Search engine optimisation has become something of an art form over the last decade, particularly since search engines have grown to become the major online platform for most businesses.  There's no point in having a website if you can find the traffic, and you can't get traffic without advertising or being 'found' in the search engine results.  This element of 'being found' is absolutely crucial for the success of any business for numerous reasons, including the lack of direct costs in acquiring traffic.  For this reason, search engine optimisation is a growing and developing industry, requiring dedication and expense along the way.  The problem is that the balance of search engine optimisation is finely tuned, and any modification to your site can adversely affect your search engine rankings without care and attention.  

Search engine optimisation can be classified as either 'on-site', i.e. modifications made on your site to make it more amenable to search engines, and 'off-site', i.e. factors which directly relate to the ranking of your site but are conducted externally, like article and directory submission.  When installing a shopping cart to your site, it is important to take care in your selection so as to avoid damaging or hindering your site's on-site search engine optimisation properties, which could result in adversely affecting your site's position under certain keyword search terms.  Naturally, the selection process when it comes to picking an appropriate ecommerce solution is an important one, and without taking care in your selection process, a clumsily designed software application may find its way onto your site and to affect your search engine rankings.

The price of an ecommerce solution isn't necessarily indicative of its search engine properties.  In fact, the value of an application and the ticket price have no direct correlation, despite the common misconception.  If SEO-adaptability is high on your agenda, you need to specifically seek this feature rather than paying top dollar and assuming it will be taken care of.  Most of the time, applications that are search engine friendly will always reflect this within their marketing material.  Developers invest a great deal of time and money into ensuring their products are search engine compliant, and if they aren't shouting about it, they probably aren't offering it, regardless of the price you're asked to pay.  If SEO is of concern to you, it's far better to opt for a cheap solution that provides SEO than an expensive solution that doesn't, because the expensive option might just end up costing you more than the retail price.

Finding an SEO shopping cart solution can actually be quite a tricky process, considering you are also looking for something to provide the level of functionality required to drive your business.  Without designing a custom solution, it can be difficult to narrow down a selection that meets all your criteria.  However, with a bit of research into the various options out there, you should be able to find a reasonably priced option bearing most of the salient features your require, leading to a more desirable and natural choice selection for your online business.