Tips / SEO study of e-commerce platforms 2010

SEO study of e-commerce platforms 2010

Published in May 2010 by Jimmy Wirsborg

This year’s study shows a lot of tools in top even though it’s tougher than last year, at the same time no tool receives the top score of 5.0. The three top tools all managed a good 4.9 out of 5.0 and the best tools this year with regards to SEO-functionality are SiteDirect, Talex and Hybris.

About the study

The study is designed to compare the SEO functionality of various e-commerce platforms on the Swedish market. Our intention with the study is to make it easier for companies about to open a new webshop or upgrade their system, to get an idea of which platforms offers the best visibility in the search engines.

The study is also addressed to the developers of e-commerce platforms. It offers an insight into what we in the SEO industry considers imperative to rank high in search engines.

It is always the latest version of the tool that is being studied.

Retrospect

Last year’s study clearly showed that some platforms were in need of a significant upgrading. We advised against some operators that showed obvious flaws primarily concerning indexing. Quite often this was due to non-SEO friendly implementation of frames or JavaScript. The good news was that quite a few of the operators got top ratings, 5 out of 5. At the same time it indicated that it perhaps was time to go more in to details and even add some new criteria in to the study.

Changes from last year

SEO consultant Nikke Lindqvist has contributed with valuable input and suggestions on a number of operators that should be included in the study. To have someone from the same industry involved in making this study has been a great asset.

We have chosen to present the criteria within different sections in groups with partial grading instead of presenting all the criteria in one all-embracing chart. This makes it possible to see what platforms has all the requirements for indexing in search engines and which ones make it possible to create the perfect search ad in the hit lists etc.

The response to each criterion will be presented at each platform’s own page along with comments in order to provide a better and clearer picture.

Since the presentation of the criteria has been changed into partial scores the method used to compute the over all score and rating had also been changed.

This means that this year’s score cannot in any simple way be compared to last year’s.

This year’s score calculation makes use of a score deduction for any lack of functionality.

Score deductions within the given section are summed up, divided by the total number of possible deductions and multiplied by five. This gives a value between 0 and 5 corresponding to the deduction for the given section. This value is then subtracted from the number 5 in order to obtain a grade between 0 and 5, which equal the partial score for the tool in the given section. The overall score is then calculated by weighting partial grades depending on how important a section is to achieve visibility in the search engines.

Deductions and weights are published in a separate document.

The grading of complexity is not used in this year’s study; the figure was more difficult to understand than intended. Instead, we have replaced it with a score were we disregard all functionality not ready to use in the system’s basic version, i.e. all things found in modules or functionalities that could be added through additional time with a consultant when ordering. However, we always rate the fully equipped system which should reflect a system where all the SEO functionality that is available is included. We choose to present the “naked” score to emphasize how important it is to carefully check what functionalities are actually included and what you have to order separately when you order a system. We would also like to point out that several could increase their visibility by simply upgrading their webshop to the latest version with their current operator.

Also new for this year is that we have divided the different types of platforms in to three different classes; Consultant Solution, Modular Solution and Package Solution. The Consultant Solution is a solution that requires customers to have set specifications for large parts of the system, thus being aware of which SEO features you want.

The Modular Solution is a solution where there are ready-made modules to add to the platform. The Package Solution is the simplest type of solution where you order a complete platform with no additional choice for SEO. The Package Solution offers no option to expand the platform at a later date.

Hypotheses for this year’s study

We suspected that those who received the lowest scores in last year’s study either would improve, hungry for revenge, or that they would not participate again this year.

We hoped to see considerable improvement on the most basic shortcomings that we pointed out with last year’s study.

We thought that the line-up would be a bit more fragmented since we know that there are significant differences concerning additional functionality in measuring, testing, etc.

The implementation of the study

No system was excluded. All the operators we could find email addresses to were added. However, there was one or two where we had to give up in our attempts to get in touch.

This year we conducted the study using Google Docs. Three different forms were created based on the new classifications of the platforms. These where then emailed to all operators who then had a little more than a week to respond. The answers were exported to Excel where the material was processed and the final scores were compiled.

No parts of the scores are based on subjective assessment but completely on facts.

All tools have been subjected to the same assessment on all aspects.

The material has been inspected and any suspicions of impropriety or misinterpretations have hopefully been resolved.

Unfortunately, some operators chose not to participate in the study. Some smaller operators felt that the study would take too much time, or not worth taking part of in some other way.

We regret this at the same time as we understand their situation. The study involves a lot of questions and it takes time to review and respond. Further more, some major operators chose not to participate in the study. This is a bit sad since we tend to receive a lot of questions about why they are not in, or what score they would have received. Among these we have Getupdated, Microsoft, IBM, Mamut, Icommerce and Visma.

Conclusions and results

Among those who received a low score last year we miss one, Mamut.

The developers at the other operators have since last year managed to create very good platforms which is impressive. We are looking forward to see some revenge from Mamut next year.

An overwhelming majority of the platforms participating in the study this year show that they actually offer the basics needed to create good visibility in the hit list.

Nobody managed to receive top score this year, which shows that there is room for improvement at every operator.

Only a few operators manage to be cutting edge when it comes to the new sections. Consequently, there is room for large improvement in measuring, testing and tracking, both generally and specific for e-commerce. It is these features that will give the edge over competitors on the web. For example, to have knowledge about the optimal location, size and color of the buy button in a given context will be vital for e-retailers in the future.

If progress continues at the current pace, there will be no doubt that the Swedish platforms, and the Swedish e-retailers, will have a head start internationally.

We at Jajja are proud to be part of and contribute to this.

Grades

Platform	Grade
SiteDirect v6.0	4,9
Talex Webshop / Standard	4,9
hybris v4.1.1	4,9
Startabutik Pro	4,8
Askås Internetbutik v6.0	4,8
Easyweb E-handel	4,8
EC Web, version 3.8	4,8
Enfinity 6.4	4,8
Panagora EDGE	4,8
ePages Enterprise 6.09.2	4,8
Litium Scensum 2.1	4,8
Drupal Ubercart 2 från Searchfactory	4,7
Interspire Shopping Cart – Version 5.5.4	4,7
NX2 4.2.10	4,7
C4butik 5.0	4,7
Nya E-butik	4,6
Dynamicweb 7	4,6
Litium Studio 4.5	4,6
ShopSetup v 3.0	4,6
Nordisk e-handel	4,5
Wp e-commerce	4,5
Wipcore eNOVA 5.1.1	4,5
Starweb webbutik 5.0	4,4
ePages Base 6.09.2	4,3
Shop4sale v 5.3	4,3
WGR 4.7	4,3
Prestashop 1.2.5	4
Textalk Webshop Bas	4
E37 e-handelssystem	3,9
Destinator WCM 6	3,7
E-butik Lilla	3,6
Preemtech Standard Edition	3,5
DanaWebShop 1.4.4.0	3,2
Jetshop Professional 2.0	3,1
Revenza	3