Mitash SEO, e-Commerce, Shopping Cart, Web Design & Development Blog

By and large, I have observed that most eCommerce sites are very poorly optimised. From delivering extremely drab content consisting of mundane product descriptions, to vague internal linking and zero user-generated content, eCommerce websites face manifold SEO challenges. I believe that SEO has a much greater role to play in eCommerce websites than in normal content websites, since eCommerce websites generate greater income per visitor. So even a miniscule increase in online traffic entails large revenue generation and makes it prudent to invest in an effective SEO solution. Besides, the ability of the voluminous amount of content residing within the average eCommerce solution to target both predictable and unpredictable (long-tail) search phrases is very high.

While general optimisation of an eCommerce site is pretty similar to content sites, several pitfalls exist that are specific to eCommerce sites. Let me review these key issues and the underlying solutions for you.
Create Simple and Search Engine-Friendly URLs

Since most ecommerce sites are database driven, the shopping carts by default are not search engine friendly. This poses a huge dilemma for search engines, as they are unable to properly navigate your product pages. Having your homepage indexed by a search engine is not enough as online users are often searching for specific products. To exemplify, if you owned a menswear store, you would observe that while ‘men’s office shirts’ is what some users would search for, most would key in a specific brand name. Ideally, URLs should consist of relevant keywords, not irrelevant ID’s or other parameters. If your website sells branded products, build an optimized landing page for every brand. If you don’t have the liberty of using URL re-writing software, you can try limiting the number of variables passed in the URL.

Incorporate Keyword-rich Anchor Text

Proliferation of keywords in your navigation is passé and of no value in SEO. Rather, incorporate keyword-rich anchor copy that links to your important pages. Ensure that you link your product category pages with individual product pages through anchor text that contain relevant copy instead of vague phrases like ‘know more’, ‘click here’, etc which keep search engine spiders clueless about your products or services.

Ethically Cloak Session IDs in URLs

In order to track visitors, shopping carts insert session IDs in their URLs. This deters search engines as it creates an infinite amount of duplicate content that search engines have to crawl through. A simple way to handle this issue is to detect search engines by accessing the HTTP_USER_AGENT variable and turning tracking off for them. Technically, this is referred to as cloaking. However, it is ethical cloaking, as you’re using this functionality to show search engines what your visitors can see instead of showing them information that your visitors cannot see as is the case with malicious cloaking.

Internal Website Search Optimisation

Since your visitors reached your website through a search engine, they would expect your internal website search to work equally well. I have observed that whenever new visitors visit a website through a search engine, they will search through your website for the exact same term they keyed into Google. Thus it is elementary that you optimise your internal website search function too.

Clamp down on Unnecessary Page Ranks

eCommerce websites have several redundant pages like ‘Add to Cart’, ‘My Account’, etc. that do not require PageRank. These page links essentially negate the PageRank of your product pages as there isn’t any need for them to be viewed by search engines. The solution lies in hiding such pages from search engines by enabling access to these pages via form or JavaScript-based navigation. A much easier method to deny search engines access would be to use robots.txt and raise the page ranks of your relevant pages in the process.

Once you address these key eCommerce website optimisation issues, it is very simple to create SEO in other areas of your website, like increasing link popularity, adding keywords to your title and heading tags, and other relevant SEO requirements.

Finally, ensure that you work with an eCommerce service provider who is capable of doing everything we’ve mentioned above. If you are however unable to get them to work around the suggestions, then we’re just a click away.

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