SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the process of analyzing search engine algorithms and human behavior on a website, to set a strategy, which will help the website to rank better in Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs).
Magento, on the other hand is a user friendly and feature rich ecommerce platform that is bringing great effects on online marketing stores and sales.
Magento SEO services in India, is designed specifically according to the features offered by Magento combining it with vast opportunities from SEO, to boosts the traffic on Magento stores. This article outlines the importance of SEO for Magento websites.
Applying SEO in Magento
As Magento is a “SEO-friendly” ecommerce platform, the search engine optimization of Magento is mostly done via appropriate settings, mostly done via Configuration Panel (System > Configuration > Web > Search Engines Optimization).
Add store to URL function – The code for this is usually put to ‘off’ in the URL Options. By default it is set to ‘no’.
Title – During Magento installation, Magento Commerce is set as the default title. A more explanatory and optimized title can be put from the script admin area (System > Configuration > Design > HTML Head) by updating the Default Title field. By putting the store name in the Title Suffix field, it can be made to appear in all page titles. This can also be used to optimize internal pages by creating custom title for each of them.
Approaches in Optimizing Magento Stores
URL Optimization
The optimization of URLs is the most important thing as they are the key in ranking of websites. URLs must be short and descriptive. The whole process of optimization is carried out in the Magento backend -> System -> Configuration and then the corresponding values are set for web, Catalog including Categories Path and Canonical Ling Meta Tag for Categories.
Tweak the CMS, Product and Category Page Titles
Page title must be tweaked and made short and relevant, as they are of great importance in search engine rankings. Most important keywords must be used in the beginning of the title.
Below given are the ways in which the page titles can be changed.
In CMS Pages
In this case, “Page Title” is the Meta Title. CMS facilitates content revisions and thus manages business. SEO must optimize the contents on the landing pages to increase the sales. Once the content is optimized, a SEF URL Identifier and page title can be selected. The description of each page can be given in the Meta Data tab. All the descriptions must be relevant to attract the visitor’s attention.
Tweaking Product Page Titles
This process involves the path to Catalog then to Manage Products. The product to be edited is selected and “Meta Title” field is edited after clicking on the “Meta Information” on the left. The Meta Information for the “Default Values” and for each “Store View” can be set. Doing so will update the product name and the whole page.
It is important to optimize images in SEO. This is useful in attracting the users and giving them a better experience. It is also helpful in increasing sales.
Tweaking Category Page Titles
Go to Catalog > Categories, then click on the category to be edited and edit the page title field. The “use categories path for product URL’s” must be disabled by going to SystemConfigurationCatalog Search Engine Optimization and set “Use categories path for product URL’s to “no”.
Details of each category can be changed by going to Catalog—Manage Categories. Fields of Meta Description, Page Title, and URL Key must be filled.
In Meta Description, an attractive description must be included because people refer the description in the result listings of search engines.
Page Title is kept empty to use the category name including parents’ categories. On customizing, the title will be exactly like the input, without the parent category.
In URL Key, a short but keyword rich URL must be used. The Name, Description, Page Title and Meta data can be specified for store view.
Designing a Straightforward Navigation Menu
- Big dropdown menus and footers are considered to be disadvantageous.
- Too many links in the header or footer can exceed the links per page limit.
Page Load Speed Optimization
Pages load should be brought down from 2, 3 and 4 seconds to less than 100 milliseconds, which will bring more search and returns. Thus by increasing the speed more traffic can be gained. Reducing the number of external files and merging several external files in to one is good for SEO.
Magento Template Optimization
- Developing a Blank Magento SEO Theme.
- Including the Title of the content in the h1 tag. Avoid excess use of headings.
- Eliminating the use of header in the side columns.
Removing Duplicate Content
As duplicate content creates problems for search engines, it is better to remove it from Websites.
Conclusion:
In short, it is clear that making the changes described in this article along with some other SEO practices proves to optimize the search rankings and brings more traffic to the Magento stores.