[make a specific blog post about each of these sections. This is an overview/pillar post that will link to the more in-depth posts about each section]
When customers near you search for jewelry stores, they’re mostly finding Google Business pages. This is why I stress the importance of having a healthy local SEO presence to any storefront businesses.
Here I’ll cover some basic and intermediate SEO topics. Some of this is easy enough for you to complete today. Other things you may need to send to your web developers for them to implement. Either way, this guide will help your business to rank in Google for jewelry relevant searches.
Local SEO Basics
Google has automated bots called web crawlers that crawl websites all day long. These crawlers are looking for multiple things, and knowing what those are can be key to your business showing up in local search results.
Basic Website Design
One thing the Google crawler searches for is quality websites. Google doesn’t want to display a website with a bad user experience. If users on their phone have to use their fingers to zoom in and pan to read content, that’s a bad user experience. Responsive Design is today’s industry standard. It’s a design style where the content on your website will adjust the device of the user. If you have an old website, there’s a chance you’re not in Responsive Design. But don’t worry, it’s a relatively easy and straightforward upgrade.
To check if your website is currently utilizing Responsive Design, use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Page Tester.
Along with website quality is security. A website with a secure connection (HTTPS) shows Google that your website is behind a secure connection, which is safer for your users. Google will typically rank a HTTPS website higher than a HTTP website. If you’re website isn’t already using HTTPS, it should be an easy request to your developers.
Meta Data & Content
But all of this means nothing if Google doesn’t know what your website is about. That’s where meta data and content comes into play. If the main header of your homepage says “Welcome”, then Google see’s that content as being relevant to the word Welcome. Another website that starts will “Lafayette’s Jewelers” will be more relevant to the Jewelry industry and the Lafayette area.
The title tags and meta descriptions for a webpage are the first things Google looks at to determine what your webpage is about. It’s also the information that will be displayed to users in Google search results.
The next most important content that Google is looking for is your H1, which is the primary heading on the page. This also communicates what the page is about. It’s important that your H1, paragraph content, and following headings have keywords relevant to your products or services.
Ideally, you should have a content page for each of your products and services. This will maximize your SEO rankings. Blogs are also a great way to maintain fresh content. Blog concepts can be as broad as holiday sales, customer testimonials, local business awards, or the process cleaning jewelry.
NOTE: If you’re using Stuller’s Showcase iframe, it would benefit your SEO to add a H1, short paragraph, title tags, and meta descriptions to each page with the iframe.
Links
Another major contributor to your local SEO rankings is the amount of quality links you have pointing at your website. When Google’s crawler sees another website linking to your own, it increases the relevance of your website for the related content.
Here are a few basic ways to develop links:
- Links all of your local directories to your website.
- Occasionally link your blog posts and content pages on social media sites.
- Write content on your website that people will naturally want to link to.
- Post blogs with videos or images of jewelry being created from start to finish.
- Share customer stories that people will want to read about.
- Participate in local events and post it to your blog.
- Collaborate with local publication agencies.
Image SEO
Another SEO focus I tend to gravitate towards is image optimization. In the jewelry industry especially, people like to use Google Image search.
When optimizing for image search, insert jewelry-relevant keywords into the image filename, image alt text, and any other descriptive fields that are available in the CMS you’re using.
Here’s a network of image sites I like to optimize for when doing SEO for images.
- Flickr
- Imgur
- Tumblr
- Your Website
Focus on keywords relevant to the jewelry in the photo and your business, and occasionally link back to your website when you have a chance.
Robots Text and Sitemaps
This section may be more suited for your web developers. If you manage your own website, then don’t be afraid! These tasks are beginner-level but maximally important!
The robots.txt file on your website needs to be in the root domain, e.g.: https://www.stuller.com/robots.txt/
This file tells crawlers like the Google Bot which pages and directories on your site should be crawled and which should not. It’s also a place to list your sitemap(s) for your website. Check out Google’s standards for a healthy robots.txt file.
You’ll also want to have a proper sitemap. This is a list of every page on your website that you want Google to index. It assures that your website is properly crawled and indexed, maximizing the SEO potential of your website. A good general use tool for creating sitemaps is XML sitemaps, but there are a number of other options for creating sitemaps. If you want to learn more, check out Google’s documentation on sitemaps.
Google Webmaster Tools
Once you’re website is ready to go, you’ll want to set up and claim your Google Webmaster Tools account. First, go to the Google Webmaster Tools dashboard.
From here, create a Property with your website address. You’ll then have a number of ways to claim the property. The easiest way is usually via your Google Analytics code.
Once your property is claimed, you’ll want to specify your sitemap(s) in the sitemap section found in the sidebar navigation. This way Google knows where your sitemaps are located so it’s crawler can find all of your pages and content.
Once you’ve specified your sitemaps, go to and request that Google crawl your website using the URL Inspection tool on the sidebar navigation.
Continue to check in with Google Webmaster Tools to stay in the know about your website’s general SEO health and any errors that need fixing.
Directory Listings & Social Pages
I’ve simplified it to three steps that are minimal for completing your directory listings. Each step is as important as the last.
It’s only three steps. Create your listing, add all business information, and then verify your listing.
Creation – Create or claim your listing
- Sign up or log in
- Create or claim your business listing
Information – Add all business information
- Contact Information: Business name, phone number, address, etc
- Other Information: Business website, hours of operation, service area, etc
Verification – Verify your listing
- Phone, email, or postcard verification
Creation
For the sake of ease, I recommend creating all business listings using the same gmail address. This will make it much easier for you to manage your listings in the long run.
Information
It’s important to have consistent data across all of your directory listings. For this reason, it’s important to iron out the details of your business information before you begin creating or claiming your listings. Start by filling out your business details here, and then keep the information consistent across all directories as you create and edit them.
A few more important factors about your directory information:
- Phone Number: Do not use 800 numbers. Use a local number.
- Website: It’s very important that you use the HTTPS version of your website, rather than the http version. HTTPS is available for free with most hosting services.
- Email Address: Your contact email address should be @yourdomain.com. Do not use common email domains like @gmail or @yahoo
BUSINESS INFO SHEET
Business Name:
Business Address:
Phone Number:
Website:
Email Address:
Hours of Operation:
Business Category: e.g. “jewelry store”
Primary Directories
There are plenty of directories where your business can be listed online, but these directories are the baseline. These listings will have the largest effect on local search results for queries pertaining to your business. These are also places where your customers can engage with you by writing reviews or adding photos.
Primary Directories & Social Media
- Google Business
- Bing
- Yelp
- Yellow Pages
- Facebook Business Page
When setting up each of these listings, you’ll want to follow the three steps: Create your listing, add all information, and then verify your listing. If your business already exists in a directory, you’ll want to claim it rather than creating a new one. Once claimed or created, add or edit all business information including your business name, address, phone number, email address, website, hours of operation, photos, and more. Finally, you’ll want to verify your listing by the method required by the given directory. For instance, Google requires a postcard verification while Yelp allows for phone verification.
Your most important directory listing is your Google Business listing. See an in-depth guide to setting up your Google Business Listing here.
Ask for Reviews
Make it a part of your regular process to ask happy customers to write a review for your store on your Google Business page. It will go a long way in ranking you higher than your competition in Google Business results.
Secondary Listings
Once you’ve set up all of your business listings, you can go above and beyond and set up business pages on other social media platforms.
Even if you never use them, it is to your benefit to set up these social media accounts. These provide more links to your website and business contact information which can further boost to your local search. A few platforms to get started are Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. Keeping these up-to-date with links to your website blog or photos of your products can help with both local search and brand awareness.
Secondary Directories & Social Media
- Shopify
Even if you leave these accounts static, at the very least create your business page with your business information and website.
Jewelry-Specific Directories
Once you’ve claimed the basic and secondary directories, I recommend you submit to Jeweler Directories that can be found around the web. Many industry-specific directories require a paid subscription, so be choosy about which directories you consider.
I will research and continue to update this list of jeweler directories I recommend for your business.
Continued Directory & Social Media Maintenance
Once you’ve completed these basics, there’s still a lot to do to maintain and improve your SEO presence. At a bare minimum, I would recommend that you do the following:
- Update store hours around holidays. Tell your customers when you’re closed or have different hours around the holidays.
- Regularly post to your Google Business page, linking to your website and showcasing products and deals.
- Post at least twice per month on your social media accounts, including images or links to your website.
PRO-TIP: I recommend subscribing to one year of Yext’s services to claim and optimize dozens of directories across the web.
FAQ: Do my listings remain even after I cancel my Yext subscription?
Answer: Yes! Yes they do!
List of SEO Resources & Tools
SEO Tools
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a free web data tracking tool that allows you to see activity on your website such as pageviews, user activity, demographics, and more.
https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web/
Google Webmaster Tools
Google Webmaster Tools is a place to manage your website(s) and how it appears in the eyes of the Google bot. You can diagnose problems with your website, fix, them, and improve your overall site health.
https://www.google.com/webmasters/
Google Tag Manager
Google Tag Manager allows you to set up Google Analytics event tracking without using JavaScript.
https://www.google.com/analytics/tag-manager/
Campaign URL Builder
Here’s the Campaign URL Builder. You can enter a URL you’d like to link to from social media, email, etc, and then add Campaign data and other tracking parameters so that clicks will send Google that campaign data.
https://ga-dev-tools.appspot.com/campaign-url-builder/
Adwords Keyword Planner & Google Trends
The Adwords Keyword Planner allows you to see the monthly search volume of a list of keywords and related keywords. It’s great at ascertaining which keywords are best to optimize your website.
https://adwords.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/
Google Trends
You can also use Google Trends to see how keywords, phrases, and mentions are trending over long periods of time. You can see, for example, if a given phrase has increased or decreased in popularity over the past years.
https://trends.google.com/
XML Sitemap Generator
If your website does not already have a sitemap, you need to create one. This XML sitemap generator is an easy way to create a quick sitemap.
https://www.xml-sitemaps.com
Mobile Friendly Tester
Test if your website is mobile friendly. If your website fails this test, it’s likely suffering in search rankings.
https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly
Site Speed Tester
Test the speed of your website, which is both a usability factor and a ranking factor with Google.
https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/
SEO Resources
Directory Links
Google: https://business.google.com
https://www.google.com/business/how-it-works/website/
Yelp: https://biz.yelp.com
Yellow Pages: https://www.yellowpages.com
Facebook Business: https://business.facebook.com
Bing: https://www.bingplaces.com
MOZ – SEO & Internet Marketing
Moz has been an industry expert in SEO and internet marketing for a long time. You can learn everything from basic SEO to advanced marketing strategies from this group of experts. Start with the SEO Basics section of their blog, as well as their Whiteboard Friday videos which can also be found in the blog.
https://moz.com
If you have any questions, call or email me, Hunter Trahan, at 337-262-7700(4338) or Hunter_Trahan@stuller.com
