Magento has become a popular choice for many ecommerce businesses. Its robust features and customization options allow for the creation of compelling online stores. However, while Magento excels in functionality, it can present certain challenges regarding SEO, especially in the area of content, which is crucial for any successful SEO strategy.
In this Magento SEO article, we’ll dive deep into the most common ecommerce content-related Magento SEO problems and provide practical solutions to overcome them.
1. Duplicate Content
Search engines prioritize fresh, unique content as a key indicator of quality and relevance. However, websites built on Magento often face challenges with duplicate content due to the platform’s tendency to generate multiple URLs for the same content.
This automated content duplication commonly affects product descriptions, category pages, and other site elements. Such duplication can confuse search engines, dilute your website’s authority, and hinder content discovery. As a result, it can lead to lower search engine rankings, wasted crawl budget, reduced organic traffic, and ultimately, fewer sales.
Fortunately, you can effectively address duplicate content issues on your Magento store. A powerful tool for this is the rel=”canonical” tag. This tag instructs search engines which URL is the preferred version of a page with duplicate content. To implement this, simply add a canonical link element to the HTML header of each page, specifying the desired URL.
| <head> <link rel=”canonical” src=”www.example.com/page-url-key” src_type=”url”/> </head> |
While this is a great fix, you also have to remember that content diversification is key. Invest in creating unique and informative content for each product page and move beyond generic AI content descriptions. Also, ensure you highlight individual features, benefits, usage tips, and comparisons to set your products apart.
Our comprehensive guide about on how to spot and take care of duplicate content will show you more best practices in handling duplicate SEO content.
2. Missing Content
Magento sites heavily rely on dynamic content to display product information, descriptions, images, and other relevant ecommerce details. While it may be great for user experience, dynamic content sometimes results in missing content.
In layman’s terms, missing content refer to a condition where text, images, or other SEO elements are not indexed partially or completely. There can be several reasons that cause missing content, such as the following:
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Server and infrastructure limitations
Magento sites with high traffic volumes or resource-intensive operations may experience performance issues if the server infrastructure is underpowered or misconfigured. This can lead to timeouts, errors, or incomplete data retrieval, resulting in missing dynamic content. -
Database queries and performance issues
Magento relies heavily on database queries to retrieve and display dynamic content. If these queries are inefficient, poorly optimized, or encounter performance bottlenecks, they may fail to retrieve the necessary data, leading to missing content. -
Data synchronization issues
In some cases, Magento sites may rely on external data sources or integrations with other systems (e.g., ERP, PIM, CRM) to populate dynamic content. Faulty data synchronization can result in outdated or even missing content on the stie. - Slow JavaScript loading
Javascript files need to be downloaded and executed by the user’s browser before they can render content. If the Javascript files are large or the user has a slow internet connection, there can be a significant delay before the content appears. This usually causes both users and search engine bots to move on from the page before it’s rendered. - Third-party customization errors
Third-party customization errors can often lead to missing content issues. Whether it’s a poorly configured extension or a simple human error during the customization process, these factors can disrupt the seamless delivery of content to your website visitors.
Regardless of its cause, missing dynamic content on Magento sites reduces user engagement, wastes crawl budgets, and misses opportunities for keyword targeting. All of these negatively impact SERP rankings because search engines prioritize websites that offer a complete and informative user experience.
The best way to fix missing content issues is by adopting Prerender.io. This technical SEO tool helps search engines see all your content, even if it’s loaded through JavaScript. Here’s how Prerender.io works:
Prerender.io acts as a middleman between your website and search engines. When search engine crawlers visit your site, they often struggle with complex JavaScript-loaded content. Prerender.io solves this by creating snapshots of your pages. They then presented to search engines, ensuring they can see and understand all your website’s content. This eliminates the issue of missing content on SERPs, potentially improving your search engine ranking and website visibility.
Dive deeper into how Prerender help you avoid missing content here.
3. Poorly Optimized Product Page URLs
One common SEO issue that often goes unnoticed is poorly optimized product page URLs. These URLs are valuable real estate for incorporating keywords that potential customers might search for. Unfortunately, Magento’s default product page URLs often consist of long strings of numbers and characters that offer no clue about the actual product.
For example, a default Magento URL might look like this:
www.example.com/catalog/product/view/id/123/category/45
Compare that to a well-optimized URL, such as:
www.example.com/catalog/product-name, or www.example.com/product-name
These URLs have an optimal click depth (number of clicks needed to get to the product) and are clear, concise, and informative. They not only enhance the user experience but also make it easier for search engines to understand and rank your product pages.
To achieve the well-optimized link types on your Magento site, here’s what you need to do:
- Go to your Magento admin panel.
- Navigate to Settings > Configuration > Catalogue > Search Engine Optimization.
- Look for the option “Use Categories Path for Product URLs” and set it to “No.”
- Save your changes.
This enables URL rewriting, a feature that transforms those long, messy default URLs into clean and SEO-friendly ones.
4. Mobile SEO Optimization
Google’s shift to mobile-first indexing has made mobile optimization a crucial factor for ecommerce success. If your Magento store isn’t optimized for mobile devices, your content may appear cluttered, difficult to read, and load slowly, negatively impacting your search engine rankings and user experience.
To address this, consider the following:
- Responsive design: implement a responsive theme that automatically adjusts your store’s layout and content to fit different screen sizes.
- Mobile-specific extensions: explore extensions that offer features like mobile-friendly menus and Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) to further enhance mobile performance.
- Optimize for speed: mobile devices often have slower internet connections and limited processing power. Prioritize fast loading times by optimizing images, minifying code, and leveraging browser caching.
By taking these steps, you can ensure that your Magento store provides a seamless and enjoyable mobile experience, leading to higher engagement, better conversions, and improved search engine rankings.
5. Missed Opportunities for Rich Snippets
To enhance your website’s visibility and attract more clicks, consider implementing rich snippets to your shared URLs on, for instance, social media. These snippets provide additional details like product descriptions, pricing, ratings, and store names, making your search results more visually appealing and informative.
While Magento 2 displays product ratings and reviews in SERPs, you can further optimize your search appearance by manually configuring structured data or using a dedicated extension. This will enable you to showcase additional details and drive more traffic to your website.
To extend the benefits of rich snippets to social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter (X.com), you’ll need to implement Open Graph tags. These tags provide structured data that social media platforms use to display your content in a visually appealing way, increasing engagement and brand visibility.
Follow this guide on how to set Open Graph tags properly—or if you often promote your ecommerce product on Twitter (X.com), this Twitter Card guide will tell you which Twitter Cards you should use and how to implement them.
Prerender.io Addresses Common Magento SEO Challenges
Content plays a crucial role in the success of any ecommerce website, and Magento is no exception. By optimizing your Magento stores, you can significantly improve search engine visibility, user experience, and, ultimately, drive more traffic and conversions.
While Magento SEO may present some challenges, the solutions outlined in this article provide a roadmap to creating a robust Magento SEO strategy. By implementing them, you can achieve sustainable growth and success for your online stores.
We recommend using Prerender.io’s SEO pre-rendering tool to enhance your website’s crawling and indexing performance. By pre-rendering your JavaScript content, Prerender ensures that all your content is indexed properly—no more missing pages. It also optimizes your site for Google’s mobile-first indexing and enables social media crawlers to access Open Graph tags, allowing your shared content to display rich snippets.
Still wondering how Prerender.io can boost your eCommerce sales? Check out Haarshop’s case study. This Netherlands-based online store achieved a 30% increase in content indexing, resulting in a 50% growth in organic traffic.
And when you’re ready to try Prerender.io, sign up here for a 14-day free trial.
