Multiple Store Fronts

Not gateways :)

[vincevincevince]

If a store has 30 products, I can see it getting good organic SERPS without much work at all for all the products. If the same store has 30,000 products, the chance of it having them all showing well in search engines without paying becomes slim to non-existant.

I am wondering if there isn't a case for multiple stores, each starting in a different part of the index, but extending on-site search across the whole catalogue.

If you have 30,000 - might it be better to have 30 smaller stores, all with your branding, but different IP/domain name, presenting different products first?

If so - where do you think the line is drawn? What is the optimum number of products to be crawled per store, before it becomes too many?

[FalseDawn]

I don't think it has anything to do with the number of products, but rather the type of product.
IMO, an online store should concentrate on one area - eg electronics, pet food, widgets or whatever.
I think this is more likely to give better SE results.

[budgie]

I agree, I don't think the number of products makes any difference. If you do want to split the store, then splitting along product lines makes more sense, but to be honest you're probably better off leaving it in one place and simply creating clearly defined categories. Having one store means more people linking to that one domain, which has got to be better for SERPS?

[vincevincevince]

Having one store means more people linking to that one domain, which has got to be better for SERPS?

I do agree with that, however, having a lot of products means you need to have a categorised tree, which could extend through numerous levels, placing some products quite a few 'clicks' away from the home page. A site with fewer products can ensure that the product is within 2 clicks of the home page, and with best selling products on the home page.

Taking up an earlier point, the specialisation is another value added part of a small fragmented store, as a store which sells green widgets only should do better for green widgets than one which sells green, red, and white?