Magento 2 offers some powerful SEO capabilities right out of the box, but merchants can further enhance their SEO rankings with just a few simple tweaks to their websites. Sellers can create one-of-a-kind stores that are incredibly user-friendly, mobile-friendly, and search-engine-friendly by following these top tips for success:
Boost Your Page Loading Speeds
If your website takes more than a few seconds to load, customers are going to be more likely to click off your site and abandon their carts. Speed is incredibly important for customer satisfaction and conversion, so your page loading times can have a dramatic effect on your SEO rankings. Magento 2 can handle approximately 39% more orders per hour than Magento 1, but there are a number of ways to optimize your store’s performance to make it even more efficient:
- Enable flat categories and products.
- Merge CSS and JS files.
- Set up CDN (Content Delivery Network).
- Enable caching features.
- Enable compression.
- Reduce server response time.
Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly
Due to the rise of mobile commerce, Google’s algorithm favors websites that are mobile-friendly or responsive over those that aren’t optimized for mobile. The Magento 2 platform allows developers to build responsive websites that function seamlessly across all devices, but they can go even further by utilizing Magento’s PWA Studio.
PWAs, or Progressive Web Apps, still run on the user’s browser, but they’re designed to function like apps. They minimize network traffic and streamline the shopping process to ensure simple navigation and fast upload times, even on slow connections.
Create Great URLs
When someone clicks on a link on your website, they should have a clear understanding of where the link will take them. If your URLs contain unnecessary symbols or words, it will only make it more difficult for customers to find what they’re looking for, and it will be harder for search engines to crawl your store. To minimize confusing pages on your site, you can follow this simple structure for creating your unique URLs:
- Homepage: www.yourwebsite.com
- Product page: www.yourwebsite.com/product-name
- Category page: www.yourwebsite.com/category-name
- Sub-category page: www.yourwebsite.com/category-name/sub-category-name
Fix Duplicate/Similar Content
If you’ve ever visited a site that has the same information under two different URLs, you know how frustrating it can be to try to find the information you’re looking for. To avoid facing this issue with your own store, you can use canonical tags to inform search engines which URL should be prioritized when displaying search results. This can improve your site ranking, give your page more views, and show you how many similar products are in the same categories.
Keep It Simple
When you’re designing the layout of your online store, less is definitely more. Users and search engines alike appreciate sites that have clear navigation tools, a clean user interface, and minimal distractions. Customers shouldn’t have to click through several pages to find what they’re looking for, or read lengthy product descriptions in order to understand what you’re selling.
Update Your Product Descriptions
To make your product descriptions more SEO-friendly, you might just have to do a bit of research and organization. Keeping these easy tips in mind can do wonders for your store:
- Avoid flowery language and unnecessary content. Simply provide a brief, detailed description about how the product can solve a certain problem.
- Use Google Keyword Planner to write descriptions that people are most likely to search for. (Just avoid “stuffing” your descriptions with several relevant keywords. This will only frustrate customers who are looking for specific items.)
- Include a primary keyword in your product heading.
- Use the H1, H2, and H3 tags.
- Insert a link to a related product within the description.
Optimize Product Images
Adding proper alt-tags to your photos and images is essential for SEO since search engines can’t “read” these pictures. You can optimize your product images by giving them alt-tags that accurately describe them by considering these important aspects:
- Avoid keyword stuffing.
- Give the alt-tags detailed names. For instance, an image labeled “IMG00087.JPG” doesn’t provide any valuable information.
- Keep alt-tags short and sweet.
To edit your alt-tags in Magento 2, simply log in to your admin account, navigate to the Configurable Products thumbnail, click on the Detail page, double-click on Images, and add your new tags.
Be Transparent with Reviews/Ratings
The majority of online shoppers do research before they decide to purchase something online, so it might discourage people if your site doesn’t show any ratings or reviews. If you allow customers to share their opinions, it can convince other shoppers that your company is trustworthy and that they should try your product for themselves. You can also show high ratings for certain products by using rich snippets to further encourage browsers to click on your webpage.
Add a Blog Page
Creating unique, relevant content for your target audience is one of the best ways to improve your SEO rankings. Search engines like websites that offer original content, and you can directly address common questions and concerns within your industry by starting a blog. Consumers want the companies they support to show expertise and knowledge, and they’re appreciative of businesses that take the time to provide them with helpful information.
Although Magento 2 isn’t a professional blogging platform, there are numerous blogging extensions and integrations available on Magento Marketplace. For more tips about optimizing your Magento 2 store, you can click here to browse through all of our blogs that discuss the best practices for eCommerce businesses!
