Unique item descriptions 'vital for SEO'

19th February 2008

Search engine optimisation (SEO) will be boosted for e-commerce companies that write unique descriptions of their products, according to new advice.

An article from sector publication E-consultancy advises that reproducing manufacturer's product summaries can be a bad SEO move, as the description is likely to have already been used so will be marked by search engines as duplicate content.

The news source states: "A unique product description should not only help your conversion rate, it should also allow you to attract more search traffic."

Other recommendations from the site include using keywords in URLs, incorporating customer item reviews and ensuring that consumers are able to reach product pages in just a few clicks.

Images should also reportedly be optimised for SEO success, with "keyword rich file names" among the methods by which this can be done.

Meanwhile, a new post on the Yahoo! Search Marketing blog notes that colour can be used to boost conversions on e-retail sites.