Searchmetrics: ranking factors ecommerce 2017

eCommerce Ranking Factors 2017 Ten Things eCommerce Sites Need to Know to Rank on Google

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Table of Contents 1 eCommerce: Over half of purchases made online

2 About the Study: Ranking Factors for the eCommerce Industry General Ranking Factors as a Benchmark Industry-specific Ranking Factors: eCommerce

3 Analysis and Results: The 10 Most Important Ranking Factors for eCommerce AdSense Facebook Total File Size Interactive Elements Max. Bullets in List Number of Internal Links Online Store Above the Fold TLD is .com Video Integration Word Count

4 Conclusions

5 Rank Correlations

1

eCommerce

Over half of purchases made online The eCommerce industry covers all retail activities that take place online. According to data from eMarketer, Forrester Research1 and RetailMeNot2, US sales from eCommerce are estimated at well over 350 billion US Dollars for 2016 – and rising.

Annual Sales (Billion US Dollars)

eCommerce Sales US 2013 - 2017 +14%

500

+14%

400

+14%

+15%

300 200 100 0

2013

2014

2015

Quelle: http://www.marktmeinungmensch.de/studien/internationale-e-commerce-studie-2016/

2016

2017

eCommerce is a behemoth, yet it’s an industry still a long way from achieving its full potential.

Whilst the aims of on and offline retail are the same – reach as many customers and sell as many products as possible – the digital marketer requires specifically tailored strategies. And as a 2016 poll in the Wall Street Journal found3, for the first time more than half of purchases in the US are now made online, meaning that no retailer can afford to neglect the online market.

The rules on the internet are quite different from on the High Street, where the guiding principle is “location, location, location”. Online, the Google search results page is the decisive location. Being found there – ranking high on the page - is a prerequisite for getting attention and turning visitors into paying customers.

Even customers who prefer to make purchases in a brick-and-mortar store often conduct research beforehand on the web. 81% of all shoppers conduct online search before purchasing4. This shows how important an online presence – particularly in the search results pages – is for all retailers.

The eCommerce business is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And with more than 3.3 billion digital shopping baskets being filled in the US each year5, it’s in every retailer’s interest that as many as possible are lured to their online checkout.

This means that retailers must understand and adhere to general rules that result in higher rankings than competitors on a page, even as they increasingly are required to offer unique and differentiated content that get “bonus” ranking points from Google. https://www.internetretailer.com/trends/sales/us-e-commerce-sales-2013-2017/ http://www.retailresearch.org/onlineretailing.php http://www.wsj.com/articles/survey-shows-rapid-growth-in-online-shopping-1465358582 4 http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/81-shoppers-conduct-online-research-making-purchase-infographic/208527 5 http://www.marktmeinungmensch.de/studien/internationale-e-commerce-studie-2016/ 1 2 3

eCommerce Ranking Factors 2017: Ten Things eCommerce Sites Need to Know to Rank on Google ©Searchmetrics 2017

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2

About the Study:

Ranking Factors for the eCommerce Industry This analysis is the first of Searchmetrics’ ranking factor whitepapers that focus exclusively on one specific industry. If you’ve just tuned in, you can get started here with our Ranking Factors 101:

WHAT IS A RANKING FACTOR? General Ranking Factors as a Benchmark For each of our industry studies, the general ranking factors, which were published in a separate whitepaper, serve as a benchmark. Whilst the general ranking factors and rank correlations provide an overview of which elements are generally the most important in terms of search, and how top-ranking landing pages vary regarding these elements, the general factors can no longer be considered equally relevant for all webmasters. There are no longer any ranking factors that are universally applicable for all industries. Content demands based on user intent have simply become too differentiated.

For this reason, the general ranking factors act as a comparative benchmark, providing context to the results. By comparing them with the general ranking factors, we can see which are the most important ranking factors for eCommerce, and where webmasters operating in this industry should focus their attention.

Find out more about the general ranking factors:

DOWNLOAD THE WHITEPAPER

eCommerce Ranking Factors 2017: Ten Things eCommerce Sites Need to Know to Rank on Google ŠSearchmetrics 2017

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Industry-specific Ranking Factors: eCommerce To analyze the ranking factors for eCommerce, we created an industry-specific keyword set. Whilst the keyword set for the general ranking factors contained search terms related to all topics and fields – and primarily included terms with a high search volume – the results for this industry whitepaper are based on a smaller, more distinct dataset.

For this analysis, keywords were only included that are relevant for the eCommerce industry. In some instances, there is an overlap between the industry keywords and those of the general ranking factors - but this is by no means always the case. The keyword overlap between this industry study and the general ranking factors analysis was only around 15%. Overall, the average search volume of eCommerce keywords is much lower (around 20%) than for the search terms analysed for the benchmark study.

The use of a specially determined keyword set is essential because each individual industry – in fact, even each individual search query – has differentiated ranking factors. The following visual shows a few examples of the keywords used for the analysis in this whitepaper.

shoes

engagement rings

leggings

rayban

outdoor lighting

baby strollers

exercise bike

kitchen aid

monokini

hoverboards

eCommerce Ranking Factors 2017: Ten Things eCommerce Sites Need to Know to Rank on Google ©Searchmetrics 2017

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3

Analysis and Results

The 10 Most Important Ranking Factors for eCommerce As ranking factors differ for each industry, it’s not always the same factors that are the most important. For this reason, we have used our eCommerce keyword set to first evaluate all ranking factors that were part of the general benchmark analysis. Based on these results, we have identified the ten ranking factors that are the most important for the field of eCommerce.

In this context, “important” does not necessarily mean that these factors are the most decisive for ranking highly in google.com’s search results pages. We consider those factors to be “important” that show a significant difference in values and/or trends, when comparing the eCommerce results with the benchmark analysis.

These are the ranking factors that are worthy of particular attention for webmasters working in eCommerce:

Overview of the 10 most important ranking factors for eCommerce

AdSense/Adlinks

Facebook Total

File Size

Interactive Elemente

0 7371 8

.com Number of Internal Links

Online Store Above the Fold

TLD is .com

Max. Bullets in List

Video Integration

Word Count

eCommerce Ranking Factors 2017: Ten Things eCommerce Sites Need to Know to Rank on Google ©Searchmetrics 2017

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AdSense

AdSense / Adlinks 14

12

TOP 10 AdSense / Adlinks (%)

10

3%

8

6

TOP 20 4

3%

2

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

Google Position

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

eCommerce Benchmark 2016

CORRELATION

-0.02

Whilst in many sectors the use of advertisements is an important and accepted form of monetization of online content, this is not recommended for eCommerce domains. Display advertising is sometimes used as a secondary marketing tool for eCommerce pages, but there remains potential for optimization.

Although the analysis of all websites on the first page of Google’s search results found that 9 percent make use of AdSense or Adlinks, the rate for eCommerce pages is just 3%. eCommerce websites that avoid the use of external ads are therefore found amongst the top-ranked search results more often.

Just 3% of the top 10 eCommerce pages make use of AdSense or Adlinks.

eCommerce Ranking Factors 2017: Ten Things eCommerce Sites Need to Know to Rank on Google ŠSearchmetrics 2017

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Facebook Total

Facebook Total 25,000

Facebook Total

20,000

TOP 10

1,465

15,000

10,000

TOP 20

932

5,000

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

Google Position

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

eCommerce Benchmark 2016

20

CORRELATION

0.16

ECommerce URLs amongst the top 10 search results have, on average, only around a quarter as many Social Signals from Facebook (total number of likes and shares) as the top 10 pages, when calculated for all sectors. Shops and other eCommerce websites therefore enjoy less visibility in social media than the websites of other sectors, such as publishers. This can be attributed to the type of content on offer. It is natural that content provided by media is more likely to be shared than concrete product pages. For this reason, it may be more difficult and more expensive for eCommerce marketers to achieve a similar level of social visibility.

eCommerce websites amongst the top 20 search results have less than a third as many social signals as the overall average.

eCommerce Ranking Factors 2017: Ten Things eCommerce Sites Need to Know to Rank on Google ŠSearchmetrics 2017

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File Size

File Size 250,000

File Size (Byte)

200,000

TOP 10

198,211

150,000

100,000

TOP 20

183,580

50,000

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

Google Position

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

eCommerce Benchmark 2016

20

CORRELATION

0.03

Even at a time when file size and a page’s loading times are currently one of the most important issues for webmasters – our data shows that landing pages in the eCommerce sector can be a little larger than the general trend across the web. The file sizes of the top 10 eCommerce websites are over 30% larger than on average, when taking all industries into account. The larger files could be due to category pages ranking highly, which provide users with information on many different products for comparison, including images.

The file size of eCommerce pages in the top 10 is more than 30% larger than the average file size across all sectors.

eCommerce Ranking Factors 2017: Ten Things eCommerce Sites Need to Know to Rank on Google ©Searchmetrics 2017

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Interactive Elements

Interactive Elements 350

300

TOP 10

Interactive Elements

250

291

200

150

TOP 20 100

267

50

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

Google Position

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

eCommerce Benchmark 2016

CORRELATION

0.05

Higher ranking pages in eCommerce contain more menus, buttons and other interactive elements than the overall average. The mean number of interactive elements on the first page of Google’s search results is 291, almost 40% higher than in our benchmark analysis.

Of particular interest is the fact that eCommerce pages not only have a higher absolute number of interactive elements, they also have a higher density. When considering the word count, top 10 eCommerce pages have one interactive element every 7.12 words, compared to the benchmark rate of just one every 7.84 words.

Landing pages in the eCommerce sector should therefore use enough interactive elements to guide users comfortably and intuitively through the research and purchasing processes.

The number of interactive elements on highranking eCommerce websites is almost 40% higher than in our benchmark analysis.

eCommerce Ranking Factors 2017: Ten Things eCommerce Sites Need to Know to Rank on Google ŠSearchmetrics 2017

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Max. Bullets in List

Max Bullets in List 35

30

TOP 10

Max Bullets in List

25

24.4

20

15

TOP 20 10

19.4

5

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

Google Position

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

eCommerce Benchmark 2016

CORRELATION

0.03

The eCommerce sector shows more structured content than when looking at all pages in the top search results in the US. Firstly, the presence of at least one unordered list is more common amongst eCommerce pages (top 20: 62%) than on average (top 20: 52%). Secondly, longer bullet-point lists are found much more frequently on eCommerce pages.

Whilst the overall benchmark for URLs in the top 10 of Google search is 14.4 bullets per list, the equivalent rate for eCommerce pages is 24.4 bullets.

Across the top 10 Google positions, eCommerce pages have, on average, 70% more bullets per list than the overall benchmark.

eCommerce Ranking Factors 2017: Ten Things eCommerce Sites Need to Know to Rank on Google ŠSearchmetrics 2017

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Number of Internal Links

Number of Internal Links 300

250

Number of Internal Links

TOP 10 200

219

150

TOP 20

100

199

50

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

Google Position

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

eCommerce Benchmark 2016

CORRELATION

0.06

eCommerce pages have more internal links than the average for websites in the US. The high number of internal links is not a problem, but reasoned and logical. An easily navigable page structure with menus and product categories – and a high number of product pages – will inevitably lead to a page having a high number of internal links.

Landing pages in the eCommerce sector, which are found amongst the top 10 search results on google.com, have an average of 219 internal links per URL. The average figure across all sectors for search results on the first page is 126 internal links per URL. Whilst we have observed this higher-than-average number of links among eCommerce pages, we should stress that simply increasing the number of internal links will not always improve a page’s ranking. Not just quantity, but quality and structure are important when managing the internal links on a domain.

In eCommerce, URLs on the first page of the Google search results have 70% more internal links than the overall benchmark.

eCommerce Ranking Factors 2017: Ten Things eCommerce Sites Need to Know to Rank on Google ©Searchmetrics 2017

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Online Store Above the Fold

Online Store Above the Fold 70

60

Online Store Above the Fold (%)

TOP 10 50

56%

40

30

TOP 20 20

55%

10

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

Google Position

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

eCommerce Benchmark 2016

CORRELATION

0.00

For search results in the area of eCommerce, the implementation of a shop on the page is considerably more important than for websites in general. 56% of eCommerce pages in the top 10 Google positions have an online store above the fold. The benchmark rate for the general average is just 23%. High-ranking eCommerce URLs are therefore much more likely to adequately meet search queries that are based on a transactional user intent.

Across the top 20 of Google’s search results, well over half of eCommerce pages have an online store above the fold. This is more than double the overall average.

eCommerce Ranking Factors 2017: Ten Things eCommerce Sites Need to Know to Rank on Google ŠSearchmetrics 2017

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TLD is .com

TLD is .com

100

TOP 10

TLD is .com (%)

80

100%

60

TOP 20

40

98%

20

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

Google Position

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

eCommerce Benchmark 2016

CORRELATION

0.05

For anyone considering setting up a new eCommerce page in the US, or if an international company is looking to expand its activities to the US, then it is essential to have a .com TLD. Despite reports that some of the world’s biggest brands are making the switch to their own web extensions to the detriment of the traditional .com, our data finds that the top 10 URLs in Google’s search results in the eCommerce sector are almost exclusively .com (99.9%). Across all sectors, the benchmark rate of 86% is already quite high, but for eCommerce, .com seems to be the only viable option.

.com eCommerce pages in the top 10 almost all (99.9%) have the TLD .com.

eCommerce Ranking Factors 2017: Ten Things eCommerce Sites Need to Know to Rank on Google ©Searchmetrics 2017

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Video Integration

Video Integration 60

50

Video Integration (%)

TOP 10 40

35%

30

TOP 20

20

37%

10

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

Google Position

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

eCommerce Benchmark 2016

CORRELATION

-0.05

Across all industries, the use of embedded video is found in almost half (49%) of websites in the top 10 of Google’s search results. For eCommerce, this is less frequent, with just 36% of results on Google’s first page integrating video into their content.

Whilst videos can be used to highlight certain features of a product, or for entertainment, such as “unboxing X” or “review of X”, most of the search terms in our keyword set were of a more transactional nature. It can be relevant for online shops to offer videos and reviews of products, but our data suggests that video is not usually used on the URL where the shopper is supposed to convert.

Video may, however, be included (and linked to) elsewhere on the domain.

Instead of video, most catalogue-style listings will rely on small images and text descriptions to provide users with an easily comparable overview of different choices. This could be one reason for the relatively low rate of video integration on eCommerce pages.

Video plays a less significant role in eCommerce than for websites in general. Only 35% of eCommerce pages in the top 10 have embedded videos.

eCommerce Ranking Factors 2017: Ten Things eCommerce Sites Need to Know to Rank on Google ©Searchmetrics 2017

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Word Count

Word Count 2,500

Word Count

2,000

TOP 10

2,071

1,500

1,000

TOP 20

1,955

500

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

Google Position

15

16

17

18

19

20

eCommerce Benchmark 2016

CORRELATION

0.02

The word count for eCommerce URLs in the top 10 is around 25% higher than the average across all sites ranking on google.com. This might seem surprising at first, but eCommerce URLs often contain detailed product information and/or product tests, including structured content.

However, for specific product pages, large quantities of content will not always mean high quality content. Instead, the aim should be to provide appropriate information on the product, answers to users’ questions, and reviews – this will create a page that is in line with the user intent, which can be analyzed with holistic, data-driven solutions like the Searchmetrics Content Experience.

SEARCHMETRICS CONTENT EXPERIENCE

0 7371 8 The word count for eCommerce URLs in the top 10 is around 25% higher than the overall average.

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Conclusions Our analysis of the most important ranking factors for eCommerce has produced the following findings: Just 3% of the top 10 eCommerce pages make use of AdSense or Adlinks. eCommerce websites amongst the top 20 search results have less than a third as many social signals as the overall average.

The file size of eCommerce pages in the top 10 is more than 30% larger than the average file size across all sectors.

The number of interactive elements on high-ranking eCommerce websites is almost 40% higher than in our benchmark analysis.

Across the top 10 Google positions, eCommerce pages have, on average, 70% more bullets per list than the overall benchmark.

In eCommerce, URLs on the first page of the Google search results have 70% more internal links than the overall benchmark.

Across the top 20 of Google’s search results, well over half of eCommerce pages have an online store above the fold. This is more than double the overall average. eCommerce pages in the top 10 almost all (99.9%) have the TLD .com.

Video plays a less significant role in eCommerce than for websites in general. Only 35% of eCommerce pages in the top 10 have embedded videos.

The word count for eCommerce URLs in the top 10 is around 25% higher than the overall average.

The table summarizes the percentage differences between the top 10 averages for eCommerce pages and the benchmark average values from the general ranking factors.

Ranking Factor

Top10 Benchmark

Top10 eCommerce

Difference (%)

Online Store Above the Fold (%)

23%

56%

+139%

Number of Internal Links

126

219

+73%

Max. Bullets in List

14.4

24.4

+70%

Interactive Elements

208

291

+39%

File Size (bytes)

150,302

198,211

+32%

Word Count

1,633

2,071

+27%

TLD is .com (%)

86%

100%

+17%

Video Integration (%)

49%

35%

-30%

AdSense/Adlinks (%)

9%

3%

-68%

Facebook Total

5,552

1,465

-74%

eCommerce Ranking Factors 2017: Ten Things eCommerce Sites Need to Know to Rank on Google ŠSearchmetrics 2017

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eCommerce Ranking Factors vs. Universal Ranking Factors

-100

Facebook Total

TLD is .com

Word Count

File Size

Interactive Elements

-50

Max. Bullets in List

0

Number of Internal Links

50

AdSense

Video Integration

100

Online Store Above the Fold

Difference between eCommerce and Benchmark Analysis (%)

150

www.searchmetrics.com/ecommerce2017

eCommerce Ranking Factors 2017: Ten Things eCommerce Sites Need to Know to Rank on Google ŠSearchmetrics 2017

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5

Rank Correlations The following infographic shows the rank correlations for all ranking factors covered in this whitepaper, and compares these with the correlations from the general ranking factor analysis.

Rank Correlation Comparison between eCommerce and Benchmark Analysis

Facebook Total 0.07 0.06

Number of Internal Links 0.00

TLD is .com

0.05

Interactive Elements Max. Bullets in List

0.20

0.16

0.05 -0.03

0.03 0.00

File Size -0.01

Word Count

0.08

0.03

0.02

Online Store Above the Fold

0.12

0.00 -0.02 -0.02

AdSense

0.00

Video Integration -0.05 -0.05

0

Correlation Benchmark

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

Correlation eCommerce

www.searchmetrics.com/ecommerce2017

eCommerce Ranking Factors 2017: Ten Things eCommerce Sites Need to Know to Rank on Google ŠSearchmetrics 2017

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