SEO Archives

4 SEO Requirements for International Ecommerce Sites

March 2, 2018 • Jill Kocher Brown

Multinational ecommerce businesses with country-specific websites have distinct search engine optimization requirements. A searcher in Australia, say, must end up on the site containing Australian English, currency, and content. A searcher in Germany must land on that website. And so on.

Technical SEO

SEO Tips for New Ecommerce Sites (and Redesigns)

February 26, 2018 • Jill Kocher Brown

The battle for organic search performance can be won or lost before a site launches. Choices made in the design and implementation stages impact the ability of an ecommerce business to change critical elements for search engine optimization, handcuffing what is typically one of the largest drivers of traffic and revenue.

SEO

What, Exactly, Is Barebones SEO?

February 22, 2018 • Kerry Murdock

Organic traffic from Google and other search engines remains critical to many merchants. It generates a steady stream of prospects. And it insulates merchants from over-relying on Amazon for sales. There is no greater authority on search engine optimization than Stephan Spencer. He's the co-author of The Art of SEO and the sole author of leading digital marketing books. I recently spoke with him on bare-minimum SEO tactics for ecommerce.

SEO Tools

Indispensable SEO Tools, from Free to Expensive

February 16, 2018 • Jill Kocher Brown

Search engine optimization is rooted in data: technical data, analytical data, and contextual data. The tools you use to access that data fuel your ability to make smart SEO decisions, to keep your performance moving in the right direction. In this post, I'll recommend SEO tools in eight categories. Some of the tools are free or low cost. Others are more expensive, with many more features

On-page SEO

4 Ways to Increase Revenue from Organic Search Traffic

February 13, 2018 • Hamlet Batista

If you have been working for months trying to get higher search rankings with little to show for it, you are not alone. Chasing high rankings typically falls flat. You can easily spend six months or more — and a lot of money and effort — and have nothing to show for it at the end. In this article, I will share four ways to increase sales from organic search traffic that don’t require high rankings.

Technical SEO

HTTPS Is Important for More Reasons Than SEO

February 9, 2018 • Jill Kocher Brown

A website’s use of the secure protocol — as evidenced by the HTTPS designation and the presence of a security certificate — is a priority for search engines. But recent changes to Google Chrome make it important for web browsers, too. Google is tackling the security challenge across the web via its Chrome browser. Google is tackling the security challenge across the web via its Chrome browser. This week, the Chrome team announced that all web pages without an HTTPS certificate will display a “Not Secure” label in Chrome 68, scheduled to be launched in July 2018.

Technical SEO

6 Ways Web Developers Can Improve SEO

February 2, 2018 • Jill Kocher Brown

The relationship between web developers and search-engine-optimization teams is sometimes contentious. Seemingly unrelated technical decisions by developers can impact organic search traffic. But there are enormous SEO benefits in working with development teams and their release planning and testing cycles. In 13 years, I’ve encountered just one developer who refused to consider SEO recommendations.

Keyword Research

How to Identify Keywords That Signal Shoppers’ Intent

January 23, 2018 • Armando Roggio

Keyword phrases are the fuel that drives many online marketing efforts, including search engine optimization, paid search advertising, and even content ideas. If marketers do a better job in selecting keyword phrases, they may do a better job promoting their products and content.

Technical SEO

SEO: Google to Make Mobile Speed a Ranking Factor

January 19, 2018 • Jill Kocher Brown

If you weren’t already focused on your mobile site’s performance, Google is giving you a reason. In July of 2018, Google will use a new ranking signal focused purely on mobile site speed: the “Speed Update.” Google will dampen rankings for slower mobile sites to help mobile searchers find sites that deliver what Google considers to be a better mobile experience. Desktop site speed has been a Google ranking factor for almost eight years — its obsession with speed isn’t anything new. What is new is that Google will now include mobile sites in the site speed ranking equation.

SEO: How to Identify High Rankings That Have No Clicks

Technical SEO

SEO: How to Identify High Rankings That Produce No Clicks

January 14, 2018 • Hamlet Batista

Google's AdWords Keyword Planner is helpful for keyword research, as are many third-party tools. But Google Search Console can also identify keyword optimization opportunities. I'll explain in this post. Many search engine optimizers believe that a web page can rank organically for just a few keywords, perhaps three to five.

SEO

7 Ways to Integrate Natural and Paid Search

January 12, 2018 • Jill Kocher Brown

It’s not a matter of organic search traffic being more important than paid, or vice versa. What matters is integrating the two — paid and natural search — so that the whole is larger than the individual parts. The goal of integrated search is to use the data available from both organic and paid search programs for strategies that maximize visits and revenue.

Keyword Research

How to Build an Ecommerce Keyword List

January 9, 2018 • Armando Roggio

Keywords are an important building block for ecommerce marketing. Developing and maintaining a keyword list may help an ecommerce business understand shoppers and do a better job of marketing to them. In the context of search engine optimization, searchers' words or phrases summarize their thoughts, questions, or needs. Those keywords represent the language people use to ask for help finding resources online.

SEO Tools

Optimizing Google Search Options for Android Apps

January 7, 2018 • Jill Kocher Brown

Apps for iOS and Android mobile devices represent a chance to sell to captive prospects — if they can find your app to download in the first place. The first place to start is the Google Play Store, where Android users install apps. Google web search is another opportunity for app search, but most of the optimization focus should be on the Play Store itself.

Technical SEO

How to Increase Click-throughs on Organic Search Listings

January 4, 2018 • Hamlet Batista

Finding new keywords to target and developing content around them is a common practice for search engine optimization. But optimizing for a keyword does not necessarily mean a searcher will ...

SEO

How to Create Your 2018 SEO Strategy

December 22, 2017 • Jill Kocher Brown

If you don’t have a search engine optimization strategy for 2018, it’s high time to create it. Writing an SEO strategy can be intimidating. It sounds like such a lofty document,

SEO

Voice SEO: What Marketers Know Now

December 20, 2017 • Armando Roggio

How should your business optimize for voice search? The answer may be that the search engine optimization community doesn’t really know yet. In fact, perhaps the best thing your marketing department ...

SEO

How SEO Impacts the Ecommerce Sales Funnel

December 17, 2017 • Jill Kocher Brown

Ecommerce marketers spend a lot of time thinking about the sales funnel. Search engine optimization plays a major role in filling that funnel at the various stages. In aggregate, we can ...

Technical SEO

SEO: For Redesigns and Migrations, Prepare for the Worst

December 1, 2017 • Jill Kocher Brown

You spend months preparing for your ecommerce redesign or migration. You take search engine optimization into consideration and anticipate an increase in organic search traffic after launch. But what happens ...

SEO

SEO: Enabling Performance beyond Home Page and Brand

November 26, 2017 • Jill Kocher Brown

Ecommerce sites with the strongest natural search performance drive visits to every page, not just the home page and not just for searches for the brand. A search engine optimization channel ...

Technical SEO

SEO: How to Perform a Flash Audit, to Restore Traffic

November 14, 2017 • Hamlet Batista

I’m often asked to help reverse drops in traffic from organic search. It usually occurs from major site developments, such as redesigns and ecommerce platform changes. Traffic drops can be ...

Technical SEO

SEO: 7 Ways to Kill Duplicate Content

November 12, 2017 • Jill Kocher Brown

Duplicate content is endemic to ecommerce sites. Seemingly every platform, no matter how SEO-friendly, produces some form of duplicate content, holding a site back from peak performance. First, let’s look at ...

SEO

Store Locators That Work Harder for SEO

October 27, 2017 • Jill Kocher Brown

Does your store locator receive natural search traffic, or do yellow-page sites and Yelp win the clicks from keyword searches for your brand? Without an SEO-friendly store locator, you may ...

SEO

The Essential Component of Viral Videos

October 26, 2017 • Stephan Spencer

Hundreds of hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. As marketers, we often wonder why only a tiny percentage of those uploads go viral. We lament why it ...

SEO

B2B SEO Requires an Integrated Approach

October 19, 2017 • Armando Roggio

Complex products and long buying cycles make search engine optimization for B2B sites different than for B2C. The difference, however, is not in the specific techniques, but in the way SEO ...

Technical SEO

SEO Fire Drill: ‘Traffic Is Down!’

October 15, 2017 • Jill Kocher Brown

Organic search traffic often drives significant revenue for ecommerce sites. As a result, it is prone to fire drills around performance. Here’s how to determine when there’s a critical problem ...

Technical SEO

SEO: How to Improve Site-specific Ranking Factors

October 10, 2017 • Hamlet Batista

A client recently attended a webinar where a presenter provided a list of the top search engine ranking factors. The client wanted me to confirm the list, or provide my ...

SEO Tools

Mobile-first SEO Makes Search Console More Important

October 6, 2017 • Jill Kocher Brown

In 2018, Google will judge your desktop search ranking by the signals from your mobile site. Google’s mobile-first index, the algorithm update that will flip the importance of desktop sites compared ...

On-page SEO

Optimizing Your Mobile Presence for Natural Search

September 29, 2017 • Jill Kocher Brown

Google’s mobile-first index is coming in 2018. Search-result rankings for your desktop site will be based on the signals from the mobile version. Will you be ready? More people search Google ...

On-page SEO

SEO: Preparing for Google’s Mobile-first Index

September 22, 2017 • Jill Kocher Brown

Most searches on Google are from mobile devices. In 2018, Google will judge your desktop and mobile sites’ worthiness to rank based on your mobile implementation. If your mobile experience isn’t ...

Technical SEO

SEO: Making Recommendations on Mockups

September 15, 2017 • Jill Kocher Brown

Mockups are a key part of creating new marketing campaigns and redesigning entire websites. As partners in the process of producing those new experiences, search-engine-optimization professionals should offer feedback at ...