Akamai Accelerates SmartFurniture.com, Resulting in Higher Search Engine Rankings that Have Led to More Sales and Revenues

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 9, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Akamai Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: AKAM), the leading provider of cloud optimization services, today announced that SmartFurniture.com has implemented Akamai's Dynamic Site Accelerator solution to improve the retailer's site performance, which has led to better search engine rankings and higher sales and revenues.

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SmartFurniture.com has stated that it is committed to following search engine optimization (SEO) best practices and perfecting site fundamentals.  In addition to developing site content that features popular search terms and enhances the site visitor experience, the company implements white-hat SEO techniques.  Yet, until recently, despite its years of investment and effort, SmartFurniture.com was still unable to break into the top three to five spots for some of the most lucrative search terms.  The retailer has informed Akamai that faster site performance was critical to higher rankings in the search engine result pages; therefore, it came to Akamai for help to accelerate its site performance in order to improve its search engine rankings.

Since leveraging Akamai's Dynamic Site Accelerator, SmartFurniture.com has seen significant improvement in its search engine rankings.  The average page load times across North America for one of the retailer's best-selling products have improved by 200 percent; and in Australia, the same page loads nearly 400 percent faster.  The retailer's search engine rankings have improved for its top ten competitive keywords or best-selling products.  Specifically, seven of the top ten keywords increased an average of two positions.  One term went from lower than fiftieth in the rankings to third, several other terms jumped from fifth to third or second, and one term claimed the number-one position.

"After years of focusing on content and SEO fundamentals, we discovered we could make a quantum leap in the search engine rankings simply by tapping into Akamai to improve site performance," said T.J. Gentle, President, SmartFurniture.com.  "And across the board, we are seeing increases in sales because of our improved rankings combined with 20 percent more organic traffic being driven to our site and 14 percent more page views.  All that has translated into a significant increase in our average daily revenues.  In fact, SmartFurniture.com increased revenues by 12 percent the month after we deployed the Akamai solution."

With Akamai, SmartFurniture.com is also selling products from deep within its product portfolio.  Because of higher search engine rankings, SmartFurniture.com is seeing site visitors landing deeper within its site on more relevant pages.  Once there, shoppers are able to quickly transact.  Since implementing Akamai's Dynamic Site Accelerator, SmartFurniture.com has increased its add-to-cart percentage by 37.5 percent. Within the first month after implementation, the retailer saw significant improvement and ranked in the top three in the search engine results, eventually leading to an increased in sales and revenues.

"It wouldn't have been a wise use of our funds to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on hardware and software when there's a time-tested solution available that many leading eCommerce companies use," added Gentle.  "Once we decided to deploy Akamai's Dynamic Site Accelerator, we were able to go live on the solution in about five hours.  We are a small organization with an in-house development team that often feels stretched to the limit.  This was one of our easiest, quickest implementations, requiring very little of our team."

"Today, much of retailers' business is coming from online searches, meaning a better search engine ranking is becoming even more important as retailers aim to drive more traffic to their sites," said Pedro Santos, Chief Strategist, eCommerce, Akamai Technologies.  "Akamai sees a direct correlation between site speed and search engine rankings, and it is crucial for retailers such as SmartFurniture.com to have a fast loading site in order to generate a higher search ranking in result pages.  By leveraging Akamai's Dynamic Site Accelerator, we help retailers accelerate their site performance in order to improve its search engine rankings."

About Smart Furniture

SmartFurniture.com brings custom design to a whole new market -- everyone. As the industry leader in "Design-on-Demand®" furniture and interiors, SmartFurniture.com empowers customers to customize furniture and spaces, quickly and easily. Promoting personalization through product design, technology, and a passion for customer service, SmartFurniture.com continues to earn industry-wide acclaim and dramatic customer growth. For product or showroom information, call 888-GO-SMART or visit www.SmartFurniture.com.

About Akamai

Akamai® provides market-leading, cloud-based services for optimizing Web and mobile content and applications, online HD video, and secure e-commerce. Combining highly-distributed, energy-efficient computing with intelligent software, Akamai's global platform is transforming the cloud into a more viable place to inform, entertain, advertise, transact and collaborate. To learn how the world's leading enterprises are optimizing their business in the cloud, please visit www.akamai.com and follow @Akamai on Twitter.

SOURCE Akamai Technologies, Inc.