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· Create unique and detailed descriptions for each product

The site’s original product pages had almost no product description. So I asked the florist and her store manager to create detailed descriptions for all products.

Tip: avoid using the same description for similar products. Unique product profiles that are rich in keyword and phrases not only increase traffic from searches, but also improve conversion rates. They enhance user experience because the more information you provide, the more your customers will know about your products, and the easier it is for them to make a decision. Sounds logical, doesn’t it?

· Use keywords and phrases in URLs

Most e-commerce sites are using dynamic scripts because manually updating dozens or hundreds of product pages is a huge task. The problem is that database-driven pages (dynamic URLs) contain strings that are disliked by search engines. Furthermore, keyword-rich URLs can dramatically boost a site’s rankings for those specific keywords and phrases. So, here was my solution for this flower site: since it was running on an Apache server, I used the Mod_Rewrite Module to redirect dynamic URLs to optimized ones. That helped the site achieve coveted rankings for several long-tail phrases.

· Optimize product images

No one can deny the increasing importance of image results on SERPs because it’s estimated that by now, 15% of all searches are for images. That’s why many retail sites have developed strategies for image optimization. The step I took was simply adding keywords including locations (the florist’s area and the main areas bordering it) with hyphens in Alt Tags. Then I used robots.txt to eliminate possible duplicate content issues caused by different versions (thumbnail and full-size) of the same images. Remember: search engines cannot read images, so Alt Tags are a good way of image optimization. (By the way, Alt Tags are also useful when added to links).

· Try Google Base

Google’s Product Base is a free tool to publish products. I logged in, chose the matching type, created and registered data feed and submitted it. Done! Currently only a small percentage of this client’s referrals are coming from Google base searches, but she actually likes this tool because it’s quite easy to handle and updates can be completed in minutes.

For the past several months, we have received a flurry of inquiries from retailers. That’s not surprising because, in today’s tough economy, more and more brick and mortar shops shake in their traditional foundations and are increasingly turning to the internet (and a good thing, too). Every e-tailer wants to set itself apart from his competitors, but most are not able to make money the turbo way due to fierce competition – unless their site is well optimized and thus visible against that fierce competition, and can attract the kind of attention needed to haul in new customers.

So, try these tips and if you apply them on each product page, your store will definitely benefit from noticeably higher visibility.

As an SEO consultant and blogger, I enjoy sharing case analyses with my clients and readers. Here’s a recent one. A flower shop owner in the Midwest found SEO Trump on Google two months ago and contacted me. Her story: frustrated about sagging sales, she had hired an SEO company to optimize her web site. More than $ 3,000 later, SERPs had barely improved and traffic was still stagnant. She was disappointed and asked me to check what was wrong.

Was she on the right track when she looked for an SEO consultant in the first place?  Sure. The question was only why the SEO efforts hadn’t succeeded. So, after a good look at the website, we had a lengthy discussion and she asked me to take over the job.

Now a thorough diagnosis was indicated. I don’t want to cover all the problem areas and will single out only one which is quite typical of e-tailers: while some important pages were decently (though not exceptionally well) optimized, all product pages were literally devoid of optimization. Unfortunately, the SEO professional she had hired failed to address that mistake.

So after some detailed SEO work on the index and other key pages (you won’t believe this, but there were key spelling mistakes!), I focused on revamping the product pages. The results came surprisingly fast: within a month, many of those pages began to show substantially higher SERPs. We aren’t yet where we want to be (remember: the name of the game is Patience!), but the trend is most encouraging. Currently, the site has Page 1 and 2 Google rankings for several highly competitive keywords and longer-tail phrases and I am confident we’ll go higher yet.

Here’s how I helped this e-tailer achieve it:

· Don’t neglect Meta Tags

I’m not trying to beat the same old drum, but in my (pretty solid) experience, Meta tags, while not as crucial as content or titles, are more important than many of my colleagues realize. Just check relevant SEO tips and articles.

Meta tags got a bad reputation mainly via the Meta keywords concept which had been used to death, abused beyond recognition and was consequently trashed by Google. But good Meta descriptions can be very helpful, especially as they provide the first impression about your page.

By the way, if your items have brand names, product names or serial numbers, don’t forget to include those, because specific model searches could be a big bonus for you with little competition and a high conversion rate.

· Use Breadcrumb Navigation

This trick is quite helpful. It’s called breadcrumb trail and shows where the current page is located in site hierarchy. Generically, a florist’s page trail could look like this: “Home > Products > Roses > Sweet Dreams Bouquet” This is more or less generic, but try to use a keyword-rich trail which is both user-friendly and good from an SEO point of view!

So far Part 1 of this article.

By the way, we are planning to have a fuller article or a series of tips about Breadcrumb Trails on our tips page  http://www.seotrump.com/seo_consultants.php soon.

You are encouraged to come back for the second part within a week or so. Meanwhile, how about bookmarking this page ?

For SEO professionals, the use of JavaScript has been controversial. It’s extensively applied to validate forms, detect browsers and enhance web site functionality, but anyone with some knowledge of SEO would tell you that JavaScript may hinder search engine crawlers, making part of a site invisible to search engines.

Here’s what Google says on how use of JavaScript negatively impacts indexability of a website:

“Use a text browser such as Lynx to examine your site, because most search engine spiders see your site much as Lynx would. If fancy features such as JavaScript, cookies, session IDs, frames, DHTML, or Flash keep you from seeing all of your site in a text browser, then search engine spiders may have trouble crawling your site.”
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769

“Google Site Search isn’t able to index content contained in JavaScript. The general rule for making sure that a web page can be indexed by Google is to ensure that all of the text that needs to be indexed is visible in a text-based browser, or a browser with JavaScript turned off.”
http://www.google.com/support/customsearch/bin/answer.py?answer=72366

Yahoo has similar statements on its inability to crawl websites which use JavaScript excessively.

How devastating could JavaScript actually be? Generally speaking, if not properly used, it may do the following to your SEO efforts:

• It may hamper the ability of search engine crawlers to read page content.
• If used in navigation, it may prevent crawlers from seeing the links.
• It may change keyword density in your text content.
• It may change link juice distribution, page weight and PR.

Despite all the obstacles JavaScript may present to SEO, many web designers are still huge fans because it creates dynamic web pages that html codes can hardly achieve.

So if you have to use JavaScript in website development, is there any way to minimize its negative impact on SEO? Here are some tips:

• Never use JavaScript in navigation menus and internal links which play a vital role in guiding search engines to the web pages in order to create entries for index. Obviously, if a web page cannot be crawled, it won’t be indexed. If you just want to use JavaScript to make a dynamic navigation menu, you can achieve similar but much more SEO-friendly result by using DHTML and CSS.
• Try not to use JavaScript in page content, either. Pay special attention to content text that you’ve created to achieve desired keyword density. Otherwise, keyword density could be diluted.
• If JavaScript has to be used, use “document.write” or place the script in .js files.
• If you’re not able to place JavaScript in .js files, place it underneath the html code to reduce the disruption that it may cause.

Bonus Tip:

JavaScript has its Yin and Yang. While SEOers suggest using JavaScript cautiously, it can actually benefit SEO by preventing search engines from crawling pages that you want to hide (mind you, “no-follows” in your meta can do some of this job, too!), such as ads, terms of use and privacy statements. You can place all these content in .js files to increase relevance of your web site.

Of course, we at SEO Trump do publish articles on several SEO, SEM and other web topics. To check them out, just go to  http://www.seotrump.com/seo_articles.php . This blog is not supposed to replicate those  articles. Instead, we’ll publish SEO and SEM tips for regular users and would-be website owners, as well as for webmasters. As we go forward, we’ll adapt to public demand and suggestions.

Some (or maybe even many) of these tips might elicit a yawn and a “Duh” from the old SEO hands who come across this blog. Our apologies, colleagues: these tips are meant to be practical, hands-on advice, and food for thought, rather than high or deep inter-professional stuff.

Starting around December 16/17, please watch out. We plan to publish around 3-4 times per week, i.e.: every second day. Enjoy, participate, comment, and don’t hesitate to criticize !

Have a SEOccessful day. Your SEO Trump people in Montreal