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In this post, we’ll look at how Volusion software is built to help you easily access SEO information. Read on to find out the four things you need to do to get started.

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, isn’t just useful, but is absolutely necessary in today’s ever-expanding digital market. SEO is what gets your business new visitors and the ability to compete with your industry peers. Here at Volusion, we know it’s a big deal. That’s why we’ve written over 50 articles about it. But here’s something you may not have come across in your reading: Volusion software is meant to help with your SEO. It’s true, our stores have built-in SEO features that are designed to boost your search rankings. So how do you start reaping the benefits?

Here are 4 things you absolutely must do to get started with SEO in our software:
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1. Make sure you have SEO Friendly URIs enabled

The first thing you need to do is check the Enable SEO Friendly URIs box in your store admin. You can find this feature under the SEO Friendly URIs section of Marketing > SEO in your store dashboard. Once you’ve checked the box and clicked Save near the bottom of the page, congratulations! You’ve revved up your store’s  SEO engine.

Wait, what are “SEO Friendly URIs?” Without enabling this feature, your URLs  look something like this: www.myvolusionstore.com/product_details.asp?ID=cnss597. Kinda ugly, aren’t they?

Once you check the Enable SEO Friendly URIs option, however, your URLs are automatically rewritten so they appear in simple, static forms like www.myvolusionstore.com/Cozy-Night-Sheet-Set-p/cnss597.htm. Now the URLs look a lot nicer, use keywords, and, more importantly, are easily indexed by search engines.
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2. Create or update your store’s meta information

The next step is to explore the “Add Meta Tags” ,  which is where you can edit or assign your meta tags, meta descriptions and meta keywords for all of your store’s .asp pages. This section is found in the same place as the SEO Friendly URIs section (Marketing > SEO), but further down the page. Remember: meta tags, meta descriptions and meta keywords are purely for SEO purposes, so your customers will never see them.

When you look at the Add Meta Tags section, the default selection is Default Values, which is exactly what you want to fill out. Your default values are super handy because once you’ve set your default information, it’ll populate meta data for every page with blank SEO fields. This is particularly useful because you won’t have to go through each .asp page separately to set individual tags.
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3. Create or update your products’ meta information

Volusion software is also built to help optimize each of your products for search engines. To access your products’ SEO information, click on Inventory > Products. Once you get there, choose the product you’d like to edit by clicking on the product code. After you reach the product’s page, scroll down to the “Advanced Settings” section. By default, the “Search Engine Optimization” tab is selected, and here you’ll be able to edit your Product Name Short, Photo Alt Text, Meta Tag Titles, Meta Tag Descriptions and Meta Tag Keywords.

If you’re unsure of what some of those terms mean, click on the blue question mark button next to the term and a dialogue box will show up and tell you more about each field and how it affects your SEO value. For most stores, we recommend that you focus a good amount of your SEO efforts on the individual product-level. (Exceptions include stores with one product, such as a “as seen on TV” product, or very few products.)
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4. Check on your progress

SEO takes time, but once it’s been long enough for your campaign to take effect (anywhere from two weeks to six months depending on your campaign), there’s no better way to check your progress than through the eyes of an objective third party. In this case, our impartial judge is whois.domaintools, a public domain lookup that can give you information on your SEO success.

Visit the site, enter your domain name and click the “lookup” button. Then, click on the Site Profile tab, which is where you can see how well your SEO is working by looking at the “SEO Score.” Your score will be a percentage that ranges from 0 to 100. Think of the scale like your typical elementary school grading system: 80% and above, you’re doing great, 60% to 70%, not bad. Anything else, well, you know the deal.

 

If your score is less than ideal, don’t get discouraged! As a general rule, SEO is pretty difficult to get the hang of. It will take a long time and a lot of dedication, SEO reading and practice to really learn the trade. If you don’t have the time to devote to learning SEO but really want an increase in your effectiveness, it’d be best to hire a professional to help you out.

Happy selling!
-Gracelyn Tan, Volusion