SEO questions

DivaVocals:

right.. Well then.. I'm going to be moving on.. SMH

SMH = See More Homers! Right ;-)

Cheers
RodG

jcrewe:

Hi there :)

I'm hoping I can get some current information with regards to SEO. I've had my site for at least three years. With certain keywords, I am appearing on page 1 of Google. What I noticed the other day is that if I search one of my product names, I'm not ranking at all. This is confusing to me as I thought bots picked up product names. Even at ranking high with certain keywords, my site traffic is still pretty low.....less than 50 per day. One option I thought of was url renaming, however, threads I have read here recommend against it. Another option was to improve my meta tags but then I've read that doesn't really help either. That's left me totally confused as what to do. Why are my product names not coming up in a search? I know there are a lot of differing opinions with regards to SEO but I'm hoping there are some 'consistent' suggestions out there that can help get my site on the right track.

Thanks :)

Let me summarize for anyone who IS reading what I posted..

Two meta tags search engine DO use for helping with matching search terms to matching site content are Title, and Description. (https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/79812)

That said none of this is a magic bullet. The on-page content is important, because it should be the basis of what you derive your title tag and meta descriptions from. If you have poorly written on-page content, transferring poorly written page content into poorly written titles and meta descriptions will not lead to good results either.

Zen Cart's out-the-box meta-tag functionality behavior doesn't match the search engine's current standards. (like the devaluation of keywords for example) The current way that title, keywords, and description tags are auto generated has the potential to HARM versus help current site owners. (see the posts where I breakdown how this current out the box behavior is impacting your current product meta tags: http://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.php?216552-SEO-questions&p=1276185#post1276185 & http://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.php?216552-SEO-questions&p=1276206#post1276206)

Current functionality also exceeds search engine character or word limits. You should begin to implement your own self imposed limits on titles and meta tags as follows:

• Title: up to 100 characters
• Keywords (not necessary, but if used apply limits as a best practice): up to 20 keywords or keyword phrases (comma separated)
• Description: up to 200 characters

There are two modules you might find useful as well:

• Manufacturers Meta-Tags (http://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=932 ) This will update the admin’s Catalog->Manufacturers processing to add the meta-tag on/off icon to the manufacturers’ listing display; that icon operates in a manner similar to the built-in categories/products meta-tags. When selected, you can enter the title, keywords and description information for the current manufacturer (multi-lingual).
• Meta Tags for EZ-Pages (http://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=746) plugin. This will update the admin’s Tools->EZ-Pages to add the meta-tag on/off icon to the EZ-Pages overview listing in a manner similar to the Manufacturers Metatags update. The title, keywords and description information can be entered for the EZ-Page in a newly-added section on the page’s input screen.

You will want to use the following general “rules” to create your meta-tag values:

Other factors to consider when reviewing your site include having a site which does not provide a GOOD user experience. (not saying this applies to your site.. just saying these are things to look at when you are reviewing your site) For example make sure your site isn't tough to navigate. Make sure you can EASILY find products. Make sure that your product names and categories are clear and define what shoppers expect when looking for your products and categories. Do your own usability study.. Ask your friends to visit your site and get their feedback.. Post your site in the reviewers forum on this forum and get feedback from folks too.. I've seen LOTS of good things come out of those solicited commentaries.. Finally update your ROBOTS DO-NOT-INDEX.. No reason for search engines to crawl every page of your site.. (like your Conditions or Privacy Pages for example)

Good luck..

DivaVocals:

You will want to use the following general “rules” to create your meta-tag values:

Page Type |
Title |
Keywords |
Description |

All product pages |
Product's name [model] |
Not populated |
First 200 characters of the product's description |

Any category/product listing page |
Category name |
Not populated |
First 200 characters of the category description. (No category description?? Make sure you DO have on-page descriptions for all your categories) |

Manufacturer's listing |
Manufacturer name |
Not populated |
Not populated |

EZ-Pages |
EZ-Page title |
Not populated |
First 200 characters of the HTML content, if present. |

"Other" Pages |
HEADING_TITLE constant for the page in question |
Not populated |
First 200 characters of the HTML content. |

VERY NICE. (no, I'm not being sarcastic). I really like this. :-)

Cheers
RodG