As advertising space on publishing platforms is growing ever cheaper, such platforms are turning to e-commerce sites as a viable alternative for monetization. Meanwhile, online stores are also benefitting from this trend, since it essentially means they might just dodge the bullet of the dreaded Panda dance, which has been penalizing sites thin in content. But this merger of sorts will most definitely change the way both types of sites approach SEO. Here are three upcoming game changes we can predict for the future.
- You are what they search for
At the moment, Google and other major search engines are somewhat enabled to distinguish between e-commerce and publishing platforms – or at least that’s what current their policy in treating product queries indicates. As of writing this article, Google lists commercial sites among the top SERP results for search terms which indicate the intent of a potential purchase. That is to say, if you’re looking for something like ‘buy X product cheap’, you will most likely get directed to a commercial website selling said product. However, looking for product details, such as ingredients, country of production, etc., is more likely to point you in the direction of information-oriented sites. Now that this boundary is ever-so slowly becoming blurrier and blurrier, how is Google going to reflect this in the SERPs for both publishers and stores?
- Publishers on Google Shopping?
The Google Shopping search tool is one which e-commerce sites have been taking advantage of for some time now – and it only makes sense that the affiliate program management strategies of such sites would also include it. They are a perfectly natural fit. However, it’s highly unlikely that there should be too many content websites on Google Shopping. Yet as this convergence of two previously unrelated types of sites continues to unfold, does it mean we could soon be seeing more publishers on Google’s very own marketplace? And, if so, would it be a one-size fits all type of solution for all such platforms? How do you think they could integrate it into their advertising scheme?
- SEO is content, for stores and publishers alike
Publishing platforms should by all means avoid downgrading their content quality standards, for the sake of heavily integrating commercial content. This would risk alienating their audience to just as large an extent as it could spell penalizations from Google. However, much of the same goes for e-commerce sites, too. While having a blog and posting ever-trendy and quotable infographics is a good start, it is by no means enough to get Google to treat them as more than just stores posting self-promotional content. Similarly, e-stores could also benefit from SEO training for their staff.