SEO basics for a new online store, what to do first
Start with the three things a search engine and a shopper both read first, the page title, the description and a clear product name, and do them well on every page.
SEO is the work of helping search engines understand your pages so they can show them to people who are looking. For a brand new store, you do not need tricks. You need to say clearly what each page is. Three basics do most of that job: the page title, the description and a clear product name.
I cannot promise you rankings or tell you how long anything takes. Search results depend on many things beyond your control. What you can do is make your pages easy to understand.
One example page
Let us use a product: a hand-block-printed cotton tote bag in indigo.
Weak version - Product name: "Bag 03" - Title shown in search: "Bag 03 | My Store" - Description: "Nice bag. Order now."
Nobody searching for a tote bag would know that this page is for them.
Better version - Product name: "Indigo Block Print Cotton Tote Bag" - Title shown in search: "Indigo Block Print Cotton Tote Bag | Your Brand" - Description: "Hand-block-printed cotton tote in indigo, 38 cm wide, with an inner pocket. Made in small batches and shipped across India."
The second one says what the product is, what it is made of, and roughly how big. A shopper reading it in a search result can tell at a glance whether to click.
The three basics, one by one
1. A clear product name. Use the words a buyer would type. Material, type, style, colour. Skip names that only make sense to you. How to write a product title that gets found goes deeper, and product title formula for Indian sellers gives a pattern to reuse.
2. A page title. This is the line that appears in the browser tab and as the headline in search results. Keep it readable and put the product first, your brand after. Do not repeat the same title on every page. Each page needs its own.
3. A description. A sentence or two summarising the page. Write it for a human. Avoid stuffing it with keywords, because it will read badly and will not help.
Other low-effort steps
- Write a real description on the page itself, not just a title and a photo. See writing product descriptions people read.
- Name your photo files sensibly, as in how to name product image files properly, and add alt text, as in how to write alt text for product images.
- Keep pages fast on mobile by resizing and compressing images.
- Add your products to collections that make sense, so related pages link to each other.
What Varchas already does
The store code includes structured data support, which is a way of describing a product page to search engines in a standard format. I saw it in the storefront libraries, and it uses your store logo for that purpose. You still need to give each product a good name and description, because the system can only describe what you give it.
What not to do
Do not copy a supplier's text word for word, since many other sellers have it too. Copying supplier descriptions: why you should rewrite explains the problem.
Next step
Open your five best products and rewrite the name, title and description using the pattern above. That alone is a solid first day of SEO.