New data from Searchmetrics shows that there are certain factors that make some e-commerce sites rank more highly than others. They recently published a retail-specific Google ranking factors document that looks at the top-ranking e-commerce sites and tries to analyze what factors make them rank higher in Google than others.
The data highlights the following factors:
- Only 3% of the top 10 e-commerce sites have Google AdSense or Adlinks
- E-commerce sites listed among the top 20 search results on Google have less than a third as many social signals* as the overall average
- Over half of e-commerce sites in the top 20 search results have an online store above the fold**
- E-commerce sites in the top 10 have a 30% larger file size than the average
- Highly ranking e-commerce sites have 40% more interactive elements
- E-commerce sites listed among the top 10 search results have, on average, 70% more bullets per list
- E-commerce listed on the first page of Google search results have 70% more internal links
- 99.9% of e-commerce sites in the top 10 have .com domains
- 35% of e-commerce pages in the top 10 have embedded videos
From this data, we can draw the following conclusions:
- It’s better to avoid listing too many ads on your site
- The online checkout section should be made easily visible without the user having to scroll
- Content should be structured, for example, by using bullet points, so it can be more easily scanned by visitors
- Video plays a less significant role in e-commerce sites than in other websites
For more information on how your e-commerce site can rank more highly on Google, download the full set of data here
*Social signals are the likes, shares, votes, pins, or views people place on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or other social media sites that filter out to the various search engines
**Online, above the fold is the content that displays on a site without requiring the visitor to scroll