Trusted Feed: Bringing visibility to the hidden web
Thanks to the search engines, most of us assume that whatever we're looking for on the web, it can be found. Google, in particular, is renowned for its ability to provide relevant results for any search query, however obscure. That's why it's so surprising to discover that a huge part of the Web has until recently been inaccessible to the search engines - and, as a result, hidden from search engine users.
The reason is due to a fundamental incompatibility between the way the search engines work and the way many web sites are built. Database-driven sites, such as travel, banking, shopping and auctions, are almost impossible for search engine robots to crawl beyond the front pages. That means their deep content is never indexed, never ranked for listing and, as a result, sites don't get good positions for the majority of their content. What's more, because these sites often have hundreds of pages, which change every day, just keeping on top of the submission process is an administrative nightmare.
But when 87% of web visits come from search engines, invisibility isn't an option. Of course, advertising and email marketing campaigns will boost traffic, but here at Weboptimiser we found that a large proportion of web users are still going to a search engine first, rather than typing the URL straight into the browser. In fact, we had one client who received a surge of search engine visitors directly after each television advertising slot. There's no doubt that being search engine friendly is one of the most effective and affordable ways to bring a web site to life.
That's why a new way to make database-driven sites search engine friendly has been greeted with enthusiasm by the e-commerce community - even more so now that etail giants Amazon and ToysRus have embraced it. It's called Trusted Feed and it is transforming both the online visibility of the big e-commerce brands and the quality of the search experience for web users.
Trusted Feed works by supplying keyword and description data directly to the search engine's index in database form via XML feed. Each page's content is, effectively 'pre-reviewed', in order to be ranked and listed according to the search engine's standard relevancy algorithm. Submissions can be updated every 24 hours, making it ideal for sites that change every day. Inclusion (but not position) is guaranteed and, most importantly, the resulting listing looks the same as any other listing, rather than a sponsored link or advertisement. This means that Trusted Feed listings enjoy a high credibility among search engine users, increasing the likelihood of the visitor making a purchase there and then or bookmarking the page for future visits. As the NPD Group found in a survey last year, 55% of online purchases were made on sites found through search listings, while a mere 9% were on sites found through banner ads.
Because there's no limit to the amount of site data you supply, you can target a wide range of search terms, such as your brand or product names, model numbers and locations. This not only increases visibility for your whole product or service range, as well as your home page proposition, but streamlines your navigation at the same time. You can take search engine users straight to the content they are looking for, rather than simply dropping them off at the home page and expecting them to find their own way from there. Thanks to Trusted Feed, a travel company, for example, could not only get listings for each of its destinations, but improve visitor satisfaction, loyalty and the volume and value of transactions, for no extra cost and effort.
Trusted Feed doesn't usually require any site changes, or the creation of new micro-sites, and because it's charged on a cost-per-click basis, you only pay for the visitors you receive. However, because it is based on a trust arrangement with the search engine, and relies on the Search Engine Optimisation company's standards and ethics in labelling site content correctly for maximum relevancy, very few SEO companies are considered to have the credentials, the integrity and the resources to offer it. Thanks to its relationship with search engine specialists PositionTech, Weboptimiser is one of the first UK SEOs to be able to supply Trusted Feed and is offering a month's free trial of this innovative new approach, on a no-risk, no-obligation basis.
David White
CEO
Weboptimiser Ltd
