10 KiB
S05|L08 - how to optimize product pages
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Description
In this video, we’re going to be optimizing our Product Pages for SEO & to make them Google-friendly by making some tweaks & modifications to the website copy and the code (but don’t worry – Shopify makes that very simple, as you will see).
If you want to get free SEO traffic from Google, you can’t be lazy to update every single product page for your store.
So let’s begin!
tweaking product pages for SEO
We’re going to make some tweaks to our product pages so that Google is more likely to rank it for our chosen keyword.
When optimizing pages for search engines, it is important to remember that they are not human, they’re computers, robots. They’re extremely good at reading text. So as part of this process, we’re going to be doing a few things.
First, we’re going to add more text to the page. We’re going to create long, expanded product descriptions. We want our descriptions to be at least 400 words long.
Secondly, when writing our product descriptions we’re going to use lots of descriptive words that are related to our chose keyword.
In SEO, we have what we call LSI (Latex Semantic Indexing). It means very simple – Google wants to see other relevant words to our main keyword on the site.
In this video, I’m going to give you an over-the-shoulder look at how I will optimize a product page for the camera lens travel mug.
file:../../_share/media/img/step_05/lesson_08/ex01a-camera_lens.png
What sorts of words are relevant to a camera lens? What would you expect to see? You would expect to see Canon, DSLR, zoom ranges.
So for this product, yes, it’s a camera lens but it’s a travel mug too. What sort of words do you expect to see? You’d expect to see coffee, what material it is made of, keeping drinks hot, how much capacity it has. That’s why in the description I’m going to be mentioning these as well.
Thirdly, in addition to these LSI keywords, it is important that you try your best to create an engaging description.
Talk about the emotional reason why someone would like to buy this mug. I’ve included as one of the reasons why people would buy this mug is to shock their friends.
file:../../_share/media/img/step_05/lesson_08/ex01b-comment.jpeg
You see this mug looks very real and I’ve had many friends mistaken it as a real camera lens and have shocked them when I drank out of it. That’s the real reason why you buy it!
Next, were going to add what we call image alt data. It’s very easy. Each of your images has a little piece of code attached to it, this code is called image alt text and you can add keywords to it so that Google knows what your image is about. So we are going to be taking advantage of this.
Then, we will be adding metadata. When you Google keywords such as doctor mugs, you’ll notice the different search results have a title. You can tell Google what you want your website title to be on the meta title tab on your page. Don’t worry you don’t have to add any code because Shopify makes it easy for you to do this. In your title tag, Google wants to see your keyword at the start of it so we would be doing that.
file:../../_share/media/img/step_05/lesson_08/ex02a-website_title.png
You will also notice that underneath the title in the search engine list are descriptions. You can tell Google what you want your site description to be in the meta description tab in your page. Again, you don’t need to paste any code, Shopify makes it easy to update this.
file:../../_share/media/img/step_05/lesson_08/ex02b-website_description.png
It doesn’t count towards your search ranking but customers see it so you want to make sure it’s good.
So let’s start!
The first thing you need to do is to update the title. Use the most important words that are most relevant to your site in the title. So on the title box, we’re going to type in our keyword.
Next, the thing you want to do is to edit the description. Copy and paste the description that you’ve written to the description box.
file:../../_share/media/img/step_05/lesson_08/ex03a-update_title_desc.jpeg
The very first thing I say in the description is that it’s not available in stores. That’s not for SEO purposes but it’s for the customer. I don’t want the customer to think that they can just go to the mall and buy one.
Then to start off my sales description, I’ve got my sales copy. This is what’s going to hook the customer. I want the first thing the customers read is to really reach out to them and to appeal to the reasons why they would want to buy this mug.
The real reasons are “You buy this mug because it’s realistic and you want to shock people when they drink out of it.”
So I don’t talk about how it is made with food-grade plastic or how big it is. I talk about how it looks incredibly realistic that it will shock your friends and family.
But there are also some SEO things that I’ve included in the description. It is important to note that in the first 50 words, you’d want to have your main keywords because it looks at the first 50 words and assumes that they are the most important words on your page.
It also has LSI keywords – relevant keywords that you will expect to see when you are reading an article about elements of your product.
file:../../_share/media/img/step_05/lesson_08/ex03b-keywords_in_desc.jpeg
Your product description needs to be at least 400 words. I’ve also included some bullet points to emphasize what the product is and why you should buy it but I’ve used LSI keywords as well on this part. I’ve used words like DLSR, coffee thermos, and piping hot delicious coffee.
file:../../_share/media/img/step_05/lesson_08/ex03c-description.jpeg
And then, I’ve included the product dimensions as well because it is actually good to do so for the purpose of trying to extend our copy. 400 words are a lot of words so if you’ve got an opportunity to add extra words to your page without it being forced, you should definitely take that.
file:../../_share/media/img/step_05/lesson_08/ex03d-dimensions.jpeg
Then I talked again I talked about how realistic it is, basically re-purposing the content that I have in the first part of the description but this time focusing on how it is a great gift.
In the last part of the product description, I talk about Shipping. I’ve included this because we don’t want the customer to be upset with the long shipping times so including your disclaimer is extremely important.
file:../../_share/media/img/step_05/lesson_08/ex03e-shipping.jpeg
When you’re done with all of that, don’t forget to click on Save. You can click on Preview after saving to check if the format is correct or if there are changes to be made, apply the necessary changes then click on Save again.
Next, let’s talk about keyword density. Let’s how many times I’ve used the main keyword camera lens thermos. You can press Ctrl + F then type in the word to find it on the page. As you can see, I’ve used camera lens thermos four times. You don’t want to stuff your product page with your main keyword. You should use it a little bit less than 1% keyword density.
file:../../_share/media/img/step_05/lesson_08/ex04a-main_keyword.jpeg
So if you have 500 to 600 words on your page, you should use your keyword for only 5 times.
Now, we’re going to edit the Image alt data. To do that, put your mouse over the image then click on it.
file:../../_share/media/img/step_05/lesson_08/ex05a-alt_image.jpeg
Then on the image alt text box, put your main keyword. Then click on Save Alt Text.
file:../../_share/media/img/step_05/lesson_08/ex05b-mod_text.jpeg
Do the same with the other images but instead of using your main keyword, use something that’s relevant, as a secondary keyword. And that’s it! It’s really very simple.
The next thing we’re going to do is to scroll down the page and edit our website metadata. Click on Edit Website SEO.
file:../../_share/media/img/step_05/lesson_08/ex06a-website_seo.jpeg
First, we’re going to edit our Title. I’ve pasted the title that I have created and as you can see, it does not go over 70 characters. If you do, those characters will get cut off and it will look bad. So I have the main keyword and after that, I have other relevant words that are related.
After that, we’re going to edit the meta description. This is relevant to why somebody would click on your product. When someone goes to Google and looks for a keyword and there are other website listings they could choose from, we want them to be drawn into us. We want a description that’s engaging. Include some reasons why they would buy the product.
file:../../_share/media/img/step_05/lesson_08/ex06b-edit_meta_description.jpeg
When that’s done, the last thing that we’re going to edit is the URL and handle. Delete everything on the box and write out your main keyword and put a dash in between them.
file:../../_share/media/img/step_05/lesson_08/ex06c-url_and_handle.jpeg
Once done, don’t forget to click Save. Then, that’s it! You’ve now optimized your product page for SEO. Now, go ahead and optimize each of your product listings!