Jill Kocher Brown

Articles by: Jill Kocher Brown

Jill Kocher Brown is a writer and search engine optimization expert in Chicago. She has been living and breathing search engine optimization since 2005, and has been in digital marketing since 1996.

Jill cut her digital teeth at Intel Corp., managing the home page and corporate sections of Intel.com. After that, Jill managed and developed SEO consulting practices at Netconcepts and Covario, specializing in ecommerce, and served as Groupon’s first in-house natural search marketer.

She now heads up the thriving SEO team at IBM iX.

Jill holds a B.A. in Communications and American Studies from Stanford University. jill@practicalecommerce.com

SEO How-to, Part 3: Staffing and Planning

February 10, 2017 • Jill Kocher Brown

Businesses put off search engine optimization because, frequently, they don’t know where to start. The planning phase — figuring out whom to trust your natural search performance with, and how... Read More »
SEO How-to, Part 2: Understanding Search Engines

February 3, 2017 • Jill Kocher Brown

Before you can optimize your site to earn more natural search traffic and drive additional sales, you should understand the underlying principles of search engines. Search engines are a gating... Read More »
SEO How-to, Part 1: Why Do You Need It?

January 27, 2017 • Jill Kocher Brown

Search engine optimization is part science and part art. But the foundational principles of SEO are straightforward. Still, before I can address how to practice SEO, I should explain what... Read More »
SEO: Be Community-centric to Earn Links

January 20, 2017 • Jill Kocher Brown

Search engine optimization requires a unique blend of relevance and authority. Relevance is more easily mastered, but authority requires the community of people that is interested in the things you... Read More »
SEO: Google Rolls Out Mobile Popup Penalty

January 13, 2017 • Jill Kocher Brown

Right on schedule, this week Google began rolling out its intrusive mobile popup penalty, aimed at reducing the number of results that take mobile searchers to pages that use large... Read More »
Embedding SEO into Your Organization

January 6, 2017 • Jill Kocher Brown

Achieving even the simplest improvements to an ecommerce site can feel like a Herculean effort. Effective search engine optimization requires buy in and participation from your entire organization, from the top down... Read More »
7 Signs Your SEO Agency Isn’t Working for You

December 23, 2016 • Jill Kocher Brown

Do you wonder whether you’re really getting your money’s worth from your search engine optimization agency? It’s one of the biggest concerns with contracting any agency. These seven signs will... Read More »
SEO Study: Backlinks Decline as Ranking Factor

December 16, 2016 • Jill Kocher Brown

In a practice as complex and seemingly indecipherable as search engine optimization, the clues gleaned from large ranking factor studies can shine some light. To this end, Searchmetrics, a search... Read More »
SEO in 10 Minutes a Day

December 2, 2016 • Jill Kocher Brown

“I’m too busy for search engine optimization. It’s one of many things on my plate, and frankly it’s not my highest priority. Management wants higher rankings, but I just don’t... Read More »
SEO: What Google’s Mobile-first Index Means for Ecommerce

November 18, 2016 • Jill Kocher Brown

Google started experimenting with a mobile-first index two weeks ago, making the mobile ecommerce experience even more critical to natural search performance. Shopping is a core behavior for mobile users. Last... Read More »
SEO: To Drive Shoppers, Let the Bots In

November 6, 2016 • Jill Kocher Brown

We rely on search engines to drive shoppers to our sites to purchase our products. Before the shoppers can come, however, you have to let the bots in. It sounds more... Read More »
SEO Checklist: 16 Monthly Tasks to Manage Performance

October 28, 2016 • Jill Kocher Brown

Search engine optimization is not a one-time project. If you’re not managing SEO performance and improvements continually, your site won’t remain competitive in natural search — you’ll lose rankings, clicks,... Read More »
SEO: Rethinking Mobile Search, for Ecommerce

October 21, 2016 • Jill Kocher Brown

Smartphones are fast becoming a search marketer’s best friend — or biggest concern. More than half of all searches on Google are conducted on a smartphone. In this critical holiday... Read More »
SEO: Accelerated Mobile Pages for Ecommerce

October 14, 2016 • Jill Kocher Brown

Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages protocol makes mobile sites faster. Faster sites typically see lower bounce rates, higher time-on-site numbers, and higher conversion rates. AMP also benefits natural search performance. Smartphone users want speed.... Read More »
10 SEO Rules for Ecommerce Content Marketing

October 7, 2016 • Jill Kocher Brown

Content marketing and search engine optimization are interdependent. When planned and executed properly, content can greatly improve your natural search performance. Follow these 10 rules to successfully blend SEO needs... Read More »
SEO: Reclaiming Links to Deleted Pages

October 2, 2016 • Jill Kocher Brown

When pages on your site go away, their link authority is wasted. But you can harvest that precious link authority and redirect it to other pages on your site, those... Read More »
SEO: Google’s Algorithm Hasn’t Changed, or Has It?

September 23, 2016 • Jill Kocher Brown

September has been a big month for unofficial Google algorithm changes. Business owners are seeing significant movement in both Google’s core search results and “local pack” search results, though Google... Read More »
SEO: Google Limits Keyword Data to Advertisers Only

September 16, 2016 • Jill Kocher Brown

Keywords and topics are central to contextual relevance, a primary ranking factor for search engines. In the wake of the changes to Google’s Keyword Planner, the natural search industry’s go-to... Read More »
SEO: Simplifying Navigation Cuts Performance

September 9, 2016 • Jill Kocher Brown

The trend toward simplicity in web design is affecting navigation. The impact on search engine optimization of navigation changes can be staggering. Navigation isn’t just a way for shoppers to navigate.... Read More »
SEO: Google’s Mobile Update to Impact Interstitials, Pop-ups

September 2, 2016 • Jill Kocher Brown

Google will update its mobile-friendly search algorithm in January 2017 to make smartphone content visibility a ranking signal. Sites that display “intrusive interstitials” — pop-up boxes, mainly — that impact... Read More »
SEO: Measuring Performance of the Long Tail

August 26, 2016 • Jill Kocher Brown

The long tail should drive most of the natural search performance for ecommerce companies. But whether it actually does is another matter. Don’t assume that the long tail is working for you... Read More »
SEO: Why Your Long Tail Isn’t Long

August 19, 2016 • Jill Kocher Brown

The long tail of natural search should drive more traffic and sales than the head. Unfortunately, a site’s strategy, architecture, and implementation often cut the long tail short of its full... Read More »
SEO: How to Maximize the Long Tail

August 12, 2016 • Jill Kocher Brown

Ecommerce sites are naturally suited to target the long tail of organic search performance. How you optimize your site determines how long its tail could be. The long tail of search... Read More »
SEO: Every Page Is an Entry Page

August 5, 2016 • Jill Kocher Brown

Every page of your site is an entry page for natural search. Are all of your pages ready to welcome searchers? All shoppers want something. They may not want to buy... Read More »
SEO: Creating Great Content for Ecommerce

July 29, 2016 • Jill Kocher Brown

Creating great content is hard. Creating it so that it also benefits search engine optimization isn’t that much more difficult. My last two articles, “To Improve SEO, Understand How It... Read More »
SEO: Content Is King but Links Are Gold

July 22, 2016 • Jill Kocher Brown

Creating compelling, customer-centric content isn’t enough to win rankings and shoppers. Without a strong internal linking structure, even the best content will still fail to perform in natural search. The three... Read More »
To Improve SEO, Understand How It Works

July 15, 2016 • Jill Kocher Brown

Search engine optimization isn’t a mystical dark art. It boils down to signals of relevance and authority. Understanding the signals that search engines interpret as relevance and authority is key... Read More »
3 Server Errors That Drain SEO

July 8, 2016 • Jill Kocher Brown

Servers are the foundation of the web, but their archaic status codes have a big impact on search engine optimization that few marketers understand well enough. Three types of server... Read More »
SEO: Most Online Shoppers Start at Amazon and Google, Study Says

July 1, 2016 • Jill Kocher Brown

When searching for products online, Amazon and Google are the leading places to start, according to a study released this week. Thirty-eight percent of shoppers polled reported starting their shopping... Read More »
SEO: How to Combat Google’s Ad Increase

April 1, 2016 • Jill Kocher Brown

In the wake of Google’s move to increase ads at the top of the search results pages while removing side-rail ads, many are focusing on the impact on paid advertising... Read More »