I learned over the past couple of days that a Google algorithm change about 10 days ago has affected all ecommerce websites, especially those using content from manufacturers. This is a big deal if your website is focused on marketing pet products.
As of May, 2010, the Google “May Day” Update created a situation where many e-tailers saw their product pages drop in rankings. And according to Google itself, websites using non-unique text are no longer considered to be quality web pages, so they won’t rank as well as pages with unique content about a particular product.
Here’s a quote from just one of many search-engine expert “watchdog” blogs:
“It’s certainly beneficial to include unique product descriptions for items you sell on your site if you’re an ecommerce provider. Simply using a manufacturer’s generic description could be causing you to lose traffic to your product pages.”
Today I listened in on a teleconference about the May Day update, and the search industry expert advised all ecommerce website owners to make their product pages unique from other sites selling the same products.
She said, “Do not use manufacturer’s copy exactly as is. Add your own spin to the product description, plus it would be great to add a customer testimonial, a unique reason why you carry it, or something else to make your copy fresh and interesting.”
If you’re marketing pet products online and you sell popular products that may be sold elsewhere, you’ll want to make sure you heed this Google warning.
Let me know if you’d like some help to update your product pages and bring them back to search-engine health!
Until next time,
Here’s to a clear and prosperous website!
Pam Foster
PetCopywriter.com