50 SEO tips for online retailers

SEO for online retailers is the process of improving a website potential in order to gain more organic non-paid traffic from the major search engines. Normally, SEO uplift doesn't happen overnight and it can take a long while to rank well for non brand key terms.

The rule of thumb is this: the more competition a relative term has, the harder you'll find it to rank for the term. With that said, you've got to start somewhere and there at least 50 ways I can think of to improve your SEO.

Choose your hosting provider carefully
1. If you're targeting one specific region, say the UK, ensure that the physical IP address is country specific which will improve the likelihood of ranking in the UK
2. Always opt for a fixed IP address even if it costs slightly more
3. Run an IP address search to ensure the IP address hasn't been black listed before. Domain Tools are an excellent source for quick IP address lookup
4. Ensure the server returns accurate response:
• 200 OK The request has succeeded - As an example you should see this server response for your homepage (www.sitename.com)
• 301 Moved Permanently - As an example you should see this server response for your non www version of your homepage (sitename.com)
• 302 Found - Use this server response only if you are redirecting temporary
• 404 Not Found - Always display a correct 404 response so you can get an indication when a page is broken for better user experience

Increase crawl rates because you can never get enough of Google
5. To check when your site was last crawled and indexed, search for site:sitename.com and play with “date range” advanced search options
6. Update the site's content as often as possible. For online retailers, new promotions and offers offer a fantastic opportunity to update their content
7. Ensure pages are loading quickly by analyzing your code, content and images. Web Page Analyzer is an excellent source to analyze a page load time
8. Fix duplicate content issue such as having two versions of your homepage, for example www.sitename.com and www.sitename.com/index.php
9. Add an XML site map and submit it to the major search engines

Ensure image optimisation across the site to enjoy traffic from Google image search
9. Keep images on a folder level rather than a subdomain so sitename.com/images/ is better than images.sitename.com
10. Use a descriptive name for the image, such as the product name
11. Use alt text for all your images and use a descriptive name again for the image alt text name
12. Use caption by placing a small description directly under, on top or on the side of your image
13. When possible save the image as jpg format
14. Use a free tool such as xenu to find images with no alt text

Ensure metadata optimisation to get high level of qualified traffic
15. Ensure that every page has unique metadata in terms of page title and page description
16. Limited page title to 70 characters and page description to 150 characters
17. Don't bother too much about keywords, do something else
18. Optimise each page around one key term
19. Place the most important term first, followed by a soft (non spammy) call to action and brand
20. For product pages, opt for an auto generate metadata solution based on + at
21. Use AdWords ads to test the best text for better CTR by creating a few ad variation in AdWords which include your key term

Content is truly king
22. Every page should have unique content which reads well for users (and therefore for the search engine spiders as well)
23. Don't repeat the key term more than 3 times so to avoid keyword stuffing
24. Place the key term in the page H1 title, image alt text and once in bold
25. Use "recommended products" to link between similar products to increase their relevancy

Apply essential URL and coding tweaks
26. Use robot.txt to block parts of the site you don't wish the engines to index
27. Offer an HTML site map which is auto updated based on the XML site map
28. For sites running on PHP use an .htaccess file to avoid content duplication
29. Use breadcrumbs navigation across the site for better user experience and SEO
30. From time to time, view your site using a text browser such as SEO Browser to "see" how spiders are likely to find your on page content
31. If your site architecture has more than three levels, restructure it so to make the information more accessible to both users and spiders
32. Keep URLs short for better SEO and to create a better viral effect as short URLs are more memorable
33. Include your key term such as a product title in the URL

Apply essential maintenance from time to time
34. Fix all your 404 errors and consider redirecting to a more appropriate page
35. When products are removed from stock or discontinued ensure that a 301 is placed to the main category or to a similar product
36. When linking to another site, consider checking whether you're linking to a bad neighborhood using a free tool such as text link checker
37. If you have multiple domains unify around one domain using a 301 redirect taking into account links pointing to each domain, domain age and the domain name

The Google PageRank issue
38. Don't pay too much attention to Google PR as it won't effect your ranking
39. If you want to control page rank, use a nofollow HTML attribute on pages such as "terms and conditions", "privacy policy" etc

Content is king, so start blogging
40. Place your blog on a directory level so www.sitename.com/blog/ rather than a sub domain blog.sitename.com
41. Blogging at least once a week will help increase your crawl rate
42. Read The Definitive Guide To Higher Rankings For Your Blog

Get more links, otherwise no one will see you
43. If you're considering directories as part if your link acquisition, focus on quality reviewed directories such as Yahoo and Best of the Web
44. Don't pay for links, you'll get caught at some point
45. Help your customers help you by placing on each page an easy way to share content using a sharing tool such as AddToAny
46. Ask for links take 1 - place a nice soft request in your website sale confirmation email to link back to your site
47. Ask for links take 2 - ask your suppliers and contractors for a link
48. Give blogger prior notice of new products and ask for a review
49. Offer great products at competitive prices and the links will come organically
50. Kick off a social media strategy to encourage discussion (and links) on social networks and other user-powered sites

Search Engine Guide Lines

Before we start check out this page on Robot pages: http://www.robotstxt.org/orig.html

Google Guidelines -


Design and content guidelines

* Make a site with a clear hierarchy and text links. Every page should be reachable from at least one static text link.
* Offer a site map to your users with links that point to the important parts of your site. If the site map is larger than 100 or so links, you may want to break the site map into separate pages.
* Create a useful, information-rich site, and write pages that clearly and accurately describe your content.
* Think about the words users would type to find your pages, and make sure that your site actually includes those words within it.
* Try to use text instead of images to display important names, content, or links. The Google crawler doesn't recognize text contained in images.
* Make sure that your "title" elements and alt attributes are descriptive and accurate.
* Check for broken links and correct HTML.
* If you decide to use dynamic pages (i.e., the URL contains a "?" character), be aware that not every search engine spider crawls dynamic pages as well as static pages. It helps to keep the parameters short and the number of them few.
* Keep the links on a given page to a reasonable number (fewer than 100).

Quality guidelines - basic principles

* Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines. Don't deceive your users or present different content to search engines than you display to users, which is commonly referred to as "cloaking."
* Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings. A good rule of thumb is whether you'd feel comfortable explaining what you've done to a website that competes with you. Another useful test is to ask, "Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn't exist?"
* Don't participate in link schemes designed to increase your site's ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or "bad neighborhoods" on the web, as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links.
* Don't use unauthorized computer programs to submit pages, check rankings, etc. Such programs consume computing resources and violate G's Terms of Service. Google does not recommend the use of products such as WebPosition Gold™ that send automatic or programmatic queries to Google.

Quality guidelines - specific guidelines

* Avoid hidden text or hidden links.
* Don't use cloaking or sneaky redirects.
* Don't send automated queries to Google.
* Don't load pages with irrelevant keywords.
* Don't create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substantially duplicate content.
* Don't create pages with malicious behavior, such as phishing or installing viruses, trojans, or other badware.
* Avoid "doorway" pages created just for search engines, or other "cookie cutter" approaches such as affiliate programs with little or no original content.
* If your site participates in an affiliate program, make sure that your site adds value. Provide unique and relevant content that gives users a reason to visit your site first.

Yahoo Guidelines -


Generally, you can ensure you have unique and targeted content for your audience. Here are a few tips that can help your page be found by a focused search on the Internet:

* Think carefully of the key terms that your users will search on to find content like yours. Use those terms to guide the text and construction of your page.
* Users are more likely to click a link if the title matches their search. Choose terms for the title that match the concept of your document.
* Use a "description" meta-tag and write your description accurately and carefully. After the title, the description is the most important draw for users. Make sure the document title and description attract the interest of the user but also fit the content on your site.
* Use a "keyword" meta-tag to list key words for the document. Use a distinct list of keywords that relate to the specific page on your site instead of using one broad set of keywords for every page.
* Keep relevant text and links in HTML. Placing them in graphics or image maps means search engines can't always search for the text, and the crawler can't follow links to your site's other pages. An HTML site map, with a link from your welcome page, can help make sure all your pages are crawled.
* Use ALT text for graphics. It's good page design to accommodate text browsers or visually impaired visitors, and it helps improve the text content of your page for search purposes.
* Correspond with webmasters and other content providers and build rich linkages between related pages.


MSN Guidelines -


Guidelines for successful indexing

Following are recommendations that may help MSNBot and other web crawlers effectively index and rank your site. We've also provided a list of techniques to avoid if you want to make sure your site is indexed.

Technical recommendations for your website

* Use only well-formed HTML code in your pages. Make sure that all tags are closed, and that all links open the correct web page. If your site contains broken links, MSNBot may not be able to index your site effectively, thus preventing people from reaching all of your pages.
* If you move a page, set up the page's original URL to direct people to the new page. Indicate whether the move is permanent or temporary.
* Make sure MSNBot is allowed to crawl your site and isn't on your list of web crawlers that are prohibited from indexing your site.
* Use a robots.txt file or meta tags to control how MSNBot and other web crawlers index your site. You can use the robots.txt file to prevent web crawlers from crawling specific files and folders.
* Keep your URLs simple and static. URLs that are complicated or that change frequently are difficult to use as link destinations. For example, the URL www.example.com/mypage is easier for MSNBot to crawl and for people to type than a long URL with multiple extensions. Also, a URL that doesn't change is easier for people to remember. That makes it a more likely link destination from other sites.

Content guidelines for your website

The best way to attract people to your site, and keep them coming back, is to design your pages with valuable content that your target audience is interested in. The following guidelines can help you design a more efficient and popular page:

* In the visible page text, include words users might choose as search query terms to find the information on your site.
* Limit all pages to a reasonable size. We recommend one topic per page. An HTML page with no pictures should be under 150 KB.
* Make sure that each page is accessible by at least one static text link.
* Don't put the text that you want indexed inside images. For example, if you want your company name or address to be indexed, make sure it is not displayed inside a company logo.
* Add a site map. A site map helps MSNBot to find all of your pages. Links that are embedded in menus, list boxes, and similar elements are not accessible to web crawlers unless they appear in your site map.
* Keep your site hierarchy fairly flat. That is, each page should only be from one to three clicks away from the home page.

Techniques that may prevent your site from appearing in Live Search results

The following techniques aren't appropriate uses of the Live Search index. Use of these techniques may affect how your site is ranked within Live Search, and may cause your site to be removed from the index.

* Attempting to increase a page's keyword density by add lots of irrelevant words. This includes stuffing ALT tags that users are unlikely to view.
* Using hidden text or links. Only use text and links that are visible to users.
* Using techniques, such as link farms, to artificially increase the number of links to your page.

New Search Engine Launched by ex-Google Engineers

Cuil Inc is planning to launch a new search engine on Monday aimed at delivering better results than any other search engine by searching across more web pages and examining them more closely. The significance of this new search engine is that the founders are made up of engineers from Google and other search engine giants.


On initial examination the site’s page looks like an ezine with a very different look and feel to Google. Many have tried and failed to compete in the search engine world using different techniques such as searching for images or allowing users to view the edited results.

According to Greg Sterling, an Internet analyst with Sterling Market Intelligence, the biggest hurdle Cuil Inc will face will be to raise enough advertising to fund the huge investment into infrastructure and technology. He said "It won't be clear at least for a year or so whether they can break into the top group,"

New Content Ad Feature In Google AdWords

As of today, both keywords and placements can be targeted in all AdWords campaigns. Use both to get better control and pricing power on the content network.

What can you do with keywords plus placements?

* Bid more or less for specific placements. Let contextual targeting with keywords place your ads across the content network, while you set placement bids for sites that have a special value for you.

Selling football shoes? You might bid £1.00 for clicks from any content network pages that match your keywords, but £2.00 when those clicks come from a soccer fan site that's converted well for you in the past.
* Show your ad only when both keywords and placements match. You'll get the benefits of keyword targeting while also limiting the places where your ad can appear.

For instance, set your campaign to appear only on your favourite soccer fan site and only when the site content matches the keyword soccer shoes. You may see less traffic, but AdWords contextual matching will help to make sure your placement pages are highly targeted.

Placements are always optional. They're an advanced feature with no impact on your search network advertising. You can add keywords or placements to existing ad groups or you can leave those campaigns as they are and create new ones with keywords plus placements.

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Lawsute could threaten domain parking

Google has been given a class action lawsuit over the AdSense for Domains product i.e. it is being sued for selling adverts on parked domains. The plaintiff is upset over the quality of traffic, or lack of, being driven through adsense and believes their money was taken from them without any return.

The plaintiff is a law firm, Schubert Jonckheer Kolbe & Kralowec, based in San Francisco. The person bringing the law suit is a lawyer, suing under Levitte International for his advertising campaign he ran from June 1, 2007, through August 18, 2007. The campaign received 202,528 impressions via the AdSense for Domains program. The campaign also was shown on the AdSense for Errors program, which received 1,009 impressions, 25 clicks and zero conversions. The AdSense of Domains and AdSense for Errors traffic and impressions cost him $136.11.

Levitte hopes that other advertisers join his lawsuit. "We believe it's a problem that affects all [Google's] advertisers equally," said Kimberly Kralowec, partner at the law firm representing Levitte.

It is important to note that in August 2007, when this lawyer's campaign was still active, Google announced that they will be enabling a feature to allow advertisers to opt out of AdSense for Domains traffic. Google began beta testing this feature in November 2007.

In addition, the domain park (AdSense for Domains) is not new to getting Google in trouble. We reported it landed Google in a trademark case back in January 2007.

search engine marketing

Microsoft AdCenter rolls out quality score to UK & Canada

It has been a year now since Microsoft AdCenter Launched it's Quality-Based Ranking Algorithm to the USA in their search ads.

UK and Canada are now about to also get the new algorithm quality score which looks at your click through rate and maximum bid. If your ads fail then they will not appear in the "mainline" section.

PPC advice

Adobe Flash files can now be indexed

Google has announced it has greatly improved their ability to index Flash.

They have improved their ability to index textual content in SWF files of all kinds, including Flash "gadgets" such as buttons or menus, self-contained Flash websites, and everything in between.

The content that can be better index from these Flash files includes all of the text that users can see as they interact with your Flash file. If your website contains Flash, the textual content in your Flash files can be used when Google generates a snippet for your website. Also, the words that appear in your Flash files can be used to match query terms in Google searches.

In addition to finding and indexing the textual content in Flash files, Google is also discovering URLs that appear in Flash files, and feeding them into their crawling pipeline—just like they do with URLs that appear in non-Flash webpages. For example, if your Flash application contains links to pages inside your website, Google may now be better able to discover and crawl more of your website.

If your flash file does not have any text in it, i.e. it is only non-textual content, such as images they will not be able to recognize or index any text that may appear in those images. Similarly, Google do not generate any anchor text for Flash buttons which target some URL, but which have no associated text.

Google does not index FLV files, such as the videos that play on YouTube, because these files contain no text elements.

Q: How does Google "see" the contents of a Flash file?
Google have developed an algorithm that explores Flash files in the same way that a person would, by clicking buttons, entering input, and so on. The algorithm remembers all of the text that it encounters along the way, and that content is then available to be indexed. Google can not tell you all of the proprietary details, but it can tell you that the algorithm's effectiveness was improved by utilizing Adobe's new Searchable SWF library.

To get your flash files indexed you don't have to do anything. Your Flash content we will automatically be indexed, up to the limits of Google's current technical ability.

As Google is now able able to see the text that appears to visitors on your website some people my want to hide some of this text e.g. If you prefer Google to ignore your less informative content, such as a "copyright" or "loading" message.

The current technical limitations of Google's ability to index Flash are:

1. Googlebot does not execute some types of JavaScript. So if your web page loads a Flash file via JavaScript, Google may not be aware of that Flash file, in which case it will not be indexed.
2. We currently do not attach content from external resources that are loaded by your Flash files. If your Flash file loads an HTML file, an XML file, another SWF file, etc., Google will separately index that resource, but it will not yet be considered to be part of the content in your Flash file.
3. While we are able to index Flash in almost all of the languages found on the web, currently there are difficulties with Flash content written in bidirectional languages. Until this is fixed, we will be unable to index Hebrew language or Arabic language content from Flash files.

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