So I'm a handmade maker, and as far as SEO, I've been at it pretty hard lately (well, most of my free time in last 3ish months) ever since I learned it can take up to 6 months to see your SEO changes make a difference in Google's rankings. I figured the sooner it gets done(or at least improved) the better! I'm starting to get to the point where I'm unsure where to go next. I still have a few things to tidy up, but I'm not entirely sure what the next move is. So far I've done the following on my WordPress e-commerce site(I specify only because I've gotten too much etsy-specific advice that isnt applicable):
1. Started a blog to help rank for keyword phrases
2. Made sure every page/post/product/category has H1 tagged titles and, if applicable, H2 tag for the content.
3. Renamed all images to something relevant, updated their description and alt-text fields.
4. Updated all product titles to be more descriptive. For example, instead if I sold candles, a candle named "High Tide" would now be named "High Tide | Soy Scented Candle". Additionally I updated the product URLs to match.
5. Used RankMath to guide meta description length, NoIndex settings for non-value pages, auto-submit updated Sitemaps to google and clean up/shorten URLs and things.
6. I've used HARO to attempt to gain organic backlinks from, at least, semi-moderate DR value sites.
7. I used Google Search Console, Ahrefs (free) and SEMRush (free) to search and identify an problem areas and working to resolve the errors and warnings based on their recommendations.
8. I've tried to research long tail keywords, but have had a hard time finding freely accessible/low cost tools. Though I only just recently discovered how to access the Google Keyword Planner. They now lock you out from it now if you go too far into the initial setup without starting an ad campaign. Any other keyword research tools Ive found were $100 a month, and that is a bit much for my budget.
9. Implemented OpenGraph. I know not exactly SEO. But is pretty when the link is posted on socials.
So I'm still tidying up to clean up the remaining warnings, but is there anything more I can do more on-page other than keep publishing blog posts and trying to find ways to research and then implement better keywords? After I finish my next round of cleanup I'm basically down to waiting for google to notice and rerank, which can take an unspecified amount of time. How does one know when to stop with on-site stuff and refocus elsewhere?
1. Started a blog to help rank for keyword phrases
2. Made sure every page/post/product/category has H1 tagged titles and, if applicable, H2 tag for the content.
3. Renamed all images to something relevant, updated their description and alt-text fields.
4. Updated all product titles to be more descriptive. For example, instead if I sold candles, a candle named "High Tide" would now be named "High Tide | Soy Scented Candle". Additionally I updated the product URLs to match.
5. Used RankMath to guide meta description length, NoIndex settings for non-value pages, auto-submit updated Sitemaps to google and clean up/shorten URLs and things.
6. I've used HARO to attempt to gain organic backlinks from, at least, semi-moderate DR value sites.
7. I used Google Search Console, Ahrefs (free) and SEMRush (free) to search and identify an problem areas and working to resolve the errors and warnings based on their recommendations.
8. I've tried to research long tail keywords, but have had a hard time finding freely accessible/low cost tools. Though I only just recently discovered how to access the Google Keyword Planner. They now lock you out from it now if you go too far into the initial setup without starting an ad campaign. Any other keyword research tools Ive found were $100 a month, and that is a bit much for my budget.
9. Implemented OpenGraph. I know not exactly SEO. But is pretty when the link is posted on socials.
So I'm still tidying up to clean up the remaining warnings, but is there anything more I can do more on-page other than keep publishing blog posts and trying to find ways to research and then implement better keywords? After I finish my next round of cleanup I'm basically down to waiting for google to notice and rerank, which can take an unspecified amount of time. How does one know when to stop with on-site stuff and refocus elsewhere?
