Better Meta Tags for Better Biz

Ever wondered how you could improve your website’s Google ranking? The good news is that it doesn’t involve a two-week course in the arts of geeky wizardry. All you need to do is lay down a few breadcrumbs for Google and our Marketplace to find that tell people exactly what they can find in your Shop. Meta tags is the word, and we’ll let you know how to deal with them to help boost your visitor numbers.

What Exactly are Meta Tags?

Meta tags are words or short phrases that indicate what a page is about. Meta tags don’t show on the page; they are only embedded in the code of the page; and we’ve got a painless way to feed the code without having to be fluent in HTML. There is a free keyword tool you can use to determine your meta tags for Google and an easy way to assign them to your designs and products in Spreadshirt’s User Area.

But first, let’s talk about how search engines feed on meta tags so you can help people find your Shop and designs by providing pertinent information.

Meta Tags for Shop Marketing

Knowing how to use different types of meta tags will serve to increase your traffic. Meta tags let Google know who you are and what you offer, and this is in turn presented to customers looking to buy stuff like yours. Here are the most important types of meta tags relevant to your Shop marketing:
• Title Tag: The text you assign to the URL of a page (at the very top of your browser). Search engines regard the information you state here as the ‘title’ of your page.
• Meta Description Attribute: A summary describing what your page is about.
• Meta Robots Attribute: Search engine crawlers (so called ‘bots’) need to know what to do with your page.

4 Tweaks to Help You Get Found

#1 – Title Tag

Title tags are vital meta tags, as they have a direct impact on search rankings. What’s more, they are the only visible ones as they occur in the URL that displays at the top of your browser. Using meaningful titles that describe the page’s content helps:

Here’s an example of a suitable title for a selection of funny T-shirt designs:
It employs a fitting description to let visitors know what the page is about, and clarifies and simplifies that information for the benefit of customer searches.

#2 – Meta Description Attribute

These tags are very useful, as they explain to search engines and customers alike what your page has to offer. It’s the text customers see in the results list of a search engine query, so be sure your text hits home.
Let’s say you were to Google the phrase “marketplace for T-shirt designs,” you would get the following result:

Google sometimes decides to choose a text selection from a page itself. It helps customers filter their search results, in particular when the description shows the keywords they used in their search.

#3 – Meta Robots Attribute

It’s also super useful to tell search engines how to classify your pages:
• Index your pages. Tell search engines to show your page in search results. With Google, you can do it here.
• To follow or not follow. Tell the engines whether to they can trust and “follow” the links on your page or not. This will have an impact on your site’s ranking. You should really take the time and read into it when you find the time.

#4 – Add Tags and Keywords in Spreadshirt’s User Area

• The design name should be about 30 characters (+/-5). Try to include a super-descriptive adjective in the name, and use the same name for all products created with the design.
• Do not include the actual product type (e.g. T-shirt), words like “custom, create, make your own” or special characters like “_ ( ) . @ # ^ $ in your design name. These additions won’t help.

Find about 6 design tags to improve a design’s visibility. Use a mix of both specific and broader keywords for best results.

• Write design descriptions to fit the design and tags, ideally containing 250 characters (+/-50). You can repeat the main keywords/tags several times.
• Try to provide a detailed and motivational description. As with the design name, use the same description for products featuring the same design.

Here’s an example of a nicely meta-tagged product:

Design name: Unstoppable T-Rex
Design description: Tyrannosaurus was a bipedal carnivore with a massive skull balanced by a long, heavy tail. Relative to its large are powerful hind limbs, T-Rex’s forelimbs were small.
Tags: Dinosaur, Trex, Toy, Tyrannosaurus, Jurassic Park, Monster, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Carnivore, Grabber,

Following these tips and tricks regarding meta tags should help you beat a wider path to your Shop’s doorstep. Taking the time to adjust your meta data, tags and design names will help you see a marked improvement in your Shop’s visits 9and hopefully your conversions, too!).

Have you been able to improve your ranking, visits and sales with meta tags? We look forward to any feedback, tips or questions you may have.