Google is in the process of releasing a new algorithm to be named Caffeine. This is important news as your search results may be effected by this change. To make sure you are on top of your game, I have outlined 5 tips to ensuring your e-commerce site is optimized for the new change.
1. Upgrade and enhance your content to ensure that all is relevant to your site's core products. It is important to note that all of your content should be unique and relevant. Do not copy and paste others product descriptions... take the time to write your own. I know that this is a pain and takes a while, but it will be very important that you take the time to do this to ensure that your Search Engine Page Results (SERP's) remain high.
It is also of equal importance that you create fresh content on a regular basis. You do not want to your site to seem stagnant and lose ranking. To do this I suggest updating your blog daily and running new promotions on a weekly basis. This not only brings back your customers with fresh specials, discounts and promotions -- but also sends a message to Google that your site is active and fresh and deserves a higher ranking.
2. Ensure that every product, category and yes, of course your home page, has accurate and concise Meta Title and Meta Data information. Clear and concise meta titles and meta data will increase your pages ability to be indexed properly and will send another signal to Google that your pages are worthy of higher ranking. It is crucial that every product have Meta Titles and Meta Descriptions. Make sure you do this important step.
3. Improve your e-commerce product pages download speed by ensuring that your pictures are not too large and that your site is optimized for slower download speeds. If possible, use .gif's instead of .jpg's. Google has not officially said that download times will be a factor, but have hinted at the possibility of this in the past. Slow downloading pages often frustrate customers and lead to site abandonment. Do yourself a favor and ensure that every product page has a fast load time.
4. High quality outbound links will now be held in higher esteem -- so make sure that your site is stocked full of 'em! Higher quality links have long been thought of as more important than lower quality outbound links, but is now being made official with Caffeine's release. A high quality outbound link is one that is relevant to your site's content, product or service. For instance, if you operate a college gameday apparel store, you may want to make sure that you have content on your site that is linking to relevant and popular news stories revolving around what is happening in the world of college sports. These links will not only educate your fans and encourage them to purchase gear for the big games, but also increase the time spent on your site!
5. Inbound Links, Inbound Links, Inbound Links!! I cannot stress the importance of quality inbound links enough. Google will greatly weigh the number, quality and diversity of inbound links to determine your search ranking. Avoid link farming like the plague. Link farming, or the use of paying for links, will get your site blacklisted in a heartbeat and should be avoided at all costs. Submitting your site to directory listings will not get your site banned, but you need to be careful that you counter-weigh your inbound links from directories with quality inbound links from other sources. You also need to be careful not to submit your site to many directories within a short period of time. This would seem unnatural and will get you banned. So how do you get quality inbound links? Continue reading my inbound marketing strategies for e-commerce to learn more.
