SEO
Our huge library of search engine optimization articles addresses strategies and tactics for ecommerce businesses. Our 12-part “How-to” series explains the basics. Advanced topics include faceted navigation, crawling and indexing, cross-border optimization, and much more.
Keyword Research | Link Building | On-page SEO | SEO Tools | Technical SEO-
SEO
SEO Report Card: AxisLabs.net
October 4, 2010 • Stephan Spencer
In this month's “SEO Report Card,” I'll look at the website for Axis Labs, a company that produces and sells nutritional supplements. Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, this private company went international in 2006 and now distributes to six of the seven continents. Axis Labs curren...
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Technical SEO
SEO: Understanding Advanced Search Operators
September 30, 2010 • Jill Kocher Brown
Let’s face it, the engines control search. They may keep tight-lipped control of their algorithmic secrets, but they also provide their users with tools that SEO practitioners can use to understand how the engines see their sites. These advanced operators offer a peek behind the curtain...
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Link Building
SEO: 5 Ecommerce Link-Building Ideas
September 24, 2010 • Bill Hartzer
To obtain good organic rankings in the search engines, web pages need inbound links. This is because search engines look for some way to determine how to rank one page over another. They look for some sort of indication of quality, some sort of "approval" that one ecommerce product page...
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SEO
Google Instant: 9 Frequently Asked Questions
September 21, 2010 • PEC Staff
Roughly half of the visitors to an ecommerce site come from search engines, typically. And when those search engines change the method in which consumers search for online products, the effect on ecommerce merchants can be dramatic. Enter Google Instant, the new auto-fill search proces...
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SEO
Google ‘Instant’ a Game Changer?
September 17, 2010 • Jill Kocher Brown
Last week, Google introduced "Instant," a feature that predicts searchers’ queries as they type them and streams the results for that predicted query onto the results page in real time. Google announced Instant on its blog, at "Search: now faster than the speed of type." Google Instan...
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Technical SEO
SEO: Unique Content Good for Search Engines, Good for Consumers
September 3, 2010 • Jill Kocher Brown
Unique, valuable content is a critical part of a successful SEO strategy. That is especially the case for ecommerce sites that utilize non-unique stock product descriptions from the manufacturer’s database. But, I’m often asked if there’s a faster, cheaper, free way to generate content....
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Link Building
Ask an Expert: Do No-Follow Links Help with SEO?
August 16, 2010 • PEC Staff
"Ask an Expert" is an occasional feature where we ask ecommerce experts questions from online merchants. For this installment, we address a question about the search-engine-optimization value to no-follow links on social bookmarking sites, such as Digg and StumbleUpon. The question come...
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SEO
SEO for Anti-SEO Business Models
July 29, 2010 • Jill Kocher Brown
I recently changed SEO jobs. I went from an agency that manages clients' search-engine-optimization efforts, to an in-house SEO manager for a single company. I knew previously, from working with many ecommerce clients, that business models and product offerings have an impact on SEO suc...
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Technical SEO
The PEC Review: Online Image Optimizer Speeds Load Times
July 26, 2010 • Armando Roggio
A slow-loading retail site is akin to the store clerk who ignores you in a brick-and-mortar shop. On a recent trip, I stopped at a small antique store. My wife and I entered the store, walked around for about 20 minutes, examined dozens of items, and never once during the entire experi...
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SEO
SEO Report Card: Woot.com
July 23, 2010 • Stephan Spencer
For this month’s “SEO Report Card,” I thought I would do something different and review a site that didn’t request it. The site I chose, Woot.com, is near and dear ...
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Keyword Research
SEO: Keyword Research and Analysis
June 22, 2010 • Bill Hartzer
Editor’s Note: is a contributor to Practical eCommerce and the owner of BillHartzer.com, a Dallas-based online marketing firm. Hartzer wrote the article, below, which first appeared in that company’s blog. Keyword research is one of the most important parts of online marketing. Somet...
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SEO
SEO Report Card: United States Golf Association, Photo Store Website
June 16, 2010 • Stephan Spencer
This month in “SEO Report Card,” I’ll be reviewing the photo store for the United States Golf Association Museum website. This was at the request of Robert Sabin, the president ...
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Technical SEO
Google Changes Search-Results Page, How Merchants Can Benefit
May 25, 2010 • Bill Hartzer
Google has made some major changes to its search results recently, adding more options for searchers. These are not changes to search algorithms, which determine the websites that show up, and where. Rather, the new changes give searchers options that allow them to tailor the type of s...
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Technical SEO
The PEC Review: Speedtest.net
May 17, 2010 • Armando Roggio
Most ecommerce merchants are digital natives, spending hours each day online, managing orders, marketing, or just staying ahead of the competition. When so much of your working day is spent on the Internet, even modest changes in upload and download speeds can have a major impact on pr...
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Technical SEO
SEO MAYDAY: Analyzing the Impact of Algorithmic Changes
May 13, 2010 • Jill Kocher Brown
Google makes periodic adjustments to its algorithm that determines organic search results. It likely does this each day, using small adjustments, to avoid large-scale mayhem that infrequent adjustments would presumably cause. Recently, however, many SEO professionals have detected dram...
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SEO
SEO Report Card: Springbok-Puzzles.com
May 10, 2010 • Stephan Spencer
In this installment of "SEO Report Card," we'll be looking at Springbok-Puzzles.com. Springbok is a well-known brand among jigsaw puzzle aficionados. Allied Products is behind the Springbok Puzzles brand, having acquired the rights in 2002 from Hallmark, who used to sell the brand exclu...
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On-page SEO
The PEC Review: Page Speed
May 10, 2010 • Armando Roggio
Site performance or speed is a key factor in improving sales conversions. How quickly your website loads may be the difference between making a sale or losing a potential customer. For example, 52 percent of respondents to a 2009 study from Akamai and Forrester Research said that page ...
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Link Building
Combine Search Engines and Social Media for Link Building
April 27, 2010 • Bill Hartzer
I recently spoke at an Internet marketing conference about that state of search engine optimization in 2010. One of the points that I made during the presentation is that search engines and social media networks are converging. In 2010, if you want to rank well in the search engines, yo...
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On-page SEO
Search Engine Optimization in 2010: What You Need to Know Now
April 21, 2010 • Bill Hartzer
Editor’s Note: is a contributor to Practical eCommerce and the owner of BillHartzer.com, a Dallas-based online marketing firm. Hartzer wrote the article, below, which first appeared in that company’s blog. If you want to use search engine optimization best practices, or want to get u...
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Technical SEO
SEO: Google Ranks Site Speed, Too
April 19, 2010 • Jill Kocher Brown
In its continuing quest to provide searchers with the best possible search experience, Google announced last week that site speed is now a signal in its search ranking algorithms. Along with the hundreds of other signals, like link popularity and keyword relevance, Google is now factori...
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Technical SEO
Search Engine Optimization Overkill
March 31, 2010 • Bill Hartzer
Editor’s Note: is a contributor to Practical eCommerce and the owner of BillHartzer.com, a Dallas-based online marketing firm. Hartzer wrote the article, below, which first appeared on his website, BillHartzer.com. Are you using search engine optimization tactics that lead to overkil...
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Keyword Research
Test: Mobile Search Results For Popular Retail-Shopping Keywords
March 25, 2010 • Brendan Gibbons
The number of mobile users is increasing at a far greater rate, it seems, than the number of mobile sites. But some merchants have already begun reacting to the mobile web by optimizing their sites for these devices. In order to get a feel for the current status of the mobile ecommerc...
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SEO
SEO Report Card: Hybrid-racing.com Combines WordPress, Magento
March 23, 2010 • Stephan Spencer
The co-owner of Hybrid-racing.com, Will Davidson, requested a search-engine-optimization site review. I'm happy to oblige. The first thing that struck me was that WordPress was the main "wrapper" for the site, powering the home page, tech articles, gallery, blog, and product informatio...
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SEO Tools
Google Product Search: Creating a Data Feed
March 17, 2010 • Bill Hartzer
Editor's Note: This is our monthly installment of "Everything Google," a feature on products and services from Google that can help ecommerce merchants. The author is Bill Hartzer, the owner of BillHartzer.com, a SEO, pay-per-click and ecommerce consulting firm in Dallas. Google Produ...
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SEO Tools
How to Remove a Web Page From Google
February 24, 2010 • Bill Hartzer
Editor’s Note: is a contributor to Practical eCommerce and manager of search engine optimization and social media marketing with VizionInteractive, a Dallas-based online marketing firm. Hartzer wrote the article, below, which first appeared in that company’s blog. This search engine ...
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Link Building
SEO: Link Bait Can Increase Rankings
February 17, 2010 • Jill Kocher Brown
Link bait is the practice of creating useful or compelling content that will lure links naturally to a website. It’s fun, it’s trendy, and it can produce very big search-engine-optimization results. Contrary to most interactive marketing goals, link bait’s primary goal is increasing t...
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SEO
SEO Report Card: Juggle.com “Not a Traditional eCommerce Site”
February 11, 2010 • Stephan Spencer
I'm proud to say that this is my first report card as a vice president of Covario. The company I founded in 1995, Netconcepts, was acquired last month by Covario, a search-engine-marketing and search-engine-optimization software and services company for large online retailers. This mon...
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Keyword Research
Ask an Expert: How to Get Better Search Rankings for Major Keywords
February 8, 2010 • PEC Staff
"Ask an Expert" is an occasional feature where we ask ecommerce experts questions from online merchants. For this installment, we address a question about ranking on search engines for major keywords. It comes from Jeramie Westbay, owner operator for Crazy Ed's Roadkill, an online store...
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Technical SEO
Ask An Expert: How to Redirect URLs Without Losing Link Juice
January 21, 2010 • PEC Staff
"Ask an Expert" is an occasional feature where we ask ecommerce experts questions from online merchants. For this installment, we address a question about redirecting users from old URLs to new ones. It comes from Brian Rogers, web merchandising manager for 511 Tactical, an online (and ...
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SEO
Stalking Competitors’ SEO Tactics
January 20, 2010 • Jill Kocher Brown
Despite my contention that Internet marketers need to stop obsessing about rankings, an examination of the SEO tactics of competitors that outrank your site can be extremely enlightening. Stalking a competitor's SEO tactics can uncover content optimization and link building opportunitie...