As the most popular and the fastest-expanding e-commerce platform that is also open-source and free, it is clear that Magento is becoming a thing of necessity rather than a thing of convenience. It is the absolute MVP when it comes to online stores and it many companies around the world, both big and small, rely on it.

Magento is very SEO-friendly, as you’ll find many experts claim. However, there is always something to be done and improved when it comes to SEO. Here are some very useful tips to help you make the most out of your Magento product pages.

The tips that mean the world

This write-up contains a list of must-use Magento SEO tips that you should apply right off the bat. Some of them pertain to top technical issues with Magento that you should implement immediately after integrating it with your ERP.

1. Update to the latest version

Updates for Magento are being released on a regular basis and if you choose to skip a few, you may end up experiencing certain issues and inconsistencies. Like with any piece of software out there, you should always keep up with the updates.

For instance, Magento updates feature the best and the latest SEO features. That’s because the world of SEO is always shifting and changing and frequent updates are essentially the way to keep up with the changes.

Of course, keeping Magento updated brings many other fixes and enhancements to the table, such as bug fixes, performance enhancements, and security boosts. With so many clear and apparent benefits, it is recommended that you always keep Magento fully updated.

2. Use appropriate keywords

Although Magento performs well with SEO in general, its default sample content (title & description, for instance), isn’t an SEO standard. One of the first fixes that you should apply when you integrate Magento, SEO-wise, is edit the default sample content. To do this, navigate to Content, followed by Design, and finally, Configuration. You’ll see the Design Configuration table, where you’ll be able to edit pretty much any aspect of your online store. Make sure to include appropriate keywords where needed.

3. Keep the meta description and the title keyword-rich

Keep in mind that the meta description and the title should be rich with keywords and always unique. When it comes to the title, you should aim to put the keywords as close to the beginning as possible, without it sounding strange or unnatural. Of course, that’s not always possible.

When it comes to the meta description, you should always aim to mix the main keyword in, regardless of its length. Naturally, you should try to execute it without it sounding weird and obvious.

In eCommerce, “the” and “and” shouldn’t appear in your title. Do the same for the category title/description.

4. Steer clear of duplicate content

Duplicate content is never good for SEO. There is nothing worse than having multiple URLs leading to similar or identical content. This, unfortunately, would be quite a beast to tame, if you went out to manually report all duplicate content.

Instead, the best way to go is to explicitly tell Google which one URL is canonical – also referred to as authoritative. Fail to do this, and Google will treat the duplicate content as equal, which doesn’t leave you with a whole lot of control over your SEO optimization.

Magento offers Canonical Tags, a tool that is essential for tagging the authoritative URLs. To enable this option, go to Store, then, navigate to Configuration, then, Catalog, and finally, Search Engine Optimization. Set the Use Canonical Link Meta Tag For Categories option to Yes. To finish, set the Use Canonical Link Meta Tag For Products to Yes, as well.

5. Optimize product images

Don’t forget that the product images on your store page should also be optimized. It all starts with naming your image files properly before uploading them. This means that your files should never read “IMG00666”, but “orange-electric-guitar”, instead (for example). File name should always be related to the picture. The reason behind this is that the file’s name will become part of that particular image’s URL.

If there is a logical connection between the image’s file name and the image itself, this will make it easier for the search engine to understand. Another good reason why you should name your images properly is because the search engine won’t always be able to see what’s in the picture. This is where the words kick in – they will allow the search engine to understand the photo.

6. Optimize URLs

When it comes to SEO, it is best that you keep your webpage URLs free of codes of any sorts. Luckily, Magento offers an option to “clean” the URLs for you. To do this, navigate to Store. Then, go to Configuration, General, Web and, finally, to URL Options. In there, find the Add Store Code to URL option and set it to No. This will prevent the category/product codes from being added automatically to your URLs, which will make your website significantly SEO-friendlier.

7. Make a sitemap

Unfortunately, Magento 2 doesn’t auto-create HTML sitemaps. Not by default, that is. In order to fix this, you will need to implement some extensions. You can take your pick from the available extensions, as most will work fine with Magento. But why do it? Why is this so important for SEO?

Well, first of all, having the sitemap will allow the crawlers to search the content of your site and send reports back to the search engine. The sitemap includes links to products, categories, CMS pages, as well as store views for Magento.

It is important to note that while Magento 1 supports both HTML and XML sitemaps, the choice is reduced to HTML in Magento 2.

8. Conduct keyword research

This may sound like an absolute no-brainer, but knowing which keywords to target is essential for proper SEO. Targeting only the short-tail keywords is obvious, but far from enough. You will need a lot of market research here. Use SEO researching tools and think wider – and longer – than short-tail.

9. Optimize the CTAs

A Call to Action (CTA) is an invaluable asset to anyone doing search engine optimization. CTAs are used to give the potential customer that one final nudge. It is your last call for them to purchase your item or service. Make your CTAs appealing and avoid the classic “Sign Up” or “Buy Now” phrases.

10. Check analytics

It would be nice if you could just optimize your website once and leave it be, but SEO isn’t a one-off thing. Instead, it requires continuous work. You’ll need to constantly check on your eCommerce analytics to see how everything is performing. Split tests, Google Analytics, and competitor research are essential here.

Magento and SEO

Doing SEO with Magento is easier than with some other platforms. However, you will have to allocate some time and resources towards setting up Magento SEO-wise, if you want to use it to its full capacity.