Search Engine Optimization Blog Posts

After nearly 4 years in the “lab”, Google Suggest has graduated.  For those unfamiliar, Google Suggest is a service not unlike Yahoo! Search Assist, which offers to complete a user’s query in real time based on some of the most popular searches.  The change could have more of an effect on some eCommerce Sites than they’d think:

Each day I browse through blogs about eCommerce Web Design, SEO, and Pay-Per-Click advertising, and what I find most surprising is that many continue to believe the best way to maximize their traffic and conversion is to hire two separate companies! Many believe they need a Design and Development firm to build their website

Internal search on any eCommerce site is a beast all on its own. What if visitors searches return no results? Will they continue to search or did you lose your chance at a sale? With Google recently rolling out its Site Search feature, many of us are getting more of an idea as to how many visitors actually take advantage of internal site search, what keywords they use, and of course – the overall conversion rate for internal searches. Now that we have this info readily and freely available, it’s time to start optimizing your eCommerce site’s internal search! Read my top suggestions below:

Clients and friends alike are always asking me what blogs and sites I am reading to stay above the fold in the world of Search.

Within such a fast-paced industry, one of the most important things you need to do is keep up to date on new information. Here’s a list of some of the industry’s top bloggers, providing some of the best resources and information about search engine optimization, web marketing, and industry news.

So without further adieu, here is my list… Presented in random order

Who doesn’t love a new SEO tool? They make our lives easier by saving us time and money; they also do a great job of pointing out where our sites have room for improvement. I’ve put together a list of 20 completely free SEO tools as a resource for search engine marketers and for newbies who are just getting started. I do plan on updating this list in the near future…so check back often for more free SEO tools! Here they are:

I am excited to announce that I was invited to speak today on panel at the upcoming PubCon this December in Las Vegas!

I will be presenting on the panel “Eccomerce and Shopping Cart Optimization” Thursday December 6th at 1:30pm with Rob Snell and Jimmy Duvall.

Hmmm… What should I talk about?

I just landed back in Baltimore after an exciting three days in sunny San Jose, California for Search Engine Strategies 2007. I have to say, it was well worth the jet lag… Some great sessions, some great people and some great parties all rounded out what seemed like a record crowd for what I think was my 10th SES show.

I was able to sit in on some great sessions around increasing your online conversion and the topic of paid links (more on this later). I was also able to sit down with some old friends and mentors who wanted to know more about what Groove Commerce has to offer. Topping it all off with a trip to the GooglePlex for the Google Dance 2007.

Some of the highlights include:

Lee Odden over at he Top Rank Marketing Blog has a great post about the advantages of using an outside firm for ongoing SEO consulting. Lee listed five great points and we agree whole heartedly… The industry is changing at such quick intervals that is is important keep a consulting firm engaged in the process.

Check out Lee’s full post here

Here at Groove Commerce, we are all crying. We are sad that we couldn’t make it to one of the biggest conferences of the year, Danny Sullivan’s inaugural Search Marketing Expo 2007 in Seattle. As painful as it was to miss out, we’ve kept up on all the SMX news and have listed some of our favorite posts below.

After spending last week in Florida at the Search Insider Summit, I was excited to see our emcee, Gord Hotchkiss, was recently interviewed for Forbes on his thoughts and ideas on hiring a search engine consultant. The full article can be found here but I’ve highlighted a topic Gord discussed—finding your SEO soulmate.

- Watch out for guarantees—it’s impossible to guarantee top position search results, and a guarantee may be used to leverage you into a bad deal.

- You should do the talking—a true SEO soulmate will want to learn everything about your company and ask questions rather than giving you a sales pitch.

- Ask for examples of successful results—your potential SEO soulmate should readily show you the success of previous or current clients.

- Know their services—you should have a good idea of what they plan to do to drive traffic to your site. There should be no secrets between you.

- Look for a long term relationship—a company who offers a full range of services can better serve your eCommerce site in the long run.

So I ask the question… Have you found your soulmate yet?