Web Solutions Website and Shop SEO

Web Solutions Website and Shop SEO

What is SEO?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of making your website easy for search engines to understand, so people searching for a brewery like yours can find you.

SEO may sound complex, but mastering the basics is simpler than you think. Your Arryved  website and/or shop already has a strong technical foundation; this article explains what that includes and how to build on it. We'll cover the behind-the-scenes labels that tell search engines about your site (schema markup and meta tags) and the free listing that matters most for brewery searches: your Google Business Profile.

Arryved’s Role in SEO

While the team at Arryved isn't a dedicated SEO agency, the best practices listed below are drawn from years of experience helping craft breweries and beverage venues succeed online. This guide is designed to help you nail the fundamentals. If you're looking to build an advanced, custom SEO strategy beyond these basics, we recommend partnering with a professional marketing agency. 

Meta Tags and Schema Markup

Specific tags and markup in the code of your website offer a clear, succinct way to tell search engines what each page is about.

Meta Tags

(Despite the name, meta tags have nothing to do with the company Meta. The word means "information about information.")

Every web page can carry a few short pieces of hidden text that describe it to search engines. The two most important are:

  1. The title tag: the clickable headline of your listing in search results. It also appears on the browser tab. (Red arrow in screenshot below)
  2. The meta description: the one- or two-sentence summary shown beneath the headline. (Purple arrow in screenshot below)

Together, they're your storefront sign in search results. Before anyone visits your site, they decide whether to click based largely on these two lines.



What they can do for you:
  1. Help search engines understand each page. The title in particular tells them what the page is about, so it should reflect the page's main topic in plain language.
  2. Set expectations. Visitors who click because the description matched what they wanted are more likely to stay.

Think of these as suggestions. You propose the title and description for each page, but search engines make the final call. If they decide a different snippet better matches what someone searched for, they may rewrite your title, swap in a different description, or pull text straight from the page. This is normal and doesn't mean anything is broken. Writing clear, accurate titles and descriptions still gives search engines the best material to work with, and they often use what you wrote.


The Way Arryved Uses Meta Tags

Titles

We use automated templates for Titles for each page of your website or shop. This includes main landing pages like “Home” and “About”, individual posts, product pages, and event pages. This allows us a baseline – and prevents you from having to remember to do it yourself with each new piece of content.

Our template follows:

Page Title | Brewery Name

When to Customize Further

Two major landing pages on your website, your Home page and your Location page(s), can be customized to provide more useful information for search engines.

For instance, Home | My Brewery Name is accurate, but not very descriptive.

Your location or taproom pages can also be customized to include your city and state – or whatever area you are trying to improve visibility for in search queries with local intent.

For instance, Taproom | My Brewery Name is fine, but you may consider adding better indicators for where you’re located… Brewpub in Portland, OR | My Business Name or Charlotte Brewery in NODA | My Brewery Name could be more closely aligned with what users are searching for.

Descriptions

Seeing a blank meta description field on the back end? That's okay.

While page titles are handled automatically, building each one as "Page Title | Brewery Name", descriptions work differently. If a page's description field is empty, search engines will write one for you by pulling the most relevant text from the page, often tailored to what the person searched for. A missing description isn't a ranking problem, and it won't hurt your page's position in results.

That said, the description is your chance to make a good first impression, and it can influence whether someone clicks. If you'd like more say in how a page appears, fill in the meta description field with a short, accurate summary (about 150 characters) of what visitors will find. Search engines treat it as a suggestion, but the clearer and more helpful it is, the more likely they are to use it.

Where to start: your home page, location pages, and any other main landing page for special events, products or beers. Those are the ones people are most likely to see in search results.

How to customize your page Meta tags:

In your website or shop admin, visit the list of all pages – or from the toolbar while looking at the front-end – and click “Edit”. If the Page Builder is active for the page, do not open it – these settings are not located there.


Select from Pages >> All Pages 

Select from top Toolbar while logged in, looking at your published page 

 

 


Scroll down to the SEO section (screenshot) where you’ll see the Meta Title and Description boxes. Customize that content as you like. 

Remember, Titles are automatically created so those will never be blank, but can be changed as desired. Descriptions may be blank – but search engines create one anyway. These boxes are your suggestions to search engines.


Schema Markup

(you may also see referred to as JASON-LD, a specific format of schema)

Schema markup is a block of code added to your website, that is invisible to visitors and labels your content in a standardized language that search engines understand. It uses a shared vocabulary from Schema.org, so Google, Bing, and other search engines interpret it the same way. Most often it's written in a format called JSON-LD.

What it can do for you

  1. Clear identity. It helps search engines confirm that your website belongs to your organization, and differentiates you from similarly named businesses or groups.
  2. Consistent details across the web. When your name, logo, and profile links match what appears elsewhere (such as your Google Business Profile and social accounts), search engines have an easier time connecting the dots. Logos and other details may occasionally be used in search features like knowledge panels, though search engines decide when and whether to show them.
  3. Clearer information for AI tools. AI assistants and other tools that read websites directly can use structured data to pull accurate basics about your organization. How much weight they give it isn't well documented, but accurate data is unlikely to hurt.
  4. Possible event listings. If you publish events (with our upgraded Events Module), event schema can make them eligible for enhanced display in search, such as dates and locations. As always, search engines decide when to show these.
One caveat worth including: schema markup is not a ranking shortcut. It works alongside good content, not in place of it. Think of it as a clear name tag for your website.


The Way Arryved Uses Schema

Your website or shop is set up to automatically output schema markup on each page that gives search engines the basics: your brewery's name, website address, and logo; what each page is called and where it sits on your site; and how it all connects (this page belongs to this website, which is published by this organization). Think of it as a name tag, not a full résumé. It helps search engines identify your brewery, but it doesn't describe your hours, location, or beers. That's the job of your Google Business Profile and your page content.


If you use our Advanced Events module, an “event” schema will also be added for your calendar events; If you have a Shop, a “product” schema will also be added to your product pages.

How do I shop up better for searches like "breweries near me"?

The most important step is to claim and verify your Google Business Profile (the free listing that appears in Google Maps and the map results in search). For "near me" searches, Google relies mainly on its own listing data and the searcher's location, not just on what's on your website. Claiming your profile gives you much more say over how your brewery is represented.

Claim your listing – or update your claimed profile any time here: Google Business Profile


Some recommendations for your Google Business Profile settings:

  1. Choose your categories carefully. Set "Brewery" or "Brewpub" as your primary category, whichever best describes you (Brewpub generally suits places that serve full meals alongside house-brewed beer). Add other accurate categories as secondary, but don't add ones that don't fit.
  2. Create a separate profile for each physical location. Link each one to its own location page on your website, not just the home page, so visitors land on the right information.
  3. Keep your details accurate and consistent. Name, address, phone number, and website should match your site exactly. Use your real business name, since adding keywords can get a profile suspended.
  4. Keep hours current, including holiday and special-event hours. Out-of-date hours are one of the most common reasons for bad reviews.
  5. Add good photos: the taproom, the patio, the beer, the food, the exterior (so people can find you). Refresh them periodically.
  6. Ask for reviews and respond to them. Reviews influence both ranking and a customer's decision to visit, and replies show the listing is actively managed.
  7. Fill in the extras. Add your menu or beer list link, and select attributes that apply, like outdoor seating, dog-friendly, live music, or family-friendly. These help match searches like "dog-friendly brewery."
  8. Use Google Posts for new releases, events, and specials. They're optional, but they keep the profile current.


Optional add-ons: Google isn't the only place customers look. Beer drinkers also check Untappd, Apple Maps (via Apple Business Connect), Bing Places, and Yelp. Keeping those listings accurate is a worthwhile second step after the Google profile.