Good sources of information for product page SEO from a manufacturers perspective

[willheadlondon]

I'm working with a manufacturer whose product copy is used by many many many retailers online. This copy is typically exactly the same or very similar to their own brand website. We're ok with that as most of the time our brand website is seen as the source of the information.

Retailers, however, aren't so ok.

Understandably they want unique product description content but we can't supply that for every retailer. So I want to acknowledge that whilst unique product copy is important there are other factors that they should consider such as site usability, the frequency and recency or ratings/reviews, etc.

I've skimmed through google and reviewed the message boards and can see a number of posts touching on this topic but I wonder if anyone can recommend good sources or care to share their insights?

Thanks in advance

[BeckyKey]

Hi

I am in a similar situation, regarding improving the content on product pages. I'm going down the route of adding product reviews to our pages and after my research think it's a great idea.

Read https://econsultancy.com/blog/9366-ecommerce-consumer-reviews-why-you-need-them-and-how-to-use-them/

https://moz.com/blog/ecommerce-seo-making-product-pages-into-great-content-whiteboard-friday

I know it's difficult - we have thousands of product pages and only a couple of us working to improve and write content.

[BeckyKey]

I'd like to jump in and agree.

I work for a retailer of suppliers/manufacturers similar to those you mention and we know their product descriptions are repeated across the web.

We don't have a big team but we make sure internally for the success of our site, that we rewrite them, take our own images if necessary and take the extra steps for our own site. It takes time, and we have had to in some cases upload the content we have from them and go back and work on it in priority order.

We don't ask manufacturers to provide unique content, we work with what they have and tailor it for our site - it's our website at the end of the day and our job to rank it.

[EGOL]

What if a retailer is unwilling to rewrite the content.

If I was a manufacturer, I would not worry about it.  That retailer will not compete with me in search.  More sales for me.

The manufacturer doesn't want to invest resource in doing the same thing.

If the manufacturer has the time and interest to produce more content, then it should be to improve the manufacturer's website with "how to fix".... "how to enjoy".... "how to select"... etc. content.  The manufacturer's highest profit margin can come from being the primary retailer.  If the manufacturer wants these sales and can produce the service and the content then he/she should take them.

The reality is that retailers often call the shots and manufacturers need to balance the needs of many retailers.

I am not a manufacturer.  I am a retailer.  And for my main retail websites I have more content and better content than all of the retailers and manufacturers in the produce niche.  A retailer can produce the content if they want to, but it is hard to give that job to freelance writers or interns because they don't know the product.  This is the reward for the retailer who wants to serve his customers and at the same time advance their business.

If a retailer wants to run a dingy store, display products poorly, describe them poorly, that retailer puts himself at a competitive disadvantage.  It is a CHOICE made by the retailer.

**Do you see there being other successful avenues of focus, such as supporting the retailer in getting product reviews. **

We use a review service.  It gets us useful feedback from our customers.  Positive feedback and negative feedback are both useful.  These reviews should be at the full expense of the retailer.  I think that it would be biased if the manufacturer was involved in this.

If I was a manufacturer, I would not spend any time worrying about this. The good retailer will rise to the top on his own.  Give them helpful tips for success online, but allow them to succeed or fail based upon their own incentives and abilities.  You want the best businesses succeeding.  You don't want to carry the lazy ones because they will probably not support the customer as well and that will result in more complaints, returns, chargebacks, bad reviews, etc.   These will appear online as bad reviews against your products and your brand will be smeared online.

If you want to support or give incentive to anyone, give that to your best retailers.  I don't know how my manufacturers treat each of their retailers but I know that mine treat me really well.  I believe that I get referred sales and better prices because I do a better job of representing their products and their brand and take care of the customers.

[willheadlondon]

Great advice. What if a retailer is unwilling to rewrite the content, and the manufacturer doesn't want to invest resource in doing the same thing. The reality is that retailers often call the shots and manufacturers need to balance the needs of many retailers.

Do you see there being other successful avenues of focus, such as supporting the retailer in getting product reviews. Or do you feel that copy and imagery is the 'be all and end all' when it comes to on page SEO for product pages?

Really keen to hear views on this.

[willheadlondon]

Very helpful, Patrick. I will check it all out!

[EGOL]

If I was a manufacturer I would tell my retailers and affiliates that they will get best results in search engines by writing good, substantive, unique content accompanied by original images.  I would tell them

"Yes, you can use our text and images, but your results in the search engines will be poor.   Why?  Because you have nothing unique and Google will not fill their search results with duplicate content.  So, our advice is to write the best possible product descriptions that you are able to produce.  Show your customers that you know your industry and know your products.  Write helpful guides for using the products that are better than the ones that we have written for our own products.  Then you will get best possible results.

If you simply copy/paste from our site, you will not have good results because you compete against the industry brand and hundreds of other website who have simply done copy/paste.   We are telling you this for your own success.  We are telling you this so that you can effectively compete against us.   Now, get off of your duffs and get to work.   Success is earned and not produced by copy/paste."

[PatrickDelehanty]

Hey Will

Great question - one of the best resources I have found in this area is Inflow - they have a ton of great content surrounding eCommerce SEO, product reviews, as well as a great blog that is updated quite frequently. I would also take a look at Moz's eCommerce posts on YouMoz - there's a ton of great ideas and posts.

Hope this helps!
Patrick