BRENNAN HEYDE, VP DEVELOPER RELATIONS

ON PAGE SEO WITH MIVA MERCHANT

TALK OVERVIEWHow to structure your pages for maximum SEO

Creating Great Product Content

Utilizing Structured Data for Maximum visibility in the Search Engines

Leveraging User Generated Content to boost your on page content

Top 3 Action Items To Take Home

SEO BASICS

ON PAGE V.S OFF PAGE SEOOn Page Search Engine Optimization

• Page Structure (HTML)

• URLS

• Site Content

Off Page Search Engine Optimization

• Links, Links, Links

• Domain Authority

• PageRank

PAGE TITLES• One of the most important on page elements

• Displayed on the Search Results Pages

• Unique, descriptive, contain keyword you’re trying to target

PAGE TITLES

Default Titles in Miva are:

Category Page: Store Name + Category Name

Product Page: Store Name + Product Name

Pro Tip: Setup a custom Product / Category field, to allow you item level control over page titles.

META TAGS• Description & Keywords

• Focus on Description because it may be used in the search results pages

• <meta name="description" content="The most flexible & secure ecommerce software on the market. Build your online store today with shopping cart platform by Miva Merchant.”>

• Click Through Rate is a factor in your ranking

META TAGSMiva Provides built in setting for Meta Tags, and allows you to create new ones

CANONICAL TAGTells Google what is the “correct” URL to a page. Single line added to the page templates:

<link rel="canonical" href="http://www.mivamerchant.com/universe" />

Helps for:

• Pagination

• Filters

• Multiple links to the same product

CANONICAL TAG

Storefront - SFNT

Category Page - CTGY

Product Page - PROD

Tag should match your correct URL Structure

Goes in the Head Tag

SEARCH FRIENDLY LINKSBest Practices:

• Use Your Keywords in the URL Structure

Example:

• /category-name.html is better than /1716162.html

Product URLs

• Try not have category code in URL, However if you do make sure you are using the canonical tag to “pick” one.

SEARCH FRIENDLY LINKS

CORRECT HTML MARKUP• Use Proper HTML structure on your pages

• - H1, H2, H3

• - Move CSS / JavaScript to External Files

• - Crawl-able Navigation

GOOGLE SITEMAP

This is easy and should be done by everyone

What is it?

An XML Sitemap tells google about each one of your pages, how often it changes and any new pages you may add.

Template Data Feed / Custom Miva Page

GOOGLE WEBMASTER TOOLS• Great Free Tool (From Google)

• Fix Crawl Errors, See Duplicate title tags

PAGE SPEEDSmall but important Factor in Search Rankings

Page Speed is more important for an commerce store. Speed directly impacts conversion optimization

Every site in here has room for improvements in regards to page speed

CREATING GREAT

PRODUCT CONTENT

CONTENT IS KINGWriting Great Content is the single greatest thing you can do to help you sites rankings

How:

• Blog

• Product Reviews

• Videos

• Unique Product Descriptions

PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS

• Your product descriptions should be sales copy to sell your products.

• If possible do not use the manufactures description

• Use your product description to differentiate your products from your competitors

• Tell a story, evoke emotion, use keywords people would use to find that product

HOW TO CREATE UNIQUE PRODUCT

DESCRIPTIONS• Write it yourself - You know your products best

• Hire someone in house

• Outsource it:

- fiverr.com

- craigslist.com

- freelancer.com

- odesk.com• Focus on top 20% of products

BLOG

STRUCTURED DATA

STRUCTURED DATAWhat is it?

• Rich Snippets, schema.org, Microdata

Answer:

• Tags you put on your pages to give Search Engines more information about your products so they can better display them in the Search Results

STRUCTURED DATA

SOCIAL TAGGINGOpen Graph (Facebook) / Google +

A series of Meta Tags to define elements about a page:

Title

Type

Image

URL

Twitter Cards

URL

Title

Description

Image

USER GENERATED CONTENT

PRODUCT REVIEWS• User Generated Content (and SEO copy) for your

products

• Let your existing customers “convince” your potential customers your product is worth buying

• It is easy to setup and get started

• Combined with structured data tags (schema.org) allows you to display reviews in Search Engine Results Pages

• Check Out: PowerReviews, Yotpo

PRO TIP: ASK FOR REVIEWS• 14 to 30 days post purchase send an

email asking customers to review the products they purchased

• Very Effective

• Make it easy and automated

SAMPLE REVIEW EMAIL

ACTION ITEMS

• Fix URLs

• Canonical Meta Tag

• Google Sitemap

• 301 Redirects / 404s

ACTION ITEMS

Add Structured Data / schema.org Tags to Products

Set it and Forget it

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/146750

ACTION ITEMSSetup Product Reviews

Ultimate Reviews & Follow On Contact for Automation

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• http://moz.com/blog/perfecting-onpage-optimization-for-ecommerce-websites

• Tools

• http://moz.com/

• http://www.semrush.com/

THANK YOUQuestions / Comments?

Brennan HeydeVP Developer Relations, Miva Merchant

bheyde@mivamerchant.com