How to add a product in 2019 WooCommerce with SEO in Mind

After you log into your WordPress site select Products > Add new and when the new screen shows up add the Product Name along the top.

After you enter the Product Name you can add a detailed description of the product in the big box below. Note: I installed the classic editor of WordPress instead of using the block editor. I find it much easier. To install the classic editor you can use the link https://wordpress.org/plugins/classic-editor/ to download it or go to Plugins > Add New and do a search for ‘classic editor’.

You can add images, lists, text, and whatever you want for your product description.

Next, choose your product type.

Choose a type for this product. Simple is suitable for most physical goods and services (we recommend setting up a simple product for now).

• Variable is for more complex products such as t-shirts with multiple sizes. Also called, product attributes which can be different sizes, colors, etc.
• Grouped products are for grouping several simple products into one.
• Finally, external products are for linking off-site. If you have an affiliate program where you make money selling other people’s products you would use this option and enter the affiliate link website address (URL).

Two checkboxes are to the right.

• Virtual: Means the products are intangible and are not shipped.
• Downloadable: Means that your website visitors can be given access to download the product to their computer right after purchasing it.

Next, you can enter the price of your product. You can also put in a sale price and schedule a time to when the sale will be going on. Also, if you want can set the product to be taxable or not and what tax class you want.

Next, you enter the short description of the product. This information is displayed if you have multiple products on one page of the website so remember to make it enticing enough for them to click through and take a closer look at your product!

To add a picture of your product click on the link ‘Set product image’. This will be the main image of your product to display on your site. You can create a ‘Product Gallery’ for any other images of the product. For example, if you want to show different views or colors of your product. Another example is displaying an image showing it in use.

For a little detail and SEO work, you can enter the following when adding a product image. You will notice this on the right when you upload a product image. If you already have the product image in your Media Gallery you can go to Media > Library then select the image you want to edit, click edit, and fill in these details below.

• Alt Text
  (This is text that you put that describes the image for screen readers for vision-impaired visitors to your website. This is an opportunity for SEO but keep it’s true purpose in mind to describe what the image is for the vision-impaired.
• Title
  (Although this does not show up in the website it will enter it in the code of the website. This is an SEO opportunity as well where you can help the search engines find this particular product. One thing that I enter here is the part number of the product. Part numbers are easy to rank for in search engines.
• Caption
  (The text you put here will display just below the product when it is shown on the website. A brief description, name, or part number can be displayed here and also can help with search engine optimization (SEO).
• Description
  (This also does not show up on the website but describes the product. I have found with some of my marketing customers that if you put a strong detailed description of the product your images will start to rank in the search engines. It was a nice quick easy way to get rankings.

The next step is to add product tags for your product. Tags are a nice feature to help your customers find your products easier but is not required. Although I would do it because anything that makes it easier for your customer to find your product will make it easier for them to purchase it. Plus product tags are another opportunity for helping you to rank.

If you have a lot of products it would be a good idea to add them to a category. Categories also make it easier for your website visitors to find your products and if they can find your products easier it will mean more sales. Although this is optional, like the product tags, I recommend using this for both ease of use for the website visitor and the opportunity for SEO. If you forget to assign it a category then all product will be set to ‘Uncategorized’. You can rename this category but not delete it by going to Products > Categories > Edit.

The next step is to publish your WooCommerce Product. You have a few options here.

• Save Draft
  (You can save it as a draft so it will be saved but not displayed on your website.)
• Preview
  (You can preview what your product will look like before you publish it.)
• Publish
  (This will make it live right away.)
• Publish immediately Edit
  (You can choose to have this product go live at a certain set future date.)
• Visibility
  • Public
    (You can have this product visible to the public)
  • Password Protected
    (Visitors would have to log into your website in order to see it.)
  • Private
    (Perhaps you only want admins to your website to view this product.)

And there you have it! This is how to manually publish a single product with SEO in mind.

Michael Rock