Implementation Guide

Merch items are lower priority for SEO since they're brand merchandise, not the core product line. If time permits, add basic alt text to merch images:

• Black Eye Tee: "Mad Hudson Watches Black Eye t-shirt in [white/gray]"
• The Watchers Tee: "Mad Hudson Watches Watchers long-sleeve t-shirt"
• Mad Cap / Watchcap: "Mad Hudson Watches branded cap"

When a product is categorized under Watches, Shopify may offer these standard fields:

Custom product metafields (already set up)

The existing Shopify automation script already defined these custom metafields for artist data:

• meta_description — Custom meta description (redundant with the SEO field, but used by the script)
• artist_name — The collaborating artist's name
• artist_bio — Short artist biography

These are useful for templating (a theme can pull artist_name into the H1 or schema automatically), but they don't directly appear in Google unless the theme renders them or uses them in JSON-LD schema.

Variant metafields

Not relevant for Mad Hudson right now. Your watches are single-option products (one size, one color). If you ever introduce strap color options or size variants, variant metafields would let you store per-variant specs. For now, skip these.

Method 1: Per-product (for filling in values)

1. Go to Products in Shopify admin
2. Click on a product (e.g., "Broken Time")
3. Scroll down past the description, pricing, and inventory sections
4. You'll see a "Metafields" section near the bottom
5. If category metafields are available, they'll appear as pre-labeled fields (case material, band material, etc.)
6. Fill in the values and save

Method 2: Bulk editor (for filling in all products at once)

1. Go to Products
2. Select all products using the checkbox
3. Click "Bulk edit"
4. In the bulk editor, click "Columns" to add metafield columns
5. Select the metafields you want to edit (case material, band material, etc.)
6. Fill in values across all products in a spreadsheet-like view
7. Save

Method 3: Definitions (for creating new metafield types)

1. Go to Settings › Custom data
2. Click "Products" under Metafields
3. Here you'll see all defined metafields (both category and custom)
4. Click "Add definition" to create a new custom metafield
5. Choose "Standard" (pre-built) or "Custom" (your own)

You probably don't need to create new definitions — the category metafields for watches and the existing custom fields (artist_name, artist_bio) should cover everything.

Do metafields show up on the product page?

Not automatically. Metafields are stored data — they only appear on your storefront if your Shopify theme is set up to display them. Most themes don't display metafields by default.

To make metafields visible on product pages (e.g., showing "Movement: Miyota Quartz" in a specs section), you'd need to either:

• Use the Shopify theme editor to add a metafield block to the product template (no code required in many modern themes)
• Edit the theme's Liquid template code to reference the metafield

For SEO purposes, the metafield values do feed into structured data (schema markup) that Google reads, even if they're not visually displayed. This is a behind-the-scenes benefit.

Step 1: Open the product

1. Log into Shopify admin
2. Click Products in the left sidebar
3. Click "CD Watch" from the product list

Step 2: Update alt text on images

1. In the Media section at the top, click the first product image
2. A panel opens with an "Alt text" field (may say "Add alt text")
3. Paste the recommended alt text from this guide
4. Click Save or close the panel
5. Repeat for each image

Step 3: Update page title and meta description

1. Scroll to the very bottom of the product page
2. Find the "Search engine listing" section
3. If it's collapsed, click "Edit" to expand it
4. In the "Page title" field, replace the existing text with:
   The CD Watch by Riki Prosper — Limited Edition Artist Watch | Mad Hudson
5. In the "Description" field (this is the meta description), paste:
   The CD Watch — a holographic disc dial watch designed by Atlanta artist Riki Prosper for Mad Hudson. Changes color with every turn of the wrist. Limited to 100 pieces.
6. Leave the URL handle alone — don't change cd-watch

Step 4: Fill in category metafields (if available)

1. Scroll to the Metafields section (below the SEO section)
2. If you see pre-labeled fields for the Watches category, fill them in:
   • Case material: Black IP stainless steel
   • Band material: Leather
   • Movement: Miyota Quartz
   • Water resistance: 3 ATM
   • Case diameter: 40mm
3. If you see the custom metafields (artist_name, artist_bio), fill those in too:
   • artist_name: Riki Prosper
   • artist_bio: Atlanta-based designer and artist known for vibrant work blending pop culture with nostalgic and futuristic elements.

Step 5: Save

1. Click Save in the top-right corner
2. Shopify will confirm the save
3. That's it — move to the next product

The fix: In the Liquid template, change the logo element from <h1> to a <div> or <span>, and wrap the text "Mad Hudson Watches" (or the product title on product pages) in the <h1> tag instead. The logo can remain visually identical — only the HTML semantics change.

Impact: High. Google gives significant weight to H1 content. This is the single highest-value code change.

Risk: Zero visual change. Customers won't notice anything different.

Where: Online Store › Themes › Edit code › Sections › header.liquid (exact file depends on theme)

The problem: Artist social media links (Instagram, portfolio sites) on product pages navigate the user away from Mad Hudson. Once they leave, they're gone.

The fix: Add target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" to all external artist links in the product page Liquid template.

Impact: Medium. Keeps users on-site, reduces bounce rate, preserves the path to purchase.

Where: Online Store › Themes › Edit code › Sections › product-template.liquid (or equivalent)

The problem: The "More From Artist" section on product pages currently links to the artist's Instagram, which takes the user off-site.

The fix: Replace the Instagram link with an anchor link that scrolls to an expanded artist bio section lower on the same product page. This keeps users on-site and adds indexable content — where SEO strategy and the brand's cultural capital converge.

Impact: Medium-high. Adds indexable artist content without changing visible product descriptions. Keeps users on-site. Enables artist bio accordion sections (a future content play).

Where: Product page template + potentially a new Liquid section for artist bios

• URL handles — leave /products/broken-time, /products/cd-watch, etc. as they are. Changing URLs breaks existing links, bookmarks, and whatever SEO equity they've built. The benefits aren't worth the risk.
• Product titles (H1s) — "Eddie Watch," "Marshall Watch," "Broken Time" etc. are clean and correct. These show on the actual product page. Don't stuff keywords into them. (Note: the actual H1 tag is currently on the animated logo, not the product title — see the Theme Changes section for the fix.)
• Product descriptions — this guide doesn't cover rewriting the on-page body copy. That's a separate (larger) effort covered in the Product Content guide.

All six watches are currently sold out. This doesn't reduce the value of SEO updates — it increases it. People searching for these watches (especially the artist collabs) will land on these pages regardless. Good meta descriptions and alt text ensure they find you through search, see the quality of the brand, and are primed to buy when new editions drop.

Timing

After making these changes, Google will re-crawl the pages within a few days to a few weeks. Changes to titles and meta descriptions typically show up in search results within 1–2 weeks. Alt text takes effect for Google Images as the images are re-indexed.

Verifying your changes

After updating, check each product page:

1. Visit the product page on the live site
2. Right-click the page → View Page Source
3. Search for <title> to confirm your page title
4. Search for meta name="description" to confirm your meta description
5. Search for alt= to confirm image alt text

That's it. Six products, each with three fields to update. None of it changes how the site looks to customers. All of it changes how Google sees you.