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Simply put, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) attempts to increase the visibility of a given website in search engines and enhance its value to visitors through page design, consistent tagging and focusing content on core keywords. According to Wikipedia, “In 2007 Search Engine Marketing is stronger than ever with SEM Budgets up 750% as shown with stats dating back to 2002 vs 2006.”

There’s been a lot of talk about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) throughout the years. The term “Search Engine Marketing” was only coined in 2001, but already SEO has become a major component of any successful e-commerce operator. There have been many different techniques that have been used over the years, some have held fast while others have fallen far from grace (remember keywords the same color as the background?). One technique that has stood the test of time: an SEO plan.

One Page at a Time - To help with your SEO plan, here are a few things that you should consider. First, focus in on one page at a time. I’ve found many store owners who will spend the majority of their time concentrating on getting their item pages ranked for general terms. That’s not a terrible strategy and will work for some keywords and products, but it’s not a strategy that you want to use for every product on your store.

General terms are actually more effective for section pages than item pages. For instance, if you were looking for an office chair, a general term (e.g. “office chair”) would get you to the section page with office furniture. Once the shopper is on the section page, then you can be more specific to lead them to item pages. At this point the key word changes from the general “office chair” to something more specific, like “Office Max Leather Office Chair.”

Choose Your Words Carefully - After choosing which page you want to start with, spend some time trying to figure out which keyword or keyword phrase you want to optimize for. This is your landing page. It’s important that you focus in on one keyword to maximize the effectiveness of this page. When I mention effective keywords, I’m talking about keywords that convert.

Get in the habit now in using conversion rates to determine the effectiveness of your marketing, whether it’s SEO, PPC, E-Mail or other.

Let’s look at your website now. When adding your keyword to your page, you want to optimize your Title Tag, Meta Description, H1 Tag (Page Name), Links and of course the Content. You want to provide relevant, focused, and detailed information about the specific product or category, working in your keyword here or there. Don’t over-do it. Instead, use it sparingly, or more importantly, naturally.

Content is King. The phrase might seem over-used in blogs, books and seminars, and for good reason. It’s true! Content doesn’t just improve your SEO rankings; it also helps improve your conversions as well.

Once your text has been optimized with your keywords, you’ll want to determine the best call to action. If you’re driving people directly to an item page, you’ll want your content to drive people towards the call to action, or in this instance the Add to Cart button. If your driving people to a section page, then you’ll want to drive people towards your most profitable product(s) in the category.

And this is the point in which you sit back and watch the orders come streaming in. Ok, that’s enough sitting! It’s time to start working on the next page. In reality, SEO is a lot of work. But done right, you can reap some healthy rewards.

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By: Kurt Illian kurti@ebizinsider.com

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