Internal Links on eCommerce sites

[seanmccauley]

I have been working on an eCommerce site; www.pretavoir.co.uk over the past year. Improvements in SERPs have been good with many top three positions. However, there are other important keywords of similar difficulty which refuse to behave in a similar way.... The site is PR4 and has a homepage PA 52. The homepage includes links to internal brand pages eg Prada, Gucci etc. Q Would it be worthwhile creating footer anchor text with eaxct text eg Prada sunglasses, Gucci Sunglasses?? Thanks

[ResslerMotors]

How else are those pages being linked to?  Have you ran a Screaming Frog scan to see how many internal links they are getting compared to similar pages that are ranking well?

[RobertFisher]

Sean,

In answer to your question, I don't think it would be worth it to do the footer links as I just don't see the value in those at all anymore. When I look at the site, I like it. I like the left side nav with each brand and the general nav at top. The site seems a slight bit slow but not to the degree that would bother ranking or visitors. So, why not just do some normal link work to the questionable pages? Get a few good links and see what happens.

Another component that falls into opinion is around traffic: How is the CTR for the higher pages vs the ones you are not getting movement from. I am a big believer that meta descriptions are the SEO's sales ad. If each one is not selling for you, you need to fix them. What I would experiment with would be pick a few PR 2 or PR 3 pages and then really write a great Meta description for each that answers the query someone would have: for a search of Ray Ban sunglasses - Ray Ban Sunglasses for those when you need them now! Free Delivery in the UK! 20% Discount for two pair. I never cease to be amazed at how we can increase traffic to a page by focusing on a great meta description.

You could also do something around having a short article on the main category page that maybe tells a "Ray Ban story" (My first Ray Bans by the Sunblock Kid), this provides interest though I fully understand that in the end they are wanting to see the sunglasses you have.

I always like to design some simple plan and then watch it over two to three months and then understand the results. It teaches you even if it fails.

Hope I helped a little bit,

Best

[ErikDster]

One thing I noticed is that you're using landing/category pages which I assume you want to rank for the longer tail phrases (brand sunglasses, etc).  What's interesting is that on the Adidas Brand Page page, you're using content and <title>that I would have thought belonged on the <a href="http://www.pretavoir.co.uk/adidas-sunglasses-c-3983_3984.html">Adidas Sunglasses page</a> while leaving the Adidas Sunglasses page blank of content.  </p> <p>Maybe that's a thing?</p> <p>The Adidas brand page links to a few product pages - maybe add an anchor text link to the sunglasses page also.  Although, I guess it wouldn't count because your sidebar comes before the content on your site's markup.</p> <p>Just my ramblings... take with a grain of salt.</p> <p> </p></title>

[seanmccauley]

Thanks for your reply.

As regards internal links, is there any merit the the theory that link juice can be passed through exact match anchor text more powerfully eg rather than chanel in left hand nav bar there could be anchor text chanel sunglasses somewhere on home page?

I totally agree with your recommendation re meta descriptions. Is there a method by which you can increase likelihood that your chosen text will appear in serps snippet rather than some other text off your landing page?

[seanmccauley]

Thanks Erik. Your input is appreciated

As we use osCommerce I believe there are some technical issues with getting text onto category page ie Adidas Sunglasses page.

[seanmccauley]

Hi

Thanks for your input. Screaming Frog looks like a very interesting tool. I will give it a go.