Comments on: 7 Online Optimisation Tips for Ecommerce Web Sites

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 06 May 2010 22:25:57 +0000

Good tip on site loading speed. It not effects usability and conversion, but its now being factored in as ranking factor in the search engines.

By: She Inspires

She Inspires — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 09:42:59 +0000

I think you’re completely on the money with the recommendations about creating a flat site architecture and keeping the products to the one page.

I’ve been amazed by some of the online fashion retailers making their potential shoppers work to order their designs. If it’s too much effort visitors leave and shop elsewhere.

But I’m a believer in what’s good for people is good for search engines and vice-versa.

This ideas of adding content such as testimonials and support Q&A to the products is something that would put a retailer ahead of their competitors too as so few do it.

I found this detailed article about ranking factors based on a survey of SEO experts really interesting so hopefully you will too: http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors#on-page-keyword-specific-ranking-factors

All the best,
Belinda

By: James Duthie

James Duthie — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 04:03:40 +0000

@Daniel – Most of your thanks should be directed towards Joseph. I simply published it. He delivered the insights and intellectual property.

By: Daniel Cheah

Daniel Cheah — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 01:35:16 +0000

Very useful article..!!

I’m working on an e-commerce website right now. So, these tips will come in handy..!!

Thanks, James & Joseph..!!

By: James Duthie

James Duthie — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:39:21 +0000

Hey Sammy. Product/user reviews aren’t necessarily going to make a site rank higher for high volume keywords. But I suspect they will generate more low volume/long tail keywords based upon the specific content users enter. So while you may not see a discernible difference in rankings, over time I’d expect to see an increase in organic traffic (presuming the user review system is actually used by customers).

By: Sammy

Sammy — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 14:33:44 +0000

Hi James, would you say an ecommerce site with those product/user reviews pages will more likely to rank higher in the SERPs than one without them?

By: James Duthie

James Duthie — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 02:08:53 +0000

That’s an interesting question Matt. Technically, I doubt anyone would classify customer reviews as an SEO technique. I’d link it to conversion related practices, providing greater proof that the product is ok.

But the fact is that when people write product reviews, they are creating new content for the page. And I’ve definitely seen that content indexed in Google before. So I guess in a way you could consider it an SEO tactic.

By: inspiredworlds

inspiredworlds — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:29:49 +0000

to add to my comment, having customer reviews helps in the 1st point and 6th point – having unique content for products.

By: inspiredworlds

inspiredworlds — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:27:17 +0000

not sure if this classifies as SEO (i think it does), as a consumer i find that customer reviews are quite good in terms of product conversion. if i read that other people have positive experiences with the product or even negative, it is influential in making a purchase decision. however, it only works if there are enough product reviews.