salla.
Eng. Mithak Alselwee
Salla Marketplace Ecosystem — Full Technical SEO, AI-Visibility & Competitor Audit
Primary platform salla.com, benchmarked against Salla-powered stores 3saf.com (ASSAF) and ibrand.com.sa (iBrand), scored across four disciplines vs Zid, Shopify, Amazon, Noon & Trendyol — presented in enterprise report format with figures, tables and a phased work plan.
§ Contents
0 Executive Summary & Health Scorep.1
i Terms, Definitions & Methodologyp.6
1 Visual Diagrams & Graph Analysisp.9
2 Crawl Results & Technical Analysisp.20
3 Detailed Technical Issues Logp.25
4 Security & Protection Analysisp.34
5 Accessibility Analysis (WCAG)p.36
6 Performance & Speed Analysisp.39
7 Content & Indexing Analysisp.41
8 On-Page SEO Analysisp.43
9 Competitor Analysis (SEO·AIO·GEO·UXO)p.46
★ GEO Deep Dive — llms.txt (3saf.com)p.47
10 Detailed Work Plan (3 Phases)p.48
11 Recommendations & Conclusionp.53
List of Figures
List of Tables (28)
T1 Terms & technical definitionsp.6
T2 General crawl statisticsp.20
T3 Internal file-type distributionp.21
T4 HTTP response codesp.22
T5 Crawl depth by levelp.23
T6 High-priority issuesp.25
T7 Medium-priority issuesp.28
T8 Low-priority issuesp.30
T9 Security headers analysisp.34
T10 WCAG accessibilityp.36
T11 Server response timesp.39
T12 Images & unused resourcesp.40
T13 Content quality & distributionp.41
T14 Sitemap analysisp.42
T15 Page titlesp.43
T16 Meta descriptionsp.43
T17 Internal & external linksp.44
T18 Canonicals & hreflangp.44
T19 Main KSA competitorsp.46
T20 SEO comparison vs competitorsp.46
T21 Critical fixes — weeks 1–2p.48
T22 Security fixes — weeks 3–4p.48
T23 Structured data & content — month 2p.49
T24 Technical improvements — month 3p.50
T25 Phase 2 — expansion & growthp.50
T26 Phase 3 — differentiation & leadershipp.51
T27 Top-10 immediate recommendationsp.53
T28 Expected outcomes after the planp.54
T29 llms.txt discovery & statusp.47
T30 llms.txt ↔ Product schema mapp.47
T31 GEO fix kitp.47
0 Executive Summary & Health Score ▲ top
salla.com is a technically strong, Arabic-native commerce platform (composite 78/100, DR 73). Its two sampled stores inherit a solid server-rendered base but repeat the same template-level gaps — missing H1, Product/FAQ/Breadcrumb/LocalBusiness schema, hreflang and Open Graph — making structured-data remediation a platform-scale, once-and-done opportunity.
Salla Platform FLAGSHIP
salla.com · DR 73
78/100
Grade B · Strong
ASSAF — عساف
3saf.com · DR 41 · luxury
64/100
Grade C · Moderate
iBrand Pharmacy
ibrand.com.sa · DR 26 · health
57/100
Grade C− · Developing
i Terms, Definitions & Methodology ▲ top
Data provenance — LIVE: Ahrefs Domain Rating (all 8 domains) + on-page crawl of the 3 Salla properties. MODELED: crawl-volume tables (T2–T5, T11), WCAG (T10) and 0–100 indices — flagged per-table because deep-crawl, Semrush MCP and paid-Ahrefs endpoints were not available on the current plan. Connect a higher tier to replace modeled figures with measured ones.
Table 1 — Terms & technical definitions reference
| Term | Definition & why it matters |
|---|---|
| SEO | Classic organic search optimization: technical health + on-page relevance + backlink authority. |
| AIO | AI / Answer-Engine Optimization: eligibility to appear in Google AI Overviews, featured snippets & "People also ask". |
| GEO | Generative Engine Optimization: being cited/recommended inside ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity. |
| UXO | UX Optimization: Core Web Vitals, mobile/RTL correctness and conversion experience — now direct ranking inputs. |
| DR | Ahrefs Domain Rating (0–100, log scale) — relative backlink authority strength. |
| Crawl depth | Number of clicks from the homepage to a page. Deeper = less crawl budget & equity. |
| JSON-LD / Schema | Machine-readable structured data. The key lever for rich results, AIO and GEO citations. |
| CWV (LCP/CLS/INP) | Core Web Vitals — loading, visual stability, interactivity. Google ranking & UX signals. |
| hreflang | Language/region annotation (ar⇄en) preventing duplicate-content cannibalization. |
| E-E-A-T | Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust — critical for health/pharmacy (iBrand) & luxury (3saf). |
1 Visual Diagrams & Graph Analysis ▲ top
Structural visualizations of salla.com's link graph and directory architecture. Node size/colour encodes crawl depth and internal-link weight; these mirror the enterprise crawl-diagram set (3D force-directed, word cloud, crawl tree, directory tree, force-directed graphs).
Figure 1 — 3D Force-Directed Crawl Diagram
Homepage hub (centre) radiating to primary hubs (register, login, blog, academy, apps, help) and deeper leaf pages. Pseudo-3D depth = crawl distance.
Modeled from observed navigation graph (live on-page crawl). A full Screaming-Frog pass would populate exact node counts.
Figure 2 — Body-Text Word Cloud
Term frequency across salla.com body content — larger = more prominent. Confirms Arabic-first, KSA-commerce topical focus.
Derived from live homepage/nav text (AR + EN). Salla-green weighting = highest-frequency commercial terms.
Figure 3 — Crawl Tree Graph
Hierarchical page relationships from the homepage root.
Figure 4 — Directory Tree Graph
Folder/URL-path structure (/, /blog, /academy, /apps, /en …).
Figure 5 — Force-Directed Crawl Diagram
Link-equity distribution across pages (2D). Denser clusters = stronger internal-link neighbourhoods.
Figure 6 — Force-Directed Directory Tree
Directory relationships as a force graph — reveals shallow, well-linked architecture.
2 Crawl Results & Technical Analysis ▲ top
Table 2 — General crawl statistics (salla.com) modeled — pending live crawl
| Metric | Value | Observation |
|---|---|---|
| Rendering | Server-side (SSR) | Live-confirmed: content present in raw HTML. |
| Indexable HTML pages (est.) | ~1,200–2,500 | Marketing + blog + academy + app directory. |
| Avg. crawl depth | ~3 | Shallow, healthy architecture. |
| Sitemap present | Verify | Confirm /sitemap.xml completeness. |
| robots.txt | Verify | Confirm no accidental Disallow of key hubs. |
Table 3 — Internal file-type distribution modeled
| File type | Share (est.) | SEO note |
|---|---|---|
| HTML | 38% | OK |
| Images (JPG/PNG/WebP) | 34% | WebP audit |
| JavaScript | 15% | Bundle audit |
| CSS | 8% | OK |
| Fonts / other | 5% | Info |
File-type mix
Table 4 — HTTP response codes modeled
| Code | Meaning | Est. count | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200 | OK | ~95% | Healthy. |
| 301 | Permanent redirect | ~3% | Audit for redirect chains. |
| 302 | Temporary redirect | ~1% | Convert to 301 where permanent. |
| 404 | Not found | <1% | Fix internal links pointing to them. |
| 5xx | Server error | ~0 | Monitor. |
Table 5 — Crawl depth by level modeled
| Depth | Pages (est.) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 0 (home) | 1 | Root hub. |
| 1 | ~40 | Primary nav hubs. |
| 2 | ~350 | Categories / blog indexes. |
| 3 | ~900 | Articles / app pages. |
| 4+ | ~400 | Watch for orphan/deep pages. |
Depth distribution
3 Detailed Technical Issues Log ▲ top
Issues from the live on-page crawl of all three properties, prioritized by SEO impact ÷ fix effort. PLATFORM = fixable once in the Salla theme to benefit every store.
Table 6 — High-priority issues live findings
| Issue | Where | Sev. | Impact / fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| No Product/Offer/AggregateRating schema | 3saf, iBrand PLATFORM | Critical | Blocks rich results + AI answers (price/stock/rating). Add JSON-LD to PDP template. |
Missing in hero | 3saf, iBrand PLATFORM | Critical | Core on-page signal lost. Enforce one semantic H1 per page. |
| No Organization/sameAs schema on homepage | salla.com | High | Weakens knowledge graph & GEO citation. Add Organization + sameAs. |
| No BreadcrumbList schema | all PLATFORM | High | Lost breadcrumb SERP + weaker crawl semantics. |
| hreflang (ar⇄en) not reciprocal | all | High | AR/EN cannibalization risk. Add reciprocal annotations. |
Table 7 — Medium-priority issues live findings
| Issue | Where | Sev. | Impact / fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Graph / Twitter cards missing | all PLATFORM | Medium | Weak social/link-preview CTR. Add OG tags to theme head. |
| Meta description over-length & bilingual | iBrand | Medium | SERP truncation. Split AR/EN, ≤ 160 chars. |
| No LocalBusiness/Pharmacy schema | 3saf, iBrand | Medium | 25+ stores (3saf) unmapped. Add LocalBusiness/Pharmacy. |
| Meta description not confirmed unique | salla.com | Medium | Verify uniqueness per template. |
Table 8 — Low-priority issues live findings
| Issue | Where | Sev. | Impact / fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| No FAQ/HowTo schema | all | Low→AIO | Opportunity, not error — fastest path into AI Overviews. |
| Image alt-text coverage | 3saf, iBrand | Low | Audit product-image alts for accessibility + image SEO. |
| Next-gen image formats | all | Low | Serve WebP/AVIF on hero carousels. |
4 Security & Protection Analysis ▲ top
Passive, non-intrusive header-level review only — no active testing performed. All three properties enforce HTTPS on Salla-managed infrastructure.
Table 9 — Security headers analysis passive
| Header / check | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|
| HTTPS / TLS | Enforced | Managed by Salla platform across all sites. |
| HSTS | Verify | Confirm max-age & includeSubDomains on stores. |
| Content-Security-Policy | Verify | Often under-configured on SaaS themes. |
| X-Frame-Options / frame-ancestors | Verify | Clickjacking protection. |
| X-Content-Type-Options | Verify | Add nosniff. |
| Mixed content | Verify | Audit image-heavy stores for non-HTTPS assets. |
| Exposed secrets in HTML | None seen | No keys/tokens observed (passive only). |
5 Accessibility Analysis (WCAG) ▲ top
Table 10 — WCAG 2.1 conformance modeled — needs axe/Lighthouse run
| Criterion | Est. status | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1.1.1 Non-text content (alt) | Partial | Audit product-image alt coverage. |
| 1.3.1 Info & relationships (headings) | At risk | Missing H1 breaks heading hierarchy on stores. |
| 1.4.3 Contrast | Likely OK | Verify banner-text overlays. |
| 2.4.4 Link purpose | Likely OK | Descriptive category links present. |
| 3.1.1 Language of page (lang/dir) | OK | Arabic RTL correctly declared. |
| 4.1.2 Name/role/value (ARIA) | Verify | Check interactive filters/carousels. |
6 Performance & Speed Analysis ▲ top
Table 11 — Server response & Core Web Vitals modeled — needs live CWV
| Metric | salla.com | 3saf.com | ibrand.com.sa | Target |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TTFB | Good (SSR) | Verify | Verify | < 0.8s |
| LCP | Verify | Hero risk | Hero risk | < 2.5s |
| CLS | Verify | Banner risk | Banner risk | < 0.1 |
| INP | Verify | Filter interactions | Filter interactions | < 200ms |
Table 12 — Images & unused resources modeled
| Item | Status | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| Next-gen formats (WebP/AVIF) | Audit | Convert hero & product images. |
| Lazy-loading below fold | Likely on | Confirm loading="lazy". |
| Unused JS/CSS | Audit | Coverage report to trim theme bundles. |
| Image dimensions set | Verify | Prevents CLS. |
7 Content & Indexing Analysis ▲ top
Table 13 — Content quality & distribution from crawl
| Property | Topical focus | Content depth | Duplication risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| salla.com | E-commerce platform, academy, blog | Rich | AR/EN (hreflang) |
| 3saf.com | Luxury perfumes/watches/bags | Product-led | Thin category text |
| ibrand.com.sa | Pharmacy, health & beauty | Catalog-led | Wholesale/variant dup risk |
Table 14 — Sitemap analysis verify
| Check | Status | Action |
|---|---|---|
| XML sitemap present | Verify | Confirm /sitemap.xml and index maps. |
| Submitted to GSC | Verify | Ensure both AR & EN maps submitted. |
| Includes all product URLs | Verify | Salla auto-generates; confirm coverage. |
| lastmod accuracy | Info | Helps recrawl priority. |
8 On-Page SEO Analysis ▲ top
Table 15 — Page titles live
| Property | Title (observed) | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| salla.com | منصة سلة: حلول التجارة الإلكترونية الشاملة في السعودية | Strong |
| 3saf.com | عساف ASSAF | Too short |
| ibrand.com.sa | صيدلية آي براند - iBrand | Add keywords |
Table 16 — Meta descriptions live
| Property | Present | Length | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| salla.com | Verify | — | Confirm unique per template. |
| 3saf.com | Yes | OK | Strong trust signals ("best Saudi brand 2025"). |
| ibrand.com.sa | Yes | Too long | Bilingual single string — split & trim ≤160 chars. |
Table 17 — Internal & external links live
| Property | Internal linking | External | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| salla.com | Extensive | Social + apps | Strong hub linking (register/blog/academy/apps). |
| 3saf.com | Category-rich | Social | Add breadcrumb + related-product links. |
| ibrand.com.sa | Category-rich | App links | 15+ categories; add breadcrumb links. |
Table 18 — Canonicals & hreflang live
| Property | Canonical | hreflang | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| salla.com | Verify | Add | /en/ exists — add reciprocal ar⇄en. |
| 3saf.com | Verify | Add | AR/EN category links unpaired. |
| ibrand.com.sa | Verify | Add | Bilingual UI without hreflang. |
9 Competitor Analysis — SEO · AIO · GEO · UXO ▲ top
Salla vs Zid, Shopify, Amazon, Noon, Trendyol. Domain Rating is live (Ahrefs); discipline indices are analyst-composite anchored on that DR.
Domain Rating (live Ahrefs)
Live, 05 Jul 2026. Salla DR 73 trails Zid (85) — the key authority gap.
Salla vs Zid — 4-discipline radar
Four-discipline comparison — all platforms
Table 19 — Main KSA/GCC competitors live DR
| Platform | Ahrefs DR | Type | Threat to Salla |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zid | 85 | KSA SaaS commerce | Direct |
| Noon | 81 | GCC marketplace | Indirect |
| Amazon.sa | 96 | Marketplace | Indirect |
| Shopify | 96 | Global SaaS | Segment |
| Trendyol | 90 | MENA/TR marketplace | Emerging |
Table 20 — SEO/AIO/GEO/UXO scorecard composite
| Platform | DR | SEO | AIO | GEO | UXO | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salla 🟢 | 73 | 82 | 70 | 74 | 85 | 78 |
| Zid | 85 | 80 | 68 | 70 | 82 | 76 |
| Shopify | 96 | 95 | 88 | 90 | 92 | 92 |
| Amazon | 96 | 98 | 90 | 94 | 88 | 93 |
| Noon | 81 | 88 | 75 | 80 | 85 | 82 |
| Trendyol | 90 | 90 | 78 | 82 | 86 | 84 |
Verdict: Salla & Zid are effectively tied (78 vs 76) in the KSA segment — Salla wins UXO, Zid leads authority. Don't chase Amazon/Shopify on DR; own Arabic-language AIO/GEO, a white space none of the incumbents fully hold.
★ GEO Deep Dive — llms.txt & AI-Discoverability (3saf.com) ▲ top
Focused analysis of ASSAF's llms.txt — the file that tells ChatGPT/Claude/Perplexity what the store sells. It exists and is above-average for a Salla store, but the product facts inside it are not mirrored in on-page Product/Offer schema, and the localized path an AI would guess (/ar/llms.txt) returns 404.
Table 29 — File discovery & status live
| Path / check | Status | Finding |
|---|---|---|
/ar/llms.txt (localized) | 404 | Does not exist — AI tools reasoning "Arabic store → /ar/" get nothing. |
/llms.txt (root) | Valid | Canonical file. 8 sections, 47 URLs, proper Markdown links. |
/llms-full.txt | Valid | Extended catalog + policies present. |
Referenced in robots.txt | No | No discovery pointer for AI crawlers. |
| AI-crawler rules (GPTBot/ClaudeBot/Google-Extended) | None | No explicit allow/deny policy declared. |
| Sitemap vs llms.txt localization | Mismatch | Sitemap is /ar/sitemap.xml but llms.txt is root-only — inconsistent. |
llms.txt GEO-readiness matrix (overall ≈ 59/100)
Green ≥75 · amber 50–74 · red <50. Weakest axes: schema alignment, machine-readability, freshness.
Product-line format (live)
Each line carries name + URL + description + price — good, but missing schema-grade fields.
[عطر اتاكس - الهجوم](https://3saf.com/ar/Attacks/p646394479):
عطر رجالي من مجموعة اتاكس، 400 ريال
- ✅ name · URL · description · price
- 🔴 no availability, brand entity, image, SKU, rating
- 🔴 currency as text "ريال" — no ISO
SAR - 🔴 raw spaces in some URLs (encoding inconsistent)
Table 30 — llms.txt data ↔ Product/Offer schema mapping live
| Data point | In llms.txt? | schema.org property | In on-page JSON-LD? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product name | Yes | Product.name | Yes |
| URL | Yes | Offer.url | Yes |
| Description | Brief | Product.description | Thin |
| Price | Yes (text) | Offer.price | Missing |
| Currency (ISO SAR) | No | Offer.priceCurrency | Missing |
| Availability | No | Offer.availability | Missing |
| Brand entity | Collection only | Product.brand | Missing |
| Image / SKU / Rating | No | image · sku · AggregateRating | Missing |
The disconnect: llms.txt exposes prices that the on-page Product schema does not (3saf.com carries only Organization schema). AI engines know the price; Google's rich-result system doesn't. Syncing the two layers unlocks star snippets and AI shopping citations at once.
Table 31 — GEO fix kit (priority-ordered)
| # | Fix | Priority | Layer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Add Product+Offer JSON-LD to PDP theme carrying the price llms.txt already lists PLATFORM | Critical | SEO+GEO |
| 2 | Resolve /ar/llms.txt 404 (localized copy or 301 → root) | Critical | GEO |
| 3 | Enrich llms.txt lines: availability + ISO SAR + brand | High | GEO |
| 4 | URL-encode all product URLs (no raw spaces) | High | Tech |
| 5 | Reference llms.txt in robots.txt + declare AI-crawler policy | High | GEO |
| 6 | Add AggregateRating (star snippets + AI trust) | Medium | SEO |
| 7 | Add | Medium | Tech |
Enriched llms.txt line (target)
[عطر اتاكس - الهجوم](https://3saf.com/ar/attacks/p646394479): عطر رجالي شرقي خشبي، مجموعة اتاكس، ثبات ~8 ساعات، 400 ريال سعودي (SAR)، متوفر.
Matching Product JSON-LD (paste into Salla theme)
{
"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Product",
"name":"عطر اتاكس - الهجوم",
"image":"https://cdn.salla.sa/.../attacks.jpg",
"description":"عطر رجالي شرقي خشبي من مجموعة اتاكس",
"sku":"646394479",
"brand":{"@type":"Brand","name":"ASSAF عساف"},
"offers":{"@type":"Offer",
"url":"https://3saf.com/ar/attacks/p646394479",
"priceCurrency":"SAR","price":"400",
"availability":"https://schema.org/InStock",
"itemCondition":"https://schema.org/NewCondition"},
"aggregateRating":{"@type":"AggregateRating",
"ratingValue":"4.7","reviewCount":"128"}
}
10 Detailed Work Plan — 3 Phases ▲ top
Phase 1 — Critical fixes & foundations (Months 1–3)
Table 21 — Critical fixes (Weeks 1–2)
| # | Action | Discipline | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Add Product+Offer+AggregateRating JSON-LD to PDP theme PLATFORM | SEO·AIO | Theme dev |
| 2 | Enforce one semantic per store page PLATFORM | SEO | Theme dev |
| 3 | Organization + sameAs schema on homepages | GEO | SEO |
Table 22 — Security & robustness (Weeks 3–4)
| # | Action | Discipline |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Add HSTS, CSP, X-Content-Type-Options, X-Frame-Options | Security |
| 5 | Resolve any mixed-content asset references | Security |
| 6 | Verify sitemap.xml + robots.txt correctness | Technical |
Table 23 — Structured data & content (Month 2)
| # | Action | Discipline |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | BreadcrumbList schema + breadcrumb UI on categories PLATFORM | SEO |
| 8 | FAQ/HowTo schema + Q&A blocks on key pages | AIO |
| 9 | LocalBusiness/Pharmacy schema for physical-store brands | SEO·GEO |
Table 24 — Technical improvements (Month 3)
| # | Action | Discipline |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Reciprocal hreflang (ar⇄en) sitewide | SEO |
| 11 | WebP/AVIF + CWV pass (LCP/CLS/INP) | UXO |
| 12 | Open Graph/Twitter cards in theme PLATFORM | UXO·SEO |
Phase 2 — Expansion & growth (Months 4–6)
Table 25 — Phase 2 initiatives
| Initiative | Discipline | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Arabic-first content engine (Academy/blog) targeting comparison queries | AIO·GEO | LLM-citable authority content. |
| Digital-PR & link-earning to close DR gap vs Zid | SEO·GEO | DR 73 → 80+. |
| Review/rating widgets → AggregateRating schema | SEO·UXO | Star snippets + trust. |
Phase 3 — Differentiation & leadership (Months 7–12)
Table 26 — Phase 3 initiatives
| Initiative | Discipline | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Own "best ecommerce platform in Saudi Arabia" AI answer space | GEO | Default LLM recommendation in KSA. |
| Entity graph: Wikidata/Crunchbase/sameAs consistency | GEO | Knowledge-panel strength. |
| Store-SEO scorecard product for merchants | SEO·UXO | Ecosystem-wide SEO uplift = moat. |
11 Recommendations & Conclusion ▲ top
Table 27 — Top-10 immediate recommendations
| # | Recommendation | Priority | Effort |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Product/Offer/Rating schema on PDP theme PLATFORM | Critical | Med |
| 2 | Organization + sameAs + BreadcrumbList schema PLATFORM | Critical | Low |
| 3 | Enforce semantic H1 on store pages PLATFORM | High | Low |
| 4 | FAQ/HowTo schema for AIO | High | Med |
| 5 | Reciprocal hreflang (ar⇄en) | High | Med |
| 6 | LocalBusiness/Pharmacy schema | Medium | Low |
| 7 | Open Graph/Twitter cards PLATFORM | Medium | Low |
| 8 | Fix iBrand over-length bilingual meta | Medium | Low |
| 9 | Live CWV + WebP/AVIF pass | Medium | Med |
| 10 | Digital PR to close DR gap vs Zid | Long-term | High |
Table 28 — Expected outcomes after the plan
| Discipline | Now | After Phase 1 | After Phase 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SEO | 82 | 88 | 92 |
| AIO | 70 | 80 | 88 |
| GEO | 74 | 80 | 88 |
| UXO | 85 | 89 | 93 |
| Overall | 78 | 84 | 90 |
Conclusion: Salla's foundation is genuinely strong (UXO 85, DR 73). The single highest-ROI move is platform-level structured data — it fixes SEO rich results, AIO answer-eligibility and GEO citations for tens of thousands of stores at once. Paired with an Arabic-first AI-content push, it is how Salla out-positions global marketplaces in the market it actually owns.
salla.
Eng. Mithak Alselwee
Salla Marketplace Ecosystem — Full Technical SEO, AI-Visibility & Competitor Audit
Primary platform salla.com, benchmarked against Salla-powered stores 3saf.com (ASSAF) and ibrand.com.sa (iBrand), scored across four disciplines vs Zid, Shopify, Amazon, Noon & Trendyol — presented in enterprise report format with figures, tables and a phased work plan.
§ Contents
0 Executive Summary & Health Scorep.1
i Terms, Definitions & Methodologyp.6
1 Visual Diagrams & Graph Analysisp.9
2 Crawl Results & Technical Analysisp.20
3 Detailed Technical Issues Logp.25
4 Security & Protection Analysisp.34
5 Accessibility Analysis (WCAG)p.36
6 Performance & Speed Analysisp.39
7 Content & Indexing Analysisp.41
8 On-Page SEO Analysisp.43
9 Competitor Analysis (SEO·AIO·GEO·UXO)p.46
★ GEO Deep Dive — llms.txt (3saf.com)p.47
10 Detailed Work Plan (3 Phases)p.48
11 Recommendations & Conclusionp.53
List of Figures
List of Tables (28)
T1 Terms & technical definitionsp.6
T2 General crawl statisticsp.20
T3 Internal file-type distributionp.21
T4 HTTP response codesp.22
T5 Crawl depth by levelp.23
T6 High-priority issuesp.25
T7 Medium-priority issuesp.28
T8 Low-priority issuesp.30
T9 Security headers analysisp.34
T10 WCAG accessibilityp.36
T11 Server response timesp.39
T12 Images & unused resourcesp.40
T13 Content quality & distributionp.41
T14 Sitemap analysisp.42
T15 Page titlesp.43
T16 Meta descriptionsp.43
T17 Internal & external linksp.44
T18 Canonicals & hreflangp.44
T19 Main KSA competitorsp.46
T20 SEO comparison vs competitorsp.46
T21 Critical fixes — weeks 1–2p.48
T22 Security fixes — weeks 3–4p.48
T23 Structured data & content — month 2p.49
T24 Technical improvements — month 3p.50
T25 Phase 2 — expansion & growthp.50
T26 Phase 3 — differentiation & leadershipp.51
T27 Top-10 immediate recommendationsp.53
T28 Expected outcomes after the planp.54
T29 llms.txt discovery & statusp.47
T30 llms.txt ↔ Product schema mapp.47
T31 GEO fix kitp.47
0 Executive Summary & Health Score ▲ top
salla.com is a technically strong, Arabic-native commerce platform (composite 78/100, DR 73). Its two sampled stores inherit a solid server-rendered base but repeat the same template-level gaps — missing H1, Product/FAQ/Breadcrumb/LocalBusiness schema, hreflang and Open Graph — making structured-data remediation a platform-scale, once-and-done opportunity.
Salla Platform FLAGSHIP
salla.com · DR 73
78/100
Grade B · Strong
ASSAF — عساف
3saf.com · DR 41 · luxury
64/100
Grade C · Moderate
iBrand Pharmacy
ibrand.com.sa · DR 26 · health
57/100
Grade C− · Developing
i Terms, Definitions & Methodology ▲ top
Data provenance — LIVE: Ahrefs Domain Rating (all 8 domains) + on-page crawl of the 3 Salla properties. MODELED: crawl-volume tables (T2–T5, T11), WCAG (T10) and 0–100 indices — flagged per-table because deep-crawl, Semrush MCP and paid-Ahrefs endpoints were not available on the current plan. Connect a higher tier to replace modeled figures with measured ones.
Table 1 — Terms & technical definitions reference
| Term | Definition & why it matters |
|---|---|
| SEO | Classic organic search optimization: technical health + on-page relevance + backlink authority. |
| AIO | AI / Answer-Engine Optimization: eligibility to appear in Google AI Overviews, featured snippets & "People also ask". |
| GEO | Generative Engine Optimization: being cited/recommended inside ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity. |
| UXO | UX Optimization: Core Web Vitals, mobile/RTL correctness and conversion experience — now direct ranking inputs. |
| DR | Ahrefs Domain Rating (0–100, log scale) — relative backlink authority strength. |
| Crawl depth | Number of clicks from the homepage to a page. Deeper = less crawl budget & equity. |
| JSON-LD / Schema | Machine-readable structured data. The key lever for rich results, AIO and GEO citations. |
| CWV (LCP/CLS/INP) | Core Web Vitals — loading, visual stability, interactivity. Google ranking & UX signals. |
| hreflang | Language/region annotation (ar⇄en) preventing duplicate-content cannibalization. |
| E-E-A-T | Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust — critical for health/pharmacy (iBrand) & luxury (3saf). |
1 Visual Diagrams & Graph Analysis ▲ top
Structural visualizations of salla.com's link graph and directory architecture. Node size/colour encodes crawl depth and internal-link weight; these mirror the enterprise crawl-diagram set (3D force-directed, word cloud, crawl tree, directory tree, force-directed graphs).
Figure 1 — 3D Force-Directed Crawl Diagram
Homepage hub (centre) radiating to primary hubs (register, login, blog, academy, apps, help) and deeper leaf pages. Pseudo-3D depth = crawl distance.
Modeled from observed navigation graph (live on-page crawl). A full Screaming-Frog pass would populate exact node counts.
Figure 2 — Body-Text Word Cloud
Term frequency across salla.com body content — larger = more prominent. Confirms Arabic-first, KSA-commerce topical focus.
Derived from live homepage/nav text (AR + EN). Salla-green weighting = highest-frequency commercial terms.
Figure 3 — Crawl Tree Graph
Hierarchical page relationships from the homepage root.
Figure 4 — Directory Tree Graph
Folder/URL-path structure (/, /blog, /academy, /apps, /en …).
Figure 5 — Force-Directed Crawl Diagram
Link-equity distribution across pages (2D). Denser clusters = stronger internal-link neighbourhoods.
Figure 6 — Force-Directed Directory Tree
Directory relationships as a force graph — reveals shallow, well-linked architecture.
2 Crawl Results & Technical Analysis ▲ top
Table 2 — General crawl statistics (salla.com) modeled — pending live crawl
| Metric | Value | Observation |
|---|---|---|
| Rendering | Server-side (SSR) | Live-confirmed: content present in raw HTML. |
| Indexable HTML pages (est.) | ~1,200–2,500 | Marketing + blog + academy + app directory. |
| Avg. crawl depth | ~3 | Shallow, healthy architecture. |
| Sitemap present | Verify | Confirm /sitemap.xml completeness. |
| robots.txt | Verify | Confirm no accidental Disallow of key hubs. |
Table 3 — Internal file-type distribution modeled
| File type | Share (est.) | SEO note |
|---|---|---|
| HTML | 38% | OK |
| Images (JPG/PNG/WebP) | 34% | WebP audit |
| JavaScript | 15% | Bundle audit |
| CSS | 8% | OK |
| Fonts / other | 5% | Info |
File-type mix
Table 4 — HTTP response codes modeled
| Code | Meaning | Est. count | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200 | OK | ~95% | Healthy. |
| 301 | Permanent redirect | ~3% | Audit for redirect chains. |
| 302 | Temporary redirect | ~1% | Convert to 301 where permanent. |
| 404 | Not found | <1% | Fix internal links pointing to them. |
| 5xx | Server error | ~0 | Monitor. |
Table 5 — Crawl depth by level modeled
| Depth | Pages (est.) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 0 (home) | 1 | Root hub. |
| 1 | ~40 | Primary nav hubs. |
| 2 | ~350 | Categories / blog indexes. |
| 3 | ~900 | Articles / app pages. |
| 4+ | ~400 | Watch for orphan/deep pages. |
Depth distribution
3 Detailed Technical Issues Log ▲ top
Issues from the live on-page crawl of all three properties, prioritized by SEO impact ÷ fix effort. PLATFORM = fixable once in the Salla theme to benefit every store.
Table 6 — High-priority issues live findings
| Issue | Where | Sev. | Impact / fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| No Product/Offer/AggregateRating schema | 3saf, iBrand PLATFORM | Critical | Blocks rich results + AI answers (price/stock/rating). Add JSON-LD to PDP template. |
| Missing <h1> in hero | 3saf, iBrand PLATFORM | Critical | Core on-page signal lost. Enforce one semantic H1 per page. |
| No Organization/sameAs schema on homepage | salla.com | High | Weakens knowledge graph & GEO citation. Add Organization + sameAs. |
| No BreadcrumbList schema | all PLATFORM | High | Lost breadcrumb SERP + weaker crawl semantics. |
| hreflang (ar⇄en) not reciprocal | all | High | AR/EN cannibalization risk. Add reciprocal annotations. |
Table 7 — Medium-priority issues live findings
| Issue | Where | Sev. | Impact / fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Graph / Twitter cards missing | all PLATFORM | Medium | Weak social/link-preview CTR. Add OG tags to theme head. |
| Meta description over-length & bilingual | iBrand | Medium | SERP truncation. Split AR/EN, ≤ 160 chars. |
| No LocalBusiness/Pharmacy schema | 3saf, iBrand | Medium | 25+ stores (3saf) unmapped. Add LocalBusiness/Pharmacy. |
| Meta description not confirmed unique | salla.com | Medium | Verify uniqueness per template. |
Table 8 — Low-priority issues live findings
| Issue | Where | Sev. | Impact / fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| No FAQ/HowTo schema | all | Low→AIO | Opportunity, not error — fastest path into AI Overviews. |
| Image alt-text coverage | 3saf, iBrand | Low | Audit product-image alts for accessibility + image SEO. |
| Next-gen image formats | all | Low | Serve WebP/AVIF on hero carousels. |
4 Security & Protection Analysis ▲ top
Passive, non-intrusive header-level review only — no active testing performed. All three properties enforce HTTPS on Salla-managed infrastructure.
Table 9 — Security headers analysis passive
| Header / check | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|
| HTTPS / TLS | Enforced | Managed by Salla platform across all sites. |
| HSTS | Verify | Confirm max-age & includeSubDomains on stores. |
| Content-Security-Policy | Verify | Often under-configured on SaaS themes. |
| X-Frame-Options / frame-ancestors | Verify | Clickjacking protection. |
| X-Content-Type-Options | Verify | Add nosniff. |
| Mixed content | Verify | Audit image-heavy stores for non-HTTPS assets. |
| Exposed secrets in HTML | None seen | No keys/tokens observed (passive only). |
5 Accessibility Analysis (WCAG) ▲ top
Table 10 — WCAG 2.1 conformance modeled — needs axe/Lighthouse run
| Criterion | Est. status | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1.1.1 Non-text content (alt) | Partial | Audit product-image alt coverage. |
| 1.3.1 Info & relationships (headings) | At risk | Missing H1 breaks heading hierarchy on stores. |
| 1.4.3 Contrast | Likely OK | Verify banner-text overlays. |
| 2.4.4 Link purpose | Likely OK | Descriptive category links present. |
| 3.1.1 Language of page (lang/dir) | OK | Arabic RTL correctly declared. |
| 4.1.2 Name/role/value (ARIA) | Verify | Check interactive filters/carousels. |
6 Performance & Speed Analysis ▲ top
Table 11 — Server response & Core Web Vitals modeled — needs live CWV
| Metric | salla.com | 3saf.com | ibrand.com.sa | Target |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TTFB | Good (SSR) | Verify | Verify | < 0.8s |
| LCP | Verify | Hero risk | Hero risk | < 2.5s |
| CLS | Verify | Banner risk | Banner risk | < 0.1 |
| INP | Verify | Filter interactions | Filter interactions | < 200ms |
Table 12 — Images & unused resources modeled
| Item | Status | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| Next-gen formats (WebP/AVIF) | Audit | Convert hero & product images. |
| Lazy-loading below fold | Likely on | Confirm loading="lazy". |
| Unused JS/CSS | Audit | Coverage report to trim theme bundles. |
| Image dimensions set | Verify | Prevents CLS. |
7 Content & Indexing Analysis ▲ top
Table 13 — Content quality & distribution from crawl
| Property | Topical focus | Content depth | Duplication risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| salla.com | E-commerce platform, academy, blog | Rich | AR/EN (hreflang) |
| 3saf.com | Luxury perfumes/watches/bags | Product-led | Thin category text |
| ibrand.com.sa | Pharmacy, health & beauty | Catalog-led | Wholesale/variant dup risk |
Table 14 — Sitemap analysis verify
| Check | Status | Action |
|---|---|---|
| XML sitemap present | Verify | Confirm /sitemap.xml and index maps. |
| Submitted to GSC | Verify | Ensure both AR & EN maps submitted. |
| Includes all product URLs | Verify | Salla auto-generates; confirm coverage. |
| lastmod accuracy | Info | Helps recrawl priority. |
8 On-Page SEO Analysis ▲ top
Table 15 — Page titles live
| Property | Title (observed) | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| salla.com | منصة سلة: حلول التجارة الإلكترونية الشاملة في السعودية | Strong |
| 3saf.com | عساف ASSAF | Too short |
| ibrand.com.sa | صيدلية آي براند - iBrand | Add keywords |
Table 16 — Meta descriptions live
| Property | Present | Length | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| salla.com | Verify | — | Confirm unique per template. |
| 3saf.com | Yes | OK | Strong trust signals ("best Saudi brand 2025"). |
| ibrand.com.sa | Yes | Too long | Bilingual single string — split & trim ≤160 chars. |
Table 17 — Internal & external links live
| Property | Internal linking | External | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| salla.com | Extensive | Social + apps | Strong hub linking (register/blog/academy/apps). |
| 3saf.com | Category-rich | Social | Add breadcrumb + related-product links. |
| ibrand.com.sa | Category-rich | App links | 15+ categories; add breadcrumb links. |
Table 18 — Canonicals & hreflang live
| Property | Canonical | hreflang | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| salla.com | Verify | Add | /en/ exists — add reciprocal ar⇄en. |
| 3saf.com | Verify | Add | AR/EN category links unpaired. |
| ibrand.com.sa | Verify | Add | Bilingual UI without hreflang. |
9 Competitor Analysis — SEO · AIO · GEO · UXO ▲ top
Salla vs Zid, Shopify, Amazon, Noon, Trendyol. Domain Rating is live (Ahrefs); discipline indices are analyst-composite anchored on that DR.
Domain Rating (live Ahrefs)
Live, 05 Jul 2026. Salla DR 73 trails Zid (85) — the key authority gap.
Salla vs Zid — 4-discipline radar
Four-discipline comparison — all platforms
Table 19 — Main KSA/GCC competitors live DR
| Platform | Ahrefs DR | Type | Threat to Salla |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zid | 85 | KSA SaaS commerce | Direct |
| Noon | 81 | GCC marketplace | Indirect |
| Amazon.sa | 96 | Marketplace | Indirect |
| Shopify | 96 | Global SaaS | Segment |
| Trendyol | 90 | MENA/TR marketplace | Emerging |
Table 20 — SEO/AIO/GEO/UXO scorecard composite
| Platform | DR | SEO | AIO | GEO | UXO | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salla 🟢 | 73 | 82 | 70 | 74 | 85 | 78 |
| Zid | 85 | 80 | 68 | 70 | 82 | 76 |
| Shopify | 96 | 95 | 88 | 90 | 92 | 92 |
| Amazon | 96 | 98 | 90 | 94 | 88 | 93 |
| Noon | 81 | 88 | 75 | 80 | 85 | 82 |
| Trendyol | 90 | 90 | 78 | 82 | 86 | 84 |
Verdict: Salla & Zid are effectively tied (78 vs 76) in the KSA segment — Salla wins UXO, Zid leads authority. Don't chase Amazon/Shopify on DR; own Arabic-language AIO/GEO, a white space none of the incumbents fully hold.
★ GEO Deep Dive — llms.txt & AI-Discoverability (3saf.com) ▲ top
Focused analysis of ASSAF's llms.txt — the file that tells ChatGPT/Claude/Perplexity what the store sells. It exists and is above-average for a Salla store, but the product facts inside it are not mirrored in on-page Product/Offer schema, and the localized path an AI would guess (/ar/llms.txt) returns 404.
Table 29 — File discovery & status live
| Path / check | Status | Finding |
|---|---|---|
/ar/llms.txt (localized) | 404 | Does not exist — AI tools reasoning "Arabic store → /ar/" get nothing. |
/llms.txt (root) | Valid | Canonical file. 8 sections, 47 URLs, proper Markdown links. |
/llms-full.txt | Valid | Extended catalog + policies present. |
Referenced in robots.txt | No | No discovery pointer for AI crawlers. |
| AI-crawler rules (GPTBot/ClaudeBot/Google-Extended) | None | No explicit allow/deny policy declared. |
| Sitemap vs llms.txt localization | Mismatch | Sitemap is /ar/sitemap.xml but llms.txt is root-only — inconsistent. |
llms.txt GEO-readiness matrix (overall ≈ 59/100)
Green ≥75 · amber 50–74 · red <50. Weakest axes: schema alignment, machine-readability, freshness.
Product-line format (live)
Each line carries name + URL + description + price — good, but missing schema-grade fields.
[عطر اتاكس - الهجوم](https://3saf.com/ar/Attacks/p646394479):
عطر رجالي من مجموعة اتاكس، 400 ريال
- ✅ name · URL · description · price
- 🔴 no availability, brand entity, image, SKU, rating
- 🔴 currency as text "ريال" — no ISO
SAR - 🔴 raw spaces in some URLs (encoding inconsistent)
Table 30 — llms.txt data ↔ Product/Offer schema mapping live
| Data point | In llms.txt? | schema.org property | In on-page JSON-LD? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product name | Yes | Product.name | Yes |
| URL | Yes | Offer.url | Yes |
| Description | Brief | Product.description | Thin |
| Price | Yes (text) | Offer.price | Missing |
| Currency (ISO SAR) | No | Offer.priceCurrency | Missing |
| Availability | No | Offer.availability | Missing |
| Brand entity | Collection only | Product.brand | Missing |
| Image / SKU / Rating | No | image · sku · AggregateRating | Missing |
The disconnect: llms.txt exposes prices that the on-page Product schema does not (3saf.com carries only Organization schema). AI engines know the price; Google's rich-result system doesn't. Syncing the two layers unlocks star snippets and AI shopping citations at once.
Table 31 — GEO fix kit (priority-ordered)
| # | Fix | Priority | Layer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Add Product+Offer JSON-LD to PDP theme carrying the price llms.txt already lists PLATFORM | Critical | SEO+GEO |
| 2 | Resolve /ar/llms.txt 404 (localized copy or 301 → root) | Critical | GEO |
| 3 | Enrich llms.txt lines: availability + ISO SAR + brand | High | GEO |
| 4 | URL-encode all product URLs (no raw spaces) | High | Tech |
| 5 | Reference llms.txt in robots.txt + declare AI-crawler policy | High | GEO |
| 6 | Add AggregateRating (star snippets + AI trust) | Medium | SEO |
| 7 | Add <lastmod> to sitemaps + "updated" date to llms.txt | Medium | Tech |
Enriched llms.txt line (target)
[عطر اتاكس - الهجوم](https://3saf.com/ar/attacks/p646394479): عطر رجالي شرقي خشبي، مجموعة اتاكس، ثبات ~8 ساعات، 400 ريال سعودي (SAR)، متوفر.
Matching Product JSON-LD (paste into Salla theme)
{
"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Product",
"name":"عطر اتاكس - الهجوم",
"image":"https://cdn.salla.sa/.../attacks.jpg",
"description":"عطر رجالي شرقي خشبي من مجموعة اتاكس",
"sku":"646394479",
"brand":{"@type":"Brand","name":"ASSAF عساف"},
"offers":{"@type":"Offer",
"url":"https://3saf.com/ar/attacks/p646394479",
"priceCurrency":"SAR","price":"400",
"availability":"https://schema.org/InStock",
"itemCondition":"https://schema.org/NewCondition"},
"aggregateRating":{"@type":"AggregateRating",
"ratingValue":"4.7","reviewCount":"128"}
}
10 Detailed Work Plan — 3 Phases ▲ top
Phase 1 — Critical fixes & foundations (Months 1–3)
Table 21 — Critical fixes (Weeks 1–2)
| # | Action | Discipline | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Add Product+Offer+AggregateRating JSON-LD to PDP theme PLATFORM | SEO·AIO | Theme dev |
| 2 | Enforce one semantic <h1> per store page PLATFORM | SEO | Theme dev |
| 3 | Organization + sameAs schema on homepages | GEO | SEO |
Table 22 — Security & robustness (Weeks 3–4)
| # | Action | Discipline |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Add HSTS, CSP, X-Content-Type-Options, X-Frame-Options | Security |
| 5 | Resolve any mixed-content asset references | Security |
| 6 | Verify sitemap.xml + robots.txt correctness | Technical |
Table 23 — Structured data & content (Month 2)
| # | Action | Discipline |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | BreadcrumbList schema + breadcrumb UI on categories PLATFORM | SEO |
| 8 | FAQ/HowTo schema + Q&A blocks on key pages | AIO |
| 9 | LocalBusiness/Pharmacy schema for physical-store brands | SEO·GEO |
Table 24 — Technical improvements (Month 3)
| # | Action | Discipline |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Reciprocal hreflang (ar⇄en) sitewide | SEO |
| 11 | WebP/AVIF + CWV pass (LCP/CLS/INP) | UXO |
| 12 | Open Graph/Twitter cards in theme PLATFORM | UXO·SEO |
Phase 2 — Expansion & growth (Months 4–6)
Table 25 — Phase 2 initiatives
| Initiative | Discipline | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Arabic-first content engine (Academy/blog) targeting comparison queries | AIO·GEO | LLM-citable authority content. |
| Digital-PR & link-earning to close DR gap vs Zid | SEO·GEO | DR 73 → 80+. |
| Review/rating widgets → AggregateRating schema | SEO·UXO | Star snippets + trust. |
Phase 3 — Differentiation & leadership (Months 7–12)
Table 26 — Phase 3 initiatives
| Initiative | Discipline | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Own "best ecommerce platform in Saudi Arabia" AI answer space | GEO | Default LLM recommendation in KSA. |
| Entity graph: Wikidata/Crunchbase/sameAs consistency | GEO | Knowledge-panel strength. |
| Store-SEO scorecard product for merchants | SEO·UXO | Ecosystem-wide SEO uplift = moat. |
11 Recommendations & Conclusion ▲ top
Table 27 — Top-10 immediate recommendations
| # | Recommendation | Priority | Effort |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Product/Offer/Rating schema on PDP theme PLATFORM | Critical | Med |
| 2 | Organization + sameAs + BreadcrumbList schema PLATFORM | Critical | Low |
| 3 | Enforce semantic H1 on store pages PLATFORM | High | Low |
| 4 | FAQ/HowTo schema for AIO | High | Med |
| 5 | Reciprocal hreflang (ar⇄en) | High | Med |
| 6 | LocalBusiness/Pharmacy schema | Medium | Low |
| 7 | Open Graph/Twitter cards PLATFORM | Medium | Low |
| 8 | Fix iBrand over-length bilingual meta | Medium | Low |
| 9 | Live CWV + WebP/AVIF pass | Medium | Med |
| 10 | Digital PR to close DR gap vs Zid | Long-term | High |
Table 28 — Expected outcomes after the plan
| Discipline | Now | After Phase 1 | After Phase 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SEO | 82 | 88 | 92 |
| AIO | 70 | 80 | 88 |
| GEO | 74 | 80 | 88 |
| UXO | 85 | 89 | 93 |
| Overall | 78 | 84 | 90 |
Conclusion: Salla's foundation is genuinely strong (UXO 85, DR 73). The single highest-ROI move is platform-level structured data — it fixes SEO rich results, AIO answer-eligibility and GEO citations for tens of thousands of stores at once. Paired with an Arabic-first AI-content push, it is how Salla out-positions global marketplaces in the market it actually owns.