Top 5 RTML Templates for Search Engine Optimization of your Yahoo Store

I have been receieving calls and emails about the Yahoo Store SEO. Some people have a notion that the yahoo stores cant be optimized. They say that they contacted xyz search engine optimization company and have been told that it is very hard to optimize yahoo stores.

Well my dear fellow SEO Experts, it is nothing like "hard-to-do-yahoo-store-seo". There are many rtml templates which can improve your yahoo store optimization. These can be easily installed on yahoo stores, old or new. On merchant solutions or Legacy (old) platform.

Let me suggest the TOP 5 SEO related RTML Templates - Your Yahoo Store Must-Haves:

1. Breadcrumbs Navigation
Put a trail of weblinks on your item pages. Like Home>>Apparel>>Jeans>>Nautica Jeans

This is a good tool for the search engine robots and spiders as it carries the links to the parent categories too. So easy for them to crawl them. Useful for customer navigation.

2. Text Based Side Navigation Bar
Default Yahoo Store template shows the navigational links on the side bar as image map which is not good for the search engines like google as it can not read them. When we put in the RTML template for this modification, all the section names which appear on the side bar will be changed to text links. This will help in search engine optimization as also for faster page loads.

3. Turn Page name, Item Name or Headline from Image to Text
Put your mouse pointer on the item name on your yahoo store item page. Right click and it will say image properties or save image as..

This shows that the name or headline is being rendered as an image. A no-no for google, yahoo web search or msn etc. Their text based crawlers are unable to read it.
This rtml template will turn the item name or headline into text. Makes it easier for google types to read it. Also avoids the lengthy item names to go out of screen boundaries. :)

4. Dynamic Title Tags on Yahoo Store Item & Section Pages
Adding this RTML template will make your item or section page templates unique. If your item page name is 24" waist Blue Jean, by default the title shows as 24" waist Blue Jean. With the RTML improvement, it will show like this 24" waist Blue Jean - Nautica Jeans. This increases your keyword density and makes it more relevant. You can also have a fixed set of keywords to appear on all the titles.

5. Dynamic Description and Keyword Metatags
By Default, you can put a fixed set of keywords on global variables. Now this is not a good way. Each page is unique and so should be the keywords going with it. When we install this rtml template, it will pick the keywords from the item itself. This is dynamic and no input is required from you.
Same goes with the description. If you have longer item caption text, it will truncate it to show only the desired length.



More SEO related templates are available at YStoreclick's Yahoo Store SEO RTML Templates Section

Happy 2005 to you all!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2005

Everybody at Y!Storeclick.com, Yahoo Store Designer extend our warmest wishes for a joyous holiday and a happy New Year. May this coming year be filled with health, happiness, joy, and contentment.

Submit your site to Yahoo Search. FREE!

Yahoo! recently introduced free yahoo search submission service to its web search after a gap of about 3 years. You no longer have to wait and wait to get the yahoo crawler to pick your site's content.

The page can be accessed from:
http://submit.search.yahoo.com

SEO with Headlines field on the Yahoo store Item/Section Pages

New Yahoo Store Merchants always ask me whether they should use the item name or headline for the product pages.

The "headline" field lets you control the look and feel of title text on a product page without affecting the actual title of the page, the shopping basket, or the name that appears in Yahoo! Shopping.

Use the "headline" feature if you have a long, descriptive product name and you don't want text to wrap below the image or scroll off the page. "Headlines" let you shorten the product name, add linebreak tags in the middle of a long title so it displays on more than one line, or add bold or italic tags to your product title.

Don’t use HTML tags in the "Name" field. This will get you in trouble. The actual tags will show up within the browser title window - and you've probably seen how unprofessional that looks. Plus not good for search engines like google, yahoo, msn, etc who are looking for a good title tag. Make headlines instead!

One of the trusted SEO RTML templates for your yahoo store is to convert these headlines or name IMAGES on your item and section pages TO TEXT.

Gets picked up by google or any other text based search engines! Call me at 703-880-6510 if anybody needs more info.

Has Google visited my yahoo store yet?

This is the question which I and my clients ask very often to ourselves.
It gets worse when we are not able to see our yahoo store specific keywords showing up in google searches.

Not everyone knows that Google offers a date-based syntax, which you can access via the advanced search, which limits your time options, or the daterange: syntax, which uses Julian dates and is a bit difficult to use.

Here is a way to tell whether the googlebot ( google crawler/spider) picked up any content from your yahoo store today, yesterday, within the last seven days, or last 30 days.

Google Query:
What time period do you want to check?:
Today
Yesterday
Last 7 Days
Last 30 Days

How Yahoo's Recent Facelift Can Mean More Traffic To Your Site

It even surprised me.

Yes, even though I have been pointing out the possibility since July, and was forced by demand to release my study findings before my book was even half finished, I was shocked when I heard the news as well.

You see, I was sure we were at least a year off from this glorious day.

The News

Yahoo has had a little facelift, which you've probably read about by now. The real news is more important for your site - the “My Yahoo!” page looks different too.

On September 28, 2004, surfers who logged in to their personalized Yahoo area saw an announcement explaining the RSS and Atom files that show updated information to a website as content feeds, effectively pushing news feeds into the mainstream.

The new look to this section of Yahoo was presented as a full page ad to every single account holder upon first log in that day, and even now, there remains a notice posted.

When I logged into my page in the "My Yahoo!" section, I saw a big difference in the number of feeds left to choose from, as well as in the way they were presented.

Currently, the RSS module boasts "150,000 sources". If your site isn't one of them, its crucial that you act now. If you have one and you’re not getting the results you’d like from your set-up, there are small changes you can implement that will make a huge difference in your listing.

Best results aren’t as easy as submitting your feed now, but you’re still within the window of opportunity - if you do it properly.

What the News Could Mean For Your Site If You Act Now

One of my clients recently called this "the back door into Yahoo". Whether that statement is accurate as far as getting included, or receiving an increase in rankings within Yahoo's search engine via your feed, depends on your site, and whether you create your feed correctly.

If you could use a daily stream of traffic from even a small portion of Yahoo's estimated 20 million users, this could be your final wake-up call. You’ll want to learn how to create a feed that gets well listed immediately.

Currently, the RSS module boasts "150,000 sources". Yahoo will still need hundreds, perhaps thousands more, even if it only intends to list the “creme de la creme” of the submissions it gets. Being in that group is as easy as submitting your feed.

Being at the top of the list isn’t. However, you’re still within the window of opportunity if you take the time to learn how to do this properly. You can get free details on how to do that at helpmerss.com .

“My Yahoo!” RSS Headline module Coming Out of Beta?

If I had to guess, I'd say all signs point to yes. When that happens, Yahoo's RSS/Atom directory will likely contain only those who added their feeds early. New feeds seeking to be included will probably face stricter standards.

If you don't have one yet don’t worry, because it’s never been easier to make one. If you can cut and paste, there are tools all over the Net that will show you how- some will even generate the file for you.

However, there are still certain guidelines you need to follow with your feed to get a good result out of Yahoo - it's not as simple as adding your feed now that there are more competing listings.

Yahoo is still accepting new sources for RSS feeds. Readers of my last book state that they are getting excellent results following my instructions, though initial inclusion no longer occurs at the same rate. Plenty of markets have few feeds available, or none at all. Your site could fill that void.

That means you still have a chance at a first page ranking. The traffic I get on a daily basis from My Yahoo readers alone sounds like I just like to brag.

And I do, but that's hardly the point.

The point is, there's no place you can even go to buy the caliber of exposure to the quality of audience that reads feeds. The typical audience that accesses information by feed are also blog readers. A study this summer estimated that the 69.3% of blog readers are aged 29-50, and that 40% of this audience are people who have household incomes greater than $90,000.

The type of surfer that would subscribe to your feed has pre-qualified themselves as a lead, with a certain level of understanding and interest in your topic, often on a professional level. And if you don't spend every post hitting them over the head with your sales pitch, they can be both loyal and interactive.

(If you do, they'll unsubscribe from your feed faster than you can spell s-p-a-m.)

And if you're in the business of providing information you can use, in a way that shows how you can solve their problem, it's like preaching to the converted. If your product solves their problem, and you show that you deserve the trust of this subscriber, you’ll also find the route to a sale an increasingly downward slope.

The bottom line - this is the power surfer's favorite toy. And if your content appeals to them, you need to learn how to play.


Source: Tinu AbayomiPaul

Welcome to Yahoo Store Blog!

Hello Developers, Yahoo Store Owners & Yahoo Store Managers,

This is a place for you all to express your views, share your knowledge and evaluate yahoo store platform and services.

New Merchant Solutions has throwed newer challanges and prime among them is how to market your Yahoo Store. I am much enthraled by immense opportunity in reaching your target audience through pay per click, cost per click, viral, email or permission marketing.

Lets have the ball rolling guys!

Ashwani Bhasin
Chief Yahoo Store Developer
YStoreClick.com