Magento is an open-source e-commerce platform used by over 100,000 self-hosted online stores. Since its original release in 2008, the software has been downloaded more than 2.5 million times, and it offers a powerful suite of features comparable to both Shopify and WooCommerce.
Similar to WooCommerce (which runs on the WordPress platform), Magento is self-hosted, meaning that store owners need to install and maintain the software on their own hosting services. Because of this, it requires users to be more technical-savvy than Shopify. But if you’re willing to put in the time and effort, Magento’s SEO benefits are clear.
What are the SEO considerations when cutting over to Magento?
The good news is that Magento is fairly-well SEO-optimized out of the box. But whether you’re starting an e-commerce store from scratch, or you’re migrating over from another platform, there are a variety of steps you should take to optimize your site.
Shopify, for example, requires fewer modifications due to the fact that stores are hosted on their own platform. Since Magento installations are self-hosted, though, you’ll want to ensure that you follow these e-commerce SEO tactics specific to Magento.
Magento SEO best practices: how to optimize a Magento storefront
As with any site, good SEO starts with thorough keyword research. You’ll need to know your marketplace, and high SERP rankings depend on building domain authority while delivering relevant and useful information to your potential customers. To learn more, check out how SEO can help increase your online sales.
Beyond keyword and market research, these Magento SEO tips can boost your site to the top of the search rankings, attract customers, and boost sales.
Magento SEO checklist
How to add descriptions and keywords for SEO in Magento
Using keywords and meta tags in your product descriptions is extremely important since these pages are likely to be captured by search engines. It’s equally important to make sure your main keywords are incorporated into your product categories.
Here’s how to add meta tags and meta descriptions for your products:
- In your administration panel, go to Products > Catalog
- Select a product and click Edit Product
- Scroll down to Search Engine Optimization
- In the boxes, add your meta title and meta descriptions. Leave meta keywords blank.
How to add meta tags and meta descriptions for categories:
- In your administration panel, select Products > Categories
- Select a category and click Edit Category
- Scroll down to Search Engine Optimization
- In the boxes, add your meta title and meta descriptions. Leave meta keywords blank
Which fields matter the most for SEO in Magento products?
While Google and other SERPs take metadata into account, it’s actually more relevant for search engine displays. That’s why even though there is a box for meta keywords, Google typically ignores it. But where it does come in handy is when you’re trying to make your search snippets look as enticing as possible.
When you’re creating your product fields for Magento SEO purposes, make sure you’ve included the following elements:
To change the alt text images, do the following:
- Log in to your administration panel and go to Products > Catalog
- At the Configurable Products link, click on the image thumbnail
- Go to the Detail page, then double click on images
- Add or modify alt text in the field
6. Prevent duplicate content
Duplicate content happens when site content is indexed separately under different categories. For example, if you allow Google to crawl your site’s list of colors, or sizes, or inventory, it may result in the same product being returned three times. This can result in SEO penalties, so you’ll want to avoid having duplicate content at all costs.
Fortunately, Magento’s SEO settings let you prevent duplicate content simply by using canonical tags.
- In the administration panel, go to Store > Configuration > Catalog > Search Engine Optimization
- Set Use Categories Path for Product URLs to YES
- Set Use Canonical Link Meta Tag for Categories to YES
- Set Use Canonical Link Meta Tag for Products to YES
- Select Save Config
That’s it! Magento will ensure that your site isn’t returning duplicate results, and will force them to appear under certain circumstances only.
How to test the quality of SEO on a Magento website
It’s important to know how well your site is performing for SEO. A proper SEO audit will analyze key metrics and tell you which areas need improvements. Ideally, comprehensive SEO audits should be performed regularly.
When planning to test the quality of SEO on your Magento website, here are some invaluable SEO tools.
Magento SEO Tools to help your store rank on Google
Google Analytics
This free tool is the gold standard for SEO analysis, as it lets you analyze data directly from Google itself. While there’s a bit of a learning curve, Google Analytics will tell you everything you need to know about your site’s performance.
Screaming Frog
Offering both free and paid versions, Screaming Frog is a desktop app that quickly crawls your site to determine its SEO health. Find broken links, analyze metadata, find errors, and more with ease. You can export the data and track your results over time, making it an invaluable addition to your SEO toolbox.
Best Magento SEO Extension: Advanced SEO Suite
While there is a cost to use this plugin ($149), Advanced SEO Suite automates a number of processes to ensure your store is in peak SEO health. Specifically, it lets you optimize your product categories for relevant search phrases, and provides templates to collect meta-information.
Boost your sales with these tried and tested SEO for Magento practices
Whatever your technological skillset or experience level, Magento makes it easy to optimize your online store to perform well in the search rankings. When you follow these Magento SEO tips and add these optimizations to this powerful platform, you’ll soon find yourself well on your way to more customers and improved sales.
Miromind’s team of Magento SEO consultants can work with you to ensure your e-commerce store outshines the competition. Contact us today to learn how we can help take your online business to the next level.