7 replies to this topic

[kjess]

Is it better to have your ecommerce cart pages on your own domain versus a separate domain & host? I have a website which currently has a shopping cart, but we'd like to upgrade it. I've been researching some ecommerce solutions, and for some of them, we'd have to have a new domain hosted on their server - where we'd link our product pages externally to the cart pages on this other site/host. Is there any disadvantage to doing this? Is it better in the long run to have my entire site hosted on one server?

Thank you for your help!

Kathy

[torka]

There's no inherent advantage or disadvantage to having the actual checkout pages on a different domain. Since those are typically behind a form, they're not usually going to be indexed for search anyway.

On the other hand, if you're talking about also moving your product catalog/description pages to the new shopping cart host domain, that would be a different matter -- not because they're on a different domain (per se) but because that would mean their URLs would be changing, which is not typically something you want to do unless you absolutely have to.

I run a handful of ecommerce sites. On one, the shopping cart is the site, so all pages are on the same domain. On another, the main body of the site is on one domain, and the product description and checkout pages are on a second domain. On a third, most pages are on one domain while only the checkout is handled through an externally hosted shopping cart service. I haven't noticed any difference in how the search engines seem to react to these different setups.

Does that help?

--Torka

[webstream]

*** we'd have to have a new domain hosted on their server - where we'd link our product pages externally to the cart pages on this other site/host. ***

Kathy

I would want to give users the option to checkout on your web site. Also, it is easier to track cart & checkout abandonment if it is all on one web site. If they are on the view cart page on your original site and you send them to a popular 3rd party payment processor, like PayPal or Google Checkout that is fine if the user doesn't mind.

I would also be concerned with how well you can optimize the ecommerce web site. Many ecommerce applications lack the ability to optimize the page elements, such as the title tags and meta description tags.

[Randy]

I would also be concerned with how well you can optimize the ecommerce web site. Many ecommerce applications lack the ability to optimize the page elements, such as the title tags and meta description tags.

Ditto. From SEO/SEM standpoint I'd be really concerned about the ability or lack thereof to edit the category and product pages.

From the Business and Marketing standpoint I'd be concerned about not being able to do any type of conversion testing. You're basically going to be shooting in the dark if you ever try to figure out how to improve conversions. And not having the ability to edit the look it wouldn't matter anyway, because you'd like be unable to change anything.

Having everything under your ultimate control is always best in my book. Whether it makes an SEO difference or not doesn't even enter into the equation for moi.

[webstream]

Ditto. From SEO/SEM standpoint I'd be really concerned about the ability or lack thereof to edit the category and product pages.

From the Business and Marketing standpoint I'd be concerned about not being able to do any type of conversion testing. You're basically going to be shooting in the dark if you ever try to figure out how to improve conversions. And not having the ability to edit the look it wouldn't matter anyway, because you'd like be unable to change anything.

Having everything under your ultimate control is always best in my book. Whether it makes an SEO difference or not doesn't even enter into the equation for moi.

Randy, well said!

[kjess]

Thanks to everyone for responding! That definitely helps me make my decision. I figured sticking with one domain would probably be safest, and it sounds like that's the way to go.

Thanks so much!! You guys are great!

Kathy

[EMcM]

There's no inherent advantage or disadvantage to having the actual checkout pages on a different domain. Since those are typically behind a form, they're not usually going to be indexed for search anyway.

--Torka

I work with a couple of different shopping carts and the Store pages seem to get indexed. My question is are there some shopping carts that lend themselves to optimization better than others?

[adibranch]

yes, but all are pants out of the box. And even with SEO addons or contibs they're still rubbish (as generally developers are not SEO guru's , and vice versa). Custom integration, templates, and scripts are needed for decent results.