MarketLive 5 Upgrade Introduces Best-in-Class Search Engine Optimization

July 19, 2006; 07:58 AM
MarketLive, Inc., the market leader of e-commerce retail technology and services for Intelligent Selling® on the Web, announced that it has architected integral search engine optimization (SEO) advancements in its newest e-commerce platform -- MarketLive 5.2. The SEO functionality will enable MarketLive 5 clients to effectively maximize their visibility within search engines and establish stronger organic page rankings.

"An effective SEO program is critical for cost-effective new customer acquisition," said Ken Burke, MarketLive founder and CEO. "By integrating SEO tactics and logic into the core of the MarketLive 5 platform, our clients can maximize their search rankings giving them a distinct advantage over many other sites."

Research shows that the majority of online shoppers rely on search engines to find a Web site which ad-weary consumers perceive as a more compelling and relevant method than other marketing vehicles such as banner ads or e-mail campaigns. In fact, online retailers rely on search engines to deliver up to 34 percent of traffic to their Web site -- with half of that traffic coming from natural searches and they contribute up to 20 percent of total online sales (MarketingSherpa's Ecommerce Benchmark Guide 2006).

New advances in e-commerce technology delivered by the recently announced MarketLive 5 platform provide greater flexibility than ever to retailers -- even those with limited IT resources. Utilizing this framework, MarketLive 5.2 provides easily administrable SEO display settings that give retailers increased flexibility to update and fine-tune their keyword relevancy to rank high on natural search engine results.

"As the cost of paid search increases, online retailers must focus on natural search engine optimization to deliver a more effective, longer-term ROI," said Sue Ghilarducci, director of Internet marketing at Sur La Table. "We selected MarketLive because we expect and insist that they keep us ahead of the curve."

MarketLive 5.2 -- Search Engine Optimization

The company's newly released version of its e-commerce solution offers new features for optimizing natural search results, including:

-- Search Engine Spider-Friendly URLs - Historically, search engine spiders have had difficulty fully indexing dynamically generated Web pages, due in part to query strings, database characters, and session IDs that are passed in the URL. MarketLive 5.2 provides spider-friendly URLs, enabling every page of a Web site to be fully indexed and visible in search engines.

-- Keyword Relevant URLs - Taking it one step further, MarketLive 5.2 now also embeds keyword relevant terms into the URL to enhance search engine rankings.

-- Out-of-the-Box Optimized SEO Display Elements - MarketLive automatically configures URLs, page titles and meta data specific to every page of the Web site with keyword rich content that will provide higher keyword relevancy out-of-the-box.

-- Customizable SEO Display Elements - With MarketLive 5.2, e-commerce sites can easily customize the URL, page title, and meta data configurations for every page of the Web site in order to target keywords that are more specific to their business or that produce a higher ROI.

-- Keyword Relevant Image Alternate Tags - Every image on the Web site will have keyword rich image alternate descriptions that will help increase keyword relevancy.

-- URL Mapping - For new sites moving to MarketLive, old URLs can be mapped to new MarketLive URLs in order to transfer and preserve page rankings previously established through the old URLs.

The new SEO functionality is available to current MarketLive 5 customers at no additional charge. Because of the MarketLive 5 next-generation architecture, customers can easily extend their current e-commerce solution and deploy this capability without marshalling IT resources typically required to manage an upgrade.

About MarketLive

Since 1995, MarketLive, Inc. (www.marketlive.com) has focused exclusively on providing enterprise-class e-commerce retail technology and services that help mid-sized businesses successfully sell goods and services online. Designed to meet the unique requirements of catalogers, retailers, direct marketers, and manufacturers, the MarketLive® platform leverages the advanced business intelligence online merchants need to enhance their customers' experience and increase online sales. With this expertise, the MarketLive platform is the most retail-targeted, fully featured, customizable e-commerce solution on the market today. MarketLive powers some of the most successful Web sites, including Frontgate, Garnet Hill, Norm Thompson, Stride Rite, and Trek.