Magento 2 is an open-source product that is widely used for managing eCommerce websites. There are many challenges in the present times for the eCommerce industry. To fight against all these challenges, it is important that these eCommerce websites are optimized in the best possible way to ensure that they get better exposure in the online market. This blog talks about some Magento 2 SEO tips.

Why retailers use Magento?

Magento is one of the most preferred open-source platforms to build a robust eCommerce store.

We can have an idea of its growing popularity through the fact that over 250,000 merchants rely on this platform to run their eCommerce business.

After the advent of the revolutionary Magento 2 version, this number increases significantly as Indian, Australian, and Canadian eCommerce store owners have also started using this system.

The global top brands including Coca-Cola, Burger King, and Zumiez count on the Magento platform. Here are a few reasons why retailers use Magento for building their eCommerce website:

• It can handle millions of orders at once with 99.999% uptime.
• One of the most flexible platforms that give the online shop a unique experience.
• It has hundreds of thousands of high-quality integration and customized extensions.
• It offers 24/7 support worldwide.

All these benefits attract the vendors to build their online stores in Magento. Apart from these benefits, the Magento 2 platform is capable of enhancing the website’s visibility through its excellent SEO support. However, SEO remains challenging for the store owners in their Magento 2 store.

Highly effective Magento 2 SEO tips to optimize your website

1. Check and increase page loading speed

Your website speed is one of the most powerful factors to affect your SEO efforts.

Though Magento 2 offers faster page load speed than its predecessor Magento 1, you should check and increase the speed even more. The faster speed not only helps you get higher online visibility but also enables you to provide a pleasant user experience.

Source: Neilpatel.com

Pro Tip: Install defer JavaScript extension. It allows HTML and CSS to be loaded before JS to increase the loading speed of your website. You can also merge CSS and JS files and optimize images to increase the site speed. Experienced Magento developers can easily perform these tasks.

Useful Reading: How To Speed Up Your Magento 2 Website?

2. Make your website mobile-friendly

In the age of mCommerce, your eCommerce website should be mobile-friendly or responsive.

Even Google also prefers such websites in giving the higher ranks. Magento 2 framework enables the developers to build a responsive website, which runs seamlessly across various devices.

Pro Tip: Apart from being responsive, your eCommerce store should support Google AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages). The AMP is four times faster than normal mobile-friendly pages. Such pages can also support the SEO campaigns in the future.

As Magento 2 does not support the AMP version of your eCommerce store, it is better to keep your website’s structure simple.

3. Make the navigation easy and simple

Any eCommerce website needs simple and easy-to-use navigation. It can help the visitors or customers browse what they want with ease.

While working on navigation, you need to remain careful in designing filters because the Googlebot can waste your bandwidth while crawling in and out of them.

Pro Tip: Integration of AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript And XML) framework can make your Magento 2 store’s navigation SEO-friendly. However, the Magento 2 platform does not support this feature, so you need to try a custom Magento extension. Also, a third-party extension like Previous Next Product Navigation and Advanced Category Slider are a few excellent third-party extensions for your Magento 2 store, which can make the navigation and product search easier for your customers.

4. Keep relevant URLs

How about keeping the following URL for your product webpage?

website.com/category-sub-category/year of website building/

Do you find it relevant? Now, let’s go through the following URL:

website.com/category-sub-category/product-name/

You can certainly consider the above URL ideal for the product page. If you give relevant titles to the URLs, Google will find out the theme of your page. Automatically such a page becomes optimized for search engines.

Pro Tip: Do not add any irrelevant and unnecessary information in the URL. The URL is like an ID through which your webpage is known for the search engines. It is advisable to follow the ideal structure while making the URLs.

5. Set up Google Search Console and Analytics

Well, this is the first and foremost requirement to start SEO for your Magento 2 website. Google Search Console or Google Webmaster Tools can enable you to track and manage your eCommerce site’s performance, whereas Google Analytics can help you track the web traffic on your site.

Image Source: Serps.com

Pro Tip: Here you should take care of domain and subdomain. You should set up the domain in the Google Search Console. The SERPs (Search Engine Ranking Pages) will show this domain and Google will consider it for the ranking. A third-party extension Google Custom Search Integration can also enhance the search functionality of your Magento 2 store.

6. Make your website more secure

Many website owners argue that HTTP makes the website secure and there is no need for HTTPS.

It is true that HTTPS is an advanced version of HTTP and provides more security, but when it comes to the eCommerce website, you should opt for HTTPS.

The reason is simple. Hundreds of thousands of customers visit your website on a weekly or monthly basis. It makes your website a soft target for hackers, and the valuable data of your customers can be at risk. In this situation, HTTPS is more preferable for an online shop.

Source: comodosslstore.com

Pro Tip: In the year 2014, Google has announced that it will prefer HTTPS as compared to HTTP for ranking. Therefore, you should opt for HTTPS for your store.

7. Use Robots txt file and XML Sitemap

When Magento 2 is installed, the eCommerce web developers place the robots.txt file in the root. The search engine crawlers read this robots file and indexing your website accordingly. In a way, the Magento 2 Robots.txt file plays a significant role in optimizing your website.

Also, you should generate a Magento 2 XML sitemap. You have two default options available in Magento 2 for the XML sitemap. They are frequency setting and priority for the updates of product and category pages.

You can readily generate a basic XML sitemap and submit It to Google Search Console. It helps the search bot to index your website.

Pro Tip: If you have an eCommerce store with a wide range of products, it is better to upgrade the default XML sitemap. It provides better crawling. However, it is also necessary to divide the sitemap and exclude a few private links to avoid any misuse by hackers.

8. Improve indexing by generating HTML Sitemap

Do you know that if your website has no HTML sitemap, you miss the chance of indexing it more carefully by Google?

It is a plain fact that HTML sitemap is also as important as the XML sitemap.

Apart from indexing, the HTML sitemap also helps visitors search for products on your website. But, here there is a small problem. Magento supports the HTML sitemap, but Magento 2 is currently not supporting it.

Pro Tip: You can opt for a third-party extension for generating HTML sitemap in your Magento 2 store.

9. Use rich snippets

It is fair to mention that more information about your product and store on the SERPs (Search Engine Ranking Pages) can result in a higher CTR (Click Through Rate). You can serve this purpose by using rich snippets.

The rich snippets are nothing but a type of structured data markup that helps Google understand the website’s content. Rich snippets also enable the search engine to show special features on the search result pages like product rating and review, social links, logo, and address. Such business-related information can enhance trustworthiness.

Pro Tip: Magento 2 platform only supports rating and review as rich snippets. However, you can improve the default Magento 2 rich snippets by using a third-party extension.

10. Integrate Open Graph and Twitter Cards

It is easy to show the preview of title, meta description, and even images along with URL if your Magento 2 store support tags for social networks. Open Graph and Twitter Cards tags enable you to serve this objective for Facebook and Twitter respectively.

These tags enable your users or visitors to share a web page URL along with a title, description, etc. However, Magento 2 does not support both these tags currently.

Pro Tip: Magento web developers can help you implement these tags on your eCommerce website. You can also opt for purchasing a third-party extension for this useful functionality.

Now we will go through some effective On-page Magento 2 SEO tips that can boost your SEO efforts and improve the ranking of your website.

11. Avoid Duplicate and Similar Content

For a moment, just put your legs in the visitor’s shoes.

How do you feel when you find the same shirt in the different sheds (like green, blue, and red) with the same content and the different URLs?

Even crawlers or search bots also punish different URLs with the same content. As a result, your online reputation decreases over the period.

Here, you can take help from a canonical tag. It enables you to tell Google which is the main URL to assign the proper search value to other pages with similar content. Canonical URLs are highly useful for the Magento 2 store because you show many similar products in the same category.

Pro Tip: Product pages with the variation in size and colors can be identified by canonical tags. Also, you can use pagination and show the canonical tag for category pages.

12. Social sharing

We live in an age dominated by social media. No business can thrive without the help of social networks these days.

Social media can act as a replacement for the word to mouth publicity.

When you integrate the social sharing button, you enable your consumers to share their views on their social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. It can increase the visibility and referral traffic on your eCommerce website.

Pro Tip: Magento 2 does not support social sharing but you can install a module for integrating this feature. Magento web developers can add this feature to your existing eCommerce website with ease as well.

13. Do Keyword research

Well, this is the most basic and yet one of the most effective SEO techniques to date.

Actually, the main objective of SEO is to take your website’s position on the SERPs as high as possible for relevant keywords. You can use Google Keyword Planner, SEMRush, or Ahrefs for researching keywords.

In today’s competitive scenario, you should also keep an eye on the competitors’ online activities. Both SEMRush and Ahrefs enable you to peek into the competitor’s keywords and ranking.

With the proper keyword research, you will better understand your customers and yield the highest return over investment (ROI).

Pro Tip: It is better to find out the primary and highest-ranking keyword for your Magento store. You should aim for a single primary keyword or topic for each page. Usually, lower volume keywords are easier to be ranked up than higher volume keywords. Also, check the keywords used by your competitors for their popular products.

14. Keep URL short

URLs act as an address of your webpage. Therefore, it needs to be precise, keyword-rich, and short. Relevant and unique URLs can easily inform Google about the page’s theme and content. Remember, your URL should contain a primary keyword, but, there is no need for keyword stuffing.

The search-friendly URL needs to contain at least one keyword.

Image Source: Moz.com

Pro Tip: You can exclude the category and sub-category to make your URL shorter.

Related Reading: SEO Guide 2019 – 10 Pillars Of An Effective SEO Strategy

15. Use Breadcrumbs

An eCommerce website is full of categories and sub-categories. The Breadcrumbs is very useful in such a website. It can make the navigation better for the user while simplifying the complicated structure of the website.

Breadcrumbs can show the navigation path of the product. It shows a better display in the search result, and the visitor can know the path.

Pro Tip: Any Magento 2 store needs breadcrumbs to facilitate the visitor to search the product.

16. Write SEO-friendly Product Description

Content can make or break the reputation of your eCommerce business. When it comes to the online shop, the product page needs a rich piece of content. Such content can not only attract visitors to become buyers but also help crawlers to judge the product.

Poorly written content can lead your webpage to a lower ranking.

When we say SEO-friendly content, it does not mean that you should write any superfluous words and use heavy language. Simple but keyword-based content can work wonders for your webpage.

Pro Tip: Here are a few tips to write SEO-based product description:

1. Write the description in detail to help people and crawlers understand your product
2. It is better to set the H1, H2, and H3 tag
3. You should include the primary keyword in the heading
4. Other keywords should be included in the first and last part
5. Avoid keyword stuffing and keep the keyword density below 5 percent
6. Try to put a link to related products in your description

17. Include Review and Rating

When it comes to the eCommerce website, the user-generated content can play a significant role in convincing other users. It can attract other people and improve the trustworthiness of your business.

Rating and review matter a lot when people search for something and many online retailers offer it. Also, the chances of selection are high even of the product with a small description because of good reviews and ratings. You can also show the rating in rich snippets for various products.

Pro Tip: Magento 2 enables you to show the rating and review as rich snippets. You can also include the Q&A section. It can attract more users by giving them a chance to interact with your website. As a result, the bounce rate decreases and the CTR increases. Q&A, reviews, and ratings together empower your product to become a brand.

18. Keep Everything Simple

The eCommerce website should be simple enough to understand every product. Be it navigation or content, the visitor should readily find what they want in your store.

Don’t force your existing or prospective customers to read so much about your products.

Magento 2 is a robust platform that can include hundreds of thousands of products across different categories. But then, if you make the website complicated, you may lose visitors due to increasing competition.

Pro Tip: SEO requires to-the-point content and simple design. It is better to keep the end-user in mind while developing a Magento 2 website for your business. If you think of Google bots, remember, they also hate complex words and irrelevant material on your website.

19. Write Title and Description Properly

Meta title and description are important from an SEO viewpoint. The meta title is responsible for the first impression for your webpages in the mind of visitors. It also impacts the CTR and conversion rate. Apart from including the main keyword or targeted keyword, the meta title needs to follow the following tips:

1. It should be of 50 to 60 characters long
2. CTA (Call To Action) like ‘Buy Now’ can increase the CTR by 20%
3. You can show the USP of your product while writing a title for the product page

After the title tag, the description comes. The meta description is different than the product description in two ways: One, it is written for the search engine and Two, it contains the keywords but it is shorter than the product description. It gives additional information to the customers as one more reason to click!

Pro Tip: It is difficult to write the right meta description for thousands of products. Here, the third party Magento 2 extension can assist you. It can create meta info in bulk and you can use variables like category and product feature to differentiate the meta description.

Both meta title and description are important from a search engine ranking perspective also. Therefore, they should be written precisely. You can take help of a Magento development company for it.

20. Optimize Images

Many retailers fail to leverage the benefits of product images. It is because they have no idea of image optimization. You can use the alt tag to optimize all your images. Just fill the alt tag with your keyword and the crawlers will understand your image.

Alt tag helps your product to show in the image search and increases its visibility.

Another problem with an eCommerce website is its slow loading time. In a fast-growing domain like eCommerce and M-commerce, if your website takes a long to load, it is unacceptable. Therefore, you should optimize your images with their size reduced to less than 100 kB. It can decrease the PLT (Page Load Time) considerably.

Pro Tip: An eCommerce website contains a lot of images. All your product pages should contain at least one clear and catchy image to appeal to visitors. It is even better if you can come up with images of the same products from different angles.

That’s not all. As Google prefers rich media content, you should add the product videos for gaining traction and a higher ranking. People just love to watch how the product works and its benefits. Your product can also get the advantage of a video search. Just remember to put the product page link in your video’s description.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a product video could very well be worth a thousand sales. -Neil Patel

21. Add blog section

The blog section can serve many purposes. You can use the blog extension for your Magento store. There is no need to learn coding or even WordPress to start writing a blog for your Magento store. You can inform the visitors and customers about the new product launch, promotional offers, and trends with the help of a blog.

Pro Tip: It is better to update the blog section regularly. You can assign this task to the content marketing agency initially to grab the attention of visitors and customers. When you post blogs frequently, Google will also notice it, and give your blog a preference on the search pages.

Conclusion

Here we gave you a comprehensive Magento 2 SEO guide. You should consult a leading Magento web development services provider to get more idea of how you can boost web traffic for your existing or proposed Magento 2 store through search engine optimization techniques.

At Solwin Infotech, we build a customer-friendly eCommerce store using the Magento platform. Our expert Magento developers can address your online business requirements effectively by integrating Magento 2 extensions and Magento 2 themes. We have developed eCommerce websites for different products with over 60+ customized Magento 2 extensions and 15+ Magento extensions.

Just contact us with your eCommerce concept and we will transform it into a full-fledged online shop with all user-friendly features and excellent appearance.