Magento SEO: Guide to Better Optimize Magento Website

Magento is one of the best open source platforms that isn’t only SEO-friendly, but also comes in-built with avant-garde features & functionalities. However, it is not immune from a few familiar issues that requires due attention while optimizing Magento SEO.  The first move to be had here is the acceptance of latest release, 1.2.1. After that, enable Server URL rewrites. This setting can be found under System => Configuration => Web => Search Engines Optimization.  The second amazing thing to be configured now is "Add store Code to Urls" under "Url Options". It is better to set this functionality to "No", in most cases.

WWW vs. non-WWW
Under "Unsecure" and "Secure" displays Base URL that lets you set your preferred domain. You are free to opt between the www & the non-www version of the URL. With the change in setting you are not required to create a redirect from www to non-www or non-www to www, however set the chosen one only. So, it’s fine to bring a 301 redirect via .htaccess alongside mod_rewrite. Apart from solving the WWW vs non-WWW issue, this redirect doesn’t let Magento redirect the SID query to your URLs, such as? SID=b9c95150f7f70d6e77ad070259afa15d. Ensure the Base URL looks like the redirect. While editing the .htaccess file, following are the code that ought to be added to redirect index.php to root.

1. RewriteBase / RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9} /index.php HTTP/
2. RewriteRule ^index.php$ http://www.mydomain.com/ [R=301,L]

Or, below are the code that should be included while your Magento install does not exist in the root, however in the sub-directory http://www.mydomain.com/magento/:

1. RewriteBase /magento/ RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9} /magento/index.php HTTP/
2. RewriteRule ^index.php$ http://www.mydomain.com/magento/ [R=301,L]

Header Settings

our Magento install, by default, comes with the title "Magento Commerce". For your Magento platform to receive the deserving traffic you need to keep in mind:

• Search engines emphasize more on the early words, so keep your keywords near the start of the page title as it will help you rank well.
•  People scanning result pages first of all notice the early words. If your keywords lay at start of your listing page, it is possible to be clicked on.

First get rid of the default title "Magento Commerce". Go to Configuration => Design => HTML Head. Select a detailed & good title for your site. The title is to be utilized by many non-content pages with no custom title, for example; "Contact Us" and the "Popular Search Terms".

Added to all these, below are given some more aspects of Magento SEO that proves to be of high use

1. CMS Pages
2. Category optimization
3.  Products optimization

Magento Template Optimization

1. Optimized Blank Template
2. Headings
3. Clean up your code
4. Aim for speed

Advanced Magento SEO and Duplicate Content

1. Noindex, follow for non-content pages
2. Nofollowing unnecessary links
3. Canonical URLs
4. XML Sitemaps

SynapseIndia closely works with the core team of Magento development team who don’t leave any stone unturned in improving the Magento SEO and Magento Optimization.

About the Author:
This article has been written by a technical writer working at SynapseIndia - a Magento Optimization company of India offering Magento SEO services to the worldwide clients.

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