For those looking for help with SEO, Google, and Bing

[mixengineer]

Hi, I noticed an overwhelming lack of clear explanation or outdated information on how to effectively get customers to find your business website (ie. SEO, Google, Bing, Crawling, Indexing, etc). 

I discovered platform's limitations when I tried to contact support to have them change or allow me to change some SEO basics. These changes were the changes recommended by Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, and other third party tools for SEO that would allow Google and Bing to properly index my site. In the direct words of their support...

"No, this platform wasnt designed for in depth HTML or SEO alterations." 

Unfortunately, this means editing or creating proper title tags where needed, adding a canonical url tag, or having a 301 redirect for the home page if you're having issues with it going to the correct URL (all SEO basics) are not possible currently on this platform. I do wish Square Online would reflect this in their advertising so it is clear to customers who have transitioned or are about to transition from another platform to Square Online (I came from WordPress where I was able to complete my SEO in hours and the website showing in Google in just a few days).

Now For The Good News...

I'm happy to answer any questions you have about using Square Online for Google & Bing based on my experience using the platform for SEO.

Mix Engineer
https://mixengineer.art/ 

[LindseyD]

Hi!

I am wondering if you figured out what is going on with Square Online shops and word count?

If I run any of my shop pages through an SEO Analyzer, I come up with a word count of 0, despite the very long descriptions I put in my item libraries (separate from the shorter 120-character SEO description, of course.)

I even tried adding a “text” section to one of my product pages and moving half of my product information into that section, and I still get a word count of 0. 

For example, here is the page with the “text” section:

https://lindseydeets.square.site/product/desert-gala-art-print/52

Do you know if google is seeing the text on our pages even though these SEO analyzers are not?

Thanks,

Lindsey

[mixengineer]

Hi @LindseyD Unfortunately, I have noticed Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, Moz Pro, and a few other SEO tools all showing errors originating from Square Online's (Weebly) hosting servers and their configuration/settings. A server or config issue could prevent search engines from properly indexing your site (as it did with me).

I actually have an issue with an odd domain redirect and loop; after contacting Google Domains as Square support requested, Google confirmed that the issues were originating from Square Online's hosting servers and settings/configuration protocols. Every single one of my SEO tools are showing the errors, and when I contacted square to see if they could fix it the issue or provide a way for me to fix it myself... That was a hard no. 

When it comes to not just building a website, but also being able to do proper SEO so your customers can find you on search engines, this may not be the platform for that I am finding. I've never had this kind of an issue on the other platforms I've used and they were always able to remedy the issue when it originated from their own product.

My suggestion would be to receive confirmation that the issue is stemming from their platform (there's less runaround when I provide screenshots), and bring it to support to see what they can do since we do not have access to make some of the required changes ourselves. Sad I know, but it's the only option currently other than switching to more capable tools. Let me know if you have anymore questions! 

Mix Engineer
https://mixengineer.art/ 

[LindseyD]

Thank you for your response!

Sorry you had to go through that.

The pages I ran through the SEO analyzer are indexed and they still come up with a word count of 0...I think I will ask about this in a new thread.

Yes, I think I will have to leave Square if they don't fix these issues. (I hope ya'll are looking at these threads.) But I don't want to move all of my 30+ products when some of them are old with only a few prints left. I think once I sell off the old stock I will just go pay for an ecommerce page somewhere else.

Square is free but what's the point if it doesn't work?

Well anyway, good luck to you, too!

[mixengineer · Accepted solution]

SOLVED:

I switched from Square Online (Weebly) back to WPEngine and WordPress which gave me complete control over SEO. I recreated my website in a day, submitted it via Google Search Console, and my website was on Google in a few hours. 

Lesson learned, use the right tools for the job. 

Website: https://mixengineer.art/

[EricLivesay]

I agree. I'm in the process of creating a new website and then ditching Square. Square has got to be the most useless web page creator I've ever seen.

[EricLivesay]

Hello!

I've had a Square online store now for about four about 8 months. I'm using the free version. I had planned on upgrading if I started getting orders. Problem is that I haven't had any orders other than 1 family member. How do I get my site searchable on Google? When I go to Google and do a search for wooden bowls or vases or any other tag I've used my site never shows up. I can go 10 pages in and still not find it. Even if I type in the exact name of my store it doesn't show up. I've looked at the square marketing assistant but it doesn't show anything about how to make my site more visible to searches. 

[_Violet]

Hi @EricLivesay - Thanks for reaching out to us here on the Square Seller Community👋

I went ahead and merged your post to an existing thread where other Square Sellers have discussed Search Engines for SEO.

Please see the reply from one of our Square Sellers, @MIXENGINEER, which has been marked as the Best Answer.

You may also find this article from our Support Center on How To Verify a Square Online Site with Search Engines for SEO helpful.

I hope this helps answer your question but please do let me know if there is anything else I could help you with!

[shopfybr]

Hey, I'm looking for a professional who can help me with Google product listings and SEO (and Google Ads would be a plus).

I'm not sure if we're allowed to put recommendations for outside consultants in this community, however I feel it would help to have someone who knows the Square products, so maybe someone here has a recommendation. Feel free to DM me (@shopfybr) or email hello@shopfybr.com if you know someone!

The platforms we're using are Square for Retail and Square Online.

Thank you!

~Kamala

[_Violet]

Hi @shopfybr - Thank you for your post!
 

I'm merging your question to an existing thread where one of our Square Sellers, @MIXENGINEER, has offered to help out other Sellers with Google and SEO inquiries.

I hope this helps but please do let me know if I may assist you with anything else! 

[shopfybr]

It's disappointing that the solution here appears to be to switch to a non-Square product. I'm pretty invested with hundreds if not thousands of products on our site, but will have to make a serious decision if our eCommerce site continues to perform poorly.

[EricLivesay]

This is an eye opener. Had I known this I wouldn't have used Square. This makes me not want to even use their card readers. Square has never been good a customer support. Every answer I've gotten had come from the seller community. I think it's time to leave Square and go with another platform that actually knows what they're doing. 

[SteveWalters]

Reading through this thread and I am discouraged. I'm new with Square, just built out a very basic website and I went in today to work on all the SEO stuff and I am finding it distinctly lacking in support. Ugh. Not cool. Do you have any tips on how to transition to WPEngine? I am fairly computer savy but I'm not a pro web designer. Right now, my domain is linked to square. Is it simple to 'unlink it' and relink it to WPEngine or would you suggest another platform? 

[SurfsPupPDX]

I am having the same issues with my site not appearing in Google searches.  I have hired SEO assistance and all state that Square is not SEO friendly and even at the "best optimization" I am still not coming up Google searches for my small service business.  It sounds like the option is to move to another platform which bums me out, but I don't see any other options from Square??

[BernadetteA]

Hi @SurfsPupPDX Welcome to the Seller Community 👋

SEO can be a bit tricky and is definitely not "one size fits all". You can have all the best intentions with your SEO settings, but you also have to factor in your competition in regards to your business type and location, not to mention your actual site - age of domain/website, content on your site, etc.

Have you had a chance to review our Ultimate SEO Guide? There may be some pointers in there that can help you out. 

[newlinecheckout]

Great to see how much interest there is in SEO in the community! If you're looking for a fully branded website customized for you by top designers and SEO experts, check out Square partner Orda https://getorda.com/webxp.

[Myla1234]

can you help me. I don't know how to put my website on google

[Richmenlooks]

I have Google Merchant setup with a Content API Feed going but almost 90% of my products are disapproved because of a Mismatched domains [link]. It is super frustrating trying to get Google Ads setup with Square. The error shows that my product images are pulling from some sort of amazonaws URL verses pulling the product images directly from our website (which has been verified). I am not even sure where to begin on correcting this. Any advice or feedback on correcting this? 

[Laurie_]

Hey there @Richmenlooks,

Sorry to hear you're running into these issues with Google Merchant and Square. For these sorts of queries, we recommend visiting the Google Merchant Help Center for information on setting up, troubleshooting and best practices. 

While Google Merchant troubleshooting falls a little outside of our scope of support, we'd encourage you to tag another Seller directly in your reply who may be able to better assist you.

[Richmenlooks]

I've reached out to Google and they stated to get in contact with our website developer as the error is coming from the Content API feed into Google Merchant. When the item images arrive on the Google Merchant side the URL is showing an amazonaws.com link versus our own website.

For example: 

Image link shows this URL which is giving me a "Mismatched domains [link]" error since it does not match the verified website on Google Merchant:

https://items-images-production.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/files/41e425c729ba132be8621c0614a45916346...

Image link that is approved and active shows this URL which is pulling directly from our website:

https://www.richmenlooks.com/uploads/1/2/5/2/125219602/s[Redacted]29240634_p812_i5_w3023.jpeg

Additionally, these errors all occurred on January 27th. All of our products were approved and running perfectly fine on Google Ads up until January 27th. Since then it has been a downhill battle. I have no idea what happened on that date. Please let me know what I can do to fix this.

[Laurie_]

Hey there @Richmenlooks,

In looking at the links you've sent through, I wasn't able to see the "Mismatched domains [link]" error for the first image link. However, in looking at your second image link, I receive a 404 error on my end.

I really would love to point you in the right direction here but as I've previously stated, this sits a little outside of our scope of support on the Seller Community. 

If you have reached out to the Google Merchant Team and they have advised that the issue needs to be addressed on Square's end, then we recommend that you get in touch directly with our Support Team. If you haven't already, it's worthwhile obtaining a customer reference number, or transcript from your conversation with the Google Merchant Team before reaching out.

If you'd like to speak with our Support Team by phone, you can give us a call at 1-855-700-6000 between 6 am - 6 pm Pacific Time Monday - Friday. If you call outside of these hours, you will be required to enter your Customer Code to validate your account.

You can also get in touch with our Messaging and Email Support Teams here: squ.re/contactsqsupport

I wish you the best with this!