eCommerce SEO TipsSEO tips for your full eCommerce Solution. Mike Bradbury
March 11, 2008
According to Nielsen net ratings, every month, about half of all
search engine queries are unique. This statistic, although vague and
seemingly insignificant, is actually the greatest factor behind why
eCommerce Soltuions fare so well in search. We interpret the statistic
like this: Half of all searches cannot be predicted, the other half can
be.
Great. So what does that have to do with eCommerce? The reason why
eCommerce and SEO are better for each other than Forrest was for Jenny
is due to the massive amount of content contained within the average
eCommerce solution and that content's ability to target both
predictable and unpredictable (long-tail) search phrases. eCommerce
solutions have a major advantage over any other database driven site
for a number of reasons.
- Abundant Content: Unlike a blog, article directory or
content managed site, thousands of search engine friendly pages can be
literally uploaded and indexed by the search engines.
- Easy Unique Content: A product or category page needs a few
tech specs and a brief description. As long as that content is unique
to the site, a webmaster can litter the search engines with products
and categories. The time it would take for a blog or content managed
site to reach that same level using unique content is staggering.
- Targeting the Predictable & Unpredictable: Category
pages can be targeted for predictable searches like “red widgets.”
Product pages can capture the unpredictable ones like “red widgets with
tassels”(provided they contain keyword-rich descriptions).
So how can you make the most of your eCommerce solution in the search engines? As promised here is a list of 25 general tips.
Most Importantly:
- Pick the right solution: Get an eCommerce provider that
allows you to do everything we mention in this list. And hey, what do
you know? Bridgeline’s eCommerce Solution lets you do all of this…
Crazy how that works out, no?
Onsite Optimization Tips
- Unique title tags: The content contained within should not be repeated verbatim within the site.
- Put your site name after the product or category name in the title tag: Use your site to Brand, use your search engine listing to get clicks.
- Unique meta data: Take the time to make your meta data
(description & keywords) unique for each page. Obviously, that can
be tricky if you have 10,000 skus, so try and get your developer to
populate that area with the product description.
- Use H1 tags: And put your keywords in them. Go to your source. Search for ‘
- Use more than manufacturer data: If your product pages only
contain the specs and descriptions that your manufacturer provides, the
search engines will lump that product page together with the hundreds
of other ones out there with the same specs and descriptions, meaning
it won’t find its way into the search engine result pages (SERPS).
- Take the time to add unique copy to your product and category pages
- Link to other products and categories from that copy
- Use alt tags: I know. I heard too. They’re useless. Use
them anyway. SEO is about a conglomeration of variables, not a single
supreme one.
- Have a clear category tree: Search engines like that.
- Use a search engine friendly navigation: Text links are
best. Don’t like text and want to use images? Make sure you use alt
tags. Using flash or doing postbacks? Stop that!
- Create an XML based sitemap and put it in Google webmaster tools
Offsite Optimization (Link Building) Tips Link building is
incredibly difficult for eCommerce sites because no one wants to link
to your drop shipping site when they can link to the real thing or
Target.com. Here is what you need to know:
- Build domain authority: Domain authority is basically a
measure of the number of high quality sites linking to yours. The more
the better. So how do you get those?
- Buy them: The quickest, easiest way to get Domain authority is to buy it at Text-Link-Ads.com. Unfortunately, it ain’t cheap.
- Take your nique products and promote them in the online community: Get out into the online community, target some top bloggers in or
around your industry and try to get them talking about your unique
product. Again, this doesn’t really work for drop shippers because no
one is going to link to your site when there are more reputable ones
out there to link to so…
- Put Something On Your site worth linking to: Compile a great
list of resources, make how-to videos, develop a calculator, or other
custom tool. If your products aren't unique and link-friendly, you'll
need some site content that is.
- Submit to directories: If you go to the forums they’ll tell
you to submit to hundreds or thousands of directories. Don’t. Those are
not high quality links, they don’t transmit domain authority, and
they’ll only waste your time… What you need to do is find lists that
bloggers or independent webmasters have made. If you must, submit to
the directories, but be certain they are specific to your industry.
- Submit articles: Again, the forums will tell you to submit as many articles as humanly possible. What I’m telling you is this:
- Write 3-5 quality articles on topics that people are talking about in your industry (like what I’m doing here).
- Submit the articles to a bunch of article directories.
- Link to those articles from your homepage.
- Link to your homepage from those articles
- Link Sculpt: Place a nofollow tag on any link that doesn’t point back to your homepage.
- Go to relevant blogs and forums where topics pertaining to those articles are being discussed, and drop links back to them.
- Link exchanges: Despite popular opinion, still work… just don’t go overboard.
- Deep link: Meaning, repeat 1-6 for your major categories.
- Buy blog reviews: Go to sponsoredreviews.com or
payperpost.com and buy some reviews from RELEVANT bloggers and point
them back at your category or product pages. You’ll see a boost. It
won’t last forever, but it will leave you in better standing than you
were in to begin.
- Answer questions on forums: And link back to your site in the signature
- Outsource to India: There are plenty of Indians looking to
make a buck on forums like Digital Point. They’ll generally do
everything that I just mentioned from 1-10 and they’ll do it for cheap.
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