In order for your e-commerce Web site to be successful, you need to attract customers. It's the same for a physical store - the more people you attract who are looking for the products you offer, the more opportunity for sales – the higher the profits. E-commerce shopping carts that don't support search engine optimization are a common and costly oversight that could hinder your online success. Here are just a few reasons why you need to make sure the e-commerce software you choose is search engine friendly - especially if you are planning to make profits online.

High visibility on relevant organic search engine results pages

Most people use search engines to research and buy products online. To take advantage of this trend, you need to make sure the e-commerce software you choose is designed so that your product pages appear on the search engine results pages (SERP) when someone types in a search request for your products by name, model or other specifics. It sounds simple, but many e-commerce shopping carts were designed by programmers and software developers who didn't have this goal in mind. As a result, their e-commerce software serves up great looking Web pages that search engines can't read or index, so they'll never show up on any organic search results pages. In contrast, e-commerce software can improve your rankings on search engines by generating either ASP pages that are search engine friendly or static HTML pages that can be read and indexed by search engines.

Keywords deliver customers directly to product pages

When e-commerce software is optimized for search engines, it allows you to use relevant keywords on individual product pages to bring highly targeted customers directly to their desired product. If a customer knows exactly what they want, the search engines will provide the most appropriate page to them, and your site can instantly fulfill that need (and then present other opportunities). Avoid e-commerce shopping carts that force customers to go through your home page or other text-based pages before they actually reach the "Buy now" product page they were searching for – or you risk losing sales to a competitor whose e-commerce software is faster at closing the deal

Increase traffic and pay less

The more traffic that is generated by organic searches, the less you will have to pay for pay per click (PPC) advertising and other online marketing campaigns. Since Internet buyers use search engines to locate products, your e-commerce software needs to place your Web pages in front of your potential customers. If your e-commerce software is not search engine friendly, the only way you can make sure people know about your products is by paying for advertising on search results pages – which can be very costly. When your e-commerce software is search engine friendly, you can appear on the organic results pages alongside a PPC ad that reinforces your brand recognition over the competition.

E-commerce shopping carts should make it easier and faster for your customers to find your products online. Like choosing the best location for a physical store, you must choose e-commerce software that lets the major search engines know where you are and what products you sell, so they'll bring customers to your online store. If your e-commerce software does not allow your Web pages to be read and indexed by the major search engines, they won't be able to tell customers that you are there. Even if your customer service is second-to-none or you offer free shipping and other incentives – your e-commerce software must help people find you, or you'll never get the chance to sell your products.