Social SEO: How to Drive More Traffic with User-generated Content

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1 Social SEO: How to Drive More Traffic with User-generated Content Part one in a series of PowerReviews ebooks

2 2 / Social SEO: Drive More traffic with User-generated Content Table Of Contents Introduction 3 Search Why UGC Matters 5 Social SEO Evaluation 7 Social SEO Self-test Tool 13 3 Steps To Improve Social SEO 13 Next Steps (In-line SEO) 14

3 3 / Social SEO: Drive More traffic with User-generated Content Introduction Sales originate through traffic and Google is the number one source of traffic, accounting for up to 80% of total traffic on e-commerce sites. While most sites do a good job optimizing their pages and URLs, many forget about some of the most useful content available - user-generated content. Surprisingly, two-thirds of the top 20 e-commerce sites are not getting the full SEO benefit from their reviews and other social content. In order to understand how Google is the number one source of traffic, there must be an understanding of how Google works. Search 101 When a user submits a query to Google, they are not searching the web, instead, they are searching Google s cache of the web. Consider this: Google uses algorithms to index websites across cyberspace. Think of these algorithms as spiders that crawl through the web. (Step 1) The consumer begins a search on a product (Step 2) and uses a query algorithm (Step 3) to match what you re asking for to the most relevant results (Step 4).

4 4 / Social SEO: Drive More traffic with User-generated Content Another thing to consider is that Google s traffic is defined with 3 types of results: Paid (SEM): Search results that appear through the use of paid placement and contextual advertising. Organic (SEO): Non-paid search results that appear because of their target page s relevance to the search terms. Shopping: Price comparison service launched by Google that includes product information and links to source e-commerce sites collected from across the web. Google is looking out for the consumer. The important thing to understand is that Google is looking out for the consumer: Google s number one goal is to deliver the most relevant search results for any query. At the most basic level, Google determines how relevant a page is to a given query based on a combination of on page usability, speed and content relevancy. Most sites on the web are focused on the basics, but how can you stand out?

5 5 / Social SEO: Drive More traffic with User-generated Content Why UGC Matters Integrating user-generated content into the product page is a proven, effective way to drive more traffic to your product pages. Let s take a look at some of the benefits of integrating UGC on the product page: User-generated content (UGC) provides addition information about the page that it lives on, which boosts relevancy. UGC produces valuable longtail keywords written in user syntax. Customers could be using adjectives and superlatives not included in the marketing copy or that the manufacturer wouldn t use to describe a product. (For example, a sofa may be listed, but a customer could describe it as a couch. ) UGC increases relevant keyword density on the page. The keywords that are used in the marketing copy can drive up your SEO ranking based on density (how many times the word is used on a page). UGC is constantly updated which is favors by Google. In order to remain relevant, content should not be stale and unchanged. There are many types of UGC valued by Google, including but not limited to: customer reviews, Q&A, discussion forums, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, and Wiki Entries.

6 6 / Social SEO: Drive More traffic with User-generated Content The highest converting SEO traffic is traffic that lands directly on the product page. This type of content is crucial in converting traffic into sales. The add to cart button is directly on the product page. Traffic that lands on any page is great for your exposure, but it also leads to clicking around and loss of interest. The UGC on the product page is customer reviews consumers #1 social tool in the buying process (The E-tailing Group 2010 Social Shopping Study).

7 7 / Social SEO: Drive More traffic with User-generated Content Social SEO Evaluation Indexable customer reviews directly on your product page are required for search optimization. If reviews on your product page are not indexable, they are invisible to Google. Below are two examples of how UGC is done right: Amazon (the #1 internet retailer) and Staples (the #2 internet retailer). The product page (left) is indexed completely by Google (right). The UGC (reviews) that gets preserved in indexing is rich in keywords for proper managing of the SEO content to keep this information relevant for optimization. Who is doing it well? #1 Amazon is doing it well. In this example, we see that what a consumer sees on the Amazon product page (left) is what Google sees when they index the content (right). Notice that the user experience matches exactly to what Google sees. The review content is visible, improving SEO and driving more traffic directly to the product page. Keep in mind, Amazon is the #1 internet retailer, according to Internet Retailer s Top 500 List.

8 8 / Social SEO: Drive More traffic with User-generated Content #2 Staples is doing it well. The product page (left) is indexed completely by Google (right). The UGC (reviews) that gets preserved in indexing is regularly updated and rich in longtail keywords that aren t generally found in a manufacturer-supplied product description, making Staples well optimized for SEO. 2/3 of the top e-commerce sites are missing the boat. After conducting an internal study of the top 20 e-commerce sites, we saw that 2/3 of them are missing the boat with Social SEO by not having indexable reviews on the product page.

9 9 / Social SEO: Drive More traffic with User-generated Content Who s missing the boat? At the top of the leader board are our examples from earlier, Amazon and Staples. They have indexable UGC on their index pages which is why they sit at the number 1 and number 2 positions. Below them, however, the record gets spottier.

10 10 / Social SEO: Drive More traffic with User-generated Content #10 Best Buy is missing the boat. Best Buy s UGC is not indexed directly on the product page on Google. Best Buy s product page (left) is not at all indexed by Google (right). The product page shows the review, but on the right side, you can see that Google was unable to index the UGC content. There is a lot of missed opportunity for SEO.

11 11 / Social SEO: Drive More traffic with User-generated Content #5 Office Depot is missing the boat. In a basic point, we see that Office Depot, a competitor to Staples, has UGC not indexed by Google. But the key point is that there are real dollars lost with missed SEO. If major companies are considered, their lack of UGC indexing could cost them a monetary loss in the $10,000,000 range. Our goal is to help companies capture the additional value they may be losing from not having their UGC properly indexed in search results.

12 12 / Social SEO: Drive More traffic with User-generated Content After reviewing retailers that are properly utilizing their SEO and those that are not, let s look at why retailers are not getting the benefits of their SEO. Customer reviews not hosted directly on the product page cannot be seen by Google. This is because reviews rendered in an iframe cannot be seen by search engines. Using an example from a Costco product page, we see the way a user would see the website (right) and what Google s view is (left). The review UGC (middle) is hosted on another page and placed on the product page with a snippet of code, however it has left Google s indexed view blank. It is generally a rule of thumb to align your user s experience with what Google is indexing so there are no discrepancies for your SEO.

13 13 / Social SEO: Drive More traffic with User-generated Content You can double check how your stack up in a matter of minutes. Social SEO Self-test Tool 1. Find any product on your website with reviews. Copy the product name. 2. Put it into Google to search for the exact listing for the product. 3. When you see the product link to your site, click the blue link that says cached under the link listing. The cache is the latest index of your product page Google has on file. 4. When the page opens and loads, look for the customer reviews. Are they listed? Or is it blank? Are you getting your SEO benefit? If you re not where you d like to be or where you feel your product should bedon t fret! There s no better time than now improve your SEO. 3 Steps to Improve Social SEO 1. Have at least one source of keyword-rich UGC available on your product page. Customer reviews and Q&A are the most common forms of this. 2. Make sure there is substantial UGC volume and a process to ensure that it s constantly updated and fresh. Volume is key and something you can t sacrifice. Having more reviews allows keyword density and varied word descriptors that will set your product page apart from others on the web. 3. And finally, you should have UGC that can be seen and indexed by Google, directly on your product page. Many sites use workarounds like microsites and iframes. It doesn t compare to In-Line services.

14 14 / Social SEO: Drive More traffic with User-generated Content Next Steps (In-Line SEO) If you d like to reel traffic back in, consider PowerReviews In-Line SEO solution. Our clients find our solution useful in driving up their sales through in-line SEO management. PowerReviews in-line SEO solution is the ONLY one that Places fresh, relevant UGC directly on the product page, Is built standard into the core PowerReviews solution and Has been proven in the market to drive more traffic. To learn more about In-Line SEO and PowerReviews suite of social commerce solutions, contact us today. The SEO value of user-generated content is essential to our business. PowerReviews technology allows us to drive more traffic directly to our product pages and increase sales. - Kim Ruthenbeck, Room and Board