Post on 11-Apr-2017
transcript
@jennyhalasz
SEO & Analytics for eCommerceIN A MOBILE FIRST WORLD
@jennyhalasz
About JennyIn SEO since 2000 – 17 years!Speaker at Pubcon, SMX, SES, StateofSearch, InternetSummit, Conversion Conference…Writer for Search Engine Land & Search Engine JournalContributing Author “SEO Now” and “SEO Like I’m 5”
@jennyhalasz
About Jenny
@jennyhalasz
Google is moving to a mobile first index any day now. They will index based on the mobile site, so you need to get it ready. If you only have an app or a desktop site with AMP, you are behind.
Mobile First – What does it mean?• “More than 50 percent of search queries globally
now come from mobile devices.” – Google, August 2016
@jennyhalasz
This is a great example of a responsive website – the main desktop site has multiple columns, tables, and a dynamic experience. The mobile site is single column, and the clickable links are much larger – to match a finger size rather than a mouse click.
Types of Mobile Sites – Responsive
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This dynamic serving site is also a great example – the desktop site is completely different than the mobile site, but just like with responsive, they’re still on the same URL.
Types of Mobile Sites – Dynamic Serving
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Dedicated mobile is the least common now. The desktop site is on www.sephora.com, whereas the mobile site is m.sephora.com. The experiences are completely different.
Types of Mobile Sites – Dedicated Mobile
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Notice how there is no (or very little top navigation here for BGR. That’s important.
AMP is tricky; there’s a lot to see here. First, on the left is the AMP carousel. This is a featured area of Google’s search results that is only for AMP pages. But as you can see on the right, when the user clicks through the carousel, there’s a swipe navigation that takes them to the next page in the carousel. So even though you’re on bgr’s page, swiping will take you to the next page in the carousel, which is from The Verge.
AMP = Accelerated Mobile Pages
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Important clues, like top nav, are missing. Apps are nice to have, but they target loyalists, not the occasional searcher. And having a good app but a bad mobile experience is no longer an option (not that it ever was).
The old style was desktop first. But Google is now going to index mobile first. That means that whatever you have on your mobile site is what will determine how you rank. AMP is nice to have, but it can’t be used to determine ranking because many
The Pecking Order
• Nice to have
AMP
• Maybe
Application
• Important
Mobile
• Critical
Desktop
• Nice to have
Application
• Need
AMP
• Important
Desktop
• Critical
Mobile
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Key SEO ConsiderationsFor eCommerce Sites
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Duplicate content is bad because it means you’re competing against yourself. See this great slideshare on duplicate content if you need more info on this. https://www.slideshare.net/ericenge/duplicate-content-slide-deck-from-ses-san-francisco-august-15-2012/25-San_Francisco_August_1317_2012
In this particular case, the page is identical – the only thing that’s different is the order in which the products are filtered.
Duplicate Content – Sort/Filter Function• http://www.website.com/shop-furniture/dining-kitchen/dining-room-
collections?buy_online=13&dir=asc&manufacturer=4833&order=price
• http://www.website.com/shop-furniture/dining-kitchen/dining-room-collections?buy_online=13&dir=asc&order=price&manufacturer=4833
@jennyhalasz
Believe it or not, Google sucks at filtering out their own tracking parameters. So whatever parameters you’re using, you need to take steps (like canonical or noindex) to make sure multiple copies of URLs don’t get indexed.
Duplicate Content – UTM Tracking• http://www.website.com/product/1234&utmsrc=facebook
• http://www.website.com/product/1234&utmsrc=pinterest
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Session IDs are the next most common issue. If you assign a new session ID to each user in the URL, Google will index as many of those variations as they find. How do they find them? By following links.
Duplicate Content – Session IDs• http://www.website.com/product/1234
• http://www.website.com/product/1234&SSID=295038720
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Screamingfrog and DeepCrawl are great tools for diagnosing issues. You’ll still need an SEO to help interpret them, but just do a crawl of your site and see if some of these common issues pop up. It doesn’t necessarily mean you have a problem, just that you might, and that it’s worth it to hire an SEO to check it out.
Screamingfrog is inexpensive – 149 pounds per year, but limited. If you have more than 100K URLs, you should look at buying DeepCrawl instead.
Duplicate Content – Audit & Fix
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Speed
• Look for:• Third Party tags• Large product images
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Speed – Google Page Speed Insights Example• Breaks out Mobile and Desktop
• Shows items important to Google
• Explains how to fix
BUT…
• Doesn’t give detailed info like TTFB
• Grades based on compliance, not actual speed
• Isn’t directly tied to SEO
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Speed – GT Metrix Example
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GTMetrix gives you so much more detailed data – like what specific tags are keeping your site from loading quickly, or whether the root cause of slow speed is at the server level or the page level.
Speed – GT Metrix Example
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Image size is such a common problem for ecommerce. It’s tempting to take the same images we use in print and put them on the website. But they need to be compressed. Most browsers can’t handle the level of image detail print needs, so it’s essentially wasted. Go ahead and compress them; it won’t sacrifice quality to the end user.
Speed - Images
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Not ecommerce, but I love this example. It’s analysis paralysis. What if my child was in a bicycle accident where he hurt his head? What if I think that accident was due to a defective brake? Do I choose head injury, defective products, or child injuries? Would I really think to look under vehicle accidents for bicycles?
Think about how your users will access your site. Try to make things easy for them.
Architecture
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Architecture – Topic Focused, Not Keyword Focused
Old Way• iPhone Cases
• Cool iPhone Cases• Fun iPhone Cases• iPhone Cases for Gifts• Purple iPhone Cases• Red iPhone Cases
• iPhone Covers• Cool iPhone Covers• Fun iPhone Covers• iPhone Covers for Gifts• Purple iPhone Covers…
New Way• iPhone Cases and Covers• By Color• By Price• As Gifts• By Style
• iPhone Protectors• Glass• Plastic
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Architecture - Fixes•Canonical
Image courtesy of www.hallaminternet.com
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Architecture - Fixes•Rel Next/Prev
Image courtesy of webmasters.googleblog.com
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HTTPS – A Secure Site is Critical“Enabling HTTPS on your whole site is important, but if your site collects passwords, payment info, or any other personal information, it’s critical to use HTTPS.”-Google
Image courtesy of Let’s Encrypt
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HTTPS – A Secure Site is Critical
Image courtesy of Let’s Encrypt
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HTTPS – Not Ready Yet?
Hire an SEO –Don’t DIY
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Analytics & TrackingEspecially for mobile
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Setting Up a Mobile Segment
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Setting Up a Mobile Segment
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Sample Dashboard
bit.ly/ga-dashboard-JLHTo use:1. Login to Google Analytics2. Paste in the browser3. Select the account to apply it to
@jennyhalasz
Metrics: Things you want to measure
Dimensions: Containers you want to use
Filters: Things to include or not include
Metrics & Dimensions
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Metrics: Things you want to measure
Dimensions: Containers you want to use
Filters: Things to include or not include
Metrics & Dimensions
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How Did People Get to
Your Site?
What Did They Do
While They Were There?
How and Why Did They Leave?
Where to Start?
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How Did People Get Here?
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What Did They Do?
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Why Did They Leave?
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Edit the Title, instead of “Pages/Session”
Choose a Layout
Even Customize Your URL!
Add Filters
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Pro tip: If you edit out the date specifics in the URL, then you can use that URL anytime and it will default to the dates you selected in the interface. So you can paste an edited URL into a dashboard and it will save that specific configuration in the dashboard link so you don’t have to do it manually each time. It even works with regular expressions!
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Changing Display Options
Choose different Dimensions or Metrics
Change row display
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Using Filters - Simple
“Only show” or “Don’t show”
Selection criteria
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Using Filters – Regular Expressions (Regex)
Selection criteria
Use | to separate items – creates “OR” Use .* as a wildcard
.*/category means match anything before /categorycategory/.* means match anything that comes after category
Test your expressions on the actual report
http://bit.ly/regex-for-marketers
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Now Let’s Make it Mobile!Hint: It’s super easy
@jennyhalasz
@jennyhalasz
@jennyhalasz
Other Mobile Reports to Look at…•Geographic and “near me” queries•Device types, Android vs. iPhone•Average load time•Bounce/Exit rates•Cart funnels
@jennyhalasz
Key Takeaways• Mobile first• Design, optimize, and report for mobile• Watch for eCommerce issues like:• Duplication• Speed• Architecture
• GO SECURE!
@jennyhalasz
Thank You!
Jenny Halasz@jennyhalasz
jlh-marketing.com
Download Links:
Regular Expressions for Marketers:http://bit.ly/regex-for-marketers
Google Analytics Dashboard:bit.ly/ga-dashboard-JLH