"Branded Search Is the Holy Grail": Igor Buyseech on E-commerce SEO in 2025
Natalia Toth
In this interview, Ranking Raccoon sits down with Igor Buyseech, a seasoned SEO expert with over 16 years of experience and Founder at Buyseech SEO. Igor shares many first-hand insights on how e-commerce businesses can thrive in the search landscape dominated by AI.
Discover how to leverage AI for SEO success, build a powerful brand presence, and outrank your competitors.
Let's dive in!
E-Commerce SEO in the Age of AI: A Conversation with Igor
Ranking Raccoon (RR): Let's talk about how to do SEO this year, specifically for e-commerce brands. I know you have a lot of expertise in this area.
Igor: For over 16 years I've been doing SEO, and e-commerce is a growing part of what we do. It's on the rise now because many affiliate marketers are having to shift gears. They're moving into e-commerce, trying to make their affiliate sites look like e-commerce, or going the agency route.
RR: We keep hearing that e-commerce brands shouldn't worry about AI advancements in search, but that AI actually helps them. What's your take on it?
Igor: Using AI to do SEO for you, especially if you don't know SEO, is a recipe for disaster. AI can amplify your SEO efforts, but it can't replace knowledge and strategy. You still need to know how to do on-page optimization, keyword research, and all the manual stuff. AI can help with content production but don't just tell it to write a blog post from scratch.
First, you need to know what you're writing about and why:
- How does it fit into your overall content strategy?
- What's the structure?
- What are the keywords and the heading tags?
There's so much that goes into writing effective content. AI can help with much of that, but you must know what you're doing.
I'm now working with a sporting goods company that tried to use AI to write blog posts without any strategy. They just told the AI to write about sports items, and nothing happened. The posts barely got indexed. There was no content structure, no strategy. It just doesn't work. You need the know-how, and then you can amplify it with AI. This applies to everything in SEO, not just e-commerce.
How E-commerce Brands Can Stand Out in AI Search
RR: So that requires some serious preparation. How can e-commerce brands, especially smaller ones, stand out in their category when it comes to getting featured in Google?
Igor: With e-commerce SEO, you have three main targets: your homepage, category pages (or collection pages on Shopify), and blog posts.
"A lot of people get this wrong and focus on building links to product pages. But links to product pages don't look organic unless it's a review. It's much better to focus on category pages. Build out as many related collection pages as you can, add content to them, optimize them, and build links to them. Build branded links to your homepage, and use blog posts to support specific categories or product pages."
If you're a smaller brand, be as niche as possible. Don't try to cover everything under the sun. Reverse engineer what your competitors are doing, especially smaller players who are ranking well. If they can rank, try to mimic what they're doing.
Make sure your technical SEO and on-page SEO are solid. Each blog post should be optimized to cover what the big guys and your competitors are covering. Tackle the topic as extensively as you can.
One caveat, however: don't go crazy with programmatic SEO and churn out thousands of articles.
And of course, focus on your brand. Google is pushing brand awareness and brand search more and more. Don't choose a generic domain name. Have a catchy brand name, and use all channels to promote it – social media, guest posts, everything.
On Building Links and Brand Awareness
RR: You mentioned building links to category pages. What are the best sources for those links? Should we focus on media publications?
Igor: I certainly wouldn't focus on one specific type of backlinks. High-authority sites like Forbes are great, but also consider smaller, niche-relevant sites, and even foreign language sites.
You can translate your site into other languages (e.g. Spanish or Italian) and get high-quality links from foreign language publications at a fraction of the cost. Just make sure the site that links to you is relevant to your niche.
RR: Apart from media, e-commerce brands should also work with influencers, right? Even nofollow links from Instagram or TikTok can drive traffic and brand awareness.
Igor: Yes, influencers are great for brand building. Even if the links are nofollow, they drive traffic and increase brand searches. When people see your brand mentioned on social media, they're more likely to search for you on Google.
RR: So as an eCommerce business, we need to focus on brand searches.
Igor: It's incredibly important, and not just for eCommerce, but for SaaS companies as well.
"Actually, branded searches are one of the first things I look at when evaluating a potential client. If they've been around for a year or two and I see in Search Console that nobody's searching for their brand, that's a big red flag. SEO can amplify a good product and brand, but it can't replace them. You need to have a good product, good reviews, and a strong brand. SEO comes as cherry on top."
Recap: How eCommerce Brands Can Win in SEO in 2025
Igor: So, to recap, in 2025 e-commerce brands should:
- offer a lovable, quality product
- create niche content that tackles the audience’s questions and concerns
- build links to their homepage and category pages
- prioritize relevancy and consistency over quantity
- collaborate with influencers
- Try to elevate the # of brand searches (improve brand awareness)
- And of course, as a basic hygiene, fix any technical and on-page SEO issues.
SEO is a long-term game, but you should see progress within the first few months. If you're not, something needs to be adjusted.
RR: Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts with us, Igor!
Natalia Toth
Head of Marketing