Spring 2009 – Online Insights: SEO

Enter Here—Welcome to the Product Page!

By Robert Chea

Many online merchants have recognized the product page as the hub of e-commerce. It’s the chief merchandizing officer of the online store, the chief marketing officer and the face of the store, as well. So it’s no surprise that we’ve focused on leveraging customer reviews to increase the SEO power of the product page.

The problem, however, was that until recently, the content from third-party review solutions was invisible to search engines. The Software as a Service (SaaS) review solutions are typically delivered via Javascript, which makes integration simple, but renders reviews invisible to search engines. To compensate, SaaS providers create separate review landing pages or microsites. Unfortunately, these separate pages experience significant bounce (drop-off) and compete with your product pages for SEO ranking.

However, the latest SaaS solutions have solved this problem, allowing review content to be fully indexed on the product page—combining the simplicity of Javascript and the remarkable SEO power of customer reviews.

Landing Pages Versus Consolidating SEO

When it comes to organic search traffic, review landing pages cannot substitute for rich and detailed product information pages with optimized merchandizing copy, detailed specifications, multiple-view images, pricing and promotions. In our analysis of retail sites, we have typically seen landing page bounce rates in excess of 50 percent, resulting in the loss of hard-won search traffic.

Because consumers are increasingly using search to find products, the product page, with its rich detail and high relevance, is becoming the primary entry point on retail and brand sites. Leveraging this consumer trend, companies now have the opportunity to drive significantly higher traffic from search engines and make the best impression when they arrive, by consolidating SEO power and merchandizing power at this key point of entry. The ability to unlock customer review content for SEO purposes makes customer reviews dramatically more valuable to the retailer or brand, given the significant merchandizing value reviews have already been proven to provide.

By utilizing the latest SaaS review solutions, merchants have measured dramatic improvements in their SEO results, including: increased keyword density for product names and terms, increased keyword breadth for long-tail terms, increased search engine indexing because of frequently changing content and increased SEO-driven sales because of the depth of product information.

Retailers and brands have embraced SaaS-based review solutions because of their sales uplift power and ease of management. However, they have largely been forced to choose between reviews that are invisible to search engines or separate review-only landing pages that cannot deliver the full SEO value of reviews. The new SEO-friendly review solutions allow retailers and brands to have their cake and eat it, too.

Robert Chea is COO and co-founder of PowerReviews. Its In-Line SEO product obviates the need for separate landing pages and helps drive organic search traffic directly to product pages where it results in the highest lift in sales. Contact him at robert@powerreviews.com.