![Grant Arnott: Managing director at specialist content provider The Media Pad. [Main image: Wendell Teodoro@Zeduce.org]](http://yaffa-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/ragtrader/images/dmImage/StandardImage/Grant Arnot - mid.jpg)
When it comes to online retail, the well-worn marketing cliche ‘content is king’ is enjoying a resurgence.
As more and more fashion retailers move into cyberspace to take advantage of the online shopping boom, content and the art of ‘storytailing’ are emerging as key means of competitive advantage.
Anyone in the business of online retailing understands how important it is to rank well in Google for search terms relevant to your product range.
Last year, Google released an update dubbed 'Panda' that sent shockwaves through the search engine optimisation (SEO) community, penalising a number of prominent brands for poor quality content.
That and subsequent updates have created a major shift in SEO thinking, and the bottom line is that Google is taking a much harder stance on sites designed to manipulate search engines rather than delivering a quality user experience.
It sounds dire, but the truth is that for retailers doing the ‘right’ thing online, the rewards can be huge.
CONTENT TACTICS
For quick wins you can apply tomorrow to your e-commerce business to improve results, take a close look at your product descriptions and imagery. One image and an unintelligible SKU reference number is a fail. Lack of information and imagery is a major turn-off – customers who can’t see and try on a garment need all the alternative enticements they can get.
A cut and paste of the manufacturer’s generic product description is just as bad. Google penalises duplication of content, and customers find a lack of information on a product a big turn-off.
Engaging, original content is what will appease both customers and the search engines. Keyword-bloated gibberish may have been able to fool Google in days gone by, but after more than a decade of continuous refinement, the search engine is a far more clever beast.
The discipline of quality copywriting has been forced back upon retailers as a priority, and those who make the effort to roll out compelling, relevant descriptions for each product are seeing increases in conversion rates.