Can A Good SEO Program Help eCommerce Sites?
It would flippant to simply say yes to that question. In theory, a good SEO program can help any website. In practice, it is not quite so easy. I would argue that SEO for eCommerce is only as good as the eCommerce software package you are using.
The following tips are provided on the assumption that your eCommerce software will allow you to make changes. If it doesn’t then then your SEO program is going to be limited, but not impossible. If you have had a site specifically built then the following tips should have been incorporated – if not, have them factored in.
SEO is often divided into two components, on-page and off-page. Without trying to confuse the issue, I would like to add a third – around-page. To give you an idea of around-page optimization – see if you can implement these tips:
SEO Friendly URLs
Although not appearing ‘on-page’, each page’s URL does appear in a browser’s navigation bar. The URL is also used to link to pages. Given a choice, which would you prefer to see in the navigation bar – yoursite.co.uk/index.php?id=9876&cat=01 or yoursite.co.uk/yourproduct.htm? By using product names or similar in the URL, you are able to incorporate keywords that are important to that page.
SEO Friendly Header Tags
Another area that doesn’t appear ‘on-page’ but which is important to search engines are the header tags of each page. Some eCommerce programs allow you to write the header tag for the main page. The tags are then repeated across all pages. This is counter productive to SEO strategies. Each page needs, at the very least, a unique meta description. It won’t do any harm to have a meta keyword tag for each page as well.
Having unique meta description tags are important for a number of reasons. Not only do they provide you with another opportunity of ‘tagging’ your keywords to the search engines, the meta description tag is often used as the snippet in search results. Make it an attractive snippet and your bound to increase your traffic flow.
They are the ‘around-page’ SEO strategies that you should seriously consider. The following ‘on-page’ strategies should be easier to undertake, no matter which eCommerce package you use.
SEO Friendly Content
Friendly content used to mean unique. To a certain extent it still does. What is important is to avoid simply copying information such as product descriptions. It can certainly cut time when creating product descriptions, however, there is a strong chance you will rank for that content – other sites have already ranked for it.
Rewrite the content so that it is unique – not only unique, but targeting your keywords and written to complement your site, your business and your selling policies. Copying content can be dangerous if you don’t read it carefully. You may be offering your customers something you have no intention of providing.
If you include those three components on your eCommerce site together with an off-page SEO program to attract links, you will find that your pages are easier to rank and when they do, they actually attract a searchers click – all things considered, that is why you undertake an SEO program isn’t it?
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