Miva Merchant 5 is the latest version of Miva and offers a revised look and feel and several new backend features than previous versions but the path to successful Miva search engine optimization is almost still the same.

Here's what stays the same!

*Good, revelant content
*Meta tags that don't overuse keywords
*Descriptive product titles with keywords
*Rich product descriptions with relevant content using keywords effectively
*Text links using keywords when applicable
*Sitemaps - for use on site and Google
*Good, relevant links pointing to your site

These basic search engine optimization steps will give you the foundation to have success in the search engines.

Here's what changes.

*No SEO modules currently available
*No ability to control meta tags thru OpenUI code

Since Miva 5 is the first major version release after the company was taken over by FindWhat all of the modules that have been available to previous Miva versions are not available for Miva 5 yet. This includes the SEO oriented modules but read nothing into that, it is not uncommon when a revised software version comes out that not all external pieces which were available for previous versions are available or compatible with the latest version.

This being said, we have already launched several stores using the Miva 5 platform and by using the steps above (and of course our 8 years of SEO experience) we have already had numerous front page rankings in all of the major engines with these stores. Does that mean the basic Miva 5 store is search engine friendly? Not anymore so than previous versions, what it does mean is that engines now can spider dynamic sites much easier and if the optimization on those sites is done correctly than high rankings can be achieved.

Miva Merchant 5 is an exciting product so much so that we are banking on it as it will be the cart we focus on for all of our ecommerce clients. The Miva SEO modules will come and they will offer easier and more efficient ways to optimize your store but if you don't follow the basic steps listed earlier in this post... the module won't matter.