Web Marketing optimising e-commerce sites Optimising e-Commerce Websites for the Search Engines
Search engine improvements are resulting in a huge increase in the number of pages that show up for a search so it's more important than ever to know how to keep your site at the top of the list. If you type "search engine optimisation" (SEO) into Google, you'll get more than 55 million results. Hundreds of SEO companies compete aggressively to be ranked highly for this term. After all, if you run a top SEO company, yours should rank highly for 'search engine optimisation,' right? But even the experts don't always get it right because it is not an exact science but a process that takes time, knowledge and experience. Search engines don't reveal exactly how they rank sites; Google in particular is famously secretive about its algorithms (rules). If Google were to reveal its methodology, spammers would have a field day, so it remains a closely guarded secret.
As the search engines get more efficient in spidering and crawling the Web, the number of pages that show up for each search is expanding. Search engines are getting more efficient at identifying the keywords on the page so they're actually indexing more of the content. In the past they might have indexed the first 100 or 150 words, now they're indexing whole content pages which leads to an important question for online traders: Given that the engines now consume entire pages — meaning that everything on every page counts — what's the best way to set up your pages to rank highly?
Use all the meta tags
What are Meta Tags?
Meta Tags are information that is placed in a web page. They are not intended for users to see but instead they pass information to search engine crawlers, browser software and some other applications. Meta Tags are an element of the HTML coding on a website that is used by search engines to index a website. Most meta-tags are included within the 'header' code of a website and the most important tags are the title, description and keyword tags. Rules used by different search engines govern how such tags are used, how many characters they should contain, and how they should be formatted.
Meta Tags are information that is placed in a web page. They are not intended for users to see but instead they pass information to search engine crawlers, browser software and some other applications. Meta Tags are an element of the HTML coding on a website that is used by search engines to index a website. Most meta-tags are included within the 'header' code of a website and the most important tags are the title, description and keyword tags. Rules used by different search engines govern how such tags are used, how many characters they should contain, and how they should be formatted.
What Do They Do?
It has become common practice among some Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) experts to dismiss the Meta keyword tags. Since so many site owners have spammed using the tags (by stuffing their Meta tags with attention-getting but irrelevant keywords) search engines have learned to ignore them, some experts say. But Google & Yahoo both use Meta tag keywords to index websites.
A page's description tag is also worth taking time with, but it's not as important as the critical title tag — a page's title tag is analysed thoroughly by the engines.
In writing the all-important title tag, online traders are advised to follow common practice. It's not beneficial for the title tag (or any of the tags) to be abnormally large or small, or stuffed with keywords. If you look at the top results for a particular search and they all have say three or four words in the title, what are you going to do? You have to look at what the engines are rewarding to determine how to improve your ranking.
It has become common practice among some Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) experts to dismiss the Meta keyword tags. Since so many site owners have spammed using the tags (by stuffing their Meta tags with attention-getting but irrelevant keywords) search engines have learned to ignore them, some experts say. But Google & Yahoo both use Meta tag keywords to index websites.
A page's description tag is also worth taking time with, but it's not as important as the critical title tag — a page's title tag is analysed thoroughly by the engines.
In writing the all-important title tag, online traders are advised to follow common practice. It's not beneficial for the title tag (or any of the tags) to be abnormally large or small, or stuffed with keywords. If you look at the top results for a particular search and they all have say three or four words in the title, what are you going to do? You have to look at what the engines are rewarding to determine how to improve your ranking.
Online Stores beware of templates
Many Internet traders buy shop-building programs that give them templates to assemble their pages. But you need to be careful as some of these programs handle page titles and tags in such a way that the sites are generally recognised as being search engine unfriendly. On some of these sites every page in the shop says 'Welcome to my site' — that's the page title. Online traders need to make sure each page has unique title and Meta tags.
Don't Spam
Some online traders, think that using popular keywords in their content boosts search engine ranking, so they cram these top keywords into their text. Like the mobile phone site that boasts, "Our mobile phone gives you more free texts for your mobile phone for a longer period than ABC Company's mobile phone so your mobile phone will have more free texts than your friend's mobile phone ". But the engines have learned to filter for overuse, so this technique gets you nowhere — and alienates potential buyers.
Similarly, online traders put "hidden" words on their pages. Hidden text is textual content which your visitors cannot see, but which is still readable by the search engines. The idea is to load a web page with keywords and keyword phrases that would be unsightly to visitors but that would improve the page's rankings in the search engine results, and to do so without letting your visitors see the text. Hidden text is identified as search spam by each of the major search engines so filter this out.
Similarly, online traders put "hidden" words on their pages. Hidden text is textual content which your visitors cannot see, but which is still readable by the search engines. The idea is to load a web page with keywords and keyword phrases that would be unsightly to visitors but that would improve the page's rankings in the search engine results, and to do so without letting your visitors see the text. Hidden text is identified as search spam by each of the major search engines so filter this out.
Unique Content
Online traders need to make sure that they have sufficient content to compete with the other companies in their market sector that show up in the search engine results. This means posting interesting articles, press releases articles and other helpful information on industry sites with links back to the appropriate page on your site. Make sure your site contains unique content that's available nowhere else: Interesting product information such as ideas or how-to pages. It is also important to add new content regularly. According to research, interesting & unique content is probably one of the largest deficiencies of e-commerce sites.
A further point to remember is that Flash isn't seen as content by search engines; neither are images, although the ALT text (Alternative text that you see when you put the mouse over images) that accompanies images is read by spiders. Make sure that your Alt text includes your key words.
A problem for many online shops is that they sell using a database of non-unique content. If you sell software, for example, you're probably selling with the same titles and descriptions that your competitors are using. The search engine looks at your site and sees that you're using the same 100 words that 400 other sites are using. So you need to have unique content or supplement those 100 words with 100 words of your own.
You can see an example of the need for unique content by typing a common phrase into Google. Often, at the bottom of the page, Google will say "we have omitted some entries very similar to the 10 already displayed." Google filters out all duplicate content. The search engines want to give you 10 options, not one option 10 times.
A further point to remember is that Flash isn't seen as content by search engines; neither are images, although the ALT text (Alternative text that you see when you put the mouse over images) that accompanies images is read by spiders. Make sure that your Alt text includes your key words.
A problem for many online shops is that they sell using a database of non-unique content. If you sell software, for example, you're probably selling with the same titles and descriptions that your competitors are using. The search engine looks at your site and sees that you're using the same 100 words that 400 other sites are using. So you need to have unique content or supplement those 100 words with 100 words of your own.
You can see an example of the need for unique content by typing a common phrase into Google. Often, at the bottom of the page, Google will say "we have omitted some entries very similar to the 10 already displayed." Google filters out all duplicate content. The search engines want to give you 10 options, not one option 10 times.
Get Inbound Links from Top Sites
The engines know that expert sites link only to worthwhile sites, so they'll increase your ranking considerably if you're linked to by a recognised "hub" site in your market sector. (A hub site is a site that has a lot of outgoing links) There are many ways to gather these links - by writing articles & having them published online, by paying a subscription or you can pay a web marketing company to research & set up appropriate incoming links for your site.
Reciprocal Links Are Good For Traffic - Not Ranking
Because it's common knowledge that the more links to your site, the higher it ranks, millions of obscure sites have frantically e-mailed other obscure sites to trade links. But the search engines have caught on and now tend to discount these reciprocal links. Reciprocal links might drive some traffic — and they are indeed useful for this — but they won't help ranking.
In order to contribute to your ranking, the search engines look for relevant high quality inbound links, in other words they must be from a well-known site with substantial traffic. A reciprocal link is merely advertising. Google has announced that it's well over 95 percent complete in filtering out advertising and bartered exchange. They worked on that last year.
Because it's common knowledge that the more links to your site, the higher it ranks, millions of obscure sites have frantically e-mailed other obscure sites to trade links. But the search engines have caught on and now tend to discount these reciprocal links. Reciprocal links might drive some traffic — and they are indeed useful for this — but they won't help ranking.
In order to contribute to your ranking, the search engines look for relevant high quality inbound links, in other words they must be from a well-known site with substantial traffic. A reciprocal link is merely advertising. Google has announced that it's well over 95 percent complete in filtering out advertising and bartered exchange. They worked on that last year.
Link to Experts
Some online traders, wanting to retain all their traffic, don't create links to related top sites. But this strategy can backfire. You need to create links to experts in your field otherwise the search engines assume that you don't know an expert when you see one and therefore conclude that you're not much of an expert yourself.
Some online traders, wanting to retain all their traffic, don't create links to related top sites. But this strategy can backfire. You need to create links to experts in your field otherwise the search engines assume that you don't know an expert when you see one and therefore conclude that you're not much of an expert yourself.
Use Your Keywords in Your Internal Links
Create the links on your site using the keywords you want to be found for. Don't link from Page A to Page B using 'click here'. If you want to be found for DVD players build links that incorporate the term DVD players.
Create the links on your site using the keywords you want to be found for. Don't link from Page A to Page B using 'click here'. If you want to be found for DVD players build links that incorporate the term DVD players.
Is Your Server Fast?
If your pages load slowly - through no fault of your own, but merely because your Web host is overloaded - it hurts your search ranking. Make sure you host with a company that provides fast load times.
Use a Site Map
Putting a site map on your site keeps the search engines happy. A site map ensures that none of the content on your site is orphaned. Orphaned pages are pages that have no link path from your home page. If the search engines see Orphaned pages they assume that you are doing something deceptive. Your site map shouldn't have more than 100 links on each page, but you can link site map pages together. You could upload a Google sitemap. Here's information about Google site maps.
Educate Yourself
Online traders can hire an SEO expert to improve their site, but it's invaluable that the online traders themselves know the basic principles of SEO. Read and study, examine what other sites are doing, talk with as many experts as possible. This way you'll know if you are getting your money's worth from your SEO expert.
Helpful hints by the leading search engine.
