Elastic Path Software announced today the general availability of Elastic Path 4.1, an update of its Java-based eCommerce software, enabling marketers to engage in advanced search engine optimization (SEO) campaigns.

This year, marketers will spend roughly 1/8 of their search budgets on SEO, and 7/8 on paid search ads, according to MarketingSherpa. The reason is because effective natural SEO is difficult and paid search is easy. Elastic Path 4.1 eliminates the costs and difficulties associated with search engine optimization for ecommerce sites.

This year, marketers will spend roughly 1/8 of their search budgets on SEO, and 7/8 on paid search ads, according to MarketingSherpa. The reason is because effective natural SEO is difficult and paid search is easy. Elastic Path 4.1 eliminates the costs and difficulties associated with search engine optimization for ecommerce sites.

Search engine friendly URLs are constructed automatically using category hierarchies and product names, but marketers can also override these with any URL format they desire. Every piece of data on a page is available for optimization including title, meta description, meta keywords, headings, alt tags, body content, and even source code structure for features such as tableless CSS design. Complete search engine optimization is also available for ecommerce sites utilizing multi-language functionality. This level of ecommerce SEO control has not been available to marketers before.

“Elastic Path 4.1 is a marketer’s dream,” stated Jason Billingsley, VP, Marketing, Elastic Path Software. “We have leveraged ten years of SEO experience and removed all barriers to top search engine rankings. The strength of the search engine optimization feature lies in the fact that our customers can enjoy its benefits without compromising dynamic ecommerce functionality.”

Additional improvements found in version 4.1 include the ability to sell service goods with extensive data collection, saved shopping carts, automated product recommendations based on store purchase histories, best-practices for checkout, merchandising enhancements, and advanced reporting capabilities utilizing Crystal Reports.