SEO Roadmap – Where to Make SEO Edits to Optimize Your BD Website

Introduction 00:00:00

• SEO is important for most businesses.
• There are many variables that affect SEO for each website.
• BigCommerce platform offers flexibility to add content and edit SEO settings to optimize a website.
• Page titles are important for SEO and user experience.
• They should be concise, descriptive, and include relevant keywords.
• Page titles can be edited in the Page Editor under "Page Settings".
• Meta descriptions provide a brief summary of a page's content.
• They should be informative and engaging, and include relevant keywords.
• Meta descriptions can be edited in the Page Editor under "Page Settings".
• Image alt text provides a description of an image for users who are unable to see it.
• It is important for accessibility and SEO.
• Image alt text can be added or edited in the Image Editor.
• Product descriptions provide detailed information about a product.
• They should be informative, engaging, and include relevant keywords.
• Product descriptions can be edited in the Product Editor.
• Category and brand descriptions provide information about product categories and brands.
• They should be informative, engaging, and include relevant keywords.
• Category and brand descriptions can be edited in the Category Editor and Brand Editor.
• Blog posts can be a great way to improve SEO and attract organic traffic.
• They should be informative, engaging, and include relevant keywords.
• Blog posts can be created and edited in the Blog Manager.
• The robots.txt file controls how search engine bots crawl and index a website.
• It can be used to block bots from accessing certain areas of a website.
• The robots.txt file can be edited in the Advanced Settings.
• An XML sitemap is a file that lists all the pages on a website.
• It helps search engines understand the structure of a website and find all the pages.
• The XML sitemap can be generated and downloaded in the Advanced Settings.

Why SEO is so Important? 00:01:10

• Search engine optimization (SEO) is essential for website visibility, organic traffic, and user trust.
• SEO can reduce ongoing advertising and marketing costs by attracting website visitors and new members through high search rankings.
• SEO should be integrated into a comprehensive marketing strategy that includes ads, social marketing, referral programs, and affiliate programs.
• Unique and relevant content is more important than excessive keyword stuffing.
• Key SEO elements include meta titles, meta descriptions, meta keywords, main headings (H1), relevant headings and subheadings, and internal and external links.
• Google may modify website titles and descriptions in search results, so BD sites should include a featured image and an OG image in the metatag to enhance user experience.

Brilliant Directories Sites are SEO-Ready 00:06:53

• BD sites are pre-equipped with essential elements for Google ranking.
• SEO value grows as members and pages are added to the site.
• Dynamic creation of profile pages and search results pages as the site grows.

General Areas to Edit SEO Settings 00:07:47

• Familiar SEO editing options for those familiar with the Brilliant Directories platform.
• Some lesser-known gems and tips for SEO editing.

Edit SEO Settings: Homepage 00:08:03

• The homepage SEO can be edited by going to the webpage builder and clicking on the SEO settings tab.
• BD sites are pre-filled with variables that will automatically adjust the SEO elements when changed in the general settings.
• The page meta title, description, and keywords can be customized.
• The social media sharing title, description, and image can also be set in the SEO settings.
• Adding an OG image is recommended to increase visibility in search engine results.
• Interior pages can be edited in the same way as the homepage by going to the webpage builder and clicking on the SEO settings tab.
• The page meta title, description, and keywords can be customized.
• The social media sharing title, description, and image can also be set in the SEO settings.
• Adding an OG image is recommended to increase visibility in search engine results.
• Additionally, interior pages have a section for adding structured data, which can help search engines understand the content of the page and display it more prominently in search results.

Edit SEO Settings: Static Pages 00:11:21

• Edit SEO settings for static pages (e.g., about page) by going to SEO settings.
• The page title is the H1 heading and should make sense to users.
• The meta title can be more creative and clickbait-worthy.
• Google no longer values the comma-separated list of keywords in the meta keywords tag.
• BD automatically creates the H1 heading for blog posts, pages, and other content.
• BD takes care of most SEO aspects, but this section shows where to go for further enhancements.

Dynamic Pages and SEO Templates 00:14:41

• Dynamic pages are automatically created by the system (e.g., Los Angeles page).
• SEO is taken care of for dynamic pages.
• Pretty URLs are used for dynamic pages.
• Edit dynamic pages using SEO templates in Brilliant Directories.

Demo: SEO Templates 00:15:33

• To optimize your website for SEO, you can edit the SEO templates that control dynamic pages like search results and blog posts.
• You can customize the SEO templates to change the title, description, keywords, and other elements.
• For post types, you can control the main heading and subheading in the edit post types page.
• Customizing the SEO templates allows you to optimize your website for search engines and improve its visibility.
• The SEO template powers the member search results page and handles combinations of locations, states, and categories.
• You can edit the SEO template to customize the H1 title, meta title, description, and keywords.
• To make a variable plural, change 2 percentage signs to 3 percentage signs.
• You can rearrange elements in the page meta title and inject keywords for the entire website to rank for.

Demo: Convert Pages into Static Pages 00:23:49

• To optimize your BigCommerce website for SEO, you can convert dynamic pages into static pages.
• Find the canonical URL by searching for "canonical" in the source code.
• Create a static page using the canonical URL and customize it in the web page builder.
• Static pages allow you to edit the meta title and description without relying on dynamic values.
• If you leave fields empty in the static page SEO template, they will fall back to the main dynamic SEO template values.
• You can use breadcrumbs to find the shortest path to a specific location and create static pages for those locations.

Member Profiles SEO 00:28:36

• Customize SEO template 100 for member profile pages.
• Member profile pages have their own meta titles and descriptions.
• Edit meta titles and descriptions by adding relevant information like location or industry.
• Modify the URL structure of profile pages by adding or removing variables like postal code or state name.
• Changes to the URL structure won't affect existing member profiles unless they resave their information or new members sign up.
• Similar to member profile URL structure, you can modify the URL structure of posts, events, coupons, etc.
• This is done through the post URL structure setting.

Custom SEO for Member Profiles 00:32:09

• Custom URLs can be created for specific members.
• Custom URLs can be set by the admin or made available only to premium members.
• Custom URLs can be created by going to the admin area under search members and searching for the member's URL.
• In the quick edit popup, the listing URL can be customized.
• The meta title, description, and meta keywords can be customized for each member.

Advanced options 00:32:09

• Custom head, footer code (like JavaScript, etc.) or custom CSS can be included on a single member-specific profile page.

Custom SEO for Posts 00:34:37

• SEO templates for dynamic pages like blog articles, events, and property listings can be found and customized in the SEO section of the website builder.
• Use dynamic variables instead of hard-coding specific values when editing SEO templates to ensure broad keyword relevance.
• Modify the URL structure for posts in the advanced settings to include elements like the post author's name, location, category, etc.
• Customize and enhance individual post URLs to improve SEO, but set up 301 redirects for old URLs to avoid SEO issues.
• Set up 301 redirects in the developer hub to redirect old URLs to new ones.