Search & Retail served as an inside look at the shopping search vertical, uncovering SEO/SEM opportunities and challenges faced by online retailers and search marketers working for e-commerce based businesses. Expert columnists ranged from in-house search marketers, agency advisers, and small business owners who have successfully built their e-commerce business with search. The Search & Retail column no longer runs as a standalone column but instead has been incorporated into the Paid Search column.

What Brick & Mortar Stores Can Do About Showrooming

Jul 6, 2012 at 9:12am ET by Paul Bruemmer

You’ve all heard about showrooming, where customers go to a local store to check out products they’d like to buy, then purchase the product for less online. It’s been going on for several years and is becoming more popular as technology enables instant comparison shopping. Millions of consumers do it, scouting out everything from computers and televisions to books and vitamins before purchasing the item online for less. Online stores often provide lower prices than brick and mortar stores because of lower overhead costs, no sales taxes (in some states) and free shipping offers. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | Search & Retail

Google Shopping: 7 Advanced Tips & Strategies For Merchants

Jun 29, 2012 at 2:07pm ET by Rick Backus

The new Google Shopping is based off of your typical paid comparison shopping engine, such as Pricegrabber, Nextag or Shopping.com. It’s a move that presents significant opportunity to the merchants who chose to stay and play in the market-rate CPC program, with no minimum CPCs. Many small merchants and some SEOs have shown their disgust with the move and will likely take their products elsewhere to advertise. Affiliates will also have trouble on Google Shopping, making the potential traffic pie much larger. Even marketplaces will be affected. Merchants who sell on Ebay or Amazon [...]

Google Therapy: The Prescription For Dealing With Product Search & Paid Inclusion

Jun 14, 2012 at 11:07am ET by George Popstefanov

It’s not a secret that I am a big fan of Google’s addition of product extensions and product listing ads to the Adwords platform. My last article about taking advantage of Google Shopping seems to be timely in light of recent events. As many of you might already know, Google will officially be transitioning to the paid model as early as August and is already testing various queries. Since a number of our clients utilize Google product search and are gaining a significant amount of "free" converting traffic to their websites (some up to 10%), I find myself going through [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | Search & Retail

Can Retailers Benefit From The Knowledge Graph & Schema? You Bet!

Jun 8, 2012 at 12:27pm ET by Barbara Starr

The Knowledge Graph is the latest in a series of efforts in which Google has adopted technology from the semantic web aka the "Giant Global Graph" envisioned by Tim Berners-Lee. For those retailers who haven't yet adopted schema.org microdata, Good Relations RDFa and other structured markup on their product pages, now is the time to take advantage of the newly implemented Knowledge Graph technology. [caption id="attachment_124036" align="alignright" width="300"] Image from Shutterstock, by drserg, used under license[/caption] Will Google’s Knowledge Graph have an effect on retail? Abso [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Schema.org | Search & Retail

Don’t Just Pin Images, Optimize For Pinterest Search With Purpose

May 10, 2012 at 9:11am ET by Paul Bruemmer

If you’re a retailer and want to boost traffic and conversions, an image SEO strategy using Pinterest can provide great results fairly quickly. Pinterest activity will not only increase your referral traffic, it can help you connect with your customers and prospects in a mutually beneficial way. In case you haven’t noticed, it’s the age of images in search, as so aptly put in AdAge Digital’s recent article, In Age of Pinterest, Instagram, Marketers Need an Image strategy. Pinterest, currently hot after two years on the Web, has over 11 million registered users, 9 million of which [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | Search & Retail

Getting Started With Google Shopping Feeds

Apr 19, 2012 at 11:46am ET by George Popstefanov

With the amount of news we read each day about Google, the words "Google" and "secret" are rarely thought of together. Yet, one of the best-kept "secrets" for creating incremental traffic to online retail sites is actually Google Shopping. Not only is this traffic "free," but the conversion rates are often higher than the more widely used channels. So why is it a "secret"? Historically, it has been quite difficult to get Google Shopping set up, and it was almost certain that you’d need to hire a company that specializes in running shopping feed programs. While I still highly recomm [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Feeds | Google: Sitelinks | Search & Retail

Google Becomes Answer Engine With Semantic Technology − Great News For Retailers

Apr 12, 2012 at 2:31pm ET by Paul Bruemmer

Google has been displaying more than blue links in search results for a while now. And soon, users will be able to find more facts and direct answers to their queries on top of search results. This comes from the Wall Street Journal, which reported on an interview with Amit Singhal, a top Google search executive. Evidently, Google plans to provide more relevant results by "incorporating semantic search technology, the process of understanding the actual meaning of words." Search Engine Land author and Ontologica semantic services provider Barbara Starr said, "It’s inevitable that lo [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Schema.org | Search & Retail

Keyword Expansion Resources & Strategies For Retailers

Mar 29, 2012 at 11:57am ET by Dan Morrison

Many retailers already own the data they need to profitably expand their paid search campaigns: it exists within their site search logs, website analytics, inventory feeds and in external consumer intents found through search queries. The challenge retailers face is how to engineer a broader keyword portfolio that widens their reach in the query space and deliver relevant products to satisfy consumer demand. In this post, we’ll discuss several keyword expansion resources already available internally to many retailers and the ways to best organize expansion techniques to ensure optimal [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | Search & Retail

3 Search Opportunities Retailers Can’t Afford To Miss

Mar 15, 2012 at 1:02pm ET by Paul Bruemmer

As competition intensifies, it becomes increasingly more difficult for retailers to thrive, with big retailers like Sears, JC Penney and Macy’s resorting to Every Day Value Pricing. To succeed, retailers must avoid missed opportunities. This article identifies three opportunities retailers can take advantage of: (1) use every available local search tactic, (2) have your site ready for smartphones and tablets, and (3) be able to identify new, incremental sources of traffic and conversions. The Marketing Sherpa 2012 Search Marketing SEO Edition Benchmark Report, which surveyed over 1,5 [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | Search & Retail

A Framework For Maximizing The Agency/Retailer Relationship

Mar 2, 2012 at 8:16am ET by Dan Morrison

When it comes to managing search marketing campaigns for retailers, customizing support and services is as influential as managing the performance of campaign assets. With the fast-paced digital environment that we currently live in, it’s not only important for SEM agencies to understand how to analyze and optimize advertiser data, but also how to efficiently manage client interactions. Even though I work at a technology company, I’m responsible for client interactions. Many of my best practices are transferable to the SEM agency/retailer relationship. As such, in this article, I’l [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | Search & Retail

A Google+ Primer For Retail Brands

Feb 23, 2012 at 2:08pm ET by George Popstefanov

In the last several months, there have been hundreds of articles written about Google+, its influence on the search engine marketing industry, discussing how marketers should be protecting against it or preparing to utilize it in the future. Due to this influx of Google+ publicity, our team has received dozens of inquiries from clients asking what all of this means. As we prepare our clients for the changes that Google+ brings as part of the constant evolution that occurs across the search industry, we are once again reminded of the saying, "There is nothing permanent except change." So, le [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Google: Google+ | Search & Retail

How To Get A 10x Lift In Monthly Unique Visitors

Feb 16, 2012 at 12:48pm ET by Paul Bruemmer

Retailers have used signage, billboards, newspapers, magazines, vehicles, buildings, radio, TV – just about every means imaginable to market their products and services. But never have we seen retail marketing spread exponentially in different directions since the advent of the Internet and the proliferation of computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones. In fact, the Internet and search engines have changed the nature of retail marketing forever. And that’s good news for retailers. What can retailers do to take full advantage of Internet marketing? Here are three marketing strate [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | Local Search | Search & Retail

3 Keys To Online Retail In 2012: Doing More With Less

Jan 26, 2012 at 12:30pm ET by Vic Drabicky

We are only a month into 2012, but 2011 already seems like a distant memory. Christmas was over a month ago and Black Friday was approximately 6 months ago by my calculations. But as we reminisce on the year that was 2011, hopefully you were pleasantly surprised with how it turned out. For a year that started with fears of a 10% unemployment rate, things seemed to end on an up note. The economy seemed to improve, digital marketing rebounded nicely after a few shaky years (roughly 15% growth according to comScore), and heck, Bing managed to not go bankrupt and even gained a point or two o [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | Search & Retail

Increase Retail Sales From Mobile Devices In 2012

Jan 19, 2012 at 9:34am ET by Paul Bruemmer

2011 was the year that shopping on mobile devices moved into the mainstream. It won’t be long before the majority of retail sales are made from tablets and mobile devices rather than laptops and desktops. With mobile usage increasing dramatically in 2012, it’s important for retailers to start accommodating mobile shoppers. This article will review mobile trends of interest to retailers, offer some tips for going mobile, and include some information on Mobile Store Locator Software for multiple location retailers. First, let’s start with some mobile stats that impact retail s [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | Search & Retail

2012: The Year Of The Independent Search Marketer?

Jan 6, 2012 at 9:23am ET by George Popstefanov

For the past few years, experts and hacks alike have declared – and debated – it being the "Year of Mobile" or the "Year of Attribution." So, let me go ahead and make my own personal declaration for 2012. It is not just the "Year of the Dragon," although that makes me feel much more hopeful for a bad ass year than 2011’s wimpy "Year of the Rabbit!" This year, in the search space at least, I believe it will be the Year of the Independent. The Small Guys. The Little – but endlessly innovative, in-tune and downright scrappy - Fish. Although I still can’t seem to explain to my pare [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | Search & Retail

How To Get A 30% Increase In CTR With Structured Markup

Dec 29, 2011 at 10:37am ET by Paul Bruemmer

As documented by case studies in the U.S. and abroad, retail firms can get up to a 30 percent increase in organic traffic by using structured markup like Schema Microdata, GoodRelations and Google Rich Snippets, etc. This begs the question: why aren’t more retailers using structured markup? Implementing structured data requires the skill of adding a few extra lines to the HTML code of your site. Once implemented, you will immediately feed Google and hundreds of mobile and recommender applications with all the information consumers are looking for when they shop for your products. Your det [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Schema.org | Search & Retail

Social-Local-Mobile Tactics Drive Retail Success

Dec 1, 2011 at 9:36am ET by Paul Bruemmer

The convergence of social networking, local search and mobile shopping provides consumers with convenience while saving them time, a real winner in the digital world. Because the Social-Local-Mobile trend makes certain marketing channels more important for retail brands, we want to review how e-retailers can get more social while providing mobile functionality and local search findability. It’s possible to cash in on this trend with a Google+ business page, ecommerce mobile pages and traditional local search optimization or automated local SEO with digital storefront software for multiple [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | Search & Retail

Champagne Or Boone’s Farm? 3 Things That Will Determine Your Holiday Search Success

Nov 17, 2011 at 2:29pm ET by Vic Drabicky

I can remember the very first time a client gave me incremental money for the holiday season. It was a whopping $10,000 to spend over two months. I was flying high – we all were. Our entire agency, all five of us, stopped working and had a glass of champagne together to celebrate. This was big money to us. But even bigger, it was a sign a client saw an opportunity to grow and trusted us to make that growth happen. Amazing no matter what way you look at it. Ten years later, the budgets and the agency are a bit bigger, but I always get that same feeling when a client gives us incremental [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | Search & Retail

How To Leverage Structured Markup To Create E-Commerce Web Portals

Nov 3, 2011 at 9:03am ET by Barbara Starr

I'm sure most of you are familiar with the definition of a Web portal. Wikipedia defines it as a point of access to the Web with information from diverse sources represented in a unified way. Standard Web portals are those we are all familiar with, such as Google, Bing or Yahoo; however, there are also portals geared for specific verticals such as e-commerce. The semantic Web is a specific example of how Google is leveraging structured product markup to create Google Product Search, a shopping or "e-commerce Web portal." The same is true of Bing Shopping and many others. Product dat [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Rich Snippets | Schema.org | Search & Retail

Mobile Holiday Shopping: New Opportunities & Top Tactics For Success

Oct 27, 2011 at 10:41am ET by George Popstefanov

To get us in the holiday spirit, let’s start with some stats: Mobile shopping is expected to grow by 40 percent year-over-year, and according to the latest Google trends data, 15 percent of search queries during the holiday season are expected to come from mobile devices. Based on a study conducted by Admob and featured on the Google Mobile Ads blog, more than 33 percent of smartphone and tablet users actually plan to begin their holiday shopping before Thanksgiving this year. Need more proof? Greg Sterling delved further into the "remarkable" mobile projections last month. So, [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | Search & Retail

Get Our News, Everywhere!

Follow @sengineland

Got a tip? Tell us here!

Most Likes
Most Tweets
Comments

Our Stories Being Liked on Facebook

Search Engine Land Sponsors

Advertise With Us

Free Daily Search News Recap!

SearchCap is a once-per-day newsletter update - sign up below and get the news delivered to you!

Click to watch SMX conference video

Join us at an upcoming SMX event:

North America

SMX Advanced - June 11-12, 2013
SMX East - Oct. 1-3, 2013
SMX Social Media Marketing - Nov. 20-21, 2013
SMX West - March 11-13, 2014

EMEA

SMX Paris - June 6-7, 2013
SMX Stockholm - Oct. 14-15, 2013
SMX Milan - Nov. 7-8, 2013
SMX Israel - Jan. 2014
SMX Munich - March 25-26, 2014
SMX London - May 2014

APAC

SMX Sydney - April 2014

Search Engine Land produces SMX, the Search Marketing Expo conference series. SMX events deliver the most comprehensive educational and networking experiences - whether you're just starting in search marketing or you're a seasoned expert.