eCommerce: SEO in 2009
Focus on the long tail is more important for eCommerce retailers than ever in 2009
Google is incorporating personalisation and location factors into search. This will mean that Google will deliver different search results for different people. So you may appear number one for some people but not others.
This has real implications for SEO. In a nutshell it means that SEOs will find it harder to prove success by getting search results in the top 10. Measurement will move towards traffic and conversions rathers than placement.
But this doesnt mean that the principles of SEO will change. Good practise in SEO is to target those people who are more likely to buy. And research has shown that the long tail not short tail approach is the right one.
So, why is it that focussing on long tail search terms (those more specific search phrases), is better than expending energy on trophy phrases (those one or two word high traffic phrases that everyone wants)? Well it's because browsers are getting closer to their goal, therefore your site will be more relevant for them and subsequently sales conversions will be higher.
Chief Google spokesman on SEO Matt Cutts said:
"We always say don’t just chase after a trophy phrase. There are so many people who think if I ranked number one for my trophy phase I win or my life will be good. When, in fact, numerous people demonstrated that if you chase after the long tail and make a good site that can match many, many different users’ queries you might end up with more traffic than if you had that trophy phrase. So already the smart SEO, looking down the road, sees that it’s not just the head of the tail, it’s the long part of the tail."
The advice for retailers wanting to improve their eCommerce performance in 2009 is to focus on the long tail and measure visitors and conversions, not how high the rankings are for a few trophy phrases.
This has real implications for SEO. In a nutshell it means that SEOs will find it harder to prove success by getting search results in the top 10. Measurement will move towards traffic and conversions rathers than placement.
But this doesnt mean that the principles of SEO will change. Good practise in SEO is to target those people who are more likely to buy. And research has shown that the long tail not short tail approach is the right one.
So, why is it that focussing on long tail search terms (those more specific search phrases), is better than expending energy on trophy phrases (those one or two word high traffic phrases that everyone wants)? Well it's because browsers are getting closer to their goal, therefore your site will be more relevant for them and subsequently sales conversions will be higher.
Chief Google spokesman on SEO Matt Cutts said:
"We always say don’t just chase after a trophy phrase. There are so many people who think if I ranked number one for my trophy phase I win or my life will be good. When, in fact, numerous people demonstrated that if you chase after the long tail and make a good site that can match many, many different users’ queries you might end up with more traffic than if you had that trophy phrase. So already the smart SEO, looking down the road, sees that it’s not just the head of the tail, it’s the long part of the tail."
The advice for retailers wanting to improve their eCommerce performance in 2009 is to focus on the long tail and measure visitors and conversions, not how high the rankings are for a few trophy phrases.
