SEO GUIDE

HOW TO OPTIMISE YOUR PRODUCT PAGESWhen thinking about things you can do to increase your sales on the site, helping customers find your products is critical.

To help Google, NOTHS search, and other search engines direct customers to your products you need to pay close attention to the following product data:

• Key Terms• Product Title • Product Description• Variations Available

It’s important to ensure each of these areas are filled out properly and optimised so NOTHS search and other search engines can identify that your products are relevant to what a customer is searching for.

Key terms are the words that a customer might type into search engines (such as Google) or NOTHS search, when looking for an item online. They enable search engines or NOTHS search to direct customers to your pages.

SEARCH KEY TERMS

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CHOOSE YOUR KEY TERMS

• For each of your products, choose the words a customer would be most likely to use when searching for that specific item. You’ll need two key terms per product.• Each key term should be 2-4 words long and 5-45 characters in total.

FOR EXAMPLE...

If your product is a Vintage Style Wooden Wedding Sign, youcould use:

Key term 1:wooden wedding sign

Key term 2:vintage sign for weddings

Or, if your product is a Personalised Family Typography Print, you could use:

Key term 1:personalised print

Key term 2:typography print

TIPInclude integral qualities of the product. What type of product is it? What’s it made from?

• Materials• Categories your product belongs to• Image Name (alt text)

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Pack a punch with your opening sentence, including one of your key terms and an example of how the product can be used.

INTRODUCTION(MAX 25 WORDS)

The description of your product not only gives the customer all the information they require to make a purchase, it’s also a crucial factor in the way that search engines rank your page.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS

• Each product description should be unique, so make sure you include original and bespoke content for every page – even if you just change a few adjectives or the order of sentences.• Be especially careful when cloning products that the product description is unique for each individual product.

WATCH OUT

When uploading images to the CMS, ensure that your image name accurately describes your product. Hovering over any product on the site will display the image name. You can view and edit your image names in the CMS under the images tab in products > edit image > image name. Always consider what the customer may be searching for when choosing your image name.

IMAGE NAME

Enter your chosen terms in Google. What appears in the first page of results? If there are a lot of strong results you may want to consider a more specific phrase. Once you’ve decided what your key terms are, log on to the CMS and put them into the key terms field.

TEST YOUR KEY TERMS

Google and other search engines penalise repetition of key terms, for example ‘gift, gift, gift’.We also consider key term repetition to beagainst best practice, and will work with Partnersto remove those duplicated key terms as and when we identify them.

WATCH OUT

• For each these fields you should make sure the information you are providing is relevant to your product. Make sure you are using key terms that the customer would search for when trying to find a product like yours.• Do not put in any information which is irrelevant to the product. For example, if your product is a mug, do not put keywords like plate, knife, fork. This will affect the relevance score of your product and will ultimately push you down the search results.

• Build on your introduction by including more detail about the nature of the product and its purpose.• Write at least 50 words – your text needs to be this length so that search engines can see it.• Include your second key term here.• Include other vital pieces of information, such as the story behind your product, how it was made, who might like it as a gift and what it’s for.

OTHER(MIN 50, MAX 100 WORDS)

FOR EXAMPLE...

Celebrate your family's stories, memories and unique moments with this colourful

personalised typography print." "

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FINALLY...

• TIME FOR A QUICK SPELL CHECK If a critical word isn’t spelled right, Google and NOTHS search engines can’t see it, so it’s really important that you double-check what you write.

• CONSIDER SEASONALITY While changing your keywords too frequently can cause search engines to penalise you, changing occasionally to take advantage of seasonal periods or events can actually help you increase your sales. For example, changing your key terms from ‘personalised cufflinks’ to ‘Father’s Day personalised cufflinks’ will increase your visibility to customers who are searching for Father’s Day gifts. You shouldn’t change your key terms on a frequent basis, ie daily or weekly, but once every couple of months to align with seasonal periods will not hurt your SEO.

Ideally, both the product title and the URL will remain unchanged throughout the lifecycle of a product. Consider using generic terms for these two fields, and altering your key terms and product descriptions seasonally.

• Include measurements in centimetres. This is vital for making sure customers know what they’re ordering and will help to avoid returns later on.• Include volumes or weights if relevant.

DIMENSIONS (MAX 150 WORDS)

• Describe the materials used to highlight the product’s value and quality.• Pay attention to any materials that must be declared for Trading Standards.• Include advice on how to care for the product, if relevant.

MATERIALS (MAX 500 WORDS)

• Explain clearly and thoroughly the different colours, sizes, personalisation options or other variations available for your product. Give your colour options meaningful names (such as lime green rather than just lime).• If the customer can add text, explain where it will appear, how many words or characters are available and how you will add it to the product – is it engraved, etched or glazed?• If you have restrictions – for example a maximum number of characters or words – you should explain this here.• If a product can’t be personalised or customised, suggest how the customer might add their own variations by pairing it with another item or finding a creative use for it in their home.

VARIATIONS (MAX 250 WORDS)

What’s the design style of your product – vintage, traditional, contemporary, Scandinavian? Who would like the product as a gift? Be as specific as possible(For example, gardening grandparents, creative chefs, cheeky children).

CONSIDER