eCommerce and

So as most of you know BOTH Google and Bing have announced partnerships with Twitter to add tweets to search results in real time (as well as Bing stating they will add Facebook status updates). While Google’s integration of this is still a while off, Bing has created a beta page for it, but has yet to directly integrate. Bing’s exact description is below:

• “A real-time index of the Tweets that match your search queries in results. This feature makes it easier to follow what’s going on by reducing the amount of duplicates, spam, and adult content.
• Giving you the option to rank tweets either by most recent or by “best match,” where we consider a Tweeter’s popularity, interestingness of the tweet, and other indicators of quality and trustworthiness.
• Providing the top links shared on Twitter around your specific search query by showcasing a few of the most relevant tweets. Additionally, Bing automatically expands those small URLs (like bit.ly) to enable you to understand what people are tweeting about. Instead of showing standard search result captions, we select 2 top tweets to give users a glimpse of the sentiment around the shared link."

Below is an example of the Bing implementation of Twitter. You can see the search for faucets shows my most recent tweet about faucets as well as a shared link posted to the article that is from @SWNeilPlumbing as well.

This is really a cool idea as it somewhat implements a recent “comment” system for websites. Theoretically you can see social trends associated to the keyword you are searching for.  Then below the link you can see what people have been saying about the website that was socializing on the topic or keyword searched, on Twitter.  Google’s implementation of this will likely be integrated into universal search results and will likely feature the keyword searched in regular SERPs as well as any recent tweets with information on the websites.

Reinventing the Way We Search

So what does this mean for the SEO’s out there? Well in the short term, not much, but in the long run it could mean a complete redefinition of the way we do our jobs. As an example, right now having dedicated content that has garnered a lot of links and been well indexed by Google, directly improves the search results. But what happens if Google and Bing start to integrate Twitter posts in the universal search? Twitter posts are news as it is happening, and typically do not carry a long life span. So technically if they are integrated into Google and Bing they could theoretically out rank or draw attention away from websites that have been fighting for the main page for months, when they have only been posted for an hour and received five to ten retweets.

This change will directly affect SEO as you will battle for placement through the continuous posts of content that people deem “retweetable”, thus theoretically allowing your twitter post to be bumped higher on the universal search results. Now my ideas are guesses as to the actual implementation, but one way or another, this is the future. As people start to rely more on Twitter and Facebook (which Bing has confirmed they are adding) for their news, friend connections, and link sharing, we will have to adapt the way we do SEO to accompany that.

What do you think? Will these twitter posts make it into Google’s universal search results, or will they just be a stand alone search such as images and shopping?

For the best prices, on the largest selection of faucets, from your favorite brands like Kohler, Danze, and American Standard shop PlumberSurplus.com 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Today Google rolled out more filters to their ever expanding Google Search Options category. While past roll outs have not had as much of an impact on eCommerce websites today’s new updates may change that greatly. Today they launched a past hour filter, search within a specific date range, websites visited filter and show more or less shopping websites filters.  Along with these filters Google also included refinements for search so that users can review results by only book, blog, and news.  Of the changes, websites visited and show more or less shopping websites, create the biggest potential impact from an internet retailer’s point of view. 

Filter by Visited or Not

Google now gives customers, potential customers and searchers the option to only view results from websites that they have visited previously, as well as websites they have never previously visited.  This can have varying affects on a merchant. First, if someone stumbles onto a website and decides to purchase something, Google remembers that the customer went to that website. What this means is that if the customer had an enjoyable experience and wants to buy the same product again or similar type of product (but doesn’t remember who they got it from) they can simply go to Google type the same or similar search and narrow results through only visited sites, and “Viola!” the website appears, the customer remembers and they get the repeat business. The same thing can also work in a negative way, if the customer has a bad experience, an item gets broken in transit out of your control, or some other problem happens they now have the option to filter you out of their Web search life.

View More or Less Shopping Websites

The second and one of the more important new feature’s for eCommerce websites is Google giving the customer the ability to filter based on whether they want to view more or less shopping websites. This could be really good for up and coming e-retailers who aren’t currently ranking on the first page in SERPs, because when someone filters with “more shopping sites” this can actually take other results out of the top ten and push other websites from the second page to the first page. The new search filters can also help e-retailers take over top placements from non shopping related websites such as Wikipedia and others information related websites. On the negative side however, if someone selects “less shopping sites”, the filtering can potentially remove valuable content retailers have created because it has been flagged as a shopping website.

Little Giant has been hard at work engineering pumps that their most loyal customers have been waiting for. PlumberSurplus.com is your destination for the new Little Giant TSW Sump Pump System and their NXTGen Condensate Pumps.

Rich Snippets are a feature Google introduced in May.  Rich Snippets use microformats to structure data so that Google can index it and add it to search listings. Yelp was their original experiment and beta test of Rich Snippets, they used the data to display aggregate reviews and price ranges for product listings. When I first read about this new feature I was interested, and stared at the examples via Yelp’s organic listings because enhancements like these are eyeball magnets for users.  All retailers love eyeball magnets. They also enhanced the search experience.

While we are reviewing and looking to implement microformats for Rich Snippets for our own websites I sure hope that Google continues to roll these enhancements out across the board.  The shear time saved when researching for restaurants and products are great for the user. It would be awesome to search for a product via Google, and immediately see in the organic listings what the review ratings, prices and promotions (like free shipping) are for the product via the SERP page. I have however yet to see more than one listing using Rich Snippets on any one SERP page, which defeats making comparisons.  So I am hoping more people jump on the bandwagon and get this data into the SERP’s!

For the best prices, on the largest selection of faucets, from your favorite brands like Kohler, Danze, and American Standard shop PlumberSurplus.com 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

• Analytics Evangelist Avinash Kaushik, wrote this blog recently and I think as far as eCommerce blogs go, this title is the best so far this year “Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian & Telling Stories With Data”.


• Search Engine Journal shared a tool this week that shows you how your page listing might look within Google SERPs, and it’s really sweet.


• Are your landing pages in need of a makeover?  Copyblogger released an insightful case study on how they could assist Cars Helping America.


• The big story this week was the announcement that Google is working on the Google Chrome Operating System!


• Reviews are one of my favorite website features, but only when they are true.  One suspicious lawyer investigated and found that Amazon’s system is still dealing with frauds.
   

Kohler is arguably one of the most innovative brands in the home improvement industry. The new Karbon faucet has completely transformed the kitchen and more specifically revolutionized the kitchen faucet. Meanwhile Kohler seems to effortlessly create bathroom fixtures that are not only sleek but save water, like the Escale toilet.

• By now most of us have heard the news of Michael Jackson’s death, what really surprised me was the way in which many of us found out about it…. Twitter.  Twitter may be having a far greater impact than we may even know.


• This title speaks for itself: Amazon: “A Search Engine With A Warehouse”.


• We know that load times affect user behavior, but would you say that fractions of a second could have a billion dollar price tag?


• Are you ignoring important landing pages?


• Apparently there is controversy over personalized ads, but are we really surprised that people don’t want to share their social security numbers?

Kohler is arguably one of the most innovative brands in the home improvement industry. The new Karbon faucet has completely transformed the kitchen and more specifically revolutionized the kitchen faucet. Meanwhile Kohler seems to effortlessly create bathroom fixtures that are not only sleek but save water, like the Escale toilet.

• Tim Berry and his wife Vange collaborated on what they have learned over the last 22 years as small business owners and came up with a list of ten lessons they learned.  They point out that these lessons may not work for every business but in my opinion Tim and Vange may be too humble about their list.  Businesses are still failing today because they either don’t know about the topics discussed in this article or they choose to ignore them.  I chose three points to reiterate for our audience:
  • 2. We built it around ourselves
    Our business was and is a reflection of us, what we like to do, what we do well. It didn’t come off of a list of hot businesses.
  • 5. We spent our own money. We never spent money we didn’t have.
    We hate debt. We never got into debt on purpose, and we didn’t go looking for other people’s money until we didn’t need it (in 2000 we took in a minority investment from Silicon Valley venture capitalists; we bought them out again in 2002). We never purposely spent money we didn’t have to make money. (And in this one I have to admit: that was the theory, at least, but not always the practice. We did have three mortgages at one point, and $65,000 in credit card debt at another. Do as we say, not as we did.)
  • 7. We minded cash flow first, before growth.
    This was critical, and we always understood it, and we were always on the same page. See lesson number 5, above. We rejected ways we might have spurred growth by spending first to generate sales later.
    
    

• The Palm Pre comes out this weekend, and I am quite excited about it!  Search Engine Land reports on Google’s excitement for the release of this smartphone that has Google Search, Maps and YouTube already built into the device.  What’s important about this article is the trend toward mobile apps and how advertisers will choose to plan for future PPC campaigns.


• Bing seems to be the word of the week and (#badabing) the tweet of the week.  Bing even managed to become the number two search engine for a day, which isn’t all that surprising considering the dollars that Microsoft is tossing at their ad campaign, but will it last?  Some think not, and I tend to agree.  I tried to use Bing for a day, but I couldn’t even make it that long.


• Adobe BrowserLab is making it easier for developers to test cross browser compatibility.
  


• We pride ourselves on being problem solvers, in fact that is how Gordian Project came to be our name.  We go about discovering problems and implementing solutions in various ways, but I enjoyed this simple outline for those in their infancy of tackling issues.
  

Kohler is arguably one of the most innovative brands in the home improvement industry. The new Karbon faucet has completely transformed the kitchen and more specifically revolutionized the kitchen faucet. Meanwhile Kohler seems to effortlessly create bathroom fixtures that are not only sleek but save water, like the Escale toilet.

• Dear Jane is working on an experiment that deals with brand perception.  She put together a visual representation of the brands she uses on a typical day and her findings were quite interesting.  She is also asking the community to participate.


• The search engines are improving search capabilities but are we the users capitalizing on them?


• Decency as a sales tool…. What a concept!


• Friendly fraud, online retails equivalent of shoplifting or consumers just gaming the system?


• Social networking is taking off, so don’t walk into the process blindly, let those who have learned their lessons along the way provide some assistance.
  

For the best prices, on the largest selection of faucets, from your favorite brands like Kohler, Danze, and, American Standard shop PlumberSurplus.com 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

In my SEO Tools in Review Part one, I reviewed some of the SEO tools I see used the most in the marketplace, so in part two I would like to outline the types of tools I see most often utilized and the value they have to the SEO or marketer. Across many of the suites of tools I mentioned in my previous post reside similar tools, and while the method and data might change, the goal of the tool is usually the same, or close to. Here are some of the most common types of tools I see.

Web Page Header Check

A very common tool is a web page header check.  This simply checks the status codes and other information which the web server is sending out when loading a page. These codes let things like browsers and search engine spiders know if this page is OK, Moved, or Bad.

HTTP Status Codes

200 OK, 301 Moved Permanently, 302 Found, 304 Not Modified, 307 Temporary Redirect, 400 Bad Request, 401 Unauthorized, 403 Forbidden, 404 Not Found, 410 Gone, 500 Internal Server Error, 501 Not Implemented.

http://www.seoconsultants.com/tools/headers.asp
http://www.webconfs.com/http-header-check.php
http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/check-server-headers/

Common Issues and Opportunities

Finding common issues / opportunities or low hanging fruit is not always easy especially in a highly technical environment. These tools often run through a laundry list of common checks and also sometimes gather pertinent data regarding a website or web page. Crawl testing also falls into this category, making sure that search engine spiders can access and spider a website or web page information.

http://semcheck.com/
http://www.seomoz.org/crawl-test
http://www.webconfs.com/search-engine-spider-simulator.php

Keyword Density

Many would agree that keyword density is not something which is touted anymore, however there have been many tools created to measure it and gauge an optimum keyword to content ratio. There are some interesting tools which will review a page and return what it thinks are the targeted keywords.  Sometimes that can be helpful.

http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/keyword-density/
http://www.webconfs.com/keyword-density-checker.php
http://www.seotoolset.com/tools/free_tools.html
https://tools.shoemoney.com/how_it_works1.php#keywordDensity

Keyword Research

Finding the right keywords is an important task.  If a website has the first spot for a term with little traffic but similar terms have more traffic it might be better to use the higher trafficked terms and optimize for them as well. Some really great tools have come out to perform keyword research and help users find better keywords.

http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook/
http://www.seomoz.org/popular-searches/
http://www.seomoz.org/keyword-difficulty
http://raven-seo-tools.com/features/research/
http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/keyword-suggestions-google/
http://www.webconfs.com/website-keyword-suggestions.php
http://www.webconfs.com/keyword-playground.php
http://www.seotoolset.com/tools/free_tools.html

Competitive Research

It's always a good idea to take a look at what your competitors are doing and while running all of the tools mentioned on competitor domains can give you some great data, some people have created competitor specific tools to extract specific data. There are also some great tools which let you compare websites and their varying statistics to one another. Those can be highly valuable tools when comparing yourself to your competition or competitors to competitors.

http://www.seotoolset.com/tools/free_tools.html
http://tools.seobook.com/competitive-research-tools/
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo
http://www.quantcast.com/
http://www.compete.com/

Link Analysis / Link Building

Link building is all the rage these days so it’s understandable that several tools have been created to help find, manage, and create valuable links for a website. Not only are there tools to find optimal websites to get links from but there are tools to see what kinds of links competitors or other websites already have.

http://www.webconfs.com/backlink-summary.php
http://www.seomoz.org/link-finder
http://www.seomoz.org/linkscape
https://tools.shoemoney.com/how_it_works3.php#backlinkFinder
http://raven-seo-tools.com/features/link-building/

Rank Checking

These are some interesting tools which aggregate rank and authority data for a domain or website. The SEOmoz trifecta tool is a one of my favorite tools, which quickly grabs vast amounts of data about a website.

http://www.seomoz.org/trifecta
http://www.webconfs.com/domain-stats.php
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo
http://www.quantcast.com/
http://www.compete.com/

SERP Tracking

SERP tracking can be tedious without some kind of tool to aggregate the checking and storing of the SERP data. Each of these tools is a good quality option to help streamline that process.

http://tools.seobook.com/firefox/rank-checker/
http://raven-seo-tools.com/features/serp-tracking/
https://tools.shoemoney.com/how_it_works1.php#keywordTracker
http://www.seomoz.org/rank-checker

Additional Resources

Even though there are a lot of really great tools out there don't forget about additional content which might be available. SEOmoz and ShoeMoney for example have boatloads of awesome premium content.  Many of the other tools have blogs that can be used as a resource so take that into account if you are looking to pay for tools.

Search Engine Tools

Don't forget that each of the major search engines also have webmaster tools. These are free, provide a lot of value and have data that many of these tools don't have.

The possibilities are endless with a bathroom remodel. Discover your classic side with a clawfoot tub, experiment with fresh bathroom vanities and coordinate it all with matching faucets. Shop PlumberSurplus.com 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for all of your bathroom needs.

Any person with a little knowledge of SEO has obviously noticed the onslaught of SEO tools hitting the marketplace these days. A variety of free, paid and subscription based tools have become available to the masses and I have been fortunate enough to try most of them. Some are good, others are great and still many are rubbish but I thought it might be nice to create a little collection of the ones I like the best and see as having the most value.

Now I know this is not every SEO tool ever produced but these are the ones that I not only see used most often but have also used myself.

SEOmoz SEO Tools

SEOmoz has some really great tools, but some of the more advanced are tied to their subscription service. I believe that they were one of the first companies to really start making and tailoring complex tools for the SEO and marketer alike. My favorite tool is the Trifecta which used to be called the Page Strength tool. It can grab loads of great information related to a page or domain. Many of their guides and SEOmoz Pro features are also great but those do start at $79.00 a month.

ShoeMoney Internet Marketing Tools

ShoeMoney recently launched ShoeMoney Tools which is a little heavy on the PPC side of things but has some great tools none the less. My favorite tool is the Domain Marketplace which has thousands of unregistered domains and along with any pertinent information tied to them. The rest of the SEO tools are a bit generic but the PPC tools are great and since they are tied to the ShoeMoney name you know they are good. ShoeMoney, much like SEOmoz, has some great premium content and also very interesting and valuable forums. Now, none of these tools are free, its $79.00 a month for access.

SEM Check SEO Tools

SEM Check is a little different, it’s a quick and easy way to analyze a website for common problems and opportunities concerning search engine marketing. It checks things like server status, redirects, error pages, etc. then provides a nice organized actionable report based on the errors found. While it’s also a paid tool it's only $12.00 for one report or they have subscription type memberships that include X number of reports a month packages.

Raven Internet Marketing Tools

I actually used Raven tools for quite a while until they changed their pricing structure. What drew me to this service was their SERP tracking tool which I found to be really valuable. They have some pretty awesome Social Media tools and one thing that I do really like about their service is that they support multiple users/websites and agencies which is pretty cool for those who need it. Customizable reports is another bonus they provide. Again, this service is also paid; it starts at $79.00 a month and there are caps to the SERP tracker (6 cents for every keyword past 1000 keywords).

SEO Book SEO Tools

SEO Book has two of my current favorite SEO tools in the keyword tool and rank checker tool. The SEO Book Keyword suggestion tool is the best free keyword tool that I have found and the rank checker is actually a fantastic SERP tracking tool especially when coupled with the site rank reporter. Now the rank checker is a Firefox plugin and they also have the SEO for Firefox plugin which is a great Firefox addition.

SEO Chat Tools

SEO Chat Tools have been around for a while and show the most age comparisons as opposed to the rest of the tools I’ve discussed, in addition to some very unique tools as well. Some of my favorites being their Domain Typo Generator, Multiple Datacenter Keyword Position Checker, Keyword Difficulty Tool, Check Server Headers and Google Dance Tool. What’s great about all of these tools is that they are free, and even though some are a little old and buggy it’s hard to pass up free.

Webconfs SEO Tools

Webconfs SEO Tools have also been around for a while and like the preceding tools are also free. Some great tools include the Domain Stats Tool, Backlink Builder, and the Website Keyword Suggestion tool. The rest of their tools are pretty generic and they certainly don't have as great of a selection as the other suites.

SEO Tool Set

SEO Tool Set was created by Bruce Clay and is free (but subscribed users seem to get more functionality). Tools like the Check Server, Competition Research, Ranked Page Report and Linked Analytic Report are all pretty good. Two great additions are Bruce Clay’s Search Engine Relationship Chart and the SEMToolBar which is a great add-on for Firefox and IE.

Some honorable mentions that I also use are Firefox add-ons: SearchStatus, Web Developer and Firebug.

Keep in mind that even the paid services will promote their tools by offering trial memberships for dirt cheap; ShoeMoney and SEOmoz have both done this in the last six months.  Watch them closely as they are coming out with new tools and improved reports all the time.  Many have publicized their interest in community feedback and recommendations so if you are looking for a particular tool don’t be shy about sharing your interest with them, you may be surprised at the type of response you may receive.

Little Giant has been hard at work engineering pumps that their most loyal customers have been waiting for. PlumberSurplus.com is your destination for the new Little Giant TSW Sump Pump System and their NXTGen Condensate Pumps.

So we have finally started utilizing Twitter so feel free to follow us to keep up to date on our latest activities.

This week’s eCommerce review:

• According to a post by Bruce Temkin, as we add functionality to our websites we may be decreasing the ease of navigation, and according to his numbers it looks like there is plenty of room for improvement.


• To niche or not to niche, that is a great question, especially if your competition is trying to dominate you via SERPs!  Search Engine Land takes a look at microsites in relation so SERP’s.


• Tools every Google Analytics professional should have.


• Avinash, well known analytics guru, goes over the basics of daily, weekly, and monthly unique visitors.  The summary of the lesson is to pretty much forget those metrics, and instead look at absolute unique visitors over a given time period.  Gotta love simplicity.


• As someone who feels the need to justify reasoning, I can completely identify with this post from Future Now, On a Scale From 1 to 5 Surveys Stink. Here’s Why!
  

The possibilities are endless with a bathroom remodel. Discover your classic side with a clawfoot tub, experiment with fresh bathroom vanities and coordinate it all with matching faucets. Shop PlumberSurplus.com 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for all of your bathroom needs.