According to Nielsen net ratings, every month, about half of all search engine queries are unique. This statistic, although vague and seemingly insignificant, is actually the greatest factor behind why eCommerce Soltuions fare so well in search. We interpret the statistic like this: Half of all searches cannot be predicted, the other half can be. Great. So what does that have to do with eCommerce?

The reason why eCommerce and SEO are better for each other than Forrest was for Jenny is due to the massive amount of content contained within the average eCommerce solution and that content’s ability to target both predictable and unpredictable (long-tail) search phrases. eCommerce solutions have a major advantage over any other database driven site for a number of reasons.

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Abundant Content: Unlike a blog, article directory or content managed site, thousands of search engine friendly pages can be literally uploed and indexed by the search engines.

Easy Unique Content: A product or category page needs a few tech specs and a brief description. As long as that content is unique to the site, a webmaster can litter the search engines with products and categories. The time it would take for a blog or content managed site to reach that same level using unique content is staggering.

Targeting the Predictable & Unpredictable: Category pages can be targeted for predictable searches like “red widgets.” Product pages can capture the unpredictable ones like “red widgets with tassels”(provided they contain keyword-rich descriptions). So how can you make the most of your eCommerce solution in the search engines? As promised here is a list of 25 general tips. Most Importantly:

Pick the right solution: Get an eCommerce provider that allows you to do everything we mention in this list. And hey, what do you know? Bridgeline’s eCommerce Solution lets you do all of this… Crazy how that works out, no?

Onsite eCommerce Optimization Tips

Unique title tags: The content contained within should not be repeated verbatim within the site.

Put your site name after the product or category name in the title tag: Use your site to Brand, use your search engine listing to get clicks.

Unique meta data: Take the time to make your meta data (description & keywords) unique for each page. Obviously, that can be tricky if you have 10,000 skus, so try and get your developer to populate that area with the product description.

Use H1 tags: And put your keywords in them. Go to your source. Search for ‘

Use more than manufacturer data: If your product pages only contain the specs and descriptions that your manufacturer provides, the search engines will lump that product page together with the hundreds of other ones out there with the same specs and descriptions, meaning it won’t find its way into the search engine result pages (SERPS).

Take the time to add unique copy to your product and category pages

Link to other products and categories from that copy

Use alt tags: I know. I heard too. They’re useless. Use them anyway. SEO is about a conglomeration of variables, not a single supreme one.

Have a clear category tree: Search engines like that.

Use a search engine friendly navigation: Text links are best. Don’t like text and want to use images? Make sure you use alt tags. Using flash or doing postbacks? Stop that!

Create an XML based sitemap and put it in Google webmaster tools

Offsite eCommerce Optimization (Link Building) Tips

Link building is incredibly difficult for eCommerce sites because no one wants to link to your drop shipping site when they can link to the real thing or Target.com. Here is what you need to know:

Build domain authority: Domain authority is basically a measure of the number of high quality sites linking to yours. The more the better. So how do you get those?

Buy them: The quickest, easiest way to get Domain authority is to buy it at Text-Link-Ads.com. Unfortunately, it ain’t cheap.

Take your nique products and promote them in the online community: Get out into the online community, target some top bloggers in or around your industry and try to get them talking about your unique product. Again, this doesn’t really work for drop shippers because no one is going to link to your site when there are more reputable ones out there to link to so…

Put Something On Your site worth linking to: Compile a great list of resources, make how-to videos, develop a calculator, or other custom tool. If your products aren’t unique and link-friendly, you’ll need some site content that is.

Submit to directories: If you go to the forums they’ll tell you to submit to hundreds or thousands of directories. Don’t. Those are not high quality links, they don’t transmit domain authority, and they’ll only waste your time… What you need to do is find lists that bloggers or independent webmasters have made. If you must, submit to the directories, but be certain they are specific to your industry.

Submit articles: Again, the forums will tell you to submit as many articles as humanly possible. What I’m telling you is this:

o Write 3-5 quality articles on topics that people are talking about in your industry (like what I’m doing here).

o Submit the articles to a bunch of article directories.

o Link to those articles from your homepage.

o Link to your homepage from those articles

o Link Sculpt: Place a nofollow tag on any link that doesn’t point back to your homepage.

o Go to relevant blogs and forums where topics pertaining to those articles are being discussed, and drop links back to them.

Link exchanges: Despite popular opinion, still work… just don’t go overboard.

Deep link: Meaning, repeat 1-6 for your major categories.

Buy blog reviews: Go to sponsoredreviews.com or payperpost.com and buy some reviews from RELEVANT bloggers and point them back at your category or product pages. You’ll see a boost. It won’t last forever, but it will leave you in better standing than you were in to begin.

Answer questions on forums: And link back to your site in the signature

Outsource to India: There are plenty of Indians looking to make a buck on forums like Digital Point. They’ll generally do everything that I just mentioned from 1-10 and they’ll do it for cheap

Before you start creating your own business blog it doesn’t hurt to check out what the competition is doing. This is not only a form of market research that allows you to see what readers might be interested in, it is also a way of preventing yourself from making the same mistakes as your competitor.

However the main reason to check out your competitor’s site is to see if you are mining from the same informational sources. It is a good idea to make your content as different from your competition’s as possible and to take cues from what your competitor is doing that works to make your own blog more successful.

A competition’s blog can also be a valuable source of PR for you. Every time you enter a comment on your competitor’s blog you can add a link back to your blogging site. This ensures that you are placing yet another link to your blog in a place where it is sure to be appreciated by interested visitors.

Bloggers love comments because readers who are engaged in a discussion in the comments section will return to a page again and again. Some popular blogs have hundreds of comments on some entries, and for every commenter you can be sure there are dozens who are following along but who do not care for whatever reason to get involved in the discussion. Comment areas will usually allow you to enter your email address and blog address in addition to your name, so for every comment you make, you’re insuring that another link to your blog is placed in front of people who might be interested in what you have to say.

However before you leave any kind of spam or negative commentary remember that your competitor may do the same to you on your blog. Ultimately this just makes both blog businesses look bad.