How to become SEO Friendly
Here at Volusion, we want to make sure your on-line business is a success. We have many great SEO tools built into our software and want to make sure you are taking full advantage of them. Now's the perfect time to make sure your website is optimized for search engines. With the latest Volusion eCommerce Software, you have the tools.
TIP #1: Enable the 'SEO Friendly' feature
Go to the “Become SEO Friendly” link in the admin area and follow the steps on that page to enable this feature. Be sure to follow the steps completely, which include making a change in your hosting control panel, in addition to your store's admin area. If you have any questions about how to implement this, please contact tech support at 1-866-932-9323. Please note: Demo Versions
of Volusion E-Commerce Software do NOT support this feature. Please do not enable this feature until you have signed up for a solution, as this feature requires changes to your hosting control panel.
TIP #2: Fill in the Meta Tags
Fill in all the following fields in your database in order to maximize your potential of being listed high in the rankings: Be sure to use
QuickSetup Page:
Fill in the three MetaTags fields on this page. These MetaTags will be used on any pages in which you have not yet specified specific MetaTags. Examples can be found on the QuickSetup page right next to the text boxes.
Products table:
* ProductNameShort – This field should contain the product name, however a shorter version than your “ProductName” field. This field is displayed on the home page of your website in the 3 right hand side “Super Deal”, “Top Sellers”, “New Products” sections. More importantly, it is displayed in the URL of your product pages if you have the “SEO Friendly” feature enabled as described in “TIP #1”.
* MetaTag_Title – This could be the same thing as your “ProductName” or main keyword or keyword phrase. 6 words or less is recommended here.
* MetaTag_Description – Short paragraph. 2-3 sentences max.
* MetaTag_Keywords – List of keywords separated by commas. There is no need for more than 15 - 20 words here.
* Photo_AltText – 2 to 3 words max recommended.
If you don’t have time to fill in all these fields, it is recommended that you just copy your “ProductName” or main keyword into all the MetaTag fields. If you don't fill in all three MetaTag fields, then no keywords will show up in your URL address. Also keep in mind that on each page you should not try to optimize for more than 2 to 3 keywords or keyword phrases.
Categories table:
* MetaTag_Title – This could be the same thing as your “CategoryName”.
* MetaTag_Description – Short paragraph. 2-3 sentences.
* MetaTag_Keywords – List of keywords separated by commas.
* Link_Title_Tag - 2-3 words max recommended. This is also displayed in the URL of your product pages if you have the “SEO Friendly” feature enabled as described in “TIP #1”.
Articles table:
* MetaTag_Title – This could be the same thing as your “CategoryName”.
* MetaTag_Description – Short paragraph. 2-3 sentences.
* MetaTag_Keywords – List of keywords separated by commas.
TIP #3: Link to Category & Product Indexes
Make sure you have a link in your footer to '/cindex.asp' and '/pindex.asp', which are two files in your store that list all of your categories, and all of your products. This makes it easy for search engines to find all of the pages in your site. If you do not already have links in your footer to these files, here's some sample code which you can paste in your footer:
<a href='/cindex.asp'>Category Index</a>
<a href='/pindex.asp'>Product Index</a>
You may also contact support@volusion.com to request that one of our support reps add these links to your footer.
TIP #4: Write good content
Content is king. The more relevant content you have on your site the better. For example if you can have many paragraphs for your ProductDescription(s) that is one of the best things. Same for your categories, if you can type up at least a few paragraphs for your categories, you will have MUCH better success with the search engines. They have always liked lots of text paragraphs. And of course try to include your keywords as much as possible in them.
Do I have to submit my website to the search engines?
If you haven't done so already, yes. Search engines will find you eventually on their own if other sites link to you, but it doesn't hurt to give them a hand. Here are the two major search engines to submit to:
Yahoo: http://submit.search.yahoo.com/
Google: http://www.google.com/addurl.html
If you're interested in submitting to many other search engines, 'bCentral Submit It' is a quick & easy way to do so for a small $49/year cost.
http://www.bcentral.com/products/si/default.asp?LID=34656
So how long does it take to see results?
The major search engines are crawling the web, and re-crawling websites non-stop. Once you're listed in the search engines, even if not ranked well, the search engines will automatically re-crawl your website every so often. You may get lucky and have them visit your site the day after you make all your changes, or it make take 1-3 months. All of us webmasters simply have to be patient.
How do I choose good keywords?
If you're trying to optimize your website text with good keywords, it's good to try and find out what the most commonly searched for phrases are. The following tool is a great way to find that out:
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
How do I learn more about SEO?
There are many great resources out there to learn about search engine optimization. Two sites where you can learn a great deal about the subject and ask questions are: http://www.seochat.com and http://www.searchenginewatch.com
Google Page Rank
This has become one of the important aspects in getting high rankings in Google. Basically, the ranking system has to do with how many high quality and relevant sites link to your site. We recommend downloading from Google their toolbar, so you can see your ranking. In addition if you go to the above mentioned sites you'll be able to read more detail about getting links and why they are so important.
Remember things are always changing in search engine land, so you have to constantly educate yourself to stay ahead. Patience is also a good virtue to keep in mind, because getting high rankings can take time. Finally, be safe and err to the side of caution on any questionable strategies to get you to the top.
Good Luck!
*NOTE: Because the Search Engines are constantly changing their ranking algorithms on a daily basis, it is impossible to know the best methods for search engine ranking; therefore this guide is provided for general information only, and does not constitute legal or professional advice.
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