In this article, I researched some of the growing and mid-level auto websites in the US and got their search engine optimization (SEO) trends and rates. The comparative discussion outlines here will shed light on the key parameters behind successful or failed eCommerce implementations. By ‘developing websites’, I mean the sites that are gaining popularity in terms of links and page rank (PR), but definitely not the most popular. The results and discussions will be useful for relatively new e-commerce companies on how to improve their SEO strategies and relevant actions. In this short article, I point out the main theoretical findings as subheadings. In the relevant discussions, I will cover specific examples to support the theoretical findings.
1. Off-page optimization can even improve the average quality of a website: The web quality (rating) of autonetusa (dot com) is of the average type (found by the webgrader tool). However, due to more directory submissions and higher inbound links, it achieves the same DirectAuction PR (net point). Therefore, the total number of incoming links exceeds this average value.
2. Banned Websites: If a search engine (eg Google-bot) thinks a site is SPAM (or a fake website), the site is banned (page rank may become 0). PR can also be 0 for other reasons. The reasons are: domain problem, lack of coding, programming maturity, lack of proper user interface (the things a virus or spam does). Other reasons (web designer misbehaviors) are: very repetitive keywords in headers/body/footers, trying to confuse Googlebot by making the site too smart, irrelevant context, etc. autobyte, autousadirect(dot com) has PR=0 (No keys, there are long spam keys) Although both sites are 5 and 10 years old, they have fewer inbound links compared to their ages. Also, the site was not submitted to external urls/engines/directories. Another example is maseratiusa (dot com). It is 8 years old/5 years old (8 years old and the registration will expire after 5 years, indicating a mature and secure domain). However, it does not have any URL submission history and its number of pages indexed in Google is 0. It is highly likely that the search engines flagged the site as a prohibited site due to some occasional misconduct on the part of the site designers. .
3. Old site that can be further improved (possibility to improve SEO): adesa (dot com) is a 12 year old/5 year old (to go) site. His PR=5. It has an above average ratio of indexed pages to inbound links. It has a high traffic/user access (top 0.5%). It is submitted to various directories, including 11 submissions on “del.icio.us”. (high) indicating good off-page optimization. However, there are some problems with this site, such as the lack of keywords and blogs (user interactions). Also, there are fewer inbound links compared to their age. The solution to those problems could improve the page rank of this site.
4. Age doesn’t matter if design and SEO are absent: Two average sites (40% rating quality): “jmagroup (dot com)” and “highergear (dot com)” are 10-year-old sites ( old website). Your PRs are 3 or 4. No URL submissions (OFF page optimization is absent). Fewer inbound links (5. In other words, the SEO mechanism should be applied to any site for better performance.
5. A site close to the best but with some shortcomings related to page design: Cirrusdesign (dot com) (86% rating) is an 11yr/8yr old site. A large number of people access the site (the top 0.7%). There are also a large number of inbound links related to the site. However, only a few indexed pages from that site are available on Google compared to its age. A large number of “From…” and URL submissions. PR=6 in both cases. Keyword and page optimizations and all-way URL submissions are not visible. B.uick(dot com) agrees with this point in the same way!
6. Excessive graphics looks like a spam site and reduces PR: Dealertrack (dot com) is an old site (9 years old) with a lot of inbound links and indexed pages on Google. A large number of users access this site (1.4%). However, there are no URL submissions there. Also, excessive graphics limit loading optimizations and reduce its popularity (PR is only 3).
7. Short term site that has high PR (How to reach PR fast?): Bzresults (dot com) has good interactions with users. It is only 4 years old and has a web rating of 76% (above average, but not the best site). Reached a large number of inbound links (47,000) in a short period. OFF page optimization (RSS feed, communication sources, form submission, user interactions), etc. they are there. A large number of user access (top 2.7%) to the site. An interesting feature is that it has an average PR of incoming links equal to 3.2 (13 PR5, 2 PR6, 49 PR4,… 30 PR2, and only 6 PR1, most are in PR3). Therefore, popular sites are actually linking/referring to this site.
8. Wynnusa (dot com) is a similar rated site (design principle) but older (2 times). However, it has fewer inbound links (1/4 of point 9 above) and has not been submitted to any directories. Also, your average internal linking PR = 2.2 where the highest internal linking PR is at just 3 (as opposed to many 3+ in old site PR). Therefore, its PR is only 4.
9. Short Term Site (Another Good Example) Vvcars (dot com) (simple site) is an average type site (63% rating). He is 3 years old but is 8 years old before the expiration of the records. There are only 470 internal links (compared to 47k in point 9). However, it has 15 Del. article submissions. It has a PR of 4 (good in a short time).
10. Heavy graphics (another shortcoming) Nittotire (dot com) is a 9 year old site, with 20000 incoming links. It has 10 of the… shipments. But it has a PR of only 4! 11b. Volvopenta (dot com) is an 11 year old site, slow load time (hence only 40% rating value). It has 2080 inbound links. It was not sent to any URLs, RSS or blogs (user interactions). It has a PR of 5 with some higher PR links.
Summary We can compile the summary of the above findings as follows. a) Page optimization is required (site titles, tracking, optimal coding, proper graphics, user interactions). b) High PR incoming links are GOLD. Also try to increase the number of pages indexed and the ratio of pages indexed to incoming links. c) Off-page optimizations are also a must for new sites. URL submissions, blogs, RSS, newsfeeds, articles, should be incorporated to increase public relations. d) Communication with the user, the community forum, personal URLs of people, links, etc. should always be done.