EComm Sites that Don't Display Pricing

[LoganRay]

I've got a client that only shows pricing if a user is logged in - they're B2B and only sell at a wholesale level. The site is massive, has been around for about a decade, and has had an active SEO campaign for years.

They've been losing ground on top ranked keywords, primarily in the 1-2 spots, rest of the first page remains strong and actually improves regularly.My hunch is that Google recognizes the inability for anyone to make a purchase on the site. As a result, they're realizing that the searcher intent doesn't match the actions that can be taken on the site and are bumping them down.

Has anyone seen a similar situation or have any evidence to suggest my hunch is correct?

[LoganRay]

Thanks for the additional input Everett, we've done what we can to mitigate consumer clicks, but the search patterns and intent are so similar it's nearly impossible to weed out unqualified visits.

[LoganRay]

Jake,

Thanks for your response.

I had thought of the pogo effect as well, but it seems like something bigger is at play. There's no chance of publishing price at this time and also no add to cart button. There are some major changes coming to the site, but that's still about 8 months out. So I'm really on the search for causation and to have a plan of attack for minimizing the atrophy in the meantime.

Thanks again for your input and confirmation of my hunch. Will post back with updates when the site changes hit and what impact they have.

[HiveDigitalInc]

Hi Logan,

It is certainly possible that without actual pricing information, especially if it is an obvious ecom space, that the lack of pricing could be construed as an indicator of a gateway or affiliate site... as it would appear the transaction is unlikely to occur on that site.

The other possibility is that the lack of pricing is causing people doing research to more frequently bounce back to the SERPS and choose a competitor site for the info.... resulting in a signal to Google that while you are a strong candidate (deserving front page), you don't necessarily serve the majority of people performing the query and thus do not deserve #1-2,etc.

Have you tried adding a published price to a category/section and seeing if that has any type of impact?  Maybe you can talk the client into publishing the average retail price for the items and note that wholesale pricing is applied after logging in..  Also, Are there "add to cart" buttons despite not having pricing?

Please keep us posted as I'd love to hear how this plays out.

-Jake