Let’s start from the beginning.
All of us are constantly hearing about the importance of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and how getting this right can help you grow your eCommerce business, but are we all aware of the Tools NetSuite has to offer? And most importantly, are we making good use of them?
Here we want to list some of the tools and tips that will help you improve your Commerce SEO even if you are not an expert on the matter. Don’t worry, for those times when expertise can come handy, you can always contact us and we will be willing to help you.
What the platform has to offer.
NetSuite provides many tools for warranting that the pages of your site are optimized for search engines. Using these tools and following SEO best practices can help improve your ranking on search result pages. It is important to highlight that these tools are available to all Commerce websites.
Images
Two important SEO considerations for image files are the image alternate text and the image file name.
- Alternate Text: Specifically making reference to the importance of adding alternate text to images for SEO purposes, we need to mention that the alternate text tells search engines about the content of the image and helps promote SEO. For this reason, alternate text should provide a detailed and specific description that informs visitors what the image depicts.
You can add alternate text to your item images on the item record or on the File record directly. - Image File Name: SEO best practice for image file names states that, similar to what we just mentioned about Alternate Text, the file name for an image should be descriptive and reflect the content of the image. It is easier for a search engine to index images on your site when you use descriptive file names.
Site Management Tools
Content you add using Site Management Tools can impact your site’s search engine ranking. For this reason, you need to keep an eye on the following aspects:
- When adding images to your site directly from the Site Management Tools it is important you also add Alternate Text and make sure the File name is descriptive. Same rules that were mentioned above apply when uploading images from the SMT.
- Enhanced and Landing Pages: When creating either an Enhanced Page or a Landing Page within the Site Management Tool, the following SEO related Fields should be filled in with relevant information:
- URL for Landing Page
- Page Title
- Meta Description
- Meta Keywords
Descriptive URLs for Product Pages
A well-defined item URL serves search engine web crawlers an indication of what the destination page will be about. Being that said, it is key that you set the correct URL Component for each Item to make it as descriptive as possible in order to maximize SEO.
Sitemap Generator
Sitemap Generator creates an XML sitemap for your website for Search Engine Optimization.
Every time a sitemap is generated, the Sitemap Generator automatically notifies search engines such as Google and Bing that your sitemap has been updated. You can also schedule automatic sitemap generation so that your sitemap is always up-to-date. Of course, there are some rules and steps to follow in order for the Sitemap Generator to work as expected. You can check those on the NetSuite Help Center.
Structured Data Markup
Major search engines use structured data markup to discover detailed information about a page and enhance search results.
In order for Structured Data Markup to work as expected, some settings need to be enabled within the Configuration Record of your Commerce Site Domain. In the configuration record, navigate to the Structured Data Markup subtab within the Shopping Catalog tab.
SuiteCommerce and SuiteCommerce Advanced use the properties listed in the table to describe product content.
Robots.txt File
The robots.txt file is the first file that a search engine requests when indexing your site. This file lets you tell the search engines which pages on your site not to index. When you first set up your site, it is important to have your robots.txt file in place before you go live.
The robots.txt file should reside in the root folder of your website.
What UnlockCommerce has to offer.
Of course, there are further best practices that should be followed within NetSuite to maximize SEO that require development skills and great platform knowledge to make the most out of them. And because we deeply understand the needs of our clients, we have different offerings that can be adapted to fulfill your needs. As an example, our team is always ready to perform an Audit on your Commerce Site to define the current search engine optimization (SEO) status and discover technical issues that can affect SEO. Based on our findings, we then help the customer execute recommended changes and measure the impact
Our offerings seek to provide customers with a strong foundation in SEO and Digital Marketing by enabling them to leverage their Commerce and NetSuite platforms to capture revenue at low costs.
If you don’t know where to start, our SEO Team offers an SEO Initial Site Review which is an offering that can be utilized as a minimum SEO review that works as an action path for our customers. It Includes a high level SEO review of all key areas, which leads to a roadmap of tasks to tackle. If this sounds like what you are looking for, please get in touch with us.
Don’t hesitate to contact us to learn more about how we can work together to take your Commerce Site SEO to the next level.
