SEO before products on ecommerce site
-
Our company plans to quickly launch an e-commerce site to sell religion themed banners (religionbanners.com). We'll have our products up on the site in about a week.
-
Should I block Google from accessing the site during this period?
-
Is there anything wrong with starting simple SEO tasks such as submitting the site map on Google Search Console prior to us having the products on the site?
-
-
Thanks for the help!
-
Thanks for the help Mike!
-
Yes, URL Structure is a huge issue and make sure you nail it right away. Changing it is the longest and scariest process you can go through. Here are 4 main things to look into when figuring out a url structure.
URL Uses Only Standard CharactersIf you only use characters that are common in URLs, it makes it easier for more users to access and interpret your URL. Not all users have keyboards that can easily enter less common characters, or browsers that support the display of these characters, and some special characters can look spammy. Using only standard characters can also avoid potential problems with your search engine ranking.
Use Keywords in your URLUsing your targeted keywords in the URL string adds relevancy to your page for search engine rankings, assists potential visitors identify the topic of your page from the URL, and provides SEO value when used as the anchor text of referring links.
Minimize URL LengthSearch engines often truncate the URL display at 75 characters and appear to pass less keyword value in longer URLs. We also recommend using fewer than three subfolders in your URL to make it easier for search engines to parse.
Use Static URLsUsing a static URL can improve your performance in search engine rankings. Moz's correlation research shows that URLs with dynamic parameters have dramatically worse performance in the rankings. Using dynamic parameters does not necessarily cause worse rankings, but there does appear to be a correlation, and they generally do lead to lower click-through rates. Dynamic URLs are also a common source of duplicate content.
(straight from On Page Grader)
-
From my experience, change always happens..
- People might request a change in URL structure (then it will lead to 301 redirects and setting them up)
- It's better to let Google crawl a rich page than a weak page. When it comes to ecommerce sites, you don't want "page not found" as the product hasn't been published but its category page is done. If the sitemap leads to broken pages - well, customers won't like it, so don't expect bots to do either.
- I would work on your ecommerce site, get it done in preview and all ready to go. You can also setup things like Google Webmaster Tools, Bing Webmaster tools, ensure your sitemap is ready, url structure is fine and get it ready.
So my advice is to set it up and then launch. You don't want to end up "fixing" your website post launch. Here's another way to look at it.. your credit score - it's easier to work on building a good credit score, than having to fix a bad one. SEO is the same.
-
-
Should not be necessary.
-
You have to take everything one step at a time. Start with what you are comfortable with and then learn the things you are not.
-
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Is it recommended to use SEO plugin for falamakmachine site?
Hello good time Is it recommended to use SEO plugin for dedicated sites? Or do you think we should change the dedicated CMS to WordPress based on the convenient user interface that WordPress has. http://www.falamakmachine.com/productListDetail.aspx?catID=1
On-Page Optimization | | falamakmachine0 -
Product URL
Hey Mozzers, Nice quick and simple one for you. Which of these 2 options is better for SEO and userbility and why domain.co.uk/productname.html
On-Page Optimization | | ATP
domain.co.uk/shop/category/product.html The top one stops stops any funky problems with magento making 2 paths to the same product but the second option feels more natural and helpful to the user. I feel both a valid but I would like some opinions please0 -
Linking Out To External Sites
Hi, All If I have created a (website, logo, email campaign) for a client and written an article about it with screen shots on my website and link to them with a (do-follow) link how does Google see the (do-follow) link? Regards to the sites they have one link in the footer on the home page, which is a (do-follow) back to our site. Also, the websites are not in my Niche.
On-Page Optimization | | deskjet0 -
How often should ecommerce category and product descriptions be rewritten?
We are a 15 year old ecommerce company. Most of our category descriptions are about 3 years old. Our product descriptions are 5-8 years old. While our category pages still rank well in Google our product pages have dropped significantly over time. How often should product page descriptions be rewritten so they do not become stale to Google? We have about 1,000 products on the site. If we rewrite them we are thinking about 250 words each. Thanks.
On-Page Optimization | | SLINC0 -
Latest SEO Factors
What is the most recent report you have for "factors" that impact SEO --- you guys had one a few years ago and I don't see a recent report. This was based on a panel of experts I believe.
On-Page Optimization | | mommybu0 -
What is this site all about?
Can anyone here tell me what this site is all about?... I really need to know, i have a blog.
On-Page Optimization | | Wales33030 -
Modal Windows SEO
The new company site is almost finished, and I've just learned that instead of the home page linking to a few internal pages (it's a tiny site), they are just using modal windows instead of deeper pages. Is that bad for SEO and what can I do to optimize with this setup?
On-Page Optimization | | UnaRealidad0 -
Too many on page links on ecommerce site
I have an online store with 10 catagories, many of those have subcategories. I have a tree style navigation menu on the page. This helps people quickly find what they need. However, I end up with about 125 links on the page that way. Does google really penalize me for this? Is there anyway around this? Advice much appreciated!
On-Page Optimization | | bhsiao0