Trends in ecommerce, and some of the major on-page SEO factors for ecommerce sites.

1. SearchFest 2013
> The On-page of Ecommerce SEO
Adam Audette
@audette
MULTICHANNEL
ATTRIBUTION

2. Some RKG Clients
2

3. Search is (still) growing
3

4. Search is (still) growing
4

5. Search is competitive
5

6. 6

7. Search is commercial
7

8. Search is commercial
8

9. 9

10. 10

11. Search is social (sort of)
11

12. 12

13. 13

14. 14

15. Graph Search showing
15

16. Search is risky
16

17. 17

18. 18

19. 19

20. Search is evolving
20

21. Glimpses of the future

22. Glimpses of the future

24. rel=author

25. rel=publisher

27. Search is
27

28. 28

29. 29

30. 30

31. Search is harder
31

32. Steeper (not provided) trend line

33. iOS 6 hidden traffic
33

34. +80% iOS6 Traffic is Hidden
34

35. Search is mobile
35

36. 36

37. SEO Mobile Share
37

38. On-page SEO for Ecomm
> Some major factors
MULTICHANNEL
ATTRIBUTION

39. Cleaning up
39

42. What if you have millions of links?
 Find patterns, such as:
 Sort backlinks by IP / C block
 Anchor text patterns
 Target URLs
 Scour analytics for keyword-specific
penalties
 Ahrefs and Majestic (fresh and historic)
best tools for this
42

43. Penalties are often targeted
43

44. Cleanup is tedious (and expensive)
44

45. Cleaning up
 File reconsideration with documented
efforts
 Must show due diligence and record of
effort
 Document extortion, too
 Disavow what doesn’t get removed
45

46. Dynamic SEO
46

47. 47

48. Site search
48

49. Watch out site search
Pages Displayed in Non-branded SERPs
5,000
4,500
4,000
3,500
3,000
2,500
Pages Displayed in Non-branded SERPs
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
search product category subdomains
49

50. +80% not in top 4
Out of 9,225 non-branded entries
Not in top 4
In top 4
50

51. Big brands – SE Traffic
51

52. Big Brands – # Keywords
52

53. Video
53

54. Video and images
54

55. 55

56. Flat site architecture
56

57. 60% of URLs ≥4 clicks deep
Click Depth
1
7%
2
13%
5
33%
1
2
3
4
3 5
20%
4
27%
57

58. Nav links ≠ footer links ≠ content links
58

59. 59

60. 60

61. 61

62. Shallow and flat product level
62

63. Related linking
63

64. Duplicate Content
> https://www.walmart.com secure site excluded with robots.txt
Disallow rule.
64

65. Duplicate Content
> https://www.walmart.com secure site excluded with robots.txt
Disallow rule.
65

66. Duplicate Content
> rel canonical annotations are not always consistent with internal link
profile.
66

67. Duplicate Content
67

68. Consistent signals
68

69. http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/590?nav=gnro-hp

70. http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/590?nav=gnro-hp

71. http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/51909?feat=590-GN1

72. http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/51909?feat=590-GN1

74. Canonical crawl paths
74

75. hmm
75

78. XML strategy
78

79. 79

80. Finite crawl resources
Good pages crawled
Good pages not crawled
Dupes/overhead/junk
80

81. Crawl & Index tips
 Unique files for each page type
 Categories, products, brands, etc
 Keep XML files updated, clean
 Still a fan of 304 not modified
 G and B param handling tools rock
81

82. Pagination
82

84. http://www.zales.com/family/index.jsp?ca
tegoryId=3045659
http://www.zales.com/family/index.jsp?ca
tegoryId=3045659&kpc=1&pg=2

86. Over 100 duplicate results

88. View All Pagination
Annotations:
• pages 2-N specify View All as rel
View All canonical target
• View All page must load fast
• View All contains all data in the
series
pp. 2-N

89. Rel prev/next
Annotations:
• Pages 2-N annotated with rel
prev, next
pp. 2-N • pages 2-N self-referencing rel
canonical
• (Optional) pages 2-N annotated
with noindex, follow

90. 90

91. 91

92. Side Notes
 Ensure rel prev is really the canonical

93. Canonical pg1:
http://www.zales.com/family/index.jsp?ca
tegoryId=3045659
Rel next (pg2):
http://www.zales.com/family/index.jsp?ca
tegoryId=3045659&kpc=1&pg=2

94. Rel prev (from pg2):
http://www.zales.com/family/index.jsp?ca
tegoryId=3045659&kpc=1

95. Side Note: View Alls
 Challenges
 View All pages must be fast (≤ 3 seconds to load)
 Merch teams usually not a fan

98. Faceted navigation
98

99. http://www.jpcycles.com/motorcycle-
brake-calipers-and-kits

100. http://www.jpcycles.com/motorcycle-
brake-calipers-and-kits?N=36367

101. http://www.jpcycles.com/motorcycle-
brake-calipers-and-kits?N=36367

102. http://www.jpcycles.com/motorcycle-
parts/brembo/brake-calipers-and-kits

103. http://www.jpcycles.com/motorcycle-
parts/brembo/brake-calipers-and-
kits?N=36371+28004518

104. SEO for Faceted Nav
 Identify searched vs overhead facets
 Always force the canonical path regardless
of selection order
 Build URLs according to queries (how your
users search)

105. Product inventory
105

106. 106

107. 107

108. Handling Expiring Products
 Generate a “product not here” message
 Recommend related products
 301 to a related product or up a level
 302 if inventory returns
 404 the page
 Others
 rel canonical
 meta noindex
 301 to home page
108

109. Product variations
109

110. 110

111. 111

112. 112

113. 113

114. Advocacy & Politics
114

115. SEO should be invisible
115

116. Lives here Spans this and
more
Marketing Engineering Merchandising UX Content

117. Marketing Engineering Merchandising UX Content
117

118. 118

119. Get your CEO thinking about SEO

120. <3 SearchFest
Thanks SEMpdx.
Follow me on Twitter:
@audette
Email me:
aaudette@rimmkaufman.com