What actions can you take to bring your SEO to the next level?

We developed ShopFactory with search engine requirements in mind. The software builds pages that search engines can read.

All you have to do is add your content and text to create your search-engine-friendly pages.

But to achieve even better SEO results, we strongly advise that you review and update the SEO information ShopFactory automatically uses for Google.

Many merchants are not using the SEO tools, and features to their full extend at the moment.

It is essential to quickly look at the tools to facilitate better your (or your SEO experts) SEO work.

Take the time to re-discover the various actions you can take.

Page Content - Keyword richness:

The critical factor in getting good search engine rankings is adding text to your online store. Review how keyword-rich your content is and how you use the tools already available in ShopFactory. Why? Because search engines only know how to read text content, which is a perfect opportunity to make a difference over your competitors.

Remember, "Content is king" The more relevant content you add, the better.

Title, Introduction, description, and image functions (including Tooltips/Alt. tags on images)

All these fields are crucial for building your page. They are the essential part of your toolbox for optimizing your pages within ShopFactory.

Actions you can take: Make sure you have different and relevant titles and introductions for every page and paragraph if you can.

Have a look at this FAQ for more precise information

Static pages

Many search engines do not like dynamically generated pages from databases for each visitor. They love to index static pages instead. Unlike other e-commerce solutions, ShopFactory takes this aspect into account. ShopFactory generates static pages that search engines can easily index: This makes ShopFactory unique vs. other e-Commerce solutions.

Actions you can take: Try to identify the most viewed products on your site and compare them to your sales to see where opportunities exist.

Add new content to bump up the text and related information on products. Write informative content on a dedicated page to educate and inform your customers, such as "How to" or comparison articles. Tell a user a story, provide details and examples of product usage. Write articles that answer the most common questions buyers have and link this rich content to your products.

Automatic page titles

Search engines place a lot of weight on the HTML page title fields for web pages. These fields are created in the pages' HTML code and usually appear in the search engine search results.

ShopFactory automatically places the page title of your pages in the required HTML title fields. It indicates the 'meaning' of the rest of the content on your page to Bing or Google. When the HTML page title content is repeated on the page, your search engine ranking is improved as visible content. (see below for HTags aka, Header Tags)

Actions you can take: You can easily reset the HTML page title field ShopFactory picked up automatically of each page manually by replacing the text via the product or the page SEO Wizard.

Automatic meta tags

Meta tags are invisible text strings added on each page. Search engines scan these snippets to get information about your site like a librarian would do for properly storing books. ShopFactory automatically creates a description meta tag based on the introduction of each page. You can edit this text via the product or the page SEO Wizard and add keywords that improve your search engine ranking.

However, meta tags have lost a lot of their effectiveness in terms of ranking. These fields were a great idea when they were invented, but many people have abused them by using Keywords. Since they are invisible, people added all kinds of tags to improve their ranking, such as "Pamela's latest red bikini" to attract traffic for a fastener store. Labels had nothing to do with the content of their site. That's why Google no longer takes meta tags into account.

Actions you can take: You can easily reset the meta tags ShopFactory picked up automatically on each page manually by replacing the labels via the product or the page SEO Wizard.

Header tags

Header tags (also known as H Tags or heading tags) are used to separate headings and subheadings on a webpage. Header tags improve the readability and SEO of a webpage. Structuring your page with header tags help Google and visitors to prioritize information on your category y and product pages. They rank in order of importance, from H1 to H6, with H1s usually being the main title.

Actions you can take: You don't need to worry about adding some header tags in your shop since ShopFactory will use:

Web site and page titles for H1

Introductions for H2 tags

Product / paragraph title / name for H3 tags

... and more

All you need to do is add different and relevant titles, introductions for each page, and paragraphs of your shop. You can also add additional HTags in ShopFactory 14's block editor elements for pages to help break up longer page content - but don't overdo it.

Read this FAQ to know more about it

Sitemaps

ShopFactory automatically creates a sitemap for search engines to index your entire website, and it complies with Google specifications. When search engines browse your site, they will find the sitemap. It is including all pages in your shop in one place - so your site is indexed in full. Search engines can even find pages that are not directly linked from your indexes and give them the same importance as other pages.

Actions you can take: Make sure to delete any double content pages, test pages, or old expired pages since Google will browse through your site map for fresh content.

Alt tags

Alt tags are small text strings that appear when the mouse hovers over an image or links. They can improve SEO by repeating relevant keywords since they help Google and visitors understand what's on your pictures and store them in Google Images like a librarian would do to keep books.

Remember, search engines can only read text, so they need your help adding alt tags.

Actions you can take: With ShopFactory you can easily add Alt tags to your pictures by double-clicking on an image each time you add a product. It is possible to acquire traffic relatively quickly with pictures that have proper Alt. Tags (aka Tooltips). It doesn't necessarily generate super-targeted traffic, but it's worth optimizing photos in this manner. Make sure you use image file names properly - with your keywords (e.g. "keyword-number-1.jpg" rather than "image5.jpg"), and fill out the ALT attribute along the way when you add products to your shop.

Optimized URLs

Every page you add to your shop has a unique file name or web address that search engines can retrieve with ShopFactory. This way, a given page can always be found - even if you change the page title. Google considers that keywords in URLs also be found in the page title, and focused title description itself guarantees more accuracy.

Actions you can take: You can easily reset the URL ShopFactory picked up automatically on each page by replacing the text via the product or the page SEO Wizard features inside ShopFactory. (Requires ShopFactory Gold)

NOTE: ShopFactory GOLD & Platinum has built-in automated features that automatically create your Page-name.html filename from the Page Title! It also generates other filled-in descriptions and meta-content as you build the page.

Microdata

We can think of microdata as telling search engines what the page elements are. In other words, microdata gives labels to individual content chunks. And then, a search engine will highlight these chunks in search results.

For example, we may use microdata to say, "Hey, Google, this following text is product availability" or "This next chunk of information is a star rating."

Actions you can take: ShopFactory will include the microdata tags on the page based on headline/introduction fields. Always make sure to fill in a brief description for your products (repeating words that refer to your product makes more sense). Place the most important word at the beginning of the narrative.

IMPORTANT: Along with the title and description - fill in necessary information such as product number, EAN code, manufacturer code, and part number. If you have this information, enter it for all products. If the keywords in your title, introduction, and description are correctly optimized, you should see results immediately. Our research shows products with mfr. and other key identifying codes are indexed faster and more reliably.

Links to your site

The more sites that link to your online store, the better the ranking in search engine results. The store with the most links to it will be the one with the best positioning. It is as simple as that. ShopFactory makes it easy to create a link network. You can even start an affiliate network. ShopFactory even has a function that allows you to know where a customer comes from, making it easier to set up affiliate programs.

Actions you can take: Start your affiliates program and build your referral website network. You can set up five levels of affiliate commissions with real-time commission payments. (Requires Shopfactory Cloud)

Stay up-to-date

Over two decades, we have continuously improved ShopFactory: carefully expanding a comprehensive list of features and SEO functions based on the feedback from our most successful online merchants. It is essential to regularly download and maintain the latest version of ShopFactory for automatic SEO and manual SEO work.

Should you hire an SEO expert?

Some merchants do not have the time and/or expertise to use all the SEO tools and features to their full extent and prefer outsourcing to an SEO specialist to do the required work. ShopFactory is not working in competition or trying to replace what your team is doing. But not all ShopFactory websites and online shops get outstanding search results with the help of the onboard SEO tools and features. It is a simple matter of where and how the SEO work is entered.

Just ensure your expert is familiar with the tools you provide and what's already made available in ShopFactory. Most importantly, let him know that no coding is required to add Google's required tags. We made everything ready to help you better focus on figuring out the right keywords, setting up the correct Meta tags, Page titles, labels and relevant content, and much more.

As you know, ShopFactory is an e-Commerce solution provider. SEO is not our core business. But we have to have an excellent understanding of SEO for apparent reasons. After all, what's the point of having a good store if no one can find it? Merchants, like you, worldwide rely on us to build and maintain their website and online shop with ShopFactory since we started back in 1995. Our interest is in you getting a good ranking in organic search engine results and continue to succeed. And SEO is a crucial component of this.