Introduction to Magento SEO
If you’re reading this article, you know the importance of SEO in an eCommerce website. Organic traffic through search engines like Google is way vital for eCommerce websites. It acts like natural foot traffic that traditional store enjoys from the beginning.
The latest version of Magento is known as “Magento 2”. It was launched in 2015. The updated shopping carts improve SEO features in many ways. For example, integrated image optimization, better tools for creating and managing an XML sitemap, URL rewriting. Still, the platform falls out on some SEO context as compared to WordPress or Onveos. Magento is finally addressing Magento SEO issues that plagued the software from the beginning.
Before moving ahead, let’s know what Magento is?
What is Magento?
Magento is a powerful and fastest-growing eCommerce platform in the market. Magento is crucial in today’s eCommerce marketplace because of the latest and innovative customized features. While building eCommerce or retailers enhancing large multi-channel online presence Magento is the first choice. Besides features, Magento SEO is also another reason that attracts developers.
- Magento is an open-source eCommerce website with different customized features.
- Magento is not a hosting solution. Instead, it allows developers to have complete control and flexibility while designing the website.
- The biggest advantage of Magento is that it’s free to download.
- Magento SEO is search engine friendly, just like WordPress.
- Magento forums are available for assistance. They highlight the tricks, tips, and support.
- It’s one of the greatest eCommerce platforms for the online selling of goods.
- It also provides a mobile-friendly configuration.
- Magento is an eCommerce website that is supported by many developers and merchants globally.
How to Do Magento SEO for Your Ecommerce Website?
One of the concerns of users is Magento SEO. Magento is SEO-friendly while installing, but still, many things can be improved. In this article, you will learn how to improve Magento SEO for eCommerce websites. It will help the website to rank higher in Google search engine results.
The top 9 Magento SEO tips:
- Update Magento to the Latest Version
- Change Default Settings
- URL Optimization
- Product Image Optimization
- Canonical Tags and Duplicate Content
- Sitemap Management and Optimization
- Optimize Internal Linking
- Clean, Organized Source Code
- Upgrade Site Speed Optimization
According to a web design services agency in the USA, you need to update the latest version to improve Magento SEO for an eCommerce website. It is one of the first and foremost steps to improve SEO skills to leverage more sales. Magento usually keeps upgrading, in which many features are SEO-friendly. Besides SEO, upgrading keeps your site protected from bugs, as Magento patches know security loopholes periodically.
In 2015, Magento 2.0 was launched. In the last few years, many updates and security patches took place for better outcomes. If you are still using the 1.X version of Magento, I highly recommend switching to 2.0.
It improves Magento SEO for eCommerce websites. Remember to change the default setting while setting up the store on Magento 2.X version. Here’s how to do that:
- From the Magento admin, navigate the Content> Design > Configuration.
- Click “edit” on the default store view.
- Then scroll down to search the HTML Head section. It’s the place where you can edit the store’s default title, description, and furthermore.
Changing Titles and Meta Descriptions for Categories & Products
Products: in the admin, navigate to a product and then catalog. Then select “edit product” in the search engine optimization section. It’s the place where you can paste titles, keywords, and meta descriptions. The “Meta Keywords” tags are considered outdated these days. However, it’s an essential element for Magento SEO.
Categories: in the admin, navigate to products and then categories. Then click on a category to search SEO settings by scrolling down in the above products.
- URL Optimization
The Magento version may, by default, automatically add store codes to the URL. But believe me, you don’t want to have 100% configuration of your eCommerce website in this way.
You can go to store, select configuration > General > Web> URL options. Here you can set the option from “Add Store Code to URL” to “No.”
Moreover, you can remove “index.php” from Magento URLs. It makes the eCommerce website a more clean and SEO-friendly URL structure.
- Product Image Optimization
According to Magento website development, product image optimization is another important element for Magento SEO improvement. It will help the product page rank higher in Google search results. Moreover it also these images in Google images searches can be additional traffic for your eCommerce website. Follow the following steps to optimize the product image.
- Always use files name rather than numbers or letters to describe images or products.
- Remember to use alt text to describe the image. Also, don’t forget to use keywords in the descriptions.
- You will find these settings under catalog>products. For example, in “Configurable products,” double click on the thumbnail. Then select “Go to Details Page.” It’s the place where you can see image resolution and size. Moreover, you can add alt text.
- Canonical Tags and Duplicate Content
Duplicate Content is a major issue that plagues eCommerce websites and affects Magento SEO. The common reasons for duplicate content are:
- Pagination
- Product filtering
- Same product available in many categories
- Variations of product with a minor difference.
You can resolve this issue with canonical tags. Canonical tags inform Google about the “actual” location of the page of duplicate content.
- Sitemap Creation and Optimization
Magento 2.0 doesn’t support automatically generated sitemaps. For this matter, you have to install an extension, or else you can manage it manually. I highly recommend Dynamic HTML Sitemap for Magento 2.0.
With the correct extension, you can:
- Generate automatic sitemaps
- Customize listing orders.
- You can add links to external domains within the sitemap.
- Internal Linking
Internal linking plays a vital role in Magento SEO. It helps search engine bots to understand your eCommerce website. And give opportunity for optimization. Remember to optimize anchor text in internal linking is very important. But make sure it’s natural and diverse, not spam.
Magento has many features and options that can improve the internal linking of your eCommerce website. For example, by adding related products, up-sell, and cross-sell products for the product in your store.
- Site Sped Optimization
Magento is not a super-fast eCommerce website platform. But there are several ways to improve site speed optimization for Magento SEO.
- Try to enable caching.
- You can also enable “flat categories” and “flat products.”
- You can merge JavaScript and CSS files. You can accomplish merging in Magento admin under Stores> Configuration> Advanced> Developer.
- Clean, Organized Source Code, JavaScript, and CSS
Search engines like Google and other bots love clean and well-organized coding. However, you will not have much control over Magento eCommerce website source code. But still, there are a few things you can do to improve Magento SEO.
- Try to minify JavaScript and CSS.
- Move JavaScript and CSS in the template files to the external files. Then, the users and search engines can easily cache it.
- Even having a Magento developer can be beneficial. He can identify Magento SEO issues and improve them for better outcomes.
Conclusion
In this article, I try to highlight a few SEO tips for the Magento eCommerce website. It will help to rank higher in search engine results to leverage more traffic for the site. So, take time to review and implement these tips and tricks to your eCommerce website to improve Magento SEO. I hope you liked and enjoyed the article.
