by Maggi Hall, E-Commerce Adviser staff(rev031708)
E-Commerce success is dependent on getting traffic to your website. The leading source of website traffic is search engines. So, one of the best
options for any e-commerce marketing strategy is Search Engine Optimization(SEO), a process for making a web page search engine "friendly"
by conforming to various standards and protocols.
The objective of Search Engine Optimization is to get web page links listed at or near the #1 position of specific search engine results page (SERP).
Factors for Success
E-Commerce Marketing Strategy
Slow and steady is the best way to approach Search Engine Optimization.
When fine-tuning your web page content and keywords, remember it takes a while for the search engines to acknowledge the changes.
Google's Webmaster Tools let's you track Google's robot activity.
Yahoo's Site Explorer let's you track Yahoo's robot activity.
Both "On Page" and "Off Page" factors effect Search Engine Optimization.
"On Page" SEO Factors
"On Page" SEO is based on keyword density.
Search engines assume that the words with the highest density and prominence are the keywords and, in turn, the primary topics of the web page.
If a web page is poorly written, search engines may not find the intended keyword pattern, so your web page will not be listed as expected.
Keyword Density:
More is not always better. If the keyword density is "too high" on a web page, search engines may view it as being padded or stuffed with keywords
and penalizing the web page.
Since each search engine has its own target keyword density, there is no specific optimum density. Somewhere between
2% and 8% is a good keyword density. (See SEO Tools for checking keywords density.)
Web page elements that are significant in calculating keyword density include:
HTML Title:
Every web page should have an HTML "Title." This title is not part of your web page content. It appears at the very
top of your browser. The HTML Title should include the primary keyword or phrase associated with the web page.
META Description:
This field is not visible on a web page, but is read by search engines to help determine what the page is about.
The content of the description field should contain the primary keywords and phrases. The Description content used in the
search engine results page.
META Keywords:
The "keyword" META field is often considered one of the most important elements and should contain the keywords for search engines to associate with the web
page. However, most search engines use their own calcualtions to determine keywords and don't necessarily rely on the keyword META field.
Page Content:
Search engine robots read web page content to determine keywords and keyphrases. The keywords in the page should support
the keywords in the Title, Description and Keywords fields. If not, the page will be considered to have little relevancy to the Title and Description,
which will hurt the web page positioning for those keywords.
"Off Page" SEO Factors
Website Age:
Some search engines give more weight to older websites. But a website's age is what it is. There is nothing you can do about it.
However, you may want to check out your competitions' websites to see what you are up against.
Popularity:
Search engines like to list websites that are popular. Popularity is determined by the number of relevant web pages that have
links to your web pages, i.e. backlinks. Links from your website to other websites, do nothing for your popularity so be selective about the web pages you link to.
As part of your Search Engine Optimization, you should create a backlinks. (See E-Commerce Marketing Strategy: Backlinks)
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