10 Ways to Optimize Your Ecommerce Site for Google Search
Source: Stacey Politi
google-magnifying-glass-600Ecommerce websites have several inherent qualities ― shallow copy, duplicate content and a large product catalog ― that make it challenging to achieve a high Google ranking. But there are some best practices you can employ, in addition to traditional SEO techniques, to help your ecommerce site gain traction on Google.
It’s relatively simple: The more that you pay attention to the pitfalls of search, the more you can benefit from search. While there’s no “magic cure” for poor search results ― the true science behind Google algorithms is a mystery ― paying attention to the little things can ensure that you’re safeguarding against ecommerce search issues. Here are 10 ways that you can shape up your site for optimum search attention.
Do you have a successful strategy to rise through the rankings in Google? Let us know in the comments below.
1. Panda Loves Humans
Thanks to Panda, the latest update to the Google algorithm, content does not only have to be unique, but it also must have a level of quality. User experience levels, page layout, bounce rate, time spent on site and diversity of site traffic are all important factors helping to determine your site’s PageRank. In taking these extra steps, Google gets closer to offering quality search results to their users ― pages clearly written for spiders will be penalized.
To get unique content at little cost, encourage your users to upload reviews, comments, photos, videos, etc. It is often the content of current customers that will match the search query of potential customers, ultimately driving more traffic to your site.
2. Control Duplicate Content
Duplicate content will lower your search rank and is a common challenge for ecommerce sites. To minimize this:
Canonicalize your links.
Submit your URL to Google.
Syndicate your content … wisely.
Reference your URL consistently.
When your content is being reused without your permission, request that Google remove the page under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
The tighter control you keep over content duplication, the more likely your page is to come up in the ranks.
3. Frontload and Focus
“You wouldn’t put everything in the front of a physical store ― you couldn’t ― so set priorities,” says Dr. Peter J. Meyers, president of User Effect. The bulk of a site’s sales typically come from a small percentage of their products. Focus on heavily marketing these few hot items instead of every single product. Make sure to directly link to these product pages from your homepage.
4. Quality Over Quantity
Paying for traffic that doesn’t lead to conversions is a waste of money. It’s great to rank ― organically or paid ― for the keyword “camera.” But long-tail terms, such as “Canon EOS,” are more likely to reach customers closer to making a purchase.
Scott Smigler, of SEMPO Boston and Exclusive Concepts, Inc., warns that the use of Google’s Keyword Tool can lead you to have copy similar to your competitors. Instead, review the analytics of a product page you want to promote. Identify the long-tail keywords that are driving users to the page ― and incorporate them into your copy for Googlebot to crawl.
5. Get Cutting Edge with Google AdWords
Smigler points out that many users overlook the latest AdWords features: offering extensions, mobile targeting, retargeting, leveraging the Google Merchant tie-in, and (the newly launched) enhanced site links. Become an early adopter and take advantage of a cheaper cost-per-click. There are so many strategies to enhance your AdWords that you can tailor your program to suit your needs.
6. Explore All Types of Content
The popularity of Google Image Search and Google’s Universal blended search makes the optimization of all media types essential. Elisabeth Osmeloski, of SearchEngineLand.com and SLCSEM.org, encourages the optimization of title tags, alt tags, and recommends that you ensure that all links pointing to the image include relevant keywords. Rename those generic image titles (Product125.jpg becomes BlueCardiganSweater.jpg) and utilize the newly released structured markup for videos.
GoogleBot now crawls Google News, and “it’s a great way for smaller brands to play with the big brand,” says Osmeoloski. “A small boutique could go to their local news outlet with a story about top spring fashion trends, resulting in their URL appearing in news results.”
7. Keep It in the (Google) Family
If Google is where you want to rank, take advantage of Google products. Google Base has been rebooted as the Google Merchant Center, where site owners can upload product feeds for easy discovery in Google Product Search. Afterwards, link these same feeds to your AdWords account in order to grab prime SERP real estate with Product Ads.
8. Be a Social Butterfly
Many brands already have Facebook Pages, but the emergence of “Search, Plus Your World” just made Google+ more relevant. Users now see photos, posts and content from their friends integrated into their search results. Be active on Google+ to increase your chances of appearing more prominently in the search of a potential customer.
9. Google Places
If you have a brick-and-mortar store, take advantage of Google Places. Google reports that one in five searches is related to location. If you have multiple storefronts, make sure they’re individually listed and include detailed information: business hours, photos, live updates and even coupons. According to Google Places for Business, 97% of consumers search for local businesses online ― looks like Google listings don’t just gain traction in the online world.
10. Use Schema.org
Ecommerce sites are often generated from structured data converted to HTML for human consumption ― but not optimized for Googlebot. The formalized outlines found on schema.org will provide search engines with access to your data. Osmeloski stresses that the protocols, found on schema.org, “help Google crawl and also help return properly organized results for users”.
Bonus!
Ten best practices can already be overwhelming, so we’re quietly sneaking this eleventh tip in: diversification. Scot Wingo, CEO of ChannelAdvisor, cautions that “depending too much on any one channel is risky. At any point Google can ― and will ― change the search results, which could reduce visitors and revenue.” Smart retailers will master multiple channels to minimize the impact of these changes and maximize revenue and growth.
| }
|