1. SEO Strategies for
E-Commerce/Retail Websites
SEOmoz PRO Webinar, October 2010

2. Keyword Demand in
E-Commerce

3. Tail > Head, But Hard to Research

4. Long Tail = Better Converting
http://www.seomad.com/SEOBlog/using-google-analytics-to-prove-the-seo-long-tail-theory.html

5. Avg # of KWs Sending Traffic
www.kaushik.net/avinash/2009/04/googles-search-based-keyword-tool-monetize-long-tail-search.html

6. Takeaway #1
More Content/Page, Fewer Pages
Amazon Barnes & Noble

7. Takeaway #2
Enable + Encourage UGC
My Blog Post
UGC (Comments)

8. Takeaway #3
Devote Effort to Editorial Content
http://www.oyster.com/boston/hotels/the-copley-square-hotel/

9. Product Categories &
Organization

10. More Nav Levels = Harder to Get Full Indexation
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/diagrams-for-solving-crawl-priority-indexation-issues

11. Many Cat/Subcat Pgs Don’t Get Indexed

12. Internal Anchor Text Can Help (or Hurt)
VS.
http://spiderbites.nytimes.com/free_2010/articles_2010_10_00000.html

13. Products in Multiple Categories Cause Problems
The iPod Touch is
findable in portable
video, but “lives” in iPods

14. Takeaway #1
Minimize Clicks & Nav Levels
Just 2 Clicks to
Any Product!
www.1800flowers.com/white-daisy-basket-90917

15. Takeaway #2
Build “Content-Rich” Category Pages
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/conservation/

16. Takeaway #3
Optimize Internal Anchor Text Carefully
Doesn’t Go Overboard w/
Anchor Txt Optimization
http://www.oyster.com/hotels/theme/spring-break-party-hotels/

17. Takeaway #4
Use “Canonical” Categories + Multiple
Category Listings for Best Results
http://www.thinkgeek.com/geek-kids/7-13-years/bf1b/

18. Solving Indexation

19. Hard to Get Lots of Products Indexed
without LOTS of Links

20. Takeaway #1
Product Feeds Can Help

21. Takeaway #2
Tweet New URLs from a “Real” Account

22. Takeaway #3
Use XML Sitemaps Strategically
http://gsitecrawler.com/en/tour/1/

23. Takeaway #4
Be Careful Using Internal Nofollows
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/google-says-yes-you-can-still-sculpt-pagerank-no-you-cant-do-it-with-nofollow

24. Duplicate Content

25. On-Site Dup Content Hurts

26. Cross-Domain Dup Content Stings

27. Takeaway #1
Use a Unique Product Titling Strategy

28. Takeaway #2
Rewrite the MSRD
Wine.com writes editorial
and licenses content from Snooth.com marries heavy
magazine reviews editorial with user review
“highlights” and tags

29. Takeaway #3
Outlink the Competition on Deep Pages

30. Link Building

31. Link Building for Specific Product Pgs
• License your content, product descriptions, reviews, images or
other content with a link-back requirement
• Make your links “absolute” so scrapers will link back to you when
they copy your material
• Affililate programs (many don’t link back, but often will use your
images/content which then do provide followable links)
• Zemanta – get your product/content in front of bloggers as they
compose posts
• Send feeds to shopping sites, feed engines and deal/discount sites
• Build partnerships with relevant information/product sites

32. Link Building to Cat/Subcat Pgs
• Show/share interesting data about sales, interests, stats, etc. that
news and reference sites will want to link to
• Sponsor relevant events (online or off) from specific categories
• Use public relations and press releases to promote new
categories/offerings
• Leverage HARO and other direct-press contact sites to help with
distribution/awareness
• Make embeddable content link back to product pages and
category/subcategory pages where relevant

33. General Link Building for E-Commerce
• Provide donations or samples of products to
charities, auctions, events, contests, etc.
• Publish regular “deals” and “sales” that deal sites can pick up and
syndicate (builds links to multiple pages regularly)
• Claim social profiles and business profiles on any site that is
relevant or at tipping point (e.g. LinkedIn, Manta, Crunchbase, etc.)
• Conduct competitive research on indirect competitors and retailers
with similar size, focus or geography
• Get local links from business directories, chambers of
commerce, local sponsorships, press, etc.

34. Shopping Search SEO

35. Shopping Biased to “Fat Head” and some
“Chunky Middle” but little “Long Tail”

36. Big Brands Often Dominate Results
Primarily nationally
known “brands” with few
specialty/small shops

37. Reviews: Quantity > Quality

38. Location Influences Shopping Results
“Nearby” stores get
higher placement based
on location

39. Takeaway #1
Don’t Waste Energy Unless it Matters

40. Takeaway #2
Feed Optimization Can Help
http://searchengineland.com/how-to-optimize-feeds-to-maximize-your-exposure-in-shopping-engine-results-18505

41. Takeaway #3
Brand Building Can Win in the Long Run
http://www.seobythesea.com/?p=1408

42. Takeaway #4
Start Local, then Grow
Remember Risk?
Take Australia then build out!

43. Tracking SEO Value in Retail

44. Branded Search Sends Most Value

45. Buyers Search + Visit MANY Times
http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2009/02/paid-search-analytics-measuring-upper-funnel-keywords.html

46. Takeaway #1
First-Touch Attribution is Essential
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/first-touch-tracking-in-google-analytics

47. One Final Tip

48. Takeaway X
Rich Snippets Rock
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=99170

49. Q+A
Rand Fishkin, CEO & Co-Founder, SEOmoz
• Twitter: @randfish
• Blog: www.seomoz.org/blog
• Email: rand@seomoz.org