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Getting started with SEO

Written by Steven Veenstra

What is SEO?

You've probably heard it before: "SEO". But what does it actually mean? The literal meaning of SEO is "Search Engine Optimization". This is a collective term for all the activities you carry out to ensure that your website is displayed as high as possible in the organic (free) search results of search engines.

What is SEO needed for?

For 95% of people, a search for a product, company or other keyword starts in a search engine. To generate conversions and leads, your position within the search engine is extremely important. When someone enters a search query that matches your product, you naturally want them to choose your product and not that of the competitor.

How does SEO work?

There are countless ways to get started with SEO. Basically, this is split into three main categories:


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1. Technology

Your website/webshop must be technically sound. Think of:

  • How is the site structured?

  • Are your URLs user-friendly?

  • Does the site have a fast loading time? (For this, use for example Google PageSpeed Insights)

  • Is the site mobile-friendly? (Test this via Google's Mobile-Friendly Test)

  • Do you use an SSL certificate?

  • Does your website have a sitemap?

  • Is a strong robots.txt used?

2. Content

The visitor to your site is always looking for something, such as an article, product, contact details or information. Google takes into account various factors of visitor behaviour, such as:

  • How long do visitors stay on your site, and do they view multiple pages?

  • Do visitors leave immediately (bounce rate)?

  • Is your content shared on social media?

  • Does the page contain a good page title and meta description?

Content is therefore crucial. It starts with:

  • Analysing your target audience.

  • Aligning content with the most-used keywords within Google.

  • Incorporating keywords into an appealing text.

3. Authority

For Google, authority is an indication of how trustworthy your website is. Factors such as domain age and brand awareness play a role in this. An important method for building authority is link building, whereby you acquire backlinks (hyperlinks from other websites to your site). Relevant, high-quality links strengthen your position, while irrelevant or low-quality links can actually do harm.

Getting started

Before you optimise your website, it's important to determine at what level you want to work. Are you already familiar with the basics of SEO and want to go that extra step? Then consider working with a real SEO specialist. They know Google's algorithm inside out and follow the latest updates closely.


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Would you rather get started yourself? No problem! PromoCat offers plenty of options to improve your SEO score. Start with a keyword analysis by, for example:

  • Researching the monthly search volume in a specific region.

  • Assessing the competition for keywords.

  • Finding interesting alternative keywords.

  • Identifying long-tail keywords.

Tip!

Use tools such as Google Trends to support your keyword analysis. For example: "print water bottles", "logo on water bottles", and so on.


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After your analysis, you can write strong web texts around the chosen keywords. These texts ensure that your information is actually found and appreciated.


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General SEO settings
PromoCat offers various options to make your web texts clearly visible. Here are some basic settings:

  • SEO-titel locatie (SEO title location)
    ​Choose whether the general webshop title appears before or after a page's subtitle.

  • Titel van de webshop (Webshop title)
    ​The general title that is displayed after every text page, category or product.

  • Subtitel van de homepage (Homepage subtitle)
    ​A subtitle that appears before or after the webshop title, separated by a separator character.

  • Scheidingsteken (Separator character)
    ​The symbol that separates titles and subtitles.

  • Omschrijving van de webshop (Webshop description)
    ​The general meta description of the homepage.

  • Categorieënnamen opnemen in de title tag (Include category names in the title tag)
    ​Indicate whether the category name should be included in an item's page title.

  • Extra regels voor robots.txt (Extra rules for robots.txt)
    ​Add specific rules to your robots.txt.

  • Permalink-stijl (Permalink style)
    ​ Adjust the URL structure. (Adjusting the permalink style)


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You can adjust these elements/options by following the steps below.


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  1. Go to "Instellingen" (Settings).
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  2. Open the "SEO" tab.

  3. Adjust the desired SEO settings and click "Opslaan en verder" (Save and continue) at the bottom of the page.
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SEO for text pages
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In addition to the general SEO settings, there are also SEO options at a more specific level, for example for your text pages. You can adjust the following elements:

  • SEO-paginatitel (SEO page title)
    ​The <title> of the text page.

  • SEO-beschrijving (SEO description)
    ​The meta description of the text page.

Info

The SEO title does not apply.


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You can adjust these elements/options by following the steps below.

  1. Go to "Paginabeheer" (Page management).
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  2. In the menu on the left, go to "Tekstpagina's" (Text pages).
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  3. Edit the text pages you want to set the SEO for, or create a new page. More information: Creating/editing (text) pages

  4. Adjust the desired (SEO) settings and click "Opslaan en verder" (Save and continue) at the bottom of the page.
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SEO for product categories
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In addition to the general SEO settings, there are also SEO options at a more specific level, for example for your categories. You can adjust the following elements:

  • SEO-Paginatitel (SEO page title)
    ​The <title> of the category.

  • SEO-Categorietitel (SEO category title)
    ​The replacement category title <h1> on the front end of the webshop.

  • SEO-Beschrijving (SEO description)
    ​The meta description of the category.


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You can adjust these elements/options by following the steps below.

  1. Go to "Webwinkel" (Webshop).
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  2. 2. In the menu on the left, go to "Categorieën" (Categories).


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  3. Edit the category you want to set the SEO for, or create a new category.

  4. More information: Creating or editing categories

  5. Adjust the desired (SEO) settings and click "Opslaan en verder" (Save and continue) at the bottom of the page

SEO for products
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In addition to the general SEO settings, there are also SEO options at a more specific level, for example for your products. You can adjust the following elements:

  • SEO-Paginatitel (SEO page title)
    ​The <title> of the product page

  • SEO-Producttitel (SEO product title)
    ​The replacement category title <h1> on the front end of the webshop

  • SEO-Beschrijving (SEO description)
    ​The meta description of the product page


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You can adjust these elements/options by following the steps below.

  1. Go to "Webwinkel" (Webshop).
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  2. In the menu on the left, go to "Producten" (Products)

  3. Edit the product you want to set the SEO for, or create a new product. More information: Creating or editing products manually

  4. Adjust the desired (SEO) settings and click "Opslaan en verder" (Save and continue) at the bottom of the page.

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