Google Base – SEO Through Products Part 3
Feb 3, 2010 Base
Google Base – SEO Through Products Part 3
Last post I talked about descriptions and their impact on SEO. This post I will be touching on the importance of Images.
Images are very important. Many people are visually stimulated and wont trust things until they see for themselves. This is were images make or break your conversions. Seeing is believing and believing brings home the bacon.
Since we have the image for the product available, now we must optimize its presence.
The file size and image dimensions are discretionary on your part. The larger file size will make it harder for others with slower internet speeds to quickly access your information, but you do not want a granulated image that blurs the image. So, find a good medium and go with that. I use a simple formula when I edit images, most people have 1MB or faster connections speeds these days, so I try and keep the images equal too or no more than 2x the speed of the average viewer. Not a scientific method but it works for me.
Dimensions are all dependent on the site you are working on. I use the Magento Commerce Shopping Cart Engine so I can change things as i need to fit the design. Most common sizes I run with are 100px x 100px for thumbnails, 300px x 300px for product page displays and the largest being for detailed photos are 600px x 600px.
The alt tag often gets over looked or omitted. This defines what the image is displaying. So, make it short and simple. If the image displays a #2 Lead Pencil then the alt tag should mirror this. Google asks for descriptive text around images to better display the page to the crawlers. Google’s bots have the same limitations that blind individuals do, they cannot see images. Lets not forget… when Google wants something you best be doing it!
Image placement is important. It for the most part will be the selling point for any sales done on an e-commerce site. The image should be the first thing that is seen when the product is displayed. I like the flow for the customer to be along these lines:
1. Category page shows the product thumbnail above the product name below.
2. Product page displays the larger product image above the description for the product and left of the price, add to cart button or any other purchase information.
3. Detail image is the focus when expanded. Easily done with some Java script.
Image galleries are nice as well. Different angles, settings, lighting among others can spur the imagination of the buyer or lead them to another more profitable version of the product after seeing the details of another variant of the product. The more you can provide to the customer the more comfortable they are with purchasing from you.
This will ensure the customer that what they are seeing is what they are going to get. Projecting confidence is key with an online business. If the images are terrible and don’t appear to be accurate then the confidence of the user is lost and nothing is purchased.
Tags: Google, Google Base, images
Google Base – SEO Through Products Part 2
Nov 6, 2009 Base
Google Base – SEO Through Products Part 2
Descriptions on the internet are tough. Its a large place and duplicate content will more than likely happen, especially when it comes to products. When you are adding new product descriptions always view the product from the perspective of the consumer. If they are looking for a particular widget with “x” feature, you will want to show them that your particular widget product has “x” feature. Being as descriptive as possible and not overwhelming the customer is key. The description may have to be long to cover the essentials, just format the information correctly for easy left to right reading. Stay away from a large wall of text that is unattractive and hard to read.
If you must list are large amount of information make sure that you have a short overview of the features in a list order setup or another layout to show the highlights for the product. This is crucial. Customers have very short attention spans so after they read a lengthy description you do not want them to have to go back through the description to find key information. List it for them and make it easier for them to make a decision.
An example of long lists of information are technical documents. These aren’t very SEO friendly usually. What I like to do is summarize the technical document and then link the original document in a pop up window so the customer doesn’t lose the product page. Taking the most relevant easily read elements of the document and placing those in the description and allowing the consumer to choose to read the entire document if they are looking for more in-depth information by clicking the pop up window hyperlink. I have seen huge shifts in product visibility doing this.
Another thing I have found to work effectively is to list the Product Name start as the header of the description. It links the Product page to the products name to the product description and from what I assume makes it easier for the Google bot to understand what is going on for that entire page.
Next post will cover images and how they make or break a customers decision to purchase a product.
Tags: Base, descriptions, Google
Google Base – SEO Through Products Part 1
Oct 29, 2009 Base
Google Base – SEO Through Products Part 1
This will touch on product names. The importance of the product name is paramount. It is the backbone of the data feed.
The product name needs to be solid. It needs to be friendly to search engines. The best way to do this is keeping them short and simple. Truncate unneeded symbols and descriptive elements that will look like spam and shy away customers.
Shorter product names are good for catching the customers eye. If they are looking for “Widget X” and your product name is “Widget X” they are more likely to venture to your listing as opposed to “X Widget” because of the name match, thus, leading them to your well written descriptions for the product which we will talk about more in Google Base – SEO Through Products Part 2.
So, a few guidelines to keep in mind when adding the product name.
Stay under 50 characters for the name. Search engines truncate after a certain amount of characters. Name the product what it is, but allow the name to entice the customer to find out more.
Do some research and see what people are searching for. If they are typing something similar tweak your product name to match what they are searching for. Refer to the “Widget X” example in the third paragraph.
Tags: Google, Google Base, product names, products
Google Base – SEO Through Products
Oct 28, 2009 Base
Google Base is a tool that I use to quickly let the google search engine know what products are available to the public on sites that I manage.
While Google Base is an excellent tool for addition SEO for your site, understand that it is not the end all of SEO tools and methods, but it can accompany your overall strategy for driving traffic.
I have been using Base for nearly 2 years now and have see it grow significantly from a very ugly and simplistic UI to an integrated and user friendly web application.
I will be explaining some of the uses for Google Base and how you can tweak and alter your products to increase data feed success as well as improve product API.
Tags: Base, Google, Google Base