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Tuesday afternoon’s “So You Think Your Site Can Dance? SEO vs. Branding and Conversation” session gave retailers a chance to hear a brief — and very honest — analysis of what mistakes they’re making in terms of SEO and conversation. Eight By Eight‘s Amy Africa and Netconcepts‘ Stephan Spencer provided the expertise to audience participants, who offered up Mrs. Beasleys, Tommy Bahama and Urban Outfitters, among others, for public analysis.
The critiques ranged depending on the site, but Africa and Spencer offered some good tips that all retailers should consider.
- Keep track of the top failed searches performed on your site. This data is invaluable.
- Prominently feature “Buy now” and/or “Shopping Cart” several times on each product page for visibility.
- Keep the navigation consistent from page to page. Consumers like online stores to stay similar — like going to a grocery store, where products are universally in the same places.
- Beware of splash pages. They often do not contain enough content for search engines.
- Pay attention to your pagination. How many products do you show on each page? How many pages are shown in the navigation? These decisions affect where your site gets ranked in search.
The packed session was filled with retailers volunteering their Web sites for Africa and Spencer’s no-holds-barred approach, which was at times humorous and humbling, but always informative.
