Search engines have tools that scour and "index" the internet for information so that they return accurate and relevant results to searches. Similarly, social media sites gather and regurgitate information about your site whenever it is shared. This article explains more about how your marketplace information is used by these tools.
What information is indexed by search engines
In addition to the page content, search engine crawlers seek out the following main information about every page on your marketplace. The following information changes depending on the page that is shared:
The page URL
The page title
The page description
The page main image
This information is structured and prepared for crawlers by default. What title, description, image and URL information is indexed depends on the page type. There are two different types of pages on your marketplace:
Content pages - these are pages created out of text, images, and videos added by the admin. Content pages can be built and edited using Pages. The landing page is an example.
Dynamic pages - these pages feature content created by your users. Admins can control some of the information on these pages, but much of it comes from end-users. A listing page is an example.
Content page indexing information, such as the title or description, is configurable in Console. You control every bit of content on these pages, including what information is given to search engine crawlers.
Dynamic page indexing information is not configurable by the admin, as the information that is indexed depends on the actual content of the page. A listing page, for example, will take its title and image from the listing title and image. However, you can edit the "schema", or structure, of the page to change what kind of information is presented to bots and search engines to index.
What information is shared when sharing content or dynamic pages on social media
If you share a link to your marketplace on social media, the title, description, image, and URL are shared. What information is used (and how you control it) depends if the page is a content page or a dynamic page. Content pages' information is controlled by Pages while dynamic pages' information comes from the particular item being shown.
How to edit the SEO and sharing details of content pages
You control the SEO and sharing details of a content pages using the Pages editor found in Console > Build > Content > Pages.
How to edit the SEO and sharing details of dynamic pages
Because the information on dynamic pages comes, at least partially, from end-users and changes dynamically, controlling what is indexed and how is more tricky.
If it is a user controlled dynamic page, such as a listing page or user profile page, then the information comes directly from the page itself. Changing the indexed information would mean changing the actual content of the page as the user.
Let's take a listing page as an example. Here is how the page is structured:
Title: "{The listing title} | {Marketplace name}"
Description: "{The listing description} "
Image: the first uploaded listing image
The structure is called a "schema" in the context of SEO. You can change the schema using Marketplace texts for dynamic pages. This way you can change how the information is presented to search engines. Moreover, if you do not use variables, you can control what is being said as well.
You should only change the page schema if you are knowledgeable with SEO and are implementing a particular strategy. The default schema for each page already follows best practices.
The search page is a unique dynamic page, as it is uses the search query for the listing title and description instead of provider-created content. The search page information is:
Title: "Search results for {the query} | {Marketplace name}"
Description: "Showing search results for {the query}"
Image: social media sharing image set in Console > Design > Branding
Brackets ("{" and "}") indicate the text within them is variable; the words will change based on actual data. For example, "{Listing title}" is replaced by the actual title of the listing.
What is the role of the social media sharing image
You can configure a social media sharing image in Console > Design > Branding. This image is a fallback image for situations where there is no image attached to the page being shared. The search page is an example of such a page.
Review your social media sharing details
You can review (and in some cases update) how your Page's information will be displayed by different social media platforms with the following tools:
X (Twitter): https://cards-dev.twitter.com/validator
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/post-inspector/
For a more generic tool you can use: https://metatags.io/
Review Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a free tool Google provides to help you understand how they understand your site. You can verify your marketplace and share its sitemap in Google Search Console, which may improve how Google views your marketplace. This is particularly useful if you are just starting your business and, therefore, are a complete new internet entity.
Learn more about SEO
Your page structure and sharing information is a component of SEO or "search engine optimization." SEO describes the effort to try and have your marketplace returned as high as possible as a search result for relevant terms by a search engine like Google or Bing. Thinking about SEO is a reality for any online business. If you would like to learn more about marketplace SEO, we recommend reading our Academy's guide to marketplace SEO.