Search Engine Optimisation

What is Search Engine Optimization?

Search Engine Optimization is the method by which you can make your website more visible to search engines (like Google, Bing etc.) which shares the relevant result to everyone online in their Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). It not only improves your website ranking but also the user experience based on the various aspects it covers.

The better your SEO, the higher the chance that search engines will rank your website and show it on their search pages. This in turn will increase the organic traffic to your website.

Now let's clarify, “Organic Traffic”. There are two ways by which you can get traffic to your website:

1. Paid Ads: This is the method by which you run ads via Google, Facebook etc.
   
   These are the results that show up on the top of the “Search Engine Result Pages” (SERP) with the tags “Ad, Sponsored” etc., The result here is almost immediate and you can see your Ads in the search pages and revenue as soon as possible.
   
   
2. Organic Traffic: This is the method by which you can make your website show on the “Search Engine Result Pages” without spending money.
   
   The result is not immediate and also requires constant effort in creating high quality content and optimizing the website to improve the ranking.
   
   It might take at least a couple of months before you could see the actual result.

So, that is why SEO is the best way to improve your website organic traffic. Unlike paid ads, SEO is a constant effort that you put in periodically to improve and keep up with the trends. There are multiple aspects to SEO like optimizing the website for keywords, high quality content, website speed etc.

In a nutshell, SEO is not only about making your website visible to search engines but also about optimizing it to rank as highly as possible among your competitors.

Coming down to the technicalities:

What is a Keyword?

In simple words, keywords are the words or phrases that people use on the search page to find what they need. They could be as simple as searching "Buy Camera" to more specific questions or phrases like "What is the best camera for wildlife and nature photography."

Understanding these search terms for your website is one of the most important parts of the SEO building process. Including these relevant keywords in your content will attract more visitors/potential buyers to your website.

The keyword "buy camera" might seem simple, but it might have high competition among your competitors. So, it's not as easy as it seems to rank with this keyword alone. That's when other factors like high-quality content, relevance, and others come into play, such as adding a blog post or a description saying "...that's why this product is one of the best cameras for wildlife and nature photography."

But make sure not to overdo the keywords, as search engines might rank you negatively if you don't play it right.

So, on the whole, keywords are like the backbone of your SEO.

Now, let's look into some more SEO related concepts that are related to Abicart:

1. Meta Title
2. Meta Description
3. Meta Keywords
4. Alt Text
5. Image file names
6. Headings (H1->H6)
7. Backlinks

Meta Title:

What is a meta title?

Meta titles, also known as title tags, are like the headlines of your website page that help search engines understand your page and its relevance to the search term at a quick glance.

These titles are displayed on the search result page above your website URL and on the browser tab. The more direct and explanatory titles boost the chances of people clicking on your website to read/view more.

Can I see how well my Meta Title performs?

Yes, you can. You can measure it via the term called Click-through rate. This ratio of how many times your webpage is shown in the search results to how many times it has been clicked gives you the information known as the Click-Through Rate or CTR. The good CTR gives you the information on how well your titles work. You can find the organic data on your click-through rate via tools like “Google Search Console.”

In a nutshell, the more relevant title gets ranked higher by the search engines and will be displayed at the top of the search result pages. 

Always think from a buyer's perspective while writing the titles: what would make you click on your webpage if you were a buyer yourself? Focus only on those words. It is not only for the search engines but for the people.

Do you want to add the best Meta Titles? 

1. Keep the text short, between 40-60; anything above that will be truncated by Google. 
2. Keep it precise and try to insert the best keyword that suits your product here. 
3. Be clear and direct about your product name or what it is about. Add your brand name to increase trust.

Meta Description:

What is a Meta Description?

A Meta Description is essentially a summary of your website page. It is used as a snippet shown in the search result page below your website URL. Along with the title, this provides more detailed information about your website page. The more attractive and informative the description, the higher the chance that visitors will click on your website link.

For example, if we consider it in a movie context, it is like a trailer for your website page. Even a movie with mixed reviews can have a really good trailer that attracts people to watch the movie, right? Thus, consider your meta description as the trailer; a really good one can easily make people visit your site.

Is it necessary to add a Meta Description?

Although Google might still use your normal product description or your page's content for search results, the Meta Description gives you more control over what is displayed in the search result. Although it is not a direct ranking factor, it still plays an active role in increasing the page's relevancy and contributing to the quality of the content.

Want to write a good meta description?

• Keep it brief, between 130-150 characters and not more than that.
• Make it engaging and provide a clear overview of the page content.
• Write with the mindset of the buyer.

Meta Keywords

What is a Meta Keyword?

A Meta Keyword serves the same purpose as the keyword discussed previously. However, search engines have discontinued the use of "Meta Keywords," primarily due to their misuse. This misuse involved stuffing irrelevant keywords, which led to more irrelevant search results.

Therefore, it is always best practice to include the relevant keywords organically within your content rather than adding them as Meta Keywords. Search engines will only consider Meta Keywords when they align with the content and will ignore them otherwise.

Hence, it is advisable to avoid relying on this feature.

Alt Text

Alt text, also known as alternate text, serves as a description of your images. It is very important for two main aspects: 1) Accessibility and 2) Search Engine Optimization.

Accessibility: Alt text helps visually impaired individuals who rely on screen readers to understand the content of an image. This is the most important feature of this option.

SEO: Search engines interpret your website based on text, which includes images. Alt text enhances this process, making it easier for Google to index and rank your webshop higher.

Tips for writing a good Alt Text:

• Be as descriptive as possible about the image.
• Keep it within the text limit of 120-150 characters for optimal result.

Compliance Note: Alt text is a critical requirement according to “The new EU Accessibility Directive (Directive (EU) 2016/2102),” which mandates that all public sector websites and mobile apps provide accessible content for all users.

Image file names:

File names, similar to alt text, are crucial for search engines in providing additional information about the images that could enhance your SEO.

Search engines like Google and Bing use image file names (along with alt text) to understand the content of an image. This helps them index the image accurately and show relevant images under the "images" section of the search results. 

Images are another organic method to increase traffic to your website. 

For example, if your website has an image with a file named "Magnesium_supplement_325mg.jpg", it is more likely to appear in searches for "Magnesium Supplements" compared to an image named "IMG1234.jpg".

Tips for Writing Best File Names:

• Use descriptive keywords that reflect the content of the image, as in the example above.
• Keep it under 4-6 words.
• Separate words with hyphens (-) or underscores (_) instead of spaces.
• Avoid using non-descriptive file names like "IMG234".
• Avoid using special characters in file names.

Remember, images are as important to your website as your content is.

Headings (H1-H6)

Headings are also one of the important parts of SEO that also contribute to the user experience. It helps you write well-structured content that visitors get an overall idea of what the content is about, making it easy to read and navigate.

For example, consider a newspaper: the headlines capture your attention, and the subheadings give you an overall idea of what is happening in the content, keeping you engaged and looking forward to reading about it, right? Similarly in the website, the headline is the H1, and the subheadings are H2-H6.

Headings H1 to H6 hold different values, and all these are considered as potential keywords by search engines. They give an overall idea of the flow of information while indexing and help your website come up in the search result if the relevant words are used in searching.

Tips:

This is one of the best places to use your keywords strategically.

1. H1: The main title of your page should be H1. This should give an idea of what the page is about at a glance. There should be only one H1 per page.
2. H2-H3: These are subheadings to the H1; they should be used correctly, as too many of them could negatively affect your SEO. You can use only 4-5 H2s, but there are no limitations on the usage of H3.
   However, use it wisely, as these are considered keywords by search engines. 
3. H4-H6: These are for breaking down the content of your page further into subtopics. There is no particular limit on the usage of these headings.

Backlinks:

Backlinks are one of the most important factors in your SEO ranking. In simple terms, it means linking your website page from another website. Imagine another website mentions you in their blog post and includes a link to your webpage within the content. Clicking this link takes visitors to your website. This is called backlinking.

It is important for increasing the trustworthiness of your website. In this section, it's always quality over quantity. Having one backlink from a highly trusted website is better than having multiple backlinks from smaller websites. Backlinks can only be built over time and it's always advisable to focus only on your business niche.

Search engines consider where the backlink is coming from and consider it relevant if the content or the website is related to your business. This is how they differentiate the quality vs quantity of backlinks.

Always make the backlink look natural in the content, like linking the URL to a relevant word or phrase. The more natural it looks, the more value it holds.