Search Engine Optimization Strategies for Wholesale Apparel Sites

By Jason Prescott

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the number one opportunity for 2007, according to MarketingSherpa’s 2007 Search Marketing Benchmark Guide, and wholesale apparel marketers are beginning to see the advantages of SEO. This article attempts to dispel any hesitations you may have about using organic SEO on vertical search engines (VSEs).

The listings (AKA links) in search engines are either organic or sponsored. The organic links are also called natural listings because they result naturally from search engine algorithm rankings. Algorithms are proprietary software used by search engines to index and rank web pages. The sponsored links, on the other hand, result from the purchase of pay-per-click text ads ranked by another type of algorithm based on bid price, click-through-rate and landing page quality. 
Research shows that organic links get more click-throughs and higher conversion rates than sponsored links. In fact, 70% - 85% of the real estate on search engines belongs to organic links. Here’s what MarketingSherpa concluded on marketing return on investment (ROI) in its latest research:

• SEO achieves the best ROI: 68.7% of product marketers claimed to get better ROI with organic links. 
• Paid search lagged behind, with 52.5% of product marketers claiming to get better ROI with sponsored links.

SEO Basic Guidelines
When optimizing a site for organic rankings, you make changes that alter the site structure and content to increase the likelihood of higher search engine rankings for strategic keywords. A Technical Site Review helps identify areas for improvement, calling for changes in coding, text content and hyperlinks. A Competitor Analysis can tell you how to beat the competition. Let’s start with the basic SEO tasks.

Site Content: Content is king, and you need keyword-rich text to get your site indexed by search spiders. Optimize each page for two or three targeted keywords. Use your keywords in a natural, conversational way throughout the text on your page so that the copy is attractive to both visitors and search engines. Start using keywords immediately so they appear above the fold. Use keywords in subheadings whenever possible. Experts recommend at least 250 words per page; there is no maximum. Establish a theme for your site, supported by inner pages and efficient internal linking. Write pages that describe and explain your offerings while addressing potential customer queries.

Keyword Research and Analysis: Keyword research and analysis is critically important to any search campaign. Your choice of keywords should be based on your business goals and site objectives. Start your research by using tools such as Wordtracker (www.wordtracker.com), Keyword Discovery (www.keyworddiscovery.com/)  or the Google AdWords Keyword Tool (https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal) to identify keywords and phrases customers will use to find your site. The best keywords are those commonly used by potential customers to find your site but not overused by your competitors. Your goal is to find the keywords describing your product or service that will deliver the best results.

Keyword suggestion tools provide data based on millions of keyword phrases used by searchers on search engines over a specific time period (typically the last 90 days). They will tell you which keywords are the most popular and on which search engines. Because keyword analysis is not an easy task, it can be outsourced to companies like SEO Research Labs (www.seosearchlabs.com).

Meta Tags: Meta Tags were abused in the past, resulting in a reduced impact on search engine algorithms. Some are still very important, especially the Title and Description tags.

• Title Tag: For best ranking results, provide a unique title tag for every page in your site containing the targeted keywords used in the text on that page. The title should be a sentence of 50 to 70 characters or approximately seven to ten words. Make it informative and compelling to attract visitors to your page.
• Description Tag: For best ranking results, provide a unique description tag for every page in your site containing 200 to 300 characters. Make your description tag a strong marketing statement with call to action if applicable. Your description tag should also contain the targeted keywords used in the text on that page.
• Keywords Tag: The keywords tag is not used for ranking purposes by most search engines, but it can be helpful with some engines. It is a simple matter to copy/paste your keywords in this tag. The keywords tag can be twice as long as the description tag (400 to 600 characters).
• Miscellaneous Tags: It is important to include keywords in Heading Tags and ALT Tags (used to describe graphics). Use keywords in ALT tags only if descriptive of the graphic.

Linking Strategy: Authoritative inbound links are an important ranking factor. Use keywords as anchor text in your hyperlinks. Use ethical linking strategies to obtain links from authoritative sites. The quality of inbound links is more important than the quantity. Your outbound links are also valuable. Link to non-competitive related sites that can provide information of value for your visitors.

Search spiders look for “subject matter experts” when indexing relevant web sites for top rankings in their search databases. Following the above SEO strategies will help bring your site to the top in general search engines as well as VSEs. However, as an apparel wholesaler, there are a few additional steps you can take to give your rankings a boost in the VSEs—and that’s where it counts.

VSE Basic Guidelines
Submitting your site to Vertical Search Engines and Directories puts your company in front of targeted wholesale buyers. As an apparel wholesale marketer, it is important that you go directly to the VSEs when promoting your site, avoiding ad networks. You can submit your site to VSEs such as Business.com, (http://www.business.com), IT.com (http://it.com), BitPipe (http://www.bitpipe.com), ScienceDirect (http://www.sciencedirect.com), Toptenwholesale (http://www.toptenwholesale.com/) and WholesaleCentral (http://wholesalecentral.com). You can submit shopping cart feeds to Wholezilla (http://wholezilla.com).
When looking for exposure on a VSE, ask for the following services: editorials, custom blogs, banners, and other great links that vertical search engines can provide. Being allowed to blog on approved topics makes for great User Generated Content.

Even large Internet companies like Overstock submit their listings to vertical search engines to connect with highly relevant traffic and links.
It may take a few weeks for your organic links to appear in VSEs and directories but other promotions can start even faster.