Own A Magento Store? Here’s How To Improve It!
Chad Faith
Director of Content
Today, the amount of digital shoppers is on the rise, and it is important for entrepreneurs and traditional stores alike to opt for eCommerce solutions. Magento is a popular shopping platform and has received huge praises for its usability. With that in mind, you should also note that building a successful Magento store not only requires good web design skills but also having the ability to navigate the Search Engine Optimization maze correctly. If you are new to this eCommerce world, things may seem a little tricky at first. To get your engines revved up, implement the following tips to boost your SEO, and eventually get better rankings.
Do Not Leave Your Meta Fields Blank
Your meta fields must always be filled with the right information. By using Magento’s back-end, you can easily create quality meta titles and description for your company’s online store. To do this, simply go into the Configuration Page > Design > HTML Head. Here, you can proceed to edit your default title and description boxes so that they contain something more meaningful that search engines favor. While you are at it, do remember to include relevant keywords as well.
Ensure that Your Robots.txt File is Working Properly
Even till today, Google utilizes your site’s Robots.txt file to index your website. Hence, inputting the right information inside that file comes with great pertinence. You can use it to tell Google how you want them to index your site, or whether or not you want them to do so in the first place. If you did not touch that file before, you can consider executing the following modification to it:
- Select the right options that bring you to “System”
- Select Configuration > Design > HTML Heads
- Find a setting called “Default Robots” and change it to “INDEX,FOLLOW”
- Remember to save your changes
Never Make the Mistake of Duplicating Product Content
Duplicates come with a strict no-no, as each product should have its own unique description. The rule of having unique descriptions also apply to products that are “slightly different” from another product. When you sit down to write brand new descriptions for products that have just been added to your inventory, do remember to start afresh. This means you should avoid copying and pasting existing text, and edit from there. Pay attention to details, even to something as simple as color or size.
Generate a Google Sitemap for Your Online Store
It is highly recommended that you enable sitemap generation for your site. If you have not done it yet, go into your Magento’s configuration page and then the Google Sitemap settings to change your existing configuration. If you add a new category or product, make a note to go back and change the settings so that your existing sitemap is updated.
Help Major Search Engines Understand what Your Site Images are All About
When you add and upload pictures to your Magento store, do not simply upload them and let them be. It is pertinent that you give them meaningful titles and alt tags. For example, new_product-11010-men can only be understood by your company, but not Google. Hence, you should switch that example to something like luxurious-mens-duffel-bag. It makes more sense that way. Once you pair that with a good description in the alt tag, you are on your way to ensuring your website’s success.
Add Useful Information to Your Magento Store
A good way to make your Magento store rank higher than your competitors is to carefully write and/or curate interesting content. Make sure that you do this for all pages, other than your sales pages or product descriptions. In addition, you should include some keywords that you think potential customers will use to find your products or services. If you do this right, major search engines in the internet will reward you by increasing the chances of potential visitors landing on one of your educational posts; giving you the opportunity to influence their purchase decision.