- Content Editor
- SEO
Search Engine Optimization
Wikipedia: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the "natural" or un-paid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results. Vin65 does not provide SEO services for your website, however, the Vin65 platform is very SEO ‘friendly.’
Page & Meta Tag Titles: Learn about page and meta tag titles. Learn More >
Meta Tag Descriptions: Learn about meta tag descriptions. Learn More >
Site Maps: Learn about site maps. Learn More >
Content: Learn more about the content of your site. Learn More >
Here are is a video on SEO and a few Vin65 blog posts on SEO:
Useful blog posts:
- A Beginner's Guide to SEO: Identifying Keywords
- A Beginner's Guide to SEO: 5 Easy SEO Elements You Can Optimize Today
- A Beginner's Guide to SEO: Building Topic Clusters
For detailed information, read Google's SEO Starter Guide here »
Page And Meta Tag Titles
A title tag tells both users and search engines what the topic of a particular page is.
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Meta Tag Descriptions
A page’s description meta tag gives Google and other search engines a summary of what the page is about. Meta Tag Descriptions will display within the search results when a person searches for your site. Google may use the description that you have added in the marketing tab for your general pages, they could also ignore them and bring in relevant content from your pages. Your descriptions should be relevant to the content that specific page. As well you should create unique descriptions for each page rather than duplicating a general description for all of your web pages. For more information on editing your Meta Tag Descriptions, please see the Marketing Tab Documentation.
Site Maps
The navigation of a website is important in helping visitors quickly find the content they want. Definition: “an easy way for webmasters to inform search engines about pages on their site that are available for crawling.” ‘Crawling’ is how a search engine searches your pages (sometimes referred to as “Spiders”).
You will want to have two site maps on your website: one for consumers or users, and one for search engines (XML sitemap).
| Search Engine Site Map | Vin65 provides Google with a Robot.txt file. This search engine site map, technical term: XML, will provide Google with the page Structure for your website. To access your XML site map you will want to navigate to: https://www.YOURDOMAINNAME.com/index.cfm?method=pages.searchEngineSiteMap. |
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This will show you the list of your pages in the format that Google searches. Your pages will be displayed in priority sequence: with 1.0 as your homepage, 0.9 as any main menu pages, 0.8 for sub-pages below them, and so on and so forth. Any hidden or secure pages will be removed from the XML site map. So any pages you do not wish to display on the web, or those which require a person to login before viewing the page content will be excluded from the XML file.
| User Site Map |
Your user site map will be your 404 page, located within your General Pages. If a user clicks on a link that is broken or mistypes the URL for a page, they will automatically be redirected to the 404 error page. It is important to make sure that this page is user friendly. Information to include on this page is navigation back to the homepage and other main pages. Other information to consider is having an email address available so users can report how they came to the 404 page, helping you to resolve any broken links that may occur on your site. For an example of a well arranged 404 page please see: https://demo.vin65.com/404-Error |
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Content
Content is typically the best way to increase your search engine optimization, so it is key to focus on this aspect of your website. Focus on creating useful, high quality content specific to your brand. Always remember when you are working on content SEO that your content should be created for consumers not for Google.
You always want to have new ‘fresh’ content on your website. This will keep your customers engaged, prompting them to frequent your site regularly. Fresh content will also increase the frequency with which Google crawls your site. Google generally crawls a site roughly every 6 months, however by keeping your content fresh you can increase the frequency to anywhere from 2-3 months.
The use of Blogs is simple yet effective way to have a steady flow of new content for your website. The Blog feature on the Vin65 platform allow you to create a number of blog posts at one time and post date each for future release. This will allow you to create a fresh content that is more than simply adding a few new sentences of content. For more information on using the blog feature please see the Blog Documentation.
| Flash | Avoid using Flash websites or flash with text within it. The downside of using flash is search engines such as Google cannot search you site’s content. Vin65 only designs in HTML however some clients choose to use this medium. |
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| Keywords | Keywords are important, but avoid over use. For example if you have a page showcasing your Pinot Noir, simply repeating Point Noir in your text does not increase your SEO. A good guideline to remember is: if frequency of keywords would be annoying to your consumers it will be annoying for search engines. Heavy use of keywords decreases your SEO not increases it. |
| Age Gate | Avoid the use of an ‘age gate’. This is a controversial topic within the wine industry, with some companies adopting an ‘age gate’ policy asking consumers their age before entering the website. |
Vin65 strongly recommends against the use of an 'age gate'. Age Gates are a deterrent to consumers coming to your website for information on your wines. Generally the more "clicks" it takes to enter your site, the less likely it is consumers will follow through and visit your site. Additionally having an age gate dramatically decreases your SEO. Search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN cannot get past the age gate and will not search any of your website content. It is not a legal requirement to include an age gate on your website. As long as you ask for the customer’s age upon checkout and delivery (for alternate shipping addresses) you meet the legal requirements for age verification.
| Headings |  The proper use of headings, something most clients often overlook, can increase your SEO as well. During the design process clients typically ask for additional heading types, unfortunately Google can’t read more than 6 heading types. The Vin65 platform is setup with 6 headings sizes. You will want to make sure that you most important heading, typically your page title, as Heading 1. This will let Goggle know that this is the most important heading, giving it top priority in the page sequence. Simply setting all of your page content to Heading 1 will not increase SEO because Google will assume that your page does not have a topic. |
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| Links & Marketing URLs |
When creating Marketing URLs for your pages as well as the text for your links, you will want to be conscious that they are relevant to your site content and structured for visitors to your site. Your URLs should be easy for consumers to understand, especially if used in print advertising. Remember to keep them short (eg: /About-Us/Staff instead of /About-Pine-Wines/Meet-The-Staff) as your URL often displays within search results. Another common area that clients overlook is their choice of text when linking to pages or PDFs for tasting notes. Often the verbiage “Click Here” is used for the link text. To increase your SEO it is more advantageous to use more descriptive text such as: “About Us Page” or “View Tasting Notes” instead. |
| Images | Your image names as well as you image ALT Tags (Alternative Text) can work to increase your SEO. Image names should be descriptive of the image, for example “Pine_Wines_Vineyard” rather than “Vineyard” or “Image1”. You will also want to be mindful of you PDF names as well. When Adding Alt Tags to your images make sure they describe the image as well. |