How Expert Authors Can Empower Your Ecommerce SEO

You are likely asking yourself, “What in the world do expert authors have to do with my ecommerce site?” While there doesn’t seem to be an immediate connection, Jill Kocher points out in her recent article that Google has decided to identify and promote content authored by experts to rely less on links by its algorithms.

Last year’s Hummingbird algorithm update made it possible for Google to rely less on backlinks and use natural language and identity.

Your ecommerce site can tap into the benefits of expert author content. The resulting boost in web traffic, customer engagement, sales and search engine ranking are worth its weight in gold.

Create a Company Expert Author

Does your company have someone with expertise who can write great content that search engines identify as individual authority? Your company founder, product developer or sales director may have passion for the business and great communication skills to be “the chosen one.”

While you may wince at the idea of your sales director taking time out of important business to do some creative writing, look at from this perspective: it’s marketing. The right spokesperson for your ecommerce site will create content that engages your target audience and thereby increases web traffic, leads, sales, and ultimately, revenue.

6 Steps to Getting SEO Benefits Out Of Your Expert Author

Here are steps to ensure your expert author’s work benefits your company website SEO:

1. When he or she speaks at a conference, upload the slides to SlideShare. Link to the slides and his or her conference biography from your ecommerce site.
2. Create a video clip of your expert author at a speaking engagement. Upload it to YouTube. Embed the video on a company website page.
3. Have your expert regularly write for a company blog.
4. Have him or her guest blog post on an industry-specific site, and link to it.
5. Establish public profiles like Google+, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blog, and SlideShare for your expert author. Make sure they link to each other and contain descriptions of your expert and his area of authority. Include the relevant keyword phrases for your author’s area of expertise as well as the products that your ecommerce site sells.
6. Share the slides, video, blog posts, and biography through marketing channels, such as your company blog, social media networks and press releases.

Establishing authority in natural search is not easy. If there’s no one in your company with the desire, time or know-how to act as expert author, I strongly recommend you hire a content expert that can be an authority for your industry. This in itself has added benefits—likely the content expert already has authority on the search engines since their career is content creation. Their online authority linked in the different ways listed above to your company website boosts your SEO. You’d simply give them the messages your company wants to convey. They’d create the content, and, if you desire, broadcast the content to a vast and relevant audience to get you results—fast.