Evaluate Your SEO Implementation

There are various easy-to-use, low-cost (or free) tools on the Internet that can help provide you with a sense of how well your site is prepared for SEO. However, quantity does not equal quality: in the end SEO is about driving qualified traffic that results in conversions.

• Understand SEO Best Practices.
• Use the URL Request Analyzer to understand how Storefront URL requests are processed and which configuration is used to open the corresponding page.
• Use Google Webmaster tools to understand how well your site is being indexed and is performing on Google, including crawl information, robot.txt evaluation, top search queries and potential problems, and violations.
• Estimate how many pages are on your site using a tool such as Xenu4 or OptiSpider5.
• Look up how many pages are currently indexed. To do this enter a site:(domain) search on the relevant search engine. (For example, site:demandware.com).
• Check for spider traps using a text-only browser such as Lynx6 to see what the spiders see.
• Check redirects on your site, using a tool like WebBug7.
• Look up how many external links have been made to your site and by whom, using Google "link:" command or Yahoo! Search Site Explorer8.
• Track visits.
• Trap add pages.
• Configure users agents to be identified as robots.
• Testing your 404 Error Pages with alternate paths.