SEO - I'm a little confused as to what's best

[timmyriddle]

Hello all,

 

I've been reading with interest some articles on SEO and I'm a little baffled as to what to do. Our site currently has nothing extra installed to make it search engine friendly. We are in the process of writing custom product descriptions rather than doing the old cut/paste of the manufacturers'. We have also recently added a blog which we are going to try and update frequently with related and slightly off-topic articles.

 

Outside of these additions, I'd like some input/help with what SEO community addons osC users are finding effective. I've searched through the contributions but I'm not sure how relevant some of the older ones are given the changes in search engines methods and behaviour. Here are a few things I have heard about making a site SEO friendly, I'd like to know how true they are.

 

- Search engines are now happy with dynamic URLs - /product/hardware/microsoft-intellimouse.html type URLs aren't necessarily helpful

- The session ID should be removed from URLs

- The product name should appear in the page title

- Search engines love original content (blogs, custom descriptions, articles)

- Duplicate content should be avoided at all costs

- Images should all have helpful title="" tags

- Extra info on product pages can help get "long tail" traffic

- Meta info is almost dead

- User reviews are good for generating custom content

 

Our online shop is a brand new addition to our business and we are determined to make the site a success. I realise page ranking isn't the be-all and end-all but from what I read it certainly helps.

 

Bearing the above in mind, I'd be really grateful to hear some of your insights and recommendations.

 

Tim. :thumbsup:

[burt]

- Search engines are now happy with dynamic URLs - /product/hardware/microsoft-intellimouse.html type URLs aren't necessarily helpful

 

TRUE for SEO. FALSE for customer ease of use.

 

- The session ID should be removed from URLs

 

TRUE

 

- The product name should appear in the page title

 

TRUE

 

- Search engines love original content (blogs, custom descriptions, articles)

 

TRUE

 

- Duplicate content should be avoided at all costs

 

TRUE

 

- Images should all have helpful title="" tags

 

TRUE

 

- Extra info on product pages can help get "long tail" traffic

 

TRUE

 

- Meta info is almost dead

 

TRUE

 

- User reviews are good for generating custom content

 

TRUE, but make sure that your reviews are real.

[timmyriddle]

- Search engines are now happy with dynamic URLs - /product/hardware/microsoft-intellimouse.html type URLs aren't necessarily helpful

 

TRUE for SEO. FALSE for customer ease of use.

 

Thanks for the response burt, what is your recommendation based on the SEO vs. customer ease issue?

 

Also, which addon is recommended for putting product info into the page <title> tag?

[burt]

I use FWR Medias SEO stuff. I think it's called USU5 for the url rewriting and KissMT for the Meta Tags and Title.

 

I would prefer to see a rewritten URL as a customer. osCommerce usual urls are unfriendly.

[timmyriddle]

That's great, I'd seen FWRmedia's posts and was considering them. I think I agree with you about the customer issue, although I'm not sure what happens if you change a product's name because a search engine would still references the old link.

 

Tim :thumbsup:

[♥toyicebear]

Click on the relevant seo topics in my signature