Optimizing Your Site for Search Engines

Overview

Search engine optimization is an ever-changing process. What works one month may not work the next. That is why we provide a variety of ways to optimize your website using your Site Manager.

From the ground up, we build websites with search engine strategies in mind. Many shopping cart sites can't be indexed by the search engines because the search engines won't process URL's with certain symbols in them. We integrate features right into our designs that will allow all of the pages in your website to be indexed - even your shopping cart product pages.

Getting your site found in the search engines is a task that takes time, effort, and ingenuity. We would be happy to discuss with you the options we offer for search engine optimization (SEO). There are many simple and common sense steps you can take to help improve your site's visibility.

Google and other search engines give more weight to sites listed in a directory called DMOZ and listings in DMOZ are free! Take a few moments to submit your web site now. Here is the link with detailed instructions to submit your website to the DMOZ directory. dmoz.org/add.html

Meta Description and Meta Keywords

Each page on your web site contains hidden "meta descriptions" and "meta keywords" that the search engines use to index your pages. Our system provides you with the tools that let you control what keywords and descriptions appear. These features are very important since 85% of all visitors come from the search engines.

To edit your default Meta Description and Meta Keywords:

1. Click on the "settings" administrative link.

2. Edit the Meta Description field. This should be a short, descriptive, keyword-filled paragraph about your business.

3. Edit the Meta Keywords field. This is a list of keywords associated with your business that visitors might search for.

Browser Title and Page Keywords

One of the ways some search engines evaluate your site's pages is to look at the browser's page title to see if it matches the content on the page. We have set up your site so the browser title matches keywords present on a page.

To set-up browser title/keywords:

• Click the "settings" administrative link, then edit the "Default Keywords Phrases". You'll want to enter two to three keyword-filled phrases. For example: shopping cart websites - ecommerce solutions for online businesses. The default phrases will be used on all non-product pages when nothing else is specified.
  
• Enter a keyword-filled phrase in the "Category Keyword" field for all categories and name your categories with searches in mind. Category list and product list pages on your site will use the category name and category keyword phrase as the browser title and keywords.
  
• Enter a keyword-filled phrase in the "Keyword" field for all product pages and name products with searches in mind. Product pages use the product name and product keywords for the browser title and keywords.

• Variety is the spice of life. Don't use the same keyword phrase for every product in a category. Ideally, you want unique keyword phrases on each page of your site.
  
• For category keywords, push your most competitive phrases by themselves. For product keywords, think phrases rather than generic words. For example, "natural treatments for diaper rash" is better than just "diaper rash."
  
• Limit the number of words in your search phrases. Try to keep the combined total to eight or less.
  
• Use both single and plural forms of a word in your phrases. For example, "natural treatments for diaper rash" and "organic treatment for diaper rash."
  
• Use keyword phrases in your product names and in the text on the page.

Search-Friendly Page Names

From the ground up, we will build your site with search engine strategies in mind. Many shopping cart sites can't be indexed by the search engines because the search engines won't process URL's with certain symbols in them. We integrate features right into our designs that will allow all of the pages in your website to be indexed - even your shopping cart product pages.

Using the "Optimize" Link for Rapid Optimization

1. From a list of categories or products, click the "optimize" link.



2. Edit page title, keywords, URL words and meta-description fields.



Page Title
This is the browser page title (the one that shows in the blue bar at the top of your monitor). If your category or product names are vague or do not include the exact keywords you are going for, you'll want to use this field to set the page title. We suggest creating a phrase that people are likely to search for, using appropriate keywords for the product. Limit the page title to about 6-8 words.

The default page title for category and product pages on your site is "category name" or "product name: category name, respectively.

Keywords
Keywords appear in the Meta Keyword field that is only visible in your page's source code. The default for keywords is whatever information you have set for the Meta Keywords field on your "settings" page. The defaults are over-ridden by keywords entered at the category or product level.
Keywords can be set up to show on each of your site's pages, usually in the bar above the footer or above or below the masthead, depending on the design of your site. This may be a good option for sites where product descriptions are very short, or don't contain good keywords. Let us know if you are interested in this option.

If you are entering keywords, create one or two short keyword phrases. Limit the amount of characters to about 50.

URL Words
This is the URL address of the page. The default is to use the product/item or category name for a particular page, followed by ".html". Some search engines may rank pages higher if the URL contains keywords, although this point is a matter of debate.

If your category or product names don't contain keywords, you can create a new URL using keywords. For example, if you product name is "The Carlisle", you might want to change the URL to something like "carlisle cardigan sweater". However, if you've already put "carlisle cardigan sweater" in the Page Title or Keyword field, you can skip this field.

Meta Description
The default value for meta-description is the product description on product pages and the category description on category pages. If you enter text in the meta description area, it will override the default. The meta description is used by some search engines as the description that shows on the search results. You won't see this on the web page unless you look at the source code (View > Source).
3. Click "Save Changes".