Last Updated on Aug 20, 2012 by Jenna Scaglione
After Google unleashed its Panda and Penguin updates, webmasters have been hiding under rocks running scared for their lives—and for good cause. The search engine algorithm changes have paralyzed webmasters into making any changes for fear the next update will take their website off the map.
This fear is not uncommon in this new SEO paradigm, but it shouldn’t keep you from applying sound SEO techniques to your Ecommerce store. You may hear webmasters claim Google is doing away with SEO and it will be nonexistent in a few years. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Even Matt Cutts, head of Google’s webspam team, values SEO as a good marketing strategy.
Search engine optimization is still a viable marketing strategy provided it follows Google’s guidelines. In last week’s article, I discussed some SEO techniques for your home page to help you rank your site.
Today, I will outline some proven SEO strategies that will keep your entire site ranking ahead of your competition. They fall under two top strategies: Content and Social. Both are related yet separate in their approach.
Content
Content, content, and more content. Google loves content and will reward it openly. Since the “Freshness” update, which rewards new content updated regularly, webmasters have been implementing strategies to add value to their Ecommerce websites in the form of fresh updates to their stores.
Blogging is a great way to add fresh content to your site and please the Google gods. Blogging for Ecommerce is not difficult as people think. If you keep it related to your industry, the posts will not only offer sound, valuable content, they will increase the size of your website and target your keywords more effectively. Consider topics like industry news, featured products, discount offerings, helpful tips, etc. I recommend blogging at least once a week and inserting keywords naturally, without stuffing, to boost your SEO efforts.
For linking, consider writing valuable blog posts for other websites. Guest posting is a great SEO technique provided it provides value to a website’s audience. Contact blog owners in related industries or search their sites for guest blogging or contribution opportunities. You can also try sites like My Blog Guest that connect writers with bloggers and vice-versa. Your blog post will include a link to your site which will positively influence your rankings.
Social Media and Directories
Google is moving towards a user-centered algorithm, so the more users love your business the more Google will love you. Google is now looking to social signals to measure the influence of a website, which will directly affect its rankings. The amount of times your products are liked, tweeted, +1’d, and shared may affect your ranking positively. Also, the influence of your social profiles may also have an impact.
Consider Yelp and Yellowpages.com also if you do not have your site listed there. Local businesses will not only drum up more business but they will attract more buzz around their site which I envision will affect rankings going forward since this is where the industry is headed.
SEO Services
If you are interested in SEO services, but you don’t have the time and resources to achieve the rankings you need, Numinix offers monthly SEO for your Ecommerce website for an affordable price. Numinix stays updated on the search engines and Google’s algorithm and applies these best practices to your site.