What SEO features should you look for when choosing an ecommerce solution for your online store? The majority of the most popular ecommerce platforms claim to be SEO-friendly. However, there is no objective definition for the terms “SEO friendly;” some platforms that claim to be SEO-friendly actually lack important SEO features. Whether you are choosing a shopping cart, hosted ecommerce, or more customized ecommerce solution, you need to compare the SEO features that the platform offers against this list of 20 SEO features. (If you are not sure which type of solution you need, review the pros and cons of different types of e-commerce solutions before you investigate SEO features.)

SEO Features That Every Ecommerce Site Needs:

Listed below are essential features that every ecommerce solution needs. Cheaper shopping cart software and hosting e-commerce platforms may not include these, so make sure these are included.

SEO-Friendly URLs

Look for an ecommerce platform that supports static, keyword-rich URLs.

• /product.php?id=24601 (Bad)
• /category.php?id=24 (Bad)
• /p-24601.html (Bad)
• /les-miserables-dvd-24601.html (Good)

Granular Page Title Control

The page title is probably the single most important SEO element on a page. It is critical that your ecommerce platform allows you to edit individual page titles for every type of page. Some platforms allow editing of product page titles but not category page titles.

301 Redirects

Choose a platform that allows you to set up 301 redirects. Most ecommerce sites frequently delete pages as products are discontinued, categories are changed, etc. 301 redirects will allow you to redirect the link juice and visitors from the deleted page to a new page.

Canonicalization

Canonicalization correctly index and rank content that can be viewed using multiple URLS. For example, a single category page could be viewed using many different URLs:

• /category/greenwidgets.php
• /category/greenwidgets.php?sort=price
• /category/greenwidgets.php?sort=price&order=desc
• /category/greenwidgets.php?sort=price&filter=brand:samsung,apple
• /category/greenwidgets.php?view=thumbnails
• /category/greenwidgets.php?parent=discountwidgets

Using <link rel="canonical" href="" /> tells Google which URL is the primary version. This helps you avoid duplicate content issues and consolidates link juice to the primary URL. In its explanation of canonicalization, Google recommends several ways to avoid duplicate content penalties. Ensure your ecommerce platform supports making, at the very least, the following two changes.

• Choose your preferred domain. Choose whether your site is example.com or www.example.com. 301 redirect the alternate version to your chosen main version.
• Specify the canonical link for each version of a page. Set a canonical URL for each page. The canonical URL is the URL you want to be displayed in Google SERPs.

Search-Friendly Navigation Structure

Search engines and visitors alike need an easy way to move around your website. Look for a navigation structure that meets these SEO criteria:

1. Site can be navigated without Flash or JavaScript,
2. Primary navigation links are text, not images,
3. Duplicate and superfluous links are kept to a minimum, and
4. Navigation menus can be edited at the individual link level.

Robust Taxonomy Options

The ability to create a well-organized brand and category taxonomy will help the navigation of your site and improve your SEO. Brand pages can be optimized for branded keywords, which often drive high converting visitors.

Automated XML Sitemaps

An XML sitemap provides another way for you to make your website more crawlable. Adding an XML sitemap will not increase your rankings, but it does help Google locate, crawl and index new pages more quickly. An ecommerce platform with automatic XML sitemap generation will make creating and updating your Sitemap easier.

SEO Features That Most Sites Will Find Useful:

These features while not essential are definitely useful. The better e-commerce platforms will also have these features included as part of the package.

Google Analytics For Ecommerce

While this feature might seem rather obvious, many platforms support basic Google Analytics code but do not support Google Analytics ecommerce tracking. When asking pre-sale questions, be sure to ask if the platform supports “Google Analytics ecommerce transaction tracking.” While this is not strictly an SEO feature, it will help you to make better SEO decisions by linking revenue to specific keywords and landing pages.

Robots Meta Tag

The robots noindex meta tag is the preferred solution to keep specific pages from appearing in Google search results. Look for an ecommerce platform that allows you to set individual pages to display the noindex meta tag.

Custom Landing Pages

A platform that allows you to create custom landing pages allows you to target more keywords and to custom-tailor pages to reach specific market groups.

Blog

Since Google has repeatedly recommended content marketing as an effective strategy for building backlinks, a blog is an essential tool in the SEO’s arsenal. Look for a platform that offers a full-featured blog, complete with commenting, social sharing, anti-spam and RSS feed features.

Robots.txt Control

A robots.txt file allows you to specify URLs and/or directories that robots should not crawl. This is especially helpful for blocking search engines from crawling non-HTML files (such as PDFs) that do not support the robots meta tag. Keep in mind that Google will not crawl URLs blocked by robots.txt but does reserve the right to display blocked URLs in SERPs.

Site Speed

As outlined in an article on WebProNews, fast-loading websites are better for users, better for SEO and can lead to higher conversion rates.

• If you are choosing self-hosted software, look for a platform with fast, efficient code and the ability to implement Google’s performance best practices. Page load speeds will depend on the platform you choose as well as the hosting solution you use to host your site. Consider running your ecommerce site on a dedicated server or VPS. (Read The Differences Between VPS and Dedicated Hosting to help you decide which option you need.)
• If you are choosing a hosted (e.g. SaaS) ecommerce platform, you will not be able to look at the server-side code. Test page load speeds. and look for the ability to implement Google’s performance best practices.

Analytics Enabled Site Search

Your ecommerce site should allow users to search for products on your site. However, simply returning results to your visitors is not enough; the platform should integrate with Google Analytics site search reporting feature. This will allow you to see the keywords visitors use when searching on your site and can be powerful data for keyword research.

Authorship Markup

Not only can the rel=”author” tag have a tremendous impact on SERP CTRs, but also, the case for author rank as an important ranking factor in SEO is quite strong. Look for an ecommerce platform that makes it easy to add authorship markup to blog posts and information pages.

Schema.org Markup

Schema.org is a collection of HTML tags that Google can use to improve the display of results in SERPs. Schema.org provides markup tags for products, reviews, ratings and other objects. Google uses this markup to generate enhanced SERP displays (which can provide a 30% boost in CTR) such as this one.

Alt Tag Control

Optimized image alt tags have been shown to have a “robust correlation with high rankings” by SEOmoz studies. Look for a platform that allows you to edit the alt tag values for individual images.

Granular Meta Description Control

Meta descriptions may not directly influence rankings, but meta descriptions can influence SERP click-through rates. Look for a platform that allows you to edit the meta description for each individual page. (While we are on the topic of meta tags, Google ignores the meta keywords tag, so do not worry about it.)

Frictionless Social Sharing

As social media continues to play a stronger role in SEO, it is important that your ecommerce website be optimized for social sharing. This includes

1. Support for the Open Graph Protocol where you can easily specify the title, image and URL that will be shared when a visitor clicks on the “Share” button and
2. Prominently displaying social sharing buttons to encourage your visitors to share pages.

ThinkGeek uses social sharing buttons and the Open Graph Protocol to encourage social sharing of their products.

Content Rich Category Pages

While nearly every ecommerce platform allows you to add text to product pages, many platforms neglect the category pages. A good platform will allow you to add textual content and embed media elements like images and/or videos on category pages. This extra content will benefit users and search engines.

Does This Even Exist?

This list is not exhaustive. There are more than 200 ranking factors for Google, so the number of wishlist features could go on forever. However, if you can find a platform with most of these features offered as part of the core installation, you will be off to a great start.

The reality is that you will most likely find a few different platforms that have half or more of the features by default, but then have additional add-ons that can be downloaded or purchased to achieve the rest.

When considering these platforms, it is important to keep in mind the cost of the plugins/add-ons, the number available (how active is the community?), and the impact each will have on site performance.

In the end, you have to balance the features you need against cost and practicality. Cheap ecommerce platforms may not provide the features you need or want. Custom building your ecommerce site will allow you to build the exact features you want, but it will drastically increase your cost and time to market. Each ecommerce website is unique – the key is to choose the right solution for your unique website, goals, and planned strategy.

What other SEO features would your perfect platform include?