Transcript:

AngelaCP: Hi everyone

The Shadow: Hello All

BrittaCP: Good afternoon/ evening

NiftyGaloot: Howdy folks! :)

AngelaCP: Thank you for joining us for chat today.  Todays chat topic is Holiday SEO search engine optimization.

AngelaCP: Based on previous chats, instead of focusing on one Holiday Prep chat weve decided to make our Holiday Prep chat a series focused on each area so we can cover more information during the chat...

AngelaCP: Before we begin, this is a reminder that this chat is moderated.  For those new to chat, your questions or comments will be put in a queue and will only be posted once we push it live.  We do get a lot of posts coming in and well do our best to get to as many questions and comments possible.

AngelaCP: So lets get started.  I recognize a lot seasoned Shopkeepers (sks) today I bet most, if not all, of you that have experienced a few holidays with CafePress is already on top of Holiday SEO for your shop?

AngelaCP: GET AN EARLY START ON HOLIDAY SEO

AngelaCP: As most seasoned SKs know, getting an early start on optimizing your shop for search engines is BENEFICIAL.

AngelaCP: During the Holiday season, everybody's shopping for everything and search engines are one of the top ways to find gifts during the Holidays.

AngelaCP: Do you all agree? ;)

birdface@comcast.net: si

magadog1: yes. . .

AngelaCP: Starting early means your pages get indexed for the related holiday terms terms customers are using to search on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc

AngelaCP: Can anyone share more about this?  Experiences of how early SEO have paid off.

The Shadow: Google is your friend... sometimes :)

AngelaCP: It's good to have Google as your friend ;)

AngelaCP: Very rewarding isn't it?

NiftyGaloot: Yep, Xmas 2009's comin' up soon!  Time to get the SEO goin'

KC Graphics: lol:-D

AngelaCP: No sharing of past experiences w/early SEO?

magadog1: Do you have to sign up for additional search engine services?

AngelaCP: No.  It's a matter of optimizing your for search engines - to get indexed

 Shadow: I have only been late with SEO but Google seems to pick me up fast

AngelaCP: I'll touch upon how in a moment... Britta made fancy screen shots to help illustrate it

magadog1: Search Engine Optimization=SEO?

BrittaCP: Yes, exactly

kippy: Google is absolutely indexing new sites like mad right now, FYI, so it's not too late to get a quality site out there and seen!

AngelaCP: Correct Kippy... For Holidays, if you already started great!  If you haventnow is the time.  Its early October.  Ideally youll want to be ready now so your pages are indexed for early Holiday shoppers.

The Shadow: remember you main page is probably indexed the most often so that is where I try to make the largest effect

AngelaCP: Thanks Shadow.  I agree.  You can add more to this in a moment when I share where to SEO ;)

AngelaCP: Although its better early its always better late than never!

The Shadow: ok :)

magadog1: Oh, so you change the copy a bit on yours shop home page?

AngelaCP: Yes.  You have more flexibility if you have a Premium Shop though...

magadog1: Or do you add a bunch of words like "holiday" "Christmas," etc to your images?

AngelaCP: That's tagging.  Last week we went over this.  It's better to describe the image vs. putting things like Christmas, holiday, etc.

The Shadow: copy, titles, descriptions, links, images.. Everything will help magadog

electricgreen: Links to what? (re Shadow's post)

The Shadow: In summation.... anywhere you can type

foxvox: Remember that Google can't see what's in your images so you have to use

NiftyGaloot: I try to write descriptions for good SEO year round and holidays both.

AngelaCP: Wow, you guys are definitely on top of this

AngelaCP: Well, you'll see that I'll be covering some of this so let me move on

AngelaCP: HOW TO SEO YOUR SHOP?

AngelaCP: Now that you know SEOing your shop early is important and gets you in the game of search, the next question is how do I optimize my shop for the holidays?

AngelaCP: Well start with the Where.

AngelaCP: Ill start out by listing all the areas of a Premium Shop where you can add content to optimize your shop for search engines.

AngelaCP:   Shop Introduction (custom copy area on your storefront)

AngelaCP:   Section Descriptions (shows up at the top of the page at a section level)

AngelaCP:   Section Names (title for section page and shows up in the bread crumbs)

AngelaCP:   Section Teasers (short copy under Section Names)

AngelaCP:   Shop Name (shows up in the bread crumbs)

AngelaCP:   Shop Title (shows up in the title bar)

AngelaCP:   Image Alt Tags (displays when you mouse over an image)

AngelaCP: Metatags (in your source code)

AngelaCP: Ill share some screen shots pointing out where the areas are to optimize.  In the next example, youll see the Section Name, Section Description, and Section Teaser.

AngelaCP sent a picture:[sectionscopy.jpg]

AngelaCP: This SK did a great job in optimizing her page with keywords to thats relevant to her shop and product offerings.

AngelaCP: Can you see all the keywords that were used? The way it's content focused, very good for SEO.

Rhea: Google likes sentences. Don't forget to use punctuation.

AngelaCP: On the next example, you will see the Product Name and Product Description filled out.

AngelaCP sent a picture:

[product copy.jpg]

AngelaCP: Something that wasnt pointed out but I will is the bread crumbs up on the top of the page.  Notice the first link Kippygo Designs, thats the Shop Title.  The following links are Section Names.  Using good Section Names helps SEO because it shows up on other pages as bread crumbs.

AngelaCP: Thanks Kippy. And thanks Michigal for the first example ;)

kippy: Two fabulous shops, eh? ;)

BrittaCP: thumbs up!

AngelaCP: Last screen shot is the Image Alt Tags, commonly referred to as alt tags.  When you mouse over an image and that image has alt tags coded, a small display with the description shows up.  See the example below.  The image over the flying ace grabber image shows the alt tag below.

AngelaCP sent a picture:

[ImageAltTags copy.jpg]

birdface@comcast.net: how do you do alt tags?

AngelaCP: Does anyone here know the code for alt tags off hand?

foxvox: <a href="link" alt="this is the alt text">CLICK HERE</a>

The Shadow: where you define the image add alt=whatever"

scarebaby: I never knew this was there

Winter: I didn't know we could do that with our CP shops

AngelaCP: So Foxvox mentioned this already....

AngelaCP: Another thing I have noticed.  We have creative, talented SKs that use a lot of images on their shop.  Some of these images are in place of text Search Engines cannot read images.  If you must use images in place of text, be sure to add alt tags.

AngelaCP: Take a look at the SnoopStore example, the left nav Meet the Gang and other similar text is actually an image.  If you go to the actual snoopystore, you will the text images have alt tags.

ThE_RiPPeR: <img src="Hello.png" alt="Hello!!!!!"/>

foxvox: You can only do it with images you add to your template, not with cp images like section or product images, etc.

The Shadow: CP automatically adds alt tags to your section image thumbnails and your product thumbnails

AngelaCP: That is correct Shadow :). The alt tags should be used on your storefront on images you placed that's not generated from your shop

kippy: SEO totally gets in the way of being an artist... It's frustrating, but an unfortunate fact if we actually want to sell our gear! :)

AngelaCP: I agree with that Kippy... it's a balancing act.  There are SKs that do a great job in doing both.

AngelaCP: Last example is the Shop Title copy and where you can input this in the Member Account.

Alan (deadhippo): You can also add a title tag which will have the same effect in Firefox

foxvox: ;-)

AngelaCP sent a picture: [ShopTitle copy.jpg]

The Shadow: and remember not to keyword spam... Google hates that

Butterfly: Shadow: keyword spam? Please explain, thank you!:)

The Shadow: Butterfly - don't just do Christmas Christmas T-Shirts chrismas ... it needs to be natural sentences in descriptions

 Butterfly: Shadow ~ THANK YOU!

Alan (deadhippo): Why don't our thumbs appear in Google search

AngelaCP: I'm not sure... you mean the Google image search?

Alan (deadhippo): yes

camobabygifts: is there a limit on meta tags descriptions?

AngelaCP: I believe its 250 characters

 magadog1: Will Google pick up on the sections and products if you use the  KEY words?

magadog1: Okay, I am the dummy here. Don't you need to know HTML to use the alt tags?

Alan (deadhippo): and maybe other browsers

Robb: I have a slightly off topic question - how to reset/delete 'old' product sets when submitting multiple products...not important right now...

scarebaby has left the room (logged out)

AngelaCP: Magadog1, For the section thumbnails and product thumbnails, the alt tags are the same as the Section Name and Product Name

BrittaCP has entered the room "CafePress Chat Room"

AngelaCP: so you don't have to do special coding as you would for the storefront of your shop

foxvox: You should feel at least somewhat comfortable with HTML before messing with your Custom HTML to add alt tags, yes.  But CP automatically does alt tags on section and product images, so no worries there.

AngelaCP: So let's move on to ...

AngelaCP: USE THE RIGHT KEYWORDS

magadog1: ok, thanks

AngelaCP: Now that we know when to SEO, where to SEO, how about what to SEO?

AngelaCP: During the Holidays the keyword gift will get a lot of hits.  Combine the keyword gift with words related to the theme of your shop/merchandise.

AngelaCP: What you really want to do is focus your keywords on the theme of your shop/merchandise.

AngelaCP: If your shop is already optimize for search engines, add the top Holiday gift search terms.  For example, if your target audience is dog lovers, then let them know you have "dog lover gifts" or "dog lover gift ideas."

AngelaCP: Here a list of Top Holiday Search Terms

AngelaCP: Gift idea, gift, gifts, merchandise, unique gift, online gift, baby gift, gift shop, holiday presents, Christmas presents, holiday gifts, Christmas gifts, personalized gift, gift for her, gift for him, Christmas decorations, holiday decorations, your product/theme gift

AngelaCP: Find a way to work it into your shop descriptions, product descriptions, sections, etc

Robb: Cool - makes sense.

kippy: are these top holiday search terms for the marketplace?

 AngelaCP: These are for your shop.  The marketplace is based on description of designs so no need to enter these terms in your tag

AngelaCP: we may use them for our seo, but in terms of tags focus on describing your design

foxvox: "Merchandise"?  really?  I would never have thought to search for that - heh.

AngelaCP: I was told this was the topic list from SEO gurus

Butterfly: All hail the SEO gurus!!!!!!!!

AngelaCP: Keep in mind these keywords are competitive so do not expect to search for the word gift on Google and expect to see it on page one.  If you dont, its not that youre doing something wrong it just means theres more people trying to get their stuff ahead of you.

AngelaCP: Thats why you should combine the keyword gift with something related to your shop.

AngelaCP: As a customer, they are more likely to narrow their search based on the results.  If they are getting pages of gift sites that may not be specific to what they are looking for, they will try again by adding the topic for example pop culture gifts.

NiftyGaloot: e.g. Makes a great Christmas gift for Grandma or any woman.

AngelaCP: That's good nifty...including a holiday keyword with the recipient is good

AngelaCP: So we can open this up

NiftyGaloot: Even better - Great Birthday, Mother's day, or Christmas gift for your girlfriend, wife, grandma, or mom.

AngelaCP: I did a speedy run down of all the top things to do

AngelaCP: I think shadow shared what are the important areas to focus on... I agree the storefront is priority 1. Product descriptions take a lot of time so focus on Section Names, descriptions and teasers. You get more bang for your resource buck

AngelaCP: ;)

magadog1: Shop descriptors and then sections and then items.

AngelaCP: Yes

AngelaCP: Number one is storefront. Remember in one of my examples, I showed that the Section Names also carries across to other pages as you drill down... that's good for SEO on other pages

sobamelaquena: Angela, what is the web site to query for the variations of a search term and the count of hits for each search term? I know that there is some site out there but I dont remember the UR L

BrittaCP: this one was recommended in a previous chat: http://www.morekeywords.com

ThE_RiPPeR: morekeywords.com This service has been taken down. Don't fret. It'll be coming back with 10 times better data under a new suite of kicking tools.

BrittaCP: good to know! 

Alan (deadhippo): Here is another - http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/

NiftyGaloot: For keywords I use: http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/

kippy: You could use yahoo's overture tool.  Wordtracker also has a free, but very limited, tool at http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/.  If you're really serious, a paid subscription to Wordtracker is WELL worth it.

NiftyGaloot: Google's keyword tool: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Robb: I've been storing phrases and search friendly text in an Excel sheet, and then just cutting and pasting from there - speeds thing up a little...

AngelaCP: great tip. It's a spreadsheet you can reuse next year when it's time to remove the holiday keywords

AngelaCP: I believe some SKs keep their holiday sections but bury them deep to continue to get their pages indexed

AngelaCP: I don't have experience on this but perhaps someone can share?

The Shadow: your homepage typically has the highest page rank and the most links, which factors into most SERP's... the idea, is to capture them once you have your claws on them.... I mean their attention to draw them into the rest of your store :)

kippy: and it's also a HUGE turn off for affiliates to list keywords!

AngelaCP: Agreed shadow.  Do not just list a bunch of top keywords.  That will make your site look bad... a bit unprofessional imho

AngelaCP: My tip: List all the keywords that are great for your specific shop, incorporate the holiday keywords and then make them into sentences. You can play around with a great compelling sentence that's also good for search engines

The Shadow: one thing to do is just enter a search you want to target in Google... if there are 25million results, you probably are going to have a tough time competing... if there are say 100,00 you have a much better chance to compete

electricgreen: Doesn't it take a while to be indexed in search engines?  If so, wouldn't it be counter productive to change your keywords for holidays, since it could take months for them to be picked up?

AngelaCP: It's better earlier but it's not harmful

AngelaCP: So if you already have your keywords in place you want to add gifts, holidays along with your keywords, that won't harm you. but can get you to come up for the holiday searches

The Shadow: electricgreen it depends how often Google indexes you... you can check the Google cache of your site daily for a while and you can determine how long it will take

The Shadow: Google re-indexes my offsite 8 times a month now

Alan (deadhippo): New pages can take a while to be re-indexed but edited pages can be re-indexed very, very fast sometimes

AngelaCP: I nominate The Shadow as SEO guru!

AngelaCP: Thanks for all the tips and sharing :)

The Shadow: lol thanks Angela and you're welcome

AngelaCP: So everyone its closing time for Britta and I.

rasael: Thank you Angela and Britta

AngelaCP: We hope this is helpful!

birdface@comcast.net: thanx guys. Good stuff!!!

AngelaCP: We made Holiday SEO number 1 in the series because it's VERY IMPORTANT

Robb: Well, thanks for your info and help, A+B...take care!

NiftyGaloot: Thanks Angela and Britta! :)