Magento SEO Guide: Crafting an effective Magento SEO strategy can be a daunting task for any store owner. This comprehensive checklist is designed to steer you away from common SEO pitfalls and ensure your site ranks well in search engine results.
Technical Magento SEO Checklist:
1. Site Speed
2. Mobile Friendliness
3. Navigation
4. URL Structure
5. Google Search Console and Google Analytics
6. www vs. non-www
7. HTTP vs. HTTPS
8. Robots.txt File
9. XML Sitemap
10. Rich Snippets
Site Speed – First, let’s gauge your website’s performance. Head over to Google PageSpeed Insights, input your website’s URL, and assess the score. If you find your score lingering in the yellow or red zone, immediate action is imperative. A slow website not only impacts traffic but also hampers lead generation and revenue. Google favours swift sites, granting them priority in search rankings. The reason it does this is because Google wants every search to give the best user experience, and the speed of your website affects user experience (UX).
Mobile Friendliness – Google uses a mobile-first index, which means that even if your site is targeted to desktop users, it needs to be built in a mobile friendly way – no huge images that don’t fit a smaller screen, no videos that overhang the edges, no buttons that are too small to tap etc. If you have a fast desktop site but a slow mobile site, it will struggle to rank in search results, affecting the number of visitors to your website, therefore impacting the ability to generate revenue.
Navigation – a part of the Google algorithm is whether you can easily find things on your website, and navigation is key to the success of ranking well on both Google and Microsoft Bing. Ensure that your page content has relevant internal links, that your navigation is clear and concise, and that nothing is more than 3 clicks away.
URL Structure – This is key because we need to remember that Google cannot see your site, only read it, and if your URL is not up to scratch it makes it harder for Google to determine what the page may be about, and also the semantics of the site. A URL with products sitting under a product category tells Google that /fish-types/bass/ means the keyword bass in the URL relates to Fish, whereas /guitar -types/bass/ means the same keyword in this URL relates to musical instruments. You will also notice that we have ended the URL with a forward slash / which tells Google that this is the end of the URL and you can move on to crawling the page.
Google Search Console (GSC) and Google Analytics (GA4) – Without the ability to see what is happening with regards to Impressions, Clicks and Conversions, you cannot tell which Marketing Campaign, or which Channel is working and which needs further improvement, or even abandoning. You need both of these to Optimise your website as a bare minimum to reduce marketing waste, and ensure your marketing budget is giving your business a return on investment (ROI).
www vs. non-www – In reality every web page is on the World Wide Web, and you do not need to type www to find any website. If you are using both www.domain.com and domain.com, then Google will take www as a subdomain. But this needs to be clarified when deciding which domain to display and rank. We suggest using one only, and that it is non-www.
HTTP vs. HTTPS – This is essential! Only use https on an eCommerce (or any) website for added security and protection of your clients information and to help in the fight of credit card fraud. No eCommerce site should ever be running on http alone, without the padlock, without an SSL certificate.
Robots.txt File – A Robots txt files tells the bots (including the Google bot) what pages to ignore (such as admin or user logins for security reasons) and where to find your sitemap, which is a list of all the pages on your website, that the bots can look at and therefore easily find web pages to show on their Search Engine.
XML Sitemap – This is key to aiding the bots (including the Google Bot) to understand all the pages on your sitemap, and how the site is structured. This acts as a list of pages for possible indexing.
Rich Snippets – In the search results, both Google and Bing show Rich Snippets results, and these are extremely valuable, as they are placed high on the results pages (SERPs) and are larger that the standard advert which just shows your URL, Meta Title and Meta Description (see on-page SEO tips, coming up next). Magento uses a plugin to help with this.
On-page SEO Tips For Magento:
11. Canonical Tag
12. Hreflang Tags for Multi-Store Views
13. Keyword and Competitor Research
14. Meta Title
15. Meta Description
16. Breadcrumbs
17. Product Description
18. Category Page Content
19. Search Engine Optimisation for Images
Canonical Tags – If your website has too many URLs with similar or the same content, crawlers will potentially consider this as duplicated content. For example, the same shoes with different variations (e.g., red colour, blue colour) will have the same product content but different URLs. Google creates a canonical tag to help web admins tell the crawlers which is the main URL to assign the search value to among pages with similar content.
Hreflang Tags for Multi-Store Views – For a multi-store view Magento site, you might have the same content in the same English language, but on different URLs aimed at the UK, the US, and Australia. The difference on these pages might be as small as a change in prices and currency, and therefore Google might not understand on its own what you’re trying to do and see it as duplicate content. The Hreflang tag was developed to solve this issue! With this piece of code, you specify all the different URLs on your site(s) with the same content. These URLs can have the same content in a different language or the same language but targeted at a different region.
Keyword and Competitor Research – With any website choosing the right keyword set for a web page is important. All web pages should have content relating to that product or service, and each keyword set should be unique on a per page basis. Consider your target audience when writing content, and create content that offers value and interest. Don’t choose a keyword because you think Google might like it. You are looking at attracting people to buy from your website – loyal and returning customers. Not just to be indexed. An example of a conversation we had with a client, before he became a client went as follows: Client: We rank on page one, so we are happy with our SEO. M3: That’s great, and how many orders has that delivered? Client: None. M3: oh, that’s a shame, can I ask what keyword you are using? Client: “Cartology” M3: you sell maps, right? – As you can see, using the right keyword can make the difference between sales and no sales.
Meta Title – The bit on Google just under your URL – You should ensure the message is clear and enticing and also that is it between around 50 and 60 characters
Meta Description – The bit on Google just under your Meta Title – You should ensure the message is clear and enticing and also that is it between around 150 and 160 characters
Breadcrumbs – Not only is this a useful navigation tool, but it creates internal links, great for users and Google alike.
Product Description – Make sure your product description is accurate, easy to read with bullet points and is no less than 600 words long.
Category Page Content – Create engaging and useful content on your Product Category page that links to the products that sit within that product category – ensure the content is no less than 600 words long, before the links and use relevant Calls to Action (CTA) on the page where appropriate. The aim is to guide people to the right product first time, so they are ready to buy.
Search Engine Optimisation for Images – Image optimisation is important especially as Google is blind – Images need alt txt as a minimum and need to be the right size for the area it sits in, and compressed for speed.
The Best Solution To Fully Optimise Magento SEO:
In conclusion, implementing these Magento SEO checklists is paramount for enhancing your site’s visibility and performance. Remember, prioritising site speed is pivotal for sustained online success. Let’s optimise and elevate your Magento website’s SEO prowess together.
