Every SEO professional will tell you that the process of search engine optimization is learned through experimentation, trial and error, and fortuitous discovery. Indeed, it's that same process that allows me to find many of the Daily Golden Nuggets I write about.On the other hand, I have found that time and time again Google actually tells us exactly what they want us to do through their countless blogs, help videos, and support forums. But they don't tell us exactly; instead they are more like a psychologist, in that they hint at all the answers and let us determine them for ourselves.
One of my typical recommendations for a jeweler is to write a review of all the jewelry in their product catalog then link those reviews to the product detail page in their catalog. Now, if you have 5000 items in your catalog it might seem infeasible to write 5000 reviews, in which case you should start with the items that you restock often.
In fact, back on June 25, 2012 one of Google's own videos even recommended this product review process which then links to a page where the product that can be purchased, or specifications can be found.
If you really want your website to succeed you should not copy product descriptions from vendor pages to reuse on your website. This is called "duplicate content" and, according to Google's guidelines, this doesn't help the online user experience.
Here's a specific example of what you SHOULD NOT do...
Let's assume you carry KC Designs in your store, specifically this diamond bird necklace style:
http://www.kcdesignsnyc.com/product/n11098-diamond-bird-necklace/
Here's the full description from that page:
Diamond Bird Necklace
Let your style fly as high as a bird with this elegant avian inspired necklace. This dainty diamond bird necklace has a beautiful bird silhouette shape which is bedecked with 34 twinkling .15 ct tw diamonds and is shown in elegant white gold. It is a unique and glamorous piece of jewelry art that is sure to spark a conversation.
Diamond Information: 34 diamonds- .15 ct tw
Size and Dimensions: 3/4 " x 7/16 " W
Gold: Shown in 14K White Gold
Suggested Retail Price: $737.50
When you add that item to your website you will be tempted to simple copy those 80 words, but according to Google that does not add any value to the internet.
A better approach would be to write a full product review of the item once you receive it in your store. Perhaps the best time to write that review is as you are unpacking the jewelry from the original shipment. Here's where your smartphone will become very useful. You don't actually have to "write" the review, but rather, you can dictate the review into your smartphone. You should also take a few quick photos with your smartphone. Since this is supposed to be an honest review of the jewelry the photos should be natural instead of on a pure white background. Natural photos would include being held in your hand, held up to your ear, or held up to a necklace you are wearing. You can explain in the review that the high quality photos are available in the product catalog.
You probably already spend several minutes inspecting the jewelry as you receive it in your store. A recorded verbal review should only add 1 or 2 minutes on to your process. At a later time you can have someone transcribe the recorded review and post the review and the photos to your online blog.
Writing reviews can be a very time consuming process. You can cut back on the time required if you use this suggested method.
