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SEO Roadmap – Where to Make SEO Edits to Optimize Your BD Website

This Tip of the Week covers topics including:

  • 0:00 – Introduction
  • 01:10 – Why SEO is so Important?
  • 06:53 – Brilliant Directories Sites are SEO-Ready
  • 07:47 – General Areas to Edit SEO Settings
  • 08:03 – Edit SEO Settings: Homepage
  • 11:21 – Edit SEO Settings: Static Pages
  • 14:41 – Dynamic Pages and SEO Templates
  • 15:33 – Demo: SEO Templates
  • 23:49 – Demo: Convert Pages into Static Pages
  • 28:36 – Member Profiles SEO
  • 32:09 – Custom SEO for Member Profiles
  • 34:37 – Custom SEO for Posts

This is a segment from Webinar Wednesday 176, recorded live on April 10, 2024.

Brilliant Directories Webinar Wednesday

AI-Generated Transcript – Please excuse any inaccuracies

Introduction 00:00:00

  • SEO is important for most businesses.
  • There are many variables that affect SEO for each website.
  • BigCommerce platform offers flexibility to add content and edit SEO settings to optimize a website.
  • Page titles are important for SEO and user experience.
  • They should be concise, descriptive, and include relevant keywords.
  • Page titles can be edited in the Page Editor under "Page Settings".
  • Meta descriptions provide a brief summary of a page's content.
  • They should be informative and engaging, and include relevant keywords.
  • Meta descriptions can be edited in the Page Editor under "Page Settings".
  • Image alt text provides a description of an image for users who are unable to see it.
  • It is important for accessibility and SEO.
  • Image alt text can be added or edited in the Image Editor.
  • Product descriptions provide detailed information about a product.
  • They should be informative, engaging, and include relevant keywords.
  • Product descriptions can be edited in the Product Editor.
  • Category and brand descriptions provide information about product categories and brands.
  • They should be informative, engaging, and include relevant keywords.
  • Category and brand descriptions can be edited in the Category Editor and Brand Editor.
  • Blog posts can be a great way to improve SEO and attract organic traffic.
  • They should be informative, engaging, and include relevant keywords.
  • Blog posts can be created and edited in the Blog Manager.
  • The robots.txt file controls how search engine bots crawl and index a website.
  • It can be used to block bots from accessing certain areas of a website.
  • The robots.txt file can be edited in the Advanced Settings.
  • An XML sitemap is a file that lists all the pages on a website.
  • It helps search engines understand the structure of a website and find all the pages.
  • The XML sitemap can be generated and downloaded in the Advanced Settings.

Why SEO is so Important? 00:01:10

  • Search engine optimization (SEO) is essential for website visibility, organic traffic, and user trust.
  • SEO can reduce ongoing advertising and marketing costs by attracting website visitors and new members through high search rankings.
  • SEO should be integrated into a comprehensive marketing strategy that includes ads, social marketing, referral programs, and affiliate programs.
  • Unique and relevant content is more important than excessive keyword stuffing.
  • Key SEO elements include meta titles, meta descriptions, meta keywords, main headings (H1), relevant headings and subheadings, and internal and external links.
  • Google may modify website titles and descriptions in search results, so BD sites should include a featured image and an OG image in the metatag to enhance user experience.

Brilliant Directories Sites are SEO-Ready 00:06:53

  • BD sites are pre-equipped with essential elements for Google ranking.
  • SEO value grows as members and pages are added to the site.
  • Dynamic creation of profile pages and search results pages as the site grows.

General Areas to Edit SEO Settings 00:07:47

  • Familiar SEO editing options for those familiar with the Brilliant Directories platform.
  • Some lesser-known gems and tips for SEO editing.

Edit SEO Settings: Homepage 00:08:03

  • The homepage SEO can be edited by going to the webpage builder and clicking on the SEO settings tab.
  • BD sites are pre-filled with variables that will automatically adjust the SEO elements when changed in the general settings.
  • The page meta title, description, and keywords can be customized.
  • The social media sharing title, description, and image can also be set in the SEO settings.
  • Adding an OG image is recommended to increase visibility in search engine results.
  • Interior pages can be edited in the same way as the homepage by going to the webpage builder and clicking on the SEO settings tab.
  • The page meta title, description, and keywords can be customized.
  • The social media sharing title, description, and image can also be set in the SEO settings.
  • Adding an OG image is recommended to increase visibility in search engine results.
  • Additionally, interior pages have a section for adding structured data, which can help search engines understand the content of the page and display it more prominently in search results.

Edit SEO Settings: Static Pages 00:11:21

  • Edit SEO settings for static pages (e.g., about page) by going to SEO settings.
  • The page title is the H1 heading and should make sense to users.
  • The meta title can be more creative and clickbait-worthy.
  • Google no longer values the comma-separated list of keywords in the meta keywords tag.
  • BD automatically creates the H1 heading for blog posts, pages, and other content.
  • BD takes care of most SEO aspects, but this section shows where to go for further enhancements.

Dynamic Pages and SEO Templates 00:14:41

  • Dynamic pages are automatically created by the system (e.g., Los Angeles page).
  • SEO is taken care of for dynamic pages.
  • Pretty URLs are used for dynamic pages.
  • Edit dynamic pages using SEO templates in Brilliant Directories.

Demo: SEO Templates 00:15:33

  • To optimize your website for SEO, you can edit the SEO templates that control dynamic pages like search results and blog posts.
  • You can customize the SEO templates to change the title, description, keywords, and other elements.
  • For post types, you can control the main heading and subheading in the edit post types page.
  • Customizing the SEO templates allows you to optimize your website for search engines and improve its visibility.
  • The SEO template powers the member search results page and handles combinations of locations, states, and categories.
  • You can edit the SEO template to customize the H1 title, meta title, description, and keywords.
  • To make a variable plural, change 2 percentage signs to 3 percentage signs.
  • You can rearrange elements in the page meta title and inject keywords for the entire website to rank for.

Demo: Convert Pages into Static Pages 00:23:49

  • To optimize your BigCommerce website for SEO, you can convert dynamic pages into static pages.
  • Find the canonical URL by searching for "canonical" in the source code.
  • Create a static page using the canonical URL and customize it in the web page builder.
  • Static pages allow you to edit the meta title and description without relying on dynamic values.
  • If you leave fields empty in the static page SEO template, they will fall back to the main dynamic SEO template values.
  • You can use breadcrumbs to find the shortest path to a specific location and create static pages for those locations.

Member Profiles SEO 00:28:36

  • Customize SEO template 100 for member profile pages.
  • Member profile pages have their own meta titles and descriptions.
  • Edit meta titles and descriptions by adding relevant information like location or industry.
  • Modify the URL structure of profile pages by adding or removing variables like postal code or state name.
  • Changes to the URL structure won't affect existing member profiles unless they resave their information or new members sign up.
  • Similar to member profile URL structure, you can modify the URL structure of posts, events, coupons, etc.
  • This is done through the post URL structure setting.

Custom SEO for Member Profiles 00:32:09

  • Custom URLs can be created for specific members.
  • Custom URLs can be set by the admin or made available only to premium members.
  • Custom URLs can be created by going to the admin area under search members and searching for the member's URL.
  • In the quick edit popup, the listing URL can be customized.
  • The meta title, description, and meta keywords can be customized for each member.

Advanced options 00:32:09

  • Custom head, footer code (like JavaScript, etc.) or custom CSS can be included on a single member-specific profile page.

Custom SEO for Posts 00:34:37

  • SEO templates for dynamic pages like blog articles, events, and property listings can be found and customized in the SEO section of the website builder.
  • Use dynamic variables instead of hard-coding specific values when editing SEO templates to ensure broad keyword relevance.
  • Modify the URL structure for posts in the advanced settings to include elements like the post author's name, location, category, etc.
  • Customize and enhance individual post URLs to improve SEO, but set up 301 redirects for old URLs to avoid SEO issues.
  • Set up 301 redirects in the developer hub to redirect old URLs to new ones.

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If you're looking for an out of the box directory business solution, then Brilliant Directories is for you. Once you've gone through the main settings which should take you a day you'd be ready to showcase your site. There are tons of video tutorials on YouTube and inside the customer dashboard. There are so many ways you can customize your site and it's very SEO friendly. Brilliant Directories is built on Bootstrap which makes it easy to customize however you want. Looks very professional!

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