What are your top 3 pointers to increase your square sites SEO apart from the basics

[cupzcoffeeaz]

HI all, 

I just wanted to check with other sellers on their top 3 ways to increase their SEO score with Square sites, in addition to the basics of Keyword optimization and Quality content.

My question is because there are plenty of tools for creating websites. Keywords and quality content can be achieved on any platform. 

Curious how successful sellers are optimizing their SEO with square sites and what has worked best?

[MayaP]

Hey there @cupzcoffeeaz, this is a great question, and I am curious to see the answers! 

I tagged some of our other super sellers below @ryanwanner @vinesandrushes @MichiganFarmsta @PartyManiaMD @Minion @MudFire_Dex @Greenmonkey65.

Thanks, everyone! 

[Greenmonkey65]

If pictures are loading slowly try using jpeg not png files.  When I used PNG pics load slowly and sometimes not at all. JPEGs load much quicker. 

[Helen]

Thanks for sharing this tip @Greenmonkey65! I was curious so did a quick Google search and looks like jpegs are smaller files than png - makes sense that jpegs would load faster. 

[MudFire_Dex]

@cupzcoffeeaz we do the minimum - making sure to add SEO specifics to pictures and items of course and running keywork analytics with Google and looking at them to see how people are finding us and what they are searching. There are tons of classes and online workshops that are helpful too - Neil Patel (SEO expert) was extremely helpful and had a lot of interesting tips for keyword tools and utilizing Pinterest to help - sometimes he offers free worksheet downloads that have been super helpful. Daphne says too helpful as folks regularly book our date nights that live all across the US because the pottery date night tags lead back to MudFire.

[cupzcoffeeaz]

Thanks @MudFire_Dex . Those soudns like amazing ideas!!

I'm curious. I was doing a couple of checks on my site, and it seems like Google speed scoring on square sites is brutal. My square site and others I have found seem penalized for loading speed. Have you made any improvements on your site to improve loading speed?

[MudFire_Dex]

I think it is mostly due to the image requirements and size - I have heard others say that they have used different templates, played around with sizes, etc to make that speed a little better. I noticed that as well but it hasn't affected us our Square site far outperforms our former sites in Squarespace and PinnacleCart as far as ease of use, bookings, and views.

[TCSlaguna]

We have a Products Guide page where we highlight each product and their uses for self growth. 

It serves two purposes: letting customers know the benefits of using the products and SEO

[DinaLRosenberg]

I heard for SEO getting reciprocal links was super important.. so we make sure to get listed as stockists on the pages of brands we carry

Also make sure to have google biz page, yelp page, etc.

[AdamB]

Quality back links are definitely really important. Search engines these days are pretty smart at telling what are organic, genuine back links, too, so it's all about getting people talking and sharing links to your site in places that can be crawled by search engines.

[Greenmonkey65]

I’ve heard one of the best SEO is your local Google My Business. Having your biz page info updated and regular post helps drive traffic to your site and brick and mortar. Also, consistently changing content of your site keeps the Google Bots busy scanning your site for updated information. 

[Hailey]

This is a great point! It is very important. You should also add local business schema 

[vinesandrushes]

Content over design.  No matter how great the site "looks" visually, content is king.  Provide useful information that customers can use in their decision making process to "choose" you.  The more useful text you have, the better for the customer and the better for SEO.

[tranguyen]

Going to tag in our resident marketing whiz @Hailey to see if she has any tips herself too! 

[Hailey]

Thanks for tagging me in @tranguyen ! Here are my SEO tips @cupzcoffeeaz :

FIRST: update your home page H1 to include the words "Coffee" and "Tempe, AZ". Right now your H1 (header 1) is optimized for "our family crop to your cup" which is less descriptive to google for what the page is about. Here is an article that explains headers more.

Ok now more tips:

• Optimize your web copy with keywords that you would like to rank for, including location
• Make sure your web load time is good (said below, large pictures/videos/code can cause this to slow down and negatively impact SEO)
• Quality backlinks
• Add local business Schema to your Google my Business page (if location matters which for most businesses it does. For fully remote ecommerce it might be less important) 
• Set up digital ads based around keywords, that drive to landing pages that are optimized for those keywords
  • EXAMPLE: If you want to rank high for a search like "Breakfast in Tempe", you could create ads that speak to that, and then drive them to a landing page that talks specifically about your breakfast offerings (include location and hours of operation, etc) 

[phillipsrw]

Hi @Hailey is it possible to add a local business schema to a Sqaure Online website?

[Hailey]

Yes it is! Here is a Community thread where sellers discussed how @phillipsrw 

[phillipsrw]

Good quality blogs/stories, nice seed keywords and backlinks. Plus all the other bits 'n bobs mentioned by other community members in this post. They all help

[AdamB]

If you have the time, blogs/stories is a great addition. Search engines like to see content being added, so if you do then think about what cadence you can manage and what kind of content you can add.