Magento is an open-source platform, more akin to WordPress in this regard than it is to SaaS platforms like BigCommerce and Shopify, the source codes of which are behind curtains and closed doors.
Not so with Magento. Its code is readily accessible for developers to access and customize, and as a result there is a massive network of Magento specialists out there – particularly designers and developers – who have dedicated their professional endeavors to serving Magento merchants.
At the same time, and in spite of this massive Magento ecosystem, many merchants find it cost-prohibitive to scale operations on a platform like this, resulting in a large number of migrations to SaaS platforms for eCommerce, year after year.
One area of particular concern is SEO, or search engine optimization. Because very little (to nothing) is templated on the Magento platform, out of the box, optimizing a Magento website for SEO can be extremely difficult.
As a result, many merchants choose to work with a professional for Magento SEO services. Let’s take a closer look at some of these considerations.
The Problem of Magento and SEO
Magento is difficult to optimize for SEO because of its nature as an open-source platform. Making customizations to an open-source website is easy – as long as you have development experience. If not, it’s difficult.
For instance, when you create URLs in Magento, oftentimes the platform creates duplicate metadata and descriptions. Magento also often creates poorly optimized page titles.
Because the users are required to host their own websites, making sure the platform is safe, secure, and fast is another concern. Limited infrastructure, such as inadequate hosting and server configurations, can create bottlenecks that slow down websites. Failing to keep up with updates can also create security issues.
Another problem with Magento is that Google tends to crawl and index internal search results pages, which will chew up a crawl budget and make the website look nonsensical to Google, harming rankings.
On top of these issues with Magento, which are more or less specific to SEO, there are other concerns associated with the platform.
Other Costs of Magento
To put it simply, the wide network of support that accompanies Magento, along with the flexibility of the platform, raise some serious costs. One is the hosting requirement; this alone can sap a lot of resources and expense – but on top of that, making changes to Magento and optimizing the platform for CRO, UX, and SEO can become very expensive as making even the most basic changes can require extensive development experience.
Which Ranking Factors Can You Improve on Your Own?
The good news is there are things you can do to improve the optimization of a Magento website that don’t really require a lot of development experience.
If you have selected a group of viable target keywords, you can perform the following:
● Edit URLs to contain them where possible, remove strings of nonsense characters, and implement appropriate 301 redirects.
● Include target keywords in page copy, page titles, headers, and image alt text, as well as in meta descriptions.
● Start blogging on relevant topics and keyword-optimize those blogs.
● Insert relevant and actionable internal links on key pages on your website.
● Remove large images, compress, and re-upload them.
● Scrub your website for (and remove) duplicate copy.
● Implement a CDN to improve website speeds.
● Install and configure an SSL to improve website security.
● Configure your robots.txt file to exclude internal search results pages.
Beyond these, however, as well as with keyword research, it might be beneficial for you to invest in a partnership with a provider of Magento SEO services.
Hiring a Professional for Magento SEO Services
As with all things related to Magento, trying to do them yourself can be frustrating, expensive, and even impossible.
As a result, many eCommerce merchants seek the help of an experienced Magento SEO services provider to perform keyword research and then put all the little optimizations into practice that in sum make a big difference.
If you’re strapped for resources and simply don’t have the time, don’t put organic growth on the backburner. That would not be a wise strategy. Find yourself a strategic Magento partner today and start making improvements.
