Online Store Not 'Readable' by Google

[danself]

Hi,

I'm trying to improve the SEO of my store, and I've been recommended the tool 'Browseo' to see what 'Google is seeing' when they analyse my site. 

When, I use the tool, it suggests Google can only read my 'SEO Title' and 'SEO Description' from the Square SEO features. When I analyse my competitors sites, the Browseo tool shows most of their site, not just the Title and Description. Is this an issue with the Browseo tool? It's not even showing any of the links on my pages. 

Thanks in advace. 

https://www.browseo.net/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sail27.com

[Seamus]

Hey @danself,

Thanks for reaching out!

I can't speak specifically to how Browseo works, however I can provide a few resources to help you get the most out of SEO for your Square Online website.

We've got a community guide:

• Additions to the Ultimate Guide to SEO for the Site Editor in Square Online (also check out the original SEO guide linked within that post on Weebly's website

And these support pages may help as well:

• SEO Settings for Square Online Websites

• SEO Settings for Square Online Items and Categories
   

Hope this helps!

[danself]

Hey Seamus,

Your answer isn't quite what I'm looking for, so I'll rephrase my question as the original was a bit confusing. 

Assuming that Browseo is working correctly and doing it's job (it's been recommended by a number of SEO experts, so I don't have any reason to doubt this), is there something different about the way Weebly/Square sites are coded compared to other sites? Browseo is supposedly looking for pure HTML so are there some elements of my site which may be in a different format? 

[Seamus]

Hey @danself,

Most modern websites are built from a combination of HTML, Javascript, CSS and possibly other programming languages. Each website is different!

I tried to compare your website with other Square websites within Browseo, but unfortunately couldn't even get the platform to work on a single website to compare your site with any other Square online websites - pressing "Browse" after entering a URL either did nothing or threw up this error:

I wonder if there actually may be issues with Browseo?

Regardless though, outside of the SEO guidelines above, there's no way to manually tinker with the HTML or any other coding of Square Online websites, which are template-based.

Square Online websites do have SEO optimisation tools that as far as I'm aware are not lacking in comparison with other website builders - though I'm not an SEO expert, I can't see us not having fundamental SEO basics and haven't heard any reported issues like this previously from other sellers. All we can really do here is let you know what SEO tools exist within the Square Online ecosystem and how to use them! We do have another guide here on SEO best practices - which suggests that links on Square Online websites should naturally be picked up by search engines.

Sorry I can't be of much help here! I wonder if it's worth getting in touch with Browseo for further advice here, or possibly going with a different platform or even referring to an SEO professional? 

[danself]

Hey Seamus, 

Thanks for taking the time to provide such a detailed answer!

Strange that Browseo wasn't working for you, I'll get in touch with them and see if they thave any thoughts. 

I'll keep you updated, I'm more sure now it's an issue on Browseo's end rather than any issue with Square sites. 

[Seamus]

No worries @danself, let me know how it goes!

[danself]

Hi Seamus,

I'm back to thinking that there's some sort of issue with the Square HTML or with the HTML with the particular design of site that I've chosen. I've now used some other SEO diagnostic tools, and they're saying that nearly all of my pages have 'too low' word counts (with most saying 0), when some of the pages which are supposedly too low have hundreds of words. So it appears to me that there are some issues in text in the body of pages being recognised by external sources. 

Any help, or feedback from the developers would be great. 

[Seamus]

Hey @danself,

We don't have a direct line to speaking with Square Online developers, though your best bet would be to put everything into a support ticket and see if it's something that can be investigated further.

Are you seeing any practical issues with searching for your business on Google though? I'm not sure of how these SEO tools work on a technical level, but anecdotally, I've not seen any issues when testing searchability of Square Online websites in the past!