# SEO ### What is SEO? (Search Engine Optimization) Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of getting free, organic web traffic to your eCommerce website via search engines. Inputting relevant descriptions and data helps search engines understand the content of your store. Enter some basic information about your store into each text area to help search engines, such as Google, understand the content of your store. It is important to include relevant keywords (words and phrases that you think customers may search for) in each of the text areas. Try not to include irrelevant words and phrases that do not honestly reflect the content of your store as it may negatively impact your overall ranking on search engines. ### How do Search Engines Work? Search engines will visit your store periodically - this process is known as "crawling". They will add some of the information they find to their index, and then use that information to help determine where you should be ranked for certain searches. The details you enter in the **Marketing > SEO** section of the control panel are only one small part of Search Engine Optimization and there are a large number of factors that affect your overall ranking, such as: * your domain name, * the number of links pointing to your store, * the quality of those links (i.e. how relevant and well-ranked the website linking to your store is), * and much more. Search engines can be slow to update their rankings and it may take **several weeks or months** before your store begins to show up. You can potentially speed this process up by submitting your sitemap to Google or bypass the process entirely by uploading your products to Google Shopping. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://help.freewebstore.com/marketing/seo.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.