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SEO

Our huge library of search engine optimization articles addresses strategies and tactics for ecommerce businesses. Our 12-part “How-to” series explains the basics. Advanced topics include faceted navigation, crawling and indexing, cross-border optimization, and much more.

Keyword Research | Link Building | On-page SEO | SEO Tools | Technical SEO
  • Technical SEO

    The PEC Review: Online Image Optimizer Speeds Load Times

    July 26, 2010 •

    A slow-loading retail site is akin to the store clerk who ignores you in a brick-and-mortar shop. On a recent trip, I stopped at a small antique store. My wife and I entered the store, walked around for about 20 minutes, examined dozens of items, and never once during the entire experi...

  • SEO

    SEO Report Card: Woot.com

    July 23, 2010 •

    For this month’s “SEO Report Card,” I thought I would do something different and review a site that didn’t request it. The site I chose, Woot.com, is near and dear ...

  • Keyword Research

    SEO: Keyword Research and Analysis

    June 22, 2010 •

    Editor’s Note: is a contributor to Practical eCommerce and the owner of BillHartzer.com, a Dallas-based online marketing firm. Hartzer wrote the article, below, which first appeared in that company’s blog. Keyword research is one of the most important parts of online marketing. Somet...

  • SEO

    SEO Report Card: United States Golf Association, Photo Store Website

    June 16, 2010 •

    This month in “SEO Report Card,” I’ll be reviewing the photo store for the United States Golf Association Museum website. This was at the request of Robert Sabin, the president ...

  • Technical SEO

    Google Changes Search-Results Page, How Merchants Can Benefit

    May 25, 2010 •

    Google has made some major changes to its search results recently, adding more options for searchers. These are not changes to search algorithms, which determine the websites that show up, and where. Rather, the new changes give searchers options that allow them to tailor the type of s...

  • Technical SEO

    The PEC Review: Speedtest.net

    May 17, 2010 •

    Most ecommerce merchants are digital natives, spending hours each day online, managing orders, marketing, or just staying ahead of the competition. When so much of your working day is spent on the Internet, even modest changes in upload and download speeds can have a major impact on pr...

  • Technical SEO

    SEO MAYDAY: Analyzing the Impact of Algorithmic Changes

    May 13, 2010 •

    Google makes periodic adjustments to its algorithm that determines organic search results. It likely does this each day, using small adjustments, to avoid large-scale mayhem that infrequent adjustments would presumably cause. Recently, however, many SEO professionals have detected dram...

  • SEO

    SEO Report Card: Springbok-Puzzles.com

    May 10, 2010 •

    In this installment of "SEO Report Card," we'll be looking at Springbok-Puzzles.com. Springbok is a well-known brand among jigsaw puzzle aficionados. Allied Products is behind the Springbok Puzzles brand, having acquired the rights in 2002 from Hallmark, who used to sell the brand exclu...

  • On-page SEO

    The PEC Review: Page Speed

    May 10, 2010 •

    Site performance or speed is a key factor in improving sales conversions. How quickly your website loads may be the difference between making a sale or losing a potential customer. For example, 52 percent of respondents to a 2009 study from Akamai and Forrester Research said that page ...

  • Link Building

    Combine Search Engines and Social Media for Link Building

    April 27, 2010 •

    I recently spoke at an Internet marketing conference about that state of search engine optimization in 2010. One of the points that I made during the presentation is that search engines and social media networks are converging. In 2010, if you want to rank well in the search engines, yo...

  • On-page SEO

    Search Engine Optimization in 2010: What You Need to Know Now

    April 21, 2010 •

    Editor’s Note: is a contributor to Practical eCommerce and the owner of BillHartzer.com, a Dallas-based online marketing firm. Hartzer wrote the article, below, which first appeared in that company’s blog. If you want to use search engine optimization best practices, or want to get u...

  • Technical SEO

    SEO: Google Ranks Site Speed, Too

    April 19, 2010 •

    In its continuing quest to provide searchers with the best possible search experience, Google announced last week that site speed is now a signal in its search ranking algorithms. Along with the hundreds of other signals, like link popularity and keyword relevance, Google is now factori...

  • Technical SEO

    Search Engine Optimization Overkill

    March 31, 2010 •

    Editor’s Note: is a contributor to Practical eCommerce and the owner of BillHartzer.com, a Dallas-based online marketing firm. Hartzer wrote the article, below, which first appeared on his website, BillHartzer.com. Are you using search engine optimization tactics that lead to overkil...

  • Keyword Research

    Test: Mobile Search Results For Popular Retail-Shopping Keywords

    March 25, 2010 •

    The number of mobile users is increasing at a far greater rate, it seems, than the number of mobile sites. But some merchants have already begun reacting to the mobile web by optimizing their sites for these devices. In order to get a feel for the current status of the mobile ecommerc...

  • SEO

    SEO Report Card: Hybrid-racing.com Combines WordPress, Magento

    March 23, 2010 •

    The co-owner of Hybrid-racing.com, Will Davidson, requested a search-engine-optimization site review. I'm happy to oblige. The first thing that struck me was that WordPress was the main "wrapper" for the site, powering the home page, tech articles, gallery, blog, and product informatio...

  • SEO Tools

    Google Product Search: Creating a Data Feed

    March 17, 2010 •

    Editor's Note: This is our monthly installment of "Everything Google," a feature on products and services from Google that can help ecommerce merchants. The author is Bill Hartzer, the owner of BillHartzer.com, a SEO, pay-per-click and ecommerce consulting firm in Dallas. Google Produ...

  • Link Building

    SEO: Link Bait Can Increase Rankings

    February 17, 2010 •

    Link bait is the practice of creating useful or compelling content that will lure links naturally to a website. It’s fun, it’s trendy, and it can produce very big search-engine-optimization results. Contrary to most interactive marketing goals, link bait’s primary goal is increasing t...

  • SEO

    SEO Report Card: Juggle.com “Not a Traditional eCommerce Site”

    February 11, 2010 •

    I'm proud to say that this is my first report card as a vice president of Covario. The company I founded in 1995, Netconcepts, was acquired last month by Covario, a search-engine-marketing and search-engine-optimization software and services company for large online retailers. This mon...

  • Keyword Research

    Ask an Expert: How to Get Better Search Rankings for Major Keywords

    February 8, 2010 •

    "Ask an Expert" is an occasional feature where we ask ecommerce experts questions from online merchants. For this installment, we address a question about ranking on search engines for major keywords. It comes from Jeramie Westbay, owner operator for Crazy Ed's Roadkill, an online store...

  • Technical SEO

    Ask An Expert: How to Redirect URLs Without Losing Link Juice

    January 21, 2010 •

    "Ask an Expert" is an occasional feature where we ask ecommerce experts questions from online merchants. For this installment, we address a question about redirecting users from old URLs to new ones. It comes from Brian Rogers, web merchandising manager for 511 Tactical, an online (and ...

  • SEO

    Stalking Competitors’ SEO Tactics

    January 20, 2010 •

    Despite my contention that Internet marketers need to stop obsessing about rankings, an examination of the SEO tactics of competitors that outrank your site can be extremely enlightening. Stalking a competitor's SEO tactics can uncover content optimization and link building opportunitie...

  • Link Building

    SEO: Remember LinkedIn for Inbound Links

    December 23, 2009 •

    Editor’s Note: Bill Hartzer is a contributor to Practical eCommerce and manager of search engine optimization and social media marketing with VizionInteractive, a Dallas-based online marketing firm. Hartzer wrote the article, below, which first appeared in that company’s blog. Inbound...

  • SEO

    SEO Report Card: BabyGiftIdea.com

    December 17, 2009 •

    For this month, I am reviewing BabyGiftIdea.com, at co-owner Pat Laws' request. Pat and her husband bought the business from the original owner in May 2008. The site has been online for about nine years, so it definitely has some history and credibility in the eyes of Google. Pat shar...

  • Technical SEO

    SEO: Capture More Search Traffic with Rich Snippets

    December 16, 2009 •

    The difference between a snippet and a rich snippet is the difference between just showing up at a party and showing up in style. Showing up in style can ensure you get the attention you want. For an ecommerce merchant, "the party" is a search engine's results page. A snippet is your U...

  • Link Building

    SEO: Link-building Opportunities

    December 3, 2009 •

    Link building is an ever-changing landscape. This is because the search engines make changes to their algorithms to thwart artificial link building, and because link building as a practice continues to morph. As time goes on, more webmasters will become aware of the importance that inbo...

  • Technical SEO

    SEO: Forgotten Content Can Damage Search Performance

    November 17, 2009 •

    Sometimes a site’s own past dampens its bright SEO future. The forgotten designs, old campaigns, and abandoned domains that accumulate unnoticed in a web server can have a negative impact on a site’s ability to rank and drive natural search-referred traffic and sales. Search engines ret...

  • SEO

    SEO Report Card: WisconsinMade.com Needs Quick Tweaks for the Holidays

    November 10, 2009 •

    As we enter into the holiday shopping season, it's all hands on deck for merchants selling gift baskets. The Wisconsin specialist e-tailer Wisconsin Made is no exception. The challenge is to make an impact in what little time is left in the year. Search engine optimization (SEO) isn't i...

  • SEO

    SEO Report Card: Moodswingsonthenet.com Offers Retro Fashion, Retro SEO

    October 21, 2009 •

    Our "SEO Report Card" for this month is Moodswingsonthenet.com. The CEO of Moodswings, Elizabeth Bighorse, requested this review, and she told us that the company has just finished a re-launch of its "multiple sales channel" site. Moodswings focuses on urban, rockabilly, tattoo and alt...

  • Technical SEO

    SEO: There Is No Duplicate Content Penalty

    October 15, 2009 •

    There is a long held belief that search engines – namely Google – penalize websites that duplicate content or produce material that is largely the same as other sites on the Internet. But, I’m here to tell you, The Duplicate Content Penalty is a myth. Think about it this way. If a page...

  • SEO Tools

    Ecommerce Know-How: Optimizing Your Site for Microsoft Bing

    September 22, 2009 •

    The Microsoft, Yahoo! search deal announced in July still faces legal hurdles, but as more details have become available, it is clear that the companies' combined search share has—for the first time in perhaps a decade—created some real competition for Google. Depending on which poll o...

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