Can we really learn from the best?

[BeytzNet]

Hi All,

When I started my site (an eCommerce site) I copied (or tried) a lot of things from the best eCommerce sites I thought were out there.

Sites like Zappos, ZALES, Overstock, BlueNile etc.

I got hit pretty hard with latest algo changes and I posted my question at Google Webmaster Help forum I received answers from Gurus that we are keyword stuffing etc. (mainly with internal links to product pages but other issues as well).

My answer was a link to Zappos and other sites showing that what we do is nothing compared to them. I also showed dozens of SEO "errors" like using H1 tag 10 times per page, not using canonicals and many other issues. The Guru's answer was "LOL" - who am I to compare myself to Zappos.

So the question is... Can we take them for example or are they first simply because they are the biggest?

[Everett]

Companies that spend more time building their brand are going to be trusted more than companies that spend most of their time on SEO. Companies that have well-known brands and high-traffic websites with hundreds of thousands + quality external links, an aged domain, lots of brand-related signals (e.g. searches for their brand) are going to be given the benefit of a doubt.

The rest of us are S.O.L. until we can build that brand presence. You have to toe the line.

Yes you can learn from the big brand sites, especially when it comes to things like upselling, cross-selling, brand building, email marketing... but having worked with a lot of big brands I can tell you that their SEOs don't typically know anymore than others. They also have to go through a maze of bureaucracy to get anything implemented. As such, I don't pay much attention to what they are doing SEO-wise. If something works for them it probably has more to do with the power of their brand and domain than it does with a particular tactic. Emulating them with regard to SEO is typically useless, at best, and often dangerous.

[BeytzNet]

Is there an eCommerce website (or several) you can recommend to look at?

[ChristinaRadisic]

In the early days we did what we wanted and had good results.  Then we started to read everything out there about SEO & Marketing etc, and started to implement these changes which gave negative results.

We then started to look at what others were doing, if we felt they were the best we tried to emulate them.

What we realised pretty quick is, it doesn't work!  We just have the perception they are doing it right, but we don't have access to their analytics to know if they are. You have to try things out and find out what works best for your company.  Often this involves asking your customers what they like and what works for them.

I've read so many articles from experts that say don't use "send" on a call to action button.  For one client that simple word has worked wonders.  For another "read more" had a higher conversion than any thing else we used.

[BeytzNet]

Sorry it wasn't clear.

All of our content is unique and we are not in the same industry as they are.

By "copied" I meant concept, structural design, naming conventions  etc.
Copied IDEAS...

Thanks

[Rephael]

It's great to learn some new ideas from the best eCommerece websites. I would recommend you to take them for example of the good things on their website and not from the Black Hat part.

Also, it's very general to say that they are "the best", because it depends on the keywords you are searching in order to see them first on Google.

Hope that helps!

[PremioOscar]

Hello there,

Being quite new to SEO and also PPC I rely a lot on MOZ blog and Q&A as well as other sources and I do keep an eye on bigger companies (I manage an e-commerce site for a small comapany) to get ideas and also to compare what I do to what they do, where I can improve, where I am going wrong. And I do think you can learn from them, but the way I see it is that you shouldn't be kind of replicating strategies or tactics that others have implemented because they might not work for you, and in this case they didn't.

Some of my competitors have Websites that rank well and better than the one I manage but they have tons of keywords on each page and their sites are optimized for search engines not for humans.

Consider also the link profiles of these companies, I am sure Amazon doesn't struggle in acquiring natural links from relevant and authoritative sites.

My suggestion is that you should optimize your website for your audience using as many best practices as you can and doing it by evaluating your objectives and goals. Also use competitors and bigger companies to get ideas and to differentiate your OVP

Good luck

[tomhall90]

Hi there,

I also run an eCommerce site. And we rank number one for many keywords in the Disco, DJ and Lighting product categories. You have told me exactly why you failed to rank in your first opening line: "I copied".

Google doesn't want content that is identical to an already existing, larger company. Why should it include your website in SERPs when you're just a copy of a much larger website?

I personally don't see anything blackhat about Zappos. But I've literally just grazed over it.

What you need to do is be unique. All content should be unique to your website. No copying manufacturer descriptions, no keyword stuffing your descriptions, using correct title tags, h1 tags and alt tagging your images.

We have competitors who have been a PR 5 and ranking better with certain keywords for years. Thankfully, Penguin and Panda took care of them and we were boosted to that beautiful number 1 spot in the SERPS.

SEO in ecommerce requires patience, beautiful content, unique descriptions, SIMPLE navigation and customer experience.

You need to find the thin line between a fantastic user experience and a crawlers dream!

I don't take any "examples" from any website. I do my SEO how my website needs to be done. I know my website, I know my products, I've studied the keywords and phrases people give Google to find certain products and I have utilized those keywords to create content people WANT to read as well as content that crawlers are going to love.

Being the biggest does help you rank. However, if they try any blackhat techniques, Google will penalize them just as hard as you or I. But do you need to use Google to reach Amazon? Or do you just go directly to Amazon? They have no problem with paying $$$$$'s a month to sit pretty at the top of the serps sponsored section.

Just my two cents

Tom