The SEO tab shows how a product will look in Google and other search engines: its search title, search description and keywords, in each of your store's languages. NoqtaShop writes them for you from the product's details, so you improve them by improving the details.
Product SEO is on Starter and up. See On the Free plan for what happens below Starter.
Where the search title and description come from
You do not type the search title or description. Every time you save, NoqtaShop builds them, for each language, from the product's Details tab:
| Part | Built from | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Search title | The brand, then the name, then a bar and your store name: Layal Terracotta linen shirt dress | Layal Boutique. The brand is left out when the name already contains it. The store name is left out when it would make the title longer than 60 characters. | 60 characters. Longer titles are cut at a word and end with ... |
| Search description | The short description. When there is none, the description. When there is neither, the product name. | 160 characters. Longer text is cut at a word and ends with ... |
| Generated keywords | Up to eight words from the name, brand and descriptions, each longer than two letters, without repeats. | 8 words. |
Each language uses its own name and descriptions. For the description, each language uses its own short description, then its own description. Only when it has neither does it borrow your primary language's text, so an Arabic result can show an English description. The title works the same way: a language with no name of its own borrows the primary-language name.
Generated keywords are shown for reference only. They are not added to your storefront pages and do not affect search results.
The tab says so at the top: The search title and description are filled in automatically from the product name and descriptions. Edit the product details to change them.
The search preview in each language
- In the sidebar, open Products, then open the product.
- Select the SEO tab.
- Read Search preview: one card for each of your store's languages, in that language's direction.
Each card shows:
- The language's name.
- The search title, as the blue headline of a search result.
- The address, as yourstore.com › terracotta-linen-shirt-dress. The preview always shows yourstore.com and your primary-language link, whatever your real address.
- The search description.
- Generated keywords.
The preview updates as you type on the other tabs, so you can see the effect of a change before you save. A product with no name yet shows grey stand-ins, Your product title and The product description will appear here in search results., which are never saved.
The store name at the end of the title is written in the language your console is in when you save. If your store sells in Arabic and English, save from the console in your store's main language so the titles end the way most customers will read them.
The warnings
When something is missing, a yellow panel above the preview lists it. The warnings check your primary language only.
| Warning | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Add a search title or a product name for search results. | The product has no name, so there is no title. | Type a name on the Details tab. |
| Add a search description for search results. | There is no short description, description or name. | Write a short description. |
| Add a product link before publishing. | The product link is empty, which happens only when the name is empty. | Type a name: the link is made from it. |
The tab also has two length warnings, The search title is longer than the recommended 60 characters. and The search description is longer than the recommended 160 characters. They do not appear, because the console always shortens the title to 60 characters and the description to 160.
The warnings never stop you saving or publishing. They tell you what search engines will be missing.
Change them by editing the product’s details
To change what search engines show, change the details they are built from, then save:
- On the Details tab, give the product a clear name that says what it is, such as Terracotta linen shirt dress rather than Summer dress. Keep it under about 40 characters, so your store name still fits in the title.
- Fill in Brand if the product has one.
- Write a Short description of one or two sentences, under 160 characters, that a customer would want to read in a search result. It becomes the search description.
- Do the same in each of your other languages on the translation cards. See Translate a product to your other languages.
- Select Save at the top of the page, and check the SEO tab.
Tip
The short description works hardest. It is the search description, and it shows on the product page too. Write it for people, with the words they would search for: the fabric, the cut, the colour.
Search engines find a product only once it is published and Active. They decide for themselves when to visit and how to rank your pages, so changes can take days or weeks to appear in results. See Why is my product not on my storefront? if a product does not show at all.
The product link
The product link is the last part of the product page's address on your storefront. Your product page is at your store address followed by /product/ and the link, such as …/product/terracotta-linen-shirt-dress. On the Details tab, Product link sits under Name and Brand.
- It is made from the name, in lower case, with hyphens between words. You cannot type in it.
- Each language gets its own link from its own name, so the Arabic page can be فستان-قميص-كتان-تيراكوتا.
- No two products share a link. When a name gives a link another product already uses, NoqtaShop adds a number to the end, such as -2. A deleted product's link is free again, so a product you add under its name takes the same link.
- Below the field you see Checking the link…, then Available: with a path, once the link is free. The
/products/path in that hint is not the page address: customers reach the product at/product/and the link.
Warning
Changing a product's name changes its link when you save, and the old address stops working. Customers following an old search result or a shared link then reach a page that is not found. Settle a product's name before you publish it, and avoid renaming popular products.
On the Free plan
On Free, the SEO tab carries a padlock and does not open. Pressing it says which plan includes product SEO and its price, with a See plans button. The History tab beside it is locked in the same way. See Why does a feature show a padlock?.
Your products still appear in search engines on Free. Without a saved search title, the storefront uses the product's name and your store name as the title, and the short description (or the description) as the search description.
If you move down to Free from a paid plan, the search titles and descriptions already saved stay, and the storefront keeps using them. They are no longer updated when you edit the product. To move up, see Upgrade or change your plan.
What to do next
- Add a product, to write the name and descriptions the search preview is built from.
- Edit a product and save your changes, to improve products you already sell.