10 Magento SEO Marketing Tips to Increase Website Traffic
The website’s SEO affects its ranking on search engine results. A high ranking site generates more visibility, leading to more revenue.
According to the recent SERP report, a top ranking site has the most click-through rate.
The first organic search result in Google has an average 28.5% of CTR. You can increase the CTR to 46% with site navigation and site links.
At position 1, the click rate is ten times higher than a ranking at position 10.
To place your Magento store on the first page of a search result, you must optimize your site.
Search Engine Optimization is used to increase the website rank on SERPs. It allows Google and other search engines to crawl and index your website faster.
Let’s look at the proven techniques for Magento SEO marketing to increase your website traffic.
Magento SEO Tips to Boost Search Engine Rankings
1. Optimize URL Structure
A URL is a web address that shows the location of the web pages. It defines where your web pages are so that users can find your site easily.
There are around five URL parts that you should optimize. This URL structure includes:
- Scheme
- Subdomain
- Top-level domain
- Second-level domain
- Sub directory
The URLs optimized for SEO are short and keyword-rich. Parts of the URL have to be accurate & SEO friendly.
Magento recommends the following URL structure. You can add them for category & product pages:
-
Category page:
website.com/category/ -
Sub category page:
website.com/category/sub-category/ -
Product page:
website.com/category-sub-category/product-name/
2. Optimize Metadata
Metadata enriches the data so that search engines can index pages faster. It is written into the code for search engines to identify the page content.
Your Magento store has many places to add keyword-rich metadata. You should regularly update the metadata of the pages.
Some of the metadata parts in Magento come with:
- Meta Title
The Meta title appears at the title bar and browser tab of your website. It is what the users click on to enter your page on SERPs.
You can use the default tile which is based on the product name. Otherwise you can change it as required.
The meta title should be unique for each page and under 70 characters. The title should clearly define the page & have SEO friendly keywords. You can include the store name at the end of the title.
- Meta Description
Meta description appears in search result listings below the meta title. It helps Google define how the content matches against the users’ queries.
The meta description is also the first piece of content the user sees in the SERPs. It is an essential element to optimize for high ranking.
For best results, meta description has to be unique and between 150-160 characters in length.
- Meta Keywords
Meta keywords are a type of meta tags that appear in the HTML code. However, Google does not use meta tags to rank the pages.
The SEO best practice is to add high-value keywords in the metadata. It helps the pages gain more visibility.
- Meta Tags for Categories
You can add metadata for categories in Magento 2. Go to Catalog > Categories > Search Engine Optimization.
Fill in three fields of meta title, meta description, and meta keywords for each category.
The meta information will allow search engines to find the category pages. It will help improve site navigation for various category pages.
You can write 70 characters max for meta title and 255 characters max for meta description.
A unique and keyword-rich description will encourage customers to click on your category pages.
- Meta Tags for Product Settings
Similar to categories, you can add metadata to product settings. Go to Catalog > Product > Basic Settings > Search Engine Optimization.
You can add meta information for the products. However, it can become tedious to add meta tags for individual products. You may have thousands of products in the store.
Magento allows a Product Fields Auto Generation function. You can create templates with meta title, description, and keywords for all products on your site.
- Structured Data for Rich Snippets
Rich snippets provide more page details to search engines. Get insights on Magento 2 Rich Snippets here.
3. Canonical Tags
Search engines disapprove of multiple URLs with the same content. It causes SEO issues and affects your search ranking.
The canonical meta tag tells the search engines on which page to index. It is helpful when the URLs have identical or similar content.
You can pick a URL to represent the master copy of a page. That page is then indexed as the official version of the content.
The canonical meta tag is placed in the <head> block. You add the tag on the product or category page.
The search engine adds a preference to the master page. That way, you do not get lower SEO rankings.
4. Optimize Products
Optimizing product descriptions and product pages for high ranking.
- Images
Optimize the product images with alt-texts. Add descriptive image file names with keywords.
Use standard image formats like PNG, JPEG, and GIF. You can resize the images to fit the relevant pages.
- Product Descriptions
Add unique & keyword-rich product descriptions for each product. It allows search engines to index specific products quickly.
- Out of Stock Product Strategy for SEO
Out of stock product pages have to be optimized to reduce bounce rates. Google may turn such pages into 404 error pages.
To avoid that, add redirects to different pages for related products. You can also keep the page SEO optimized until the stock is back.
- Category Path for Product URLs
Category paths show the hierarchy of a product page. It allows for easy navigation & lets your site index faster.
You can enable colonial tags along with setting category paths. That way you can avoid duplicate content. The product will be displayed in all assigned categories without any SEO issues.
5. Avoid Duplicate Content
Duplicate content on web pages creates issues for SEO practices. It leads to penalties when Google crawls your web pages.
Magento’s default setting adds redundant URls for the same products. Similar content also makes it hard to filter & sort products. The same product may be added to many categories.
A few ways to remove duplicate content include:
- Colonial tags for categories & products
- Robot.txt- It informs search engines to not crawl certain pages that have duplicate content.
- Category and product URL suffix
6. XML Sitemaps
An XML sitemap is designed to find pages overlooked by web crawlers. It helps notify the search engines of the pages available for crawling. As a result, the pages are indexed to boost site visibility.
Magento sitemaps are set up to index all products & images. You list the URLs of the website & prioritize them for a search engine.
Save the file sitemap.xml and update it regularly. You can also enable robots.txt to prevent certain pages from being crawled.
7. Improve Page Ranking
Improve the page ranking by updating these SEO aspects:
- Homepage
Magento has a default homepage for websites. You should customize the homepage for your brand and add keywords.
Write descriptive & concise title tags for all the page title elements. Google recommends using the site name at the end of each page title.
- Add Unique & Relevant Keywords
Keywords are the specific terms that are typed on the search engine. Users add them to find the relevant page result.
You have to conduct keyword research for your target audience. It lets you use the same keywords that your customers are searching for.
Keywords are also helpful in Magento SEO campaigns. You can use them for advertising & place them in relevant ads.
- Use Google Analytics and Google Search Console
You can use free tools to optimize your SEO strategy. Google analytics lets you monitor the SEO performance and get market insights. It includes custom segments, top-performing pages, and mobile traffic.
Google Search Console lets you monitor website traffic and increase online presence. You can also fix SEO errors using the console.
SEO companies also use these tools for enhancing Magento websites.
- Heading Tags
Add the proper H1, H2 tags for your content. Good headings establish a hierarchy of the content on a page. It helps search engines index a page faster.
Magento allows a heading level from H1 to H6 tags. Use the H1 heading at the top of the page for the title. The heading tags can be customized based on your theme.
- Contextual Links
Improve page ranking with text links. Optimize inbound and outbound links on your page content.
Search engines crawl your website links for its relevance and popularity. Your website should have consistent & moderate inbound & outbound links. It ensures that your website has credibility and is trustworthy.
8. Optimize Internal Links
An internal link is any link that goes from one page of your website to another. Optimize internal linking so that search engines crawl your pages easily. It also improves user experience with easy site navigation and web design.
Optimize the following parts of internal links:
- Inbound links
- Site Hierarchy
- Guided Navigation
- Site Map
- Optimized Store View
- Breadcrumb Navigation
- URLs to related products and searches
- Links in Articles & other content
- Tag Clouds and Tag Pages
9. Optimize Site Speed
Google uses site speed as a ranking factor for mobile searches. A fast ecommerce website reduces bounce rates.
There are many ways to improve the website speed:
- Reliable Magento Hosting Provider
- Use CDN - Content Delivery Network
- Utilize Browser Caching
- Merge and Minify JavaScript and CSS Files
Get expert techniques - How to Increase the Speed of the Magento 2 website.
10. Use Magento SEO Extensions
Magento SEO extensions are a great tool to minimize SEO related tasks. The modules are designed to improve website visibility.
For example, you don’t have to add meta tags for large products and categories. The SEO extension will automate these tasks for you.
Some of the SEO extension features include:
- Optimizing metadata
- Cross-linking
- Image optimization
- Rich snippets
- HTML and XML sitemaps
- SEO friendly blog
- Social media
A Magento SEO toolkit extension combines all the SEO features. You can find the best Magento 2 SEO extensions here.
Conclusion
Ecommerce stores depend on Search Engine Optimization for organic traffic. It reduces the expenses in paid ads, SEO agencies, and marketing campaigns.
Customers increasingly use search engines to shop online. It is essential that your site ranks well in search engine results.
SEO helps improve the online presence of your Magento website. It ensures that your store ranks high on search engines. You get more conversions and can generate sales.
We have covered the latest Magento 2 SEO techniques to increase website traffic. You can use them as a checklist to enhance store visibility on search engines.
Get more insights on the Magento platform on the MGT-Commerce Blog.
