Do I need articles to rank higher?

tomaszjot

tomaszjot

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Dec 22, 2009
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Albany Plantation
So I've got this site where the structure is like:
www.somesiteaboutbluewidgets.com/blue-widgets/ where blue-widgets just display a list of items and let users to narrow results by size, color etc. After user click one of displayed items it takes him to full item description page with reviews, ratings and simple price comparison.

One of the keywords I want to rank is "blue widgets"

My questions are:

1. Should I have some article written about "blue widgets"? I have TITLE tag set to "blue widgets" and h1 as well. Nevertheless page has nothing more than a bunch of links leading to other pages or narrowing results.

2. I have some "blue widgets" page links leading to articles about "blue widgets", however, none of those articles is on actual "blue widgets" page. I think site is still useful for visitors and got articles section full of site-related articles. But they are kept separately. Would it be better to just have those articles on "blue widgets" page, which I'm trying to rank?

I've seen on-line stores doing both: some keep articles in articles section and some place articles on actual page over or under the list of items they try to sell. It is actually hard to tell which stores are doing better. For the sake of site's design items displayed without any articles look much better IMO.

Sorry if my questions are not clear or too long.

Thanks in advance for any help.
 


Lots of relevant, useful content can only help. You shouldn't underestimate the amount of long-tail traffic that such articles will bring too, all of which can potentially add to your bottom-line.

Longer articles (1000+ words) are better as they naturally contain more possible long-tail combination's and Google seems to like them better in general.
 
handrewrites said:
Lots of relevant, useful content can only help. You shouldn't underestimate the amount of long-tail traffic that such articles will bring too, all of which can potentially add to your bottom-line.
Click to expand...

I've got articles. My question is rather: where should I place them? I don't care to much about traffic coming through the longtails generated by articles. I care more about traffic to the pages where I list items. So if I want to rank for "blue widgets" I want my page with a list of blue widgets to be high in SERPS not article on "how to use blue widget". I know I can still manage to direct the prospect from that article into product page but it seems more difficult and time consuming (especially with hundreds of products) than directing him from the page where he sees product's price, delivery details etc.

Thanks for your help. It gives me some idea.
 
tomaszjot said:
I've got articles. My question is rather: where should I place them? I don't care to much about traffic coming through the longtails generated by articles. I care more about traffic to the pages where I list items. So if I want to rank for "blue widgets" I want my page with a list of blue widgets to be high in SERPS not article on "how to use blue widget". I know I can still manage to direct the prospect from that article into product page but it seems more difficult and time consuming (especially with hundreds of products) than directing him from the page where he sees product's price, delivery details etc.

Thanks for your help. It gives me some idea.
Click to expand...

Input the related article regarding "blue widgets" is an advantage, it helps to increase your keyword density on your website. Go ahead if you can manage it.

On the other hand, to rank better in SERP, you can also work out on off-page SEO such as link building too. Of course it will be better if you can input some "blue widgets" article
 
I would visit Amazon store, as they are the top online shop, and see how they did it. They are investing a lot in research and if you copy some of their models you won't make mistake.
 
I'd suggest to do both....the more content, the better. Spread your keywords around your site.
 
TonyN said:
I would visit Amazon store, as they are the top online shop, and see how they did it. They are investing a lot in research and if you copy some of their models you won't make mistake.
Click to expand...

I suppose they can get away with many things my brand new website will struggle.
 
You're going to need an asston of links from a variety of sources with the anchor text you pointing to that blue widget page. Press releases, other websites, directories, article directories, forum postings. The more links with the more authority the better.

Good luck : )
 
PhillipMarlow said:
You're going to need an asston of links from a variety of sources with the anchor text you pointing to that blue widget page. Press releases, other websites, directories, article directories, forum postings. The more links with the more authority the better.

Good luck : )
Click to expand...

That's a great read, thanks. It clears a lot. Not particularly good news for me though!
 
So... My side navigation gives options to shop by size, color and brand. I can understand people don't search for lets say Adidas Shoes for Less Than $30, but than again people search for things like Adidas Shoes or Red Adidas Shoes. So if the page is displaying a 20 pairs of Red Adidas Shoes, it must be is a relevant search result as hell. Those longtails generated dynamically gives the content people are really looking for. When you search for Black Audi 2007 you expect to see Black Audi 2007 rather than some blog post about the way Audi producing car bonnets. Longtails generated from the database are actually more relevant than those coming from articles or posts. Well, I feel bitter about whole issue as it backs my projects months in time.

Any ideas on building retail sites correctly?

I think for now I will add some articles to the pages I want to rank, and maybe no-follow those crappy links. Also I will cut the number of outgoing links.

I though 40000+ pages will give some power to my site.
 
Sorry, I don't have any experience with retail sites, although I've been looking at 3D cart recently.
 
1. Should I have some article written about "blue widgets"? I have TITLE tag set to "blue widgets" and h1 as well. Nevertheless page has nothing more than a bunch of links leading to other pages or narrowing results.
Click to expand...
The content on the page about "blue widgets" is definitely going to help in the SERP's. I would personally take the time and go through your widgets systematically to add content to pages that you want people to land on and the content should be relative to the product itself. Be honest, people can see right through a snake oil salesman, but don't hesitate pointing out what makes the blue widget better than the green one.

Sometimes the reasons offset one another. For example, there is no benefit to selecting red adidas versus blue adidas. However, you might just point out that people purchase red adidas shoes to go along with one of the red jumpsuits that you also are selling. This is a good way to spin the content so that it looks unique and relative to the product and you are upselling other products.

2. I have some "blue widgets" page links leading to articles about "blue widgets", however, none of those articles is on actual "blue widgets" page. I think site is still useful for visitors and got articles section full of site-related articles. But they are kept separately. Would it be better to just have those articles on "blue widgets" page, which I'm trying to rank?

I've seen on-line stores doing both: some keep articles in articles section and some place articles on actual page over or under the list of items they try to sell. It is actually hard to tell which stores are doing better. For the sake of site's design items displayed without any articles look much better IMO.

Sorry if my questions are not clear or too long.

Thanks in advance for any help.
Click to expand...
I think you should have some content on the page other than just links. However, you don't have to overdo it. I would keep the content very specific to blue widgets on the page if that is what you are attempting to rank that page for though.
 
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