Maximizing ROI in e-Commerce with
Search
June 12th, presented by Guillaume Bouchard
Table of Content

           • Choosing the right e-Commerce platform

           • E-Commerce sites: 2009 vs. 2012

           • IP geolocation & browser language detection

           • Rich snippets

           • Mobile e-Commerce

           • e-Commerce site as a destination

           • Social signals




  4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701
  Montréal QC H2W 2R2
                                                           2
Choosing the right e-Commerce platform




                                         3
Choosing the right e-Commerce platform
What to look for?
•   Proper handling of product images
•   Manual control of Head and Meta titles (at the page level)
•   Possibility to program dynamic title tags / meta description
•   Product review system
•   Segmented sitemaps (Video, Images, Text, Mobile)
•   301 redirects and URL rewriting capabilities
•   Site speed
•   Breadcrumb navigation
•   Upon deleting any pages, offer rules to keep acquired weight (link juice)




     4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701
     Montréal QC H2W 2R2
                                                                                4
Choosing the right e-Commerce platform
Magento vs Shopify




  4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701
  Montréal QC H2W 2R2
                                         5
Choosing the right e-Commerce platform
Magento vs Shopify

             MAGENTO                            SHOPIFY
             Self-hosted solution (PHP /        Hosted by Shopify (SaaS)
             mySQL)
             Open source                        Shop owner doesn’t have access
                                                to source code
             Unlimited customization            Core functionality cannot be
                                                modified
             Design is highly flexible          Design is highly flexible

             Tech support is not cheap          Tech support is included

             Suited for companies with highly   Suited for companies without
             skilled PHP programmers            PHP programmers available




  4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701
  Montréal QC H2W 2R2
                                                                                 6
E-commerce sites: 2009 vs. 2012




                                  7
E-Commerce sites: 2009 vs. 2012
Focus on the product page




  4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701
  Montréal QC H2W 2R2
                                         8
E-commerce sites: 2009 vs. 2012
                                         • Low-res product images

                                         • Alt Tags are not optimized

                                         • Duplicate content from
                                           manufacturer’s website

                                         • No sharing buttons or
                                           comments section

                                         • Poor product descriptions

                                         • Poor user experience

                                         • External links with same
                                           anchor text pointing only
                                           to category/subcategories

  4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701
  Montréal QC H2W 2R2
                                                                        9
E-commerce sites: 2009 vs. 2012
                                         • Multiple images

                                         • Alt Tags are optimized

                                         • Unique content

                                         • Sharing buttons & FB
                                           comments

                                         • Fun product descriptions

                                         • Great overall UX

                                         • Natural linkgraph, juicy
                                           links acquired via a blog
                                           or high quality content pages


  4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701
  Montréal QC H2W 2R2
                                                                      10
IP Geolocation
IP Geolocation
Why?
IP geolocation allows you to detect where a visitor is located and tailor their
experience to their geographical needs.


    • Global navigation (avoiding the country selector landing page)
    • Offer and product localization (geographically-specific)
    • Experience optimization (based on internet connection type)
    • Multi channel (avoiding steps to find closest store, lookup store inventory)
    • Checkout optimization
    • Fraud prevention




    4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701
    Montréal QC H2W 2R2
                                                                                     12
Browser language detection
What about language on multilingual sites?
• Identify the primary language of users visiting your site from each country
and province


• If the majority of visitors from a province are French, have an browser
language detection to bring visitors from that province to your French landing
page by default (if their browser is in French)


• A cookie would be stored that would remember the user’s choice and still
allow them to change their language preference




    4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701
    Montréal QC H2W 2R2
                                                                                 13
Rich Snippets




                14
Rich Snippets
Use rich snippets to sell directly from SERPs
Rich snippets allow e-commerce sites to markup their HTML and content so
Google can enhance the snippets displayed in the SERPs


What types of e-commerce content are supported?


   • Product Reviews/Ratings
   • Product Images
   • Product Prices
   • Product Availability




    4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701
    Montréal QC H2W 2R2
                                                                           15
Rich Snippets
How to implement rich snippets
1) Selecting a markup format:              2) Mark up your products
• Microdata
• Microformats                             3) Use Google’s rich snippet testing
                                           tool to ensure your marked-up data is
• RDFa
                                           properly formatted and appearing
• hProduct


  Note: while any of the three markup formats can be used, Google
  recommends using HTML5 Microdata




    4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701
    Montréal QC H2W 2R2
                                                                                   16
Rich Snippets
The outcome




•   Rich snippets allow you to attract potential buyers while they are searching
    for products on Google
•   They increase the CTR from organic SERPs
•   They are a visual way for businesses to display their products, prices and
    reviews quickly

     4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701
     Montréal QC H2W 2R2
                                                                                   17
hProduct
Visual display of product page using hProduct




  4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701
  Montréal QC H2W 2R2
                                                18
Mobile e-Commerce




                    19
Optimize your e-Commerce site for Mobile
Mobile usage in numbers (North America)
                                         • 8M (40%) Canadians own a
                                         Smartphone

                                         • 5% of Canadians own a tablet (of
                                         which 88% are satisfied)

                                         • In the U.S., an estimated 77% of
                                         tablet users use it daily for about 90
                                         minutes

                                         • Mobile traffic is projected to surpass
                                         desktop traffic by 2015




  4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701
  Montréal QC H2W 2R2
                                                                                    20
Optimize your e-Commerce site for Mobile
M-Commerce 2012
•   In the absence of a mobile app, your products and e-Commerce
    site MUST be accessible by any type of mobile device
•   Ergonomics of the tablet facilitates payment for products with a
    longer buying process (i.e. Travel)
•   Smartphones as payment terminals will help facilitate the
    purchase of products with shorter buying process (i.e. event
    tickets, books, music)
•   Mobility of smartphones coupled with geolocation can help you
    attract consumers to your stores (i.e. location-based coupons,
    deals and discounts)

     4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701
     Montréal QC H2W 2R2
                                                                       21
Optimize your e-Commerce site for Mobile
Make your e-Commerce site mobile-friendly
For smartphones
•   Mobile subdomain
•   Make content visually appealing for limited screen viewing (CSS)
•   Avoid using Flash, Java, Ajax and Frames
•   Test your site with W3C mobileOK and on multiple
    devices/browsers
•   A mobile e-Commerce app gives you a competitive edge




     4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701
     Montréal QC H2W 2R2
                                                                       22
Optimize your e-Commerce site for Mobile
Make your e-Commerce site mobile-friendly
For tablets
•   Change CSS so your site is optimized for tablet viewing
•   Limit the amount of scrolling required (use Previous and Next)
•   Optimize checkout process by using cookies, postal codes and Paypal
•   Make it touchable – HTML5 and CSS3
•   5 viewing angles: vertical and landscape (in mobile & tablet) and desktop
•   Testing
•   A tablet app is recommended (though it’s not picked up in organic SERPs)




     4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701
     Montréal QC H2W 2R2
                                                                                23
E-Commerce site as a Destination
E-Commerce site as a destination
No longer just a product catalog
•   E-commerce sites are no longer just product catalog websites where
    optimization requires aggressive category/product page linkbuilding


•   The 2012 e-Commerce site must offer users something unique that
    competitors cannot offer (unique selling proposition) – something that
    provides users with a reason to keep coming back.


•   Push vs. Pull Strategy…




    4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701
    Montréal QC H2W 2R2
                                                                             25
E-Commerce site as a destination
RONA




  4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701
  Montréal QC H2W 2R2
                                         26
E-Commerce site as a destination
ThinkGeek




  4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701
  Montréal QC H2W 2R2
                                         27
Social Signals




                 28
Social Signals
Where do they belong – Where don’t they belong?
The most shareable pages on an e-commerce site are the PRODUCT PAGES


  While category and subcategory pages might be the most tempting pages
  to rank, they are the least shareable e-Commerce pages




    4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701
    Montréal QC H2W 2R2
                                                                          29
Social Signals
Maximizing social signals
The products themselves can be interesting but the way to maximize
your pages shareability is by having:


 •   Unique content
 •   Reviews / Ratings
 •   Unique and high quality images
 •   Unique videos




     4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701
     Montréal QC H2W 2R2
                                                                     30
Thank you




            31

Maximizing ROI in eCommerce with Search

  • 1.
    Maximizing ROI ine-Commerce with Search June 12th, presented by Guillaume Bouchard
  • 2.
    Table of Content • Choosing the right e-Commerce platform • E-Commerce sites: 2009 vs. 2012 • IP geolocation & browser language detection • Rich snippets • Mobile e-Commerce • e-Commerce site as a destination • Social signals 4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701 Montréal QC H2W 2R2 2
  • 3.
    Choosing the righte-Commerce platform 3
  • 4.
    Choosing the righte-Commerce platform What to look for? • Proper handling of product images • Manual control of Head and Meta titles (at the page level) • Possibility to program dynamic title tags / meta description • Product review system • Segmented sitemaps (Video, Images, Text, Mobile) • 301 redirects and URL rewriting capabilities • Site speed • Breadcrumb navigation • Upon deleting any pages, offer rules to keep acquired weight (link juice) 4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701 Montréal QC H2W 2R2 4
  • 5.
    Choosing the righte-Commerce platform Magento vs Shopify 4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701 Montréal QC H2W 2R2 5
  • 6.
    Choosing the righte-Commerce platform Magento vs Shopify MAGENTO SHOPIFY Self-hosted solution (PHP / Hosted by Shopify (SaaS) mySQL) Open source Shop owner doesn’t have access to source code Unlimited customization Core functionality cannot be modified Design is highly flexible Design is highly flexible Tech support is not cheap Tech support is included Suited for companies with highly Suited for companies without skilled PHP programmers PHP programmers available 4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701 Montréal QC H2W 2R2 6
  • 7.
  • 8.
    E-Commerce sites: 2009vs. 2012 Focus on the product page 4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701 Montréal QC H2W 2R2 8
  • 9.
    E-commerce sites: 2009vs. 2012 • Low-res product images • Alt Tags are not optimized • Duplicate content from manufacturer’s website • No sharing buttons or comments section • Poor product descriptions • Poor user experience • External links with same anchor text pointing only to category/subcategories 4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701 Montréal QC H2W 2R2 9
  • 10.
    E-commerce sites: 2009vs. 2012 • Multiple images • Alt Tags are optimized • Unique content • Sharing buttons & FB comments • Fun product descriptions • Great overall UX • Natural linkgraph, juicy links acquired via a blog or high quality content pages 4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701 Montréal QC H2W 2R2 10
  • 11.
  • 12.
    IP Geolocation Why? IP geolocationallows you to detect where a visitor is located and tailor their experience to their geographical needs. • Global navigation (avoiding the country selector landing page) • Offer and product localization (geographically-specific) • Experience optimization (based on internet connection type) • Multi channel (avoiding steps to find closest store, lookup store inventory) • Checkout optimization • Fraud prevention 4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701 Montréal QC H2W 2R2 12
  • 13.
    Browser language detection Whatabout language on multilingual sites? • Identify the primary language of users visiting your site from each country and province • If the majority of visitors from a province are French, have an browser language detection to bring visitors from that province to your French landing page by default (if their browser is in French) • A cookie would be stored that would remember the user’s choice and still allow them to change their language preference 4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701 Montréal QC H2W 2R2 13
  • 14.
  • 15.
    Rich Snippets Use richsnippets to sell directly from SERPs Rich snippets allow e-commerce sites to markup their HTML and content so Google can enhance the snippets displayed in the SERPs What types of e-commerce content are supported? • Product Reviews/Ratings • Product Images • Product Prices • Product Availability 4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701 Montréal QC H2W 2R2 15
  • 16.
    Rich Snippets How toimplement rich snippets 1) Selecting a markup format: 2) Mark up your products • Microdata • Microformats 3) Use Google’s rich snippet testing tool to ensure your marked-up data is • RDFa properly formatted and appearing • hProduct Note: while any of the three markup formats can be used, Google recommends using HTML5 Microdata 4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701 Montréal QC H2W 2R2 16
  • 17.
    Rich Snippets The outcome • Rich snippets allow you to attract potential buyers while they are searching for products on Google • They increase the CTR from organic SERPs • They are a visual way for businesses to display their products, prices and reviews quickly 4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701 Montréal QC H2W 2R2 17
  • 18.
    hProduct Visual display ofproduct page using hProduct 4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701 Montréal QC H2W 2R2 18
  • 19.
  • 20.
    Optimize your e-Commercesite for Mobile Mobile usage in numbers (North America) • 8M (40%) Canadians own a Smartphone • 5% of Canadians own a tablet (of which 88% are satisfied) • In the U.S., an estimated 77% of tablet users use it daily for about 90 minutes • Mobile traffic is projected to surpass desktop traffic by 2015 4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701 Montréal QC H2W 2R2 20
  • 21.
    Optimize your e-Commercesite for Mobile M-Commerce 2012 • In the absence of a mobile app, your products and e-Commerce site MUST be accessible by any type of mobile device • Ergonomics of the tablet facilitates payment for products with a longer buying process (i.e. Travel) • Smartphones as payment terminals will help facilitate the purchase of products with shorter buying process (i.e. event tickets, books, music) • Mobility of smartphones coupled with geolocation can help you attract consumers to your stores (i.e. location-based coupons, deals and discounts) 4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701 Montréal QC H2W 2R2 21
  • 22.
    Optimize your e-Commercesite for Mobile Make your e-Commerce site mobile-friendly For smartphones • Mobile subdomain • Make content visually appealing for limited screen viewing (CSS) • Avoid using Flash, Java, Ajax and Frames • Test your site with W3C mobileOK and on multiple devices/browsers • A mobile e-Commerce app gives you a competitive edge 4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701 Montréal QC H2W 2R2 22
  • 23.
    Optimize your e-Commercesite for Mobile Make your e-Commerce site mobile-friendly For tablets • Change CSS so your site is optimized for tablet viewing • Limit the amount of scrolling required (use Previous and Next) • Optimize checkout process by using cookies, postal codes and Paypal • Make it touchable – HTML5 and CSS3 • 5 viewing angles: vertical and landscape (in mobile & tablet) and desktop • Testing • A tablet app is recommended (though it’s not picked up in organic SERPs) 4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701 Montréal QC H2W 2R2 23
  • 24.
    E-Commerce site asa Destination
  • 25.
    E-Commerce site asa destination No longer just a product catalog • E-commerce sites are no longer just product catalog websites where optimization requires aggressive category/product page linkbuilding • The 2012 e-Commerce site must offer users something unique that competitors cannot offer (unique selling proposition) – something that provides users with a reason to keep coming back. • Push vs. Pull Strategy… 4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701 Montréal QC H2W 2R2 25
  • 26.
    E-Commerce site asa destination RONA 4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701 Montréal QC H2W 2R2 26
  • 27.
    E-Commerce site asa destination ThinkGeek 4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701 Montréal QC H2W 2R2 27
  • 28.
  • 29.
    Social Signals Where dothey belong – Where don’t they belong? The most shareable pages on an e-commerce site are the PRODUCT PAGES While category and subcategory pages might be the most tempting pages to rank, they are the least shareable e-Commerce pages 4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701 Montréal QC H2W 2R2 29
  • 30.
    Social Signals Maximizing socialsignals The products themselves can be interesting but the way to maximize your pages shareability is by having: • Unique content • Reviews / Ratings • Unique and high quality images • Unique videos 4200, boul. Saint-Laurent, Suite 701 Montréal QC H2W 2R2 30
  • 31.

Editor's Notes

  • #5 Images = a lot of eCommerce platforms don't provide the necessary control and commit a lot of SEO missteps (like generating a new URL when the product images are cycled)Sitemaps = monitors indexation of different sections of your website
  • #7 Magento =
  • #9 Limit bounce rate by focusing on optimizing your kw research and usability of the siteLimit abandonment of shopping cart by keeping cart active until next visit, add customer service #, propose tracking control, fast conversion funnelLimit page load time by minimizing the weight of images and Flash animations (bad for SEO)
  • #10 SEO was concerned with first page in SERPs for its category pages and main products, diverse and high quality backlink profile, optimized page elementsSocial was concerned with optimization of content to get links on platforms such as Digg, StumbleUponThese tactics are no longer the winning ingredient – creativity and uniqueness are required to stand out from the competition
  • #11 This page alone has 515 links from 13 different root domainsProduct page is engaging = allowing customers to submit pictures of them using/wearing products, allows sharing/commentingImproving your product page = improving sales and user experience (retention strategy)It can be a challenge in terms of cost but it’s more than worth the effortAn e-commerce site with optimized product pages that are esthetically-pleasing and user-friendly can generate more conversions
  • #13 Global navigation = country selector landing page creates a barrier to entry for the customer (and annoys search engine spiders)Offer/Product localization = site can promote winter products to Northeast US shoppers and summer products to Florida/Southwest shoppersExperience optimization = optimize your site by connection type (i.e. mobile connections = mobile store or slow connections = low res site version)Multi channel = the site already knows where the shopper is browsing from so it can find the closest store without shopper having to enter infoCheckout optimization = pre-populate fields (i.e. country, province/state, postal code/zip code, shipping and tax estimators)Fraud prevention = compare the location of the shopper’s IP address to their provided credit card billing address and shipping address
  • #14 No matter what method of language or country detection you choose, the key is to make sure that it is not only user friendly but accommodating to spiders.
  • #17 When Google discovers the new markup on your e-commerce site, it will begin reading the tags and displaying rich snippets for your site within the SERPs
  • #19 Hproduct = root class nameBrand = brand nameCategory = product category namePrice = priceDescription = product descriptionFn = product text name (Gordon Ramsay’s Fast Food Recipes from the F Word)Photo = product photourl = product page urlReview = product reviewshttp://jay.beweep.com/2009/05/14/hproduct-example-of-the-day-gordon-ramsay/
  • #21 Source: 8M Canadians = Comscore (sept 2011)Source: 5% Canadians (tablets) = CWTA and the Media Technology Monitor (dec 2011)Source: 77% US Tablet Users = http://s3.amazonaws.com/files.posterous.com/deepend/KA43IXPa27TRHmHZ6CGNlkUr17KVNGJ4vIApMPUTSaQQEdM9K1Ma1Cw89JOf/image003.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJFZAE65UYRT34AOQ&Expires=1330627677&Signature=PVAatwAj3wRvpWEKyO6gvQGw3KA%3DSource: mobile traffic 2015 = http://www.slideshare.net/fred.zimny/morgan-staneley-internet-trends-ri041210Table with % in mobile (source comscore US/CAN feb 2012): http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2012/7236/key-mobile-marketing-stats-and-trends-for-2012
  • #22 A shopper or searcher on a smartphone has markedly different needs and motivations than their counterpart who uses a tablet.
  • #23 Mobile subdomain = Having one distinct mobile URL keeps your mobile optimization from interfering with your classic optimization (keeping the same experience on the small screen), and allows the GoogleBot Mobile to visit and index the mobile version for mobile searches.Content = Reduce the image sizes and ensure fonts and content are simple enough to quickly scan and understand.Mobile app = keeps your customers from browsing the web and looking at your competition; instead it places them directly in your virtual store via your app.
  • #24 Change CSS for tablet viewing = limits duplicate contentHTML5 and CSS3 = to create scrolling and horizontal navigation – to put all content on one pageTablet app = connects your products to the instant consumer in one tap. Apps easily store all your information in one place and remove the annoyance of waiting for a page to load. They also make the paying experience more enjoyable.
  • #27 Rona created a resource for customers to plan and execute their own home renovation projectsRona provides the information and tools to manage your own project from the planning stages to the building stages
  • #28 ThinkGeek runs contests that encourage their shoppers to submit photos of themselves using/wearing their products (winners are published on the product pages of the products they used)
  • #30 Within the product page, the social sharing buttons should not distract the user from completing a purchase