
The easiest way to get good reviews is to provide awesome service. Not everyone will write a review, but the more seamless the shopper experience, the more likely they are to leave five-star reviews.
Of course, shoppers might need a nudge to actually write a review. Enroll in Walmart’s Spark Reviewer Program to gather reviews more quickly. This program connects you with a community of reviewers who receive your products for free in exchange for honest feedback. Third-party outreach tools like Bazaarvoice can also help you gather more reviews.
SEO has a lot of moving parts, and it’s common for shop owners to make a mistake here and there. But your livelihood is on the line, so it’s best to avoid SEO missteps where you can. Avoid these common mistakes to preserve your SEO rankings.
As a dropshipper, you’re selling goods manufactured by someone else. They aren’t exactly unique, but that doesn’t matter: you still need a brand that sets you apart. A strong brand is the key to gaining support from shoppers and building a stronger presence in Walmart SEO.
Maintain a consistent presence on Walmart, as well as your other selling platforms. Your logo, colors, and messaging should all be uniform and appear to be from the same company.
Walmart Marketplace takes care of most of the mobile optimization for you, but it’s a mistake to overlook mobile shoppers’ experience. How will your listings look on mobile devices?
For example, large image files won’t render quickly, which can frustrate time-strapped shoppers. Compress images for quick loading and consider writing short, snappy product bullet points that are easier to read on small screens.
Events and holidays shape eCommerce trends, and you’ve got to roll with it. The holiday shopping season is a tremendous opportunity, but other times of the year matter, too. Set a reminder to revamp your listings before popular eCommerce shopping occasions like Mother’s Day, Back To School, Spring Break, Valentine’s Day, and more.
Shoppers shouldn’t have to dig for your customer support information. While they can always submit a request through Walmart Marketplace, it’s best to be proactive. Create an email address just for customer communications. If you’re strapped for time, consider outsourcing to a service like Zendesk to give shoppers the timely help they expect.
SEO isn’t one-and-done. Failing to periodically review and update older product listings can hurt your rankings over time, even if you're number one in the search results right now. Regularly audit your product listings to ensure everything is current and relevant. You’ll also need to update images, descriptions, and bullet points to reflect any changes in the product or market.
Ultimately, Walmart SEO success comes down to creating a quality shopper experience. The Walmart algorithm rewards businesses that take care of its shoppers, but it isn't easy to meet the platform's high standards. SEO also requires ongoing effort, but as a dropshipper, you have a lot on your plate.
Instead of allowing important tasks to slip through the cracks, use Spark Shipping to put more of your business on autopilot so you have more bandwidth for SEO management.
Manual pricing updates take way too much time. They also put you at risk of falling out of MAP compliance and losing money because of incorrect pricing.
Connect your Walmart store to Spark Shipping and let us take over your pricing changes. We update prices in real time to give you the ultimate peace of mind. We always maintain your margins, regardless of price changes. Set overrides for specific vendors and create custom parameters based on how you prefer to price products.
Walmart SEO performance hinges on your ability to keep products stocked at all times. With Spark Shipping, you get automatic inventory syncs across all vendors.
Not only that, but our system routes real-time product updates from all vendors and routes orders to the best-priced, in-stock vendor for every order. Whether your vendors publish inventory in XML, FTP, or manually, our scalable solution updates inventory faster than any other automation tool.
Are you selling electronics on Walmart Marketplace? Spark Shipping’s Etilyze integration makes it a cinch to get rich consumer electronics data. This tool definitely beats writing product descriptions yourself.
While this feature requires a separate Etilyze subscription, the strong connection between platforms saves you hours of time. Generate titles, descriptions, rich media, attribute data, technical specifications, marketing text, and much more with this integration.
Walmart Marketplace is a popular selling platform for dropshippers, but competition is stiff. Investing in Walmart SEO could be your golden ticket to increased visibility and record-setting sales.
But remember: SEO is an ongoing process. You’ll likely need to tweak your product listings on an ongoing basis, depending on what your seller analytics tell you.
You might not be able to put SEO on autopilot, but you can certainly automate other aspects of your business. From pricing to inventory management to smart integrations, Spark Shipping is an all-in-one automation solution designed to save you time and hassle.
Request a Spark Shipping demo now to see how we simplify operations for Walmart dropshippers.