shopping cart software

To download the full Version 5 Manual, please go to http://manual.volusion.com

Search Engine Optimization is a set of best practices involving website design and layout aimed at increasing the visibility of a web site to various Web search engines (e.g. Google, MSN, Yahoo!). This in turn increases the likelihood that visitors may find a website by searching for its content via these search engines. For online business owners, this in turn increases the chances of more traffic being driven to their sites and thus, increases the chances of generating sales.

Getting Started:

Search Engine Optimization is a broad topic. The task of optimizing a web site can be daunting however Volusion V5 has made site optimization a snap with its SEO page. With a few mouse clicks, a Volusion store can be optimized for indexing by major Web search engines.

To configure Volusion's SEO settings, log into the Volusion Administration Page, click on the Marketing tab and click on the SEO link in the orange menu bar.

The Volusion SEO page is divided into several functions. Each will address optimizing the Volusion store based on the store's data, URLs or contents. The following portions of this chapter will explain how each of these sections can optimize Volusion V5 for various Web search engines.

Part I - Enabling Basic SEO Settings:

Within this section of the Volusion SEO page, there are 2 settings:

"Enable SEO Friendly"

"Use Hyphens (-) Instead of Underscores (_)"

First, check the "Enable SEO Friendly" option and click the Save Changes button near the bottom of the page. This function essentially turns on Volusion's SEO engine - enabling subsequent SEO features within the software. This option must be active in order for other SEO settings within Volusion V5 to work.

A Note on SEO Friendly URLs:

By default, each product, category or article displayed within the Volusion store is generated by a series of active server pages. This eliminates the need for merchants to create individual web pages for each item to be displayed within their online store. However, this process creates a dynamic URL for each product, category or article within the e-commerce site (e.g. www.mystore.com/product_details.asp?ID=ABC123). This type of URL is not conducive to SEO.

Volusion's SEO engine however, reformats dynamic URLs to appear as simple, static, web pages. This increases a website's search engine optimization. This URL reformat (or rewrite) is automatically implemented once the "Enable SEO Friendly" option in Volusion's SEO page is made active.

For example, the dynamic URL listed above could be rewritten by Volusion's SEO engine to appear as www.mystore.com/cool_product/ABC123.htm.

Hyphens vs. Underscores:

This option is completely cosmetic and is left up to the merchant. Configuring this option will neither increase nor decrease a store's level of optimization.

This feature simply allows merchants to choose whether they wish to have hyphens ("-") or underscores ("_") used when rewriting their store's URLs to be SEO compliant. Note that hyphens or underscores will be used to substitute for spaces within product or category names, as well as article titles.

Part II - Configuring Store Meta Tags:

The next set of SEO functions configures the meta data for the overall Volusion store. Merchants who have already read through the portions of the Volusion Products and Categories pages concerning SEO settings will find this area familiar. For those unfamiliar with meta data and how it relates to SEO, read on for a basic explanation:

What are Meta Tags?:

Meta tags are specialized HTML tags used to contain data about the contents of a website or webpage. For example, a web page will generally contain some kind of data - whether its a news article, a table full of financial figures or a page containing information about a product for sale. Meta data in this case, is data hidden within a web page that describe the data being displayed.

Visitors to web sites generally will not view meta tag content. It is specifically for the benefit of Web search engines such as Google or Yahoo!

Search engines specifically look at a web page's content but also reference that with any data contained within the site's meta tags when indexing a web page. In the end, the more relevant data stored within meta tags, the easier it will be for search engines to index a page's content.

The "Default Meta Tags" portion of the Volusion SEO page consists of 3 basic and 2 advanced settings that allow merchants to quickly configure the meta data content for their online store as a whole. Note that the meta tags defined here control meta data for the fundamental portions of the Volusion store. Product and category meta tags are set elsewhere in the Volusion store. See the "Tips and Special Settings" portion of this chapter for more information on product and category SEO.

The following meta tags can be configured within Volusion from this page. Note that merchants can change between Easy Mode and Advanced Mode settings by selecting either set of options from the radio buttons near the top of this portion of the page.

Easy Mode
Meta Title	This field sets the title meta tag of the entire Volusion store website. This title will appear in the title bar of any web browser window visiting the store. Note that this setting does not affect other title settings within the store such as the business name that appears on shipping labels, etc.
Meta Description	This field should contain a brief description of the Volusion store. Merchants should mention the store name and purpose (e.g. what the store sells or specializes in).
Meta Keywords	This field allows merchants to enter keywords that relate to their stores. These keywords will be indexed as meta data related to their stores and can be used by potential visitors to find the site and its contents via search engines. Each keyword should be separated via commas (e.g. term1, term2, term3) and should relate to products, services or brands that a store specializes in.
Advanced Mode
Meta Tags Override	This field overrides the meta tags programmed for the Volusion store using the Easy Mode settings. These settings can be overridden with any custom meta tags they enter here. This option is recommended for web designers only.
Globally Append Meta Tags	In addition to creating custom meta tags, merchants can use this option to append any custom meta tags they wish to all pages within their Volusion store. Note that this will not overwrite any meta information for products or categories but simply append meta tags defined here to those pages. This option is recommended for web designers only.

Once these settings are configured, simply click the Save Changes button near the bottom of the page to set global meta tags for the Volusion store. It's as simple as that.

Note:

The Easy Mode or Advanced Mode settings cannot be used simultaneously for defining meta tags for the Volusion store.

Furthermore, these settings only configure meta tags for the overall Volusion store. As stated above, SEO settings for products, categories, etc. are configured within each individual entry's settings page within the Volusion Admin.

Finally, the "Enable SEO Friendly" setting on this page must be configured in order for meta tag settings to function.

Part III - Configuring SEO for Products and Categories:

After configuring the settings covered in Parts I and II of this chapter, the Volusion store itself will be optimized for search engines, however additional settings must be configured for individual elements within the Volusion database such as products and categories.

For these elements, there will be a heading within their individual configuration page marked "Search Engine Optimization". The settings contained under this heading will contain all variables for that element's meta tags and other SEO information. The number of meta tag settings available will vary depending on what type of element being edited (e.g. products have 5 meta tag settings, categories contain only 4).

It is important for merchants to enter values for every meta tag setting available whether editing meta data for a product, category, website article or any other element in Volusion. All meta tag fields must be set in order for the Volusion SEO engine to function properly for any element within the store database.

Note that when configuring SEO settings for your store's products, you must enter meta information of all SEO fields for your products. Its also highly recommended that you also configure all SEO settings for the categories and sub-categories within your online store.

Tips and Special Settings:

Note on SEO for Products:

As mentioned in this chapter, the goal of search engine optimization is to increase the likelihood of automated, search engine programs finding, browsing and indexing a site - thus potentially driving more traffic and sales to the site. The Volusion SEO page and its related functions allow merchants to quickly and easily configure meta tags to better optimize their online store for search engines.

Configuring meta tags within the Volusion store however is not the only step to improve a store's chances of being indexed by various search engines. While meta data is important to these search engines, information displayed to site visitors also plays a crucial role.

Because of this, it is highly recommended that when creating products within the Volusion store, merchants configure not only robust meta tag information but be detailed in their products' settings - in particular product descriptions and features fields. The more relevant information provided herein, the greater their likelihood search engines will accurately index information from product pages. This practice is ultimately the most important step in ensuring Volusion store product pages are SEO friendly.

Note that in order for Volusion's SEO engine to completely rewrite a product's URL, meta tags for both the product and any product category(s) it is assigned to must be configured.

Using the Robot Exclusion Protocol:

SEO settings involve enabling elements that will increase the ease and overall likelihood that online search engine agents will find, browse and accurately report on information within a website. However, what if a website owner wishes to keep their store's information private and exclude it from a search engine's prying eyes? This can be accomplished using a special feature available to all web hosting environments that is easy to configure within Volusion V5. The Robot Exclusion Protocol - often referred to as the robots.txt file is a simple method by which website owners can block search engines from visiting certain parts of, if not all of their website.

Robots.txt refers to the text file by this name that would typically be included within the root of a website to prevent search engine robot access. The vast majority of automated search engine applications are programmed to look for and adhere to any exclusion listed within a robots.txt file.

Creating or editing this file is easy in Volusion V5. Within the Volusion store's SEO page, simply click on the "Need to upload a robots.txt file?" link near the bottom of the page.

This will expand a text box where merchants can enter any exclusion they wish for their robots.txt file.

Example I:

A Volusion merchant maintains a directory of images within their store they do not wish to have indexed when any search engine browses their site. The directory in question, relative to their store's root directory is /v/vspfiles/spec_images/. In this case, the following can be entered into their robots.txt file:

User-agent:*
Disallow: /v/vspfiles/spec_images/

Example II:

A Volusion merchant does not wish to have a specific search engine browse or index their entire site. In this example, the search engine is named LameBot. This can be accomplished quite easily by entering the following into the robots.txt file in Volusion:

User-agent:LameBot
Disallow: /

Once changes have been made to the robots.txt file entry, the store's SEO settings can be updated by clicking the Save Changes button within this page.

Purchasing SEO Services:

Search Engine Optimization is a broad topic. There are many practices and techniques to configure online store to be SEO friendly. A good deal of information on the topic of SEO is readily available on the Internet. However, for a quick and affordable solution to configure Volusion to be as SEO compliant as possible, Volusion provides SEO services to any and all Volusion-based merchants. More information on these services as well as pricing can be found online at Volusion.com.

Summary

Again, SEO is a broad topic and one that can be difficult for those unfamiliar with the way the underlying functions of the World Wide Web behave. Volusion has taken a great deal of the bite out of configuring an online store to be SEO friendly. The functions within Volusion's SEO page can quickly configure the basics that merchants will need to make their store, its products, categories and more search engine optimized. Additionally, SEO experts can make use of the page's advanced mode to create a much more detailed and custom SEO framework for their stores. Merchants are encouraged to use this page to better their possibility of being found via search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN. Finally, additional SEO services can be purchased from Volusion online.

Tags: seo, search engine, page rank, seo friendly