SEO
Search engines like Google constantly crawl the internet in search of new data. While not immediate, fine-tuning your SEO will help your site rank higher and attract more visitors. Common Ground provides a handful of useful SEO tools, whether you want to hide or show a page online, change the page title, or simply optimize your content for better visibility.
Eshop SEO Settings
Site settings: Site title and description are usually shown on search results, it is the most important content for your SEO as web users should be able to identify your site instantly.
Site images: A favicon and social images are available for your SEO. The favicon will usually be displayed in the URL bar next to your site title. For social media sharing the social image will be used.
Site indexing: To appear in search engine results such as Google, your site must be indexed. This will allow search engines to crawl and index your pages according to the rules set in your robots.txt file.
To Enable Site indexing:
Navigate to the Site indexing settings.
Check the box labeled "Index this site."
Ensure your robots.txt file allows crawling (e.g., change
Disallow: /toAllow: /if necessary).Press Submit to save your changes.
SEO Settings: Article, Collection and Item Pages
Each Article, Item or Collection has their own SEO settings. To access these settings, click on the "SEO Settings" button for each page.
Index this page: Instructs search engines like Google to include this specific page in their search index.
Page Title: Allows you to specify the title that appears at the top of a browser window or tab when someone visits your Eshop. This title is also displayed as a clickable headline in search engine results. Keep it around 50–60 characters so it isn't cut off, and make sure it says what you sell and where.
URL slug: Allows you to customize the part of an article page’s URL that comes after the domain name. For example, in the URL www.common-ground.io/stores, the slug is stores.
Description: Also known as Meta Description. A brief summary the page's content that appears below the page title in search engine results. t doesn't directly affect ranking, but it's often what decides whether someone clicks through or keeps scrolling — aim for roughly 150–160 characters so it displays in full, and use it to say something specific rather than a generic sentence.
Writing Effective Item Descriptions
Item descriptions are some of the highest-value SEO content on your Eshop, and they work in two parts:
Short description — It is displayed publicly, but only in the "Full" view (collection pages and homepage blocks), not on the product page itself. It powers the meta description Google displays in search results, and the preview shown when a link to the item is shared on social media. Write it to make someone want to click, the same way you would a meta description.
Long description — the description buyers see on the item page itself. It can grow over time: the story behind the release, the artist's career context, the musicians involved, standout tracks, differences between pressings or editions, or notes on this particular copy's condition. Customers often search for a specific track or edition, not just an album title, so specific, unique text pays off — avoid reusing the same generic copy across every item.
Images matter just as much: add more than one photo per item (front cover, back, an out-of-sleeve shot, or a close-up of a condition detail all help reassure a buyer), give each image a clear file name before uploading it, and add a caption and alt text where relevant — this helps Google understand the image, and makes your Eshop usable for visitors browsing with a screen reader.
Since not every item needs the same amount of attention right away, start with what matters most: best-sellers, new arrivals, limited editions, seasonal products, or pages that already get traffic but few sales — often a sign the listing needs more detail, not that it should be abandoned.
Organizing Your Catalog Collections
Collections are indexable pages in their own right, and each one creates internal links from a themed page down to the individual items it groups — helping Google crawl and understand your catalog beyond the homepage and single item pages. A short, specific collection description (the styles it covers, the artists it features) gives search engines — and shoppers — another entry point into your store, on top of your item pages.
Accessibility & SEO
Accessibility is worth calling out on its own, because it pays off twice. A shop that's accessible is one a visually impaired visitor can browse with a screen reader, one a keyboard-only visitor can navigate without getting stuck, and one a visitor on a slow connection doesn't have to wait forever to load. Every detail that makes your Eshop more accessible — including the alt text covered above, and something as simple as text color contrast — also strengthens your SEO. None of that effort is wasted.
SEO Optimization
Set up Google Analytics: Connecting Google Analytics to an online store helps you understand how visitors use the site and what drives sales.
Add HTML Head Tags: This is a script that Google asks you to add to the <head> section of your site. Its purpose is to collect data about visitors for various Google services. Once you’ve created your Google Analytics account, you can copy the code it suggests here.
Add Site Images: The favicon and social image serve different purposes, but both help strengthen your site’s brand image and visibility. The favicon is the small icon that appears in the browser tab, in bookmarks, and sometimes in search results or tab lists. On the other hand, the social image is the image displayed when a page is shared on social media or messaging apps.
Backlinks, Social Commerce & Traffic Insights
An Eshop doesn't exist in isolation — Google also looks at what happens around it: the links that lead to it, the mentions of it elsewhere, the places it shows up outside its own pages.
Backlinks — links from other websites pointing to yours — are one of the oldest, and still one of the strongest, ranking signals. An article about your store, a label linking to your catalog, a mention on a specialized site: each one tells Google that you're trusted elsewhere, not just on your own site. None of this comes from a setting in your Backoffice — it's built through the relationships you maintain with your ecosystem.
Social commerce extends this idea, and can go further than a simple shared link. Once connected to Meta Catalog, your inventory can appear directly as shoppable products in your posts, stories, or Instagram Shop — with price, availability, and a direct purchase link. That's no longer just a trust signal for Google, it's a sales channel of its own: a shopper can discover an item while scrolling and buy it without ever running a search. Once connected, every new item added to your Eshop can flow automatically into your Instagram Shop — work you do once that keeps paying off with every item you add.
Traffic insights: seeing where your visitors click matters as much as being seen by them. Connecting Google Analytics lets you see, page by page, where your traffic comes from — a Google search, an Instagram link, a partner site — and what each visitor does once they land. It won't change your ranking directly, but it changes how you steer your SEO effort: it shows which pages attract visitors without converting, which items would benefit most from a richer description, and which channels deserve more attention.
Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a free online tool from Google that helps website owners and developers analyze their website's performance in Google Search. It provides various features to monitor, maintain, and enhance a website's visibility in Google search results.
To use this tool, you must first add a property.
From the two options, select Domain Method.
Enter your the primary Domain name associated with your Common Ground Eshop. (without
http://orwww.)Follow instructions in the prompt to Start Verification.
The verification tool will guide you through your domain provider to authorize the connection to Google Search Console. The process takes about a minute. If you've changed your primary domain in the Common Ground Backoffice within the last 10 minutes, the verification may fail. In that case, please wait a few minutes and try again.
Need more help? Here is how to add your domain to Google Search Console
Domain Name Optimization
SSL Certificates: Setting up a new domain or transferring an existing one?
Common Ground automatically handles issuing and installing SSL Certificates on your primary domain during domain connection.
Domain service providers such as GoDaddy manage the issuing of CSR Certificates.
How long does it take before my Eshop appears in search results?
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) helps your website appear in search engine results — but it’s not instant. SEO is a long-term process that depends on many factors. It’s normal for a new site to take weeks or even months to rank well.
Common Misunderstandings
Some users expect that simply publishing a site will lead to immediate traffic from Google. In reality, Google needs to discover, crawl, and assess your site before it can show up reliably in search results — and that takes time and effort.
How to Improve SEO Early On
Add text to your homepage — at least a short paragraph introducing your store
Include title, headings and unique descriptions on all item pages.
Organize your catalog into clear, described collections to strengthen internal linking and help Google crawl your item pages.
Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console
Build backlinks and connect your social channels
Keep an eye on Google Analytics to see what's working and where to focus next.
Common Ground already handles part of this work for you — Discogs imports, URL generation, and the technical foundations covered earlier in this guide. What's left — your descriptions, your images, how you organize your catalog — is what actually sets your store apart, and it's worth the time it takes.