• Search Engine Land
  • Sections
    • SEO
    • SEM
    • Local
    • Retail
    • Google
    • Bing
    • Social
    • Resources
    • More
    • Home
  • Follow Us
    • Follow
  • Search Engine Land
  • SEO
  • SEM
  • Local
  • Retail
  • Google
  • Bing
  • Social
  • Resources
  • Live
  • More
  • Events
    • Follow
  • SUBSCRIBE

Search Engine Land

Search Engine Land
  • SEO
  • SEM
  • Local
  • Retail
  • Google
  • Bing
  • Social
  • Resources
  • More
  • Newsletters
  • Home
SEO

What The Convergence Of Publishing & Ecommerce Means For Enterprise SEO

The convergence of publishing and ecommerce has been evolving for some time and is picking up steam. On the one side, publishers who are facing declining advertising revenue are branching out and looking for new income streams. For many, ecommerce is the best opportunity at the moment. Recent articles from The New York Times and […]

Adam Sherk on September 17, 2012 at 2:22 pm
  • More

The convergence of publishing and ecommerce The convergence of publishing and ecommerce has been evolving for some time and is picking up steam.

On the one side, publishers who are facing declining advertising revenue are branching out and looking for new income streams. For many, ecommerce is the best opportunity at the moment.

Recent articles from The New York Times and Folio illustrate how lifestyle publishers are experimenting with deeper shopping integration.

On the other side, ecommerce sites, in response to Panda and May Day before it, are taking steps to reduce thin, low-value pages and to improve the overall quality of their content. This, plus the increasing popularity of content marketing as a tactic, has many non-publishers essentially getting into the publishing business.

From a user and searcher perspective, this means the traditional dividing lines between editorial and commercial sites are increasingly blurred.

What does this convergence mean for search engines and more specifically enterprise SEO?

Key Considerations

  • Publishers need to be careful about simply bolting on a shopping play to a subdomain or subdirectory. Done poorly, this can instantly add a high volume of thin, weak pages to the site and have a significant negative impact on the internal link graph. If I was writing an article on just this topic I’d call it something like “Publishers and Ecommerce: Great Fit or Great Way to Weaken Domains?” Smart integration is key.
  • Equal care is needed in managing affiliate relationships. At a minimum, affiliate shopping links in traditional editorial content like reviews, round-ups and guides need to be set up in compliance with search engine guidelines. From an SEO perspective, the affiliate links may not help the site but you certainly don’t want them to hurt it.
  • This convergence makes brand and trust signals all the more important. The engines need to understand that a credible editorial site is still just that when it suddenly puts a lot of focus on ecommerce, either directly or through affiliate relationships.
  • When it comes to product-related queries, the engines tend to give ecommerce sites prominence for queries with transactional intent and editorial sites prominence for queries with informational intent. As both types of sites become increasingly relevant for both, how will this shake up the page one results? Publishers and ecommerce sites alike need to think carefully about how they map out keyword targets across the entire buy cycle.
  • At the moment, I am focusing specifically on regular Web search, but there also opportunities with Google Shopping to consider. Ecommerce sites are a natural fit and typically have this covered but it is likely uncharted territory for most publishers. There may not be an appropriate fit for many editorial sites but when applicable it should be investigated.
  • As ecommerce sites venture more into content production and marketing, the depth and quality of content should be a top priority. Just as publishers can’t simply bolt on a shopping play, commercial sites need to do more than just starting a blog with product-related posts or doing the occasional infographic. Even if the engines can’t always differentiate between “real” content and thinly veiled promotional content, users certainly can.
  • Along those lines, content producers at commercial sites need (roughly speaking) the same SEO training and oversight as the editorial staff at a magazine or newspaper site does. Balancing SEO tactics and objectives with things like user experience, readability and editorial voice are critical.

It will be interesting to see how this convergence continues to evolve and how the engines and search marketers adapt to it.

Will trusted publisher domains with deep, quality content and strong link profiles and social signals gain a leg up for shopping related queries? Or are they stepping beyond their topical authority and still likely to trail behind category leaders for transactional queries?

As for ecommerce sites, how far can they legitimately migrate into editorial content? At the end of the day it is still about selling products. Are simple, streamlined product pages always going to have an advantage for shopping related queries? And is that more what users actually want?


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.



About The Author

Adam Sherk
Adam Sherk is VP SEO and Social Media for Define Media Group, the enterprise audience development and search marketing company. Adam blogs about SEO, PR and social media at AdamSherk.com.

Related Topics

Channel: SEO

We're listening.

Have something to say about this article? Share it with us on Facebook, Twitter or our LinkedIn Group.

Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.
See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS

Lorem ipsum doler this is promo text about SMX events.

February 23, 2021: SMX Report

April 13, 2021: SMX Create

May 18-19, 2021: SMX London

June 8-9, 2021: SMX Paris

June 15-16, 2021: SMX Advanced

August 17, 2021: SMX Convert

November 9-10, 2021: SMX Next

October 2021: SMX Advanced Europe

December 17, 2021: SMX Code

Available On-Demand: SMX

×


Learn More About Our SMX Events

Discover actionable tactics that can help you overcome crucial marketing challenges. Our next conference will be held:

MarTech 2021: March 16-17

MarTech 2021: Sept. 14-15

MarTech 2020: Watch On-Demand

×

Attend MarTech - Click Here


Learn More About Our MarTech Events

White Papers

  • The State of Local Marketing Report 2020-2021
  • Quality CRM Data: The Key to Delivering Great Customer Experiences
  • How the Microsoft Search Network Can Maximize Your Search Campaigns
  • The Marketer’s Playbook for Customer Acquisition
  • How To Optimize SEO With UGC
See More Whitepapers

Webinars

  • How to Avoid the Digital Transformation Trap
  • How to Build a Marketing System of Record
  • Meet BIMI: The brand-boosting email security marketers must have for 2021
See More Webinars

Research Reports

  • Local Marketing Solutions for Multi-Location Businesses
  • Enterprise Digital Asset Management Platforms
  • Identity Resolution Platforms
  • Customer Data Platforms
  • B2B Marketing Automation Platforms
  • Call Analytics Platforms
See More Research

h
Receive daily search news and analysis.
Search Engine Land
Download the Search Engine Land App on iTunes Download the Search Engine Land App on Google Play

Channels

  • SEO
  • SEM
  • Local
  • Retail
  • Google
  • Bing
  • Social

Our Events

  • SMX
  • MarTech

Resources

  • White Papers
  • Research
  • Webinars
  • Search Marketing Expo
  • MarTech Conference

About

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff
  • Connect With Us

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Youtube
  • iOS App
  • Google Play

© 2021 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

Your privacy means the world to us. We share your personal information only when you give us explicit permission to do so, and confirm we have your permission each time. Learn more by viewing our privacy policy.Ok