Whether you’re building a new Magento site, or just want to optimize your live storefront, getting it ready for search engines to index is critical. We present this checklist of 10 tasks for your use. Some of these tasks require a developer, and some don’t. Some can be done pre-launch, and some require Google to have indexed the site. However, all will ensure search engines like Google can navigate your site, understand the content and index your site well.
Items covered:
• SSL and HTTPS – Ensure all content is secure.
• Mobile Friendliness – Review site pages to confirm they work well on a range of mobile devices and identify opportunities for speed improvements. Google is mobile first now, even if your visitors aren’t.
• Optimized Robots.txt – Tell Google and other search engines which pages to index, and which pages to ignore. Search engines maintain a limited amount of your content in their index. So don’t squander index space with pages like checkout and search.
• Optimize the URL Structure – Analyze URL structure and structure them best for search engines. Make them clear and easy to read. Shorter URLs are better.
• Improve Category Navigation Structure – Review keyword searches in Google Search Console. Create categories and the navigation structure to match popular searches.
• Implement Breadcrumb Navigation – Both humans and Google will better understand how to navigate your site and the content it contains.
• Configure Caching – We prefer LiteSpeed Server and LiteMage Cache. They’re faster. However, Varnish and Redis are acceptable.
• Implement Structured Data Markup – Output data only visible to search engines so they better understand the page content. Include proper schema in output. The more info you give Google, the better your site and products are displayed on the different Google search platforms.
• Set Canonical URLs – Ensure that search engines know which pages are duplicates so they don’t think they are being spammed.
• Create and Optimize 404 page – When someone lands on page that doesn’t exist, they see an informative pages.
• Register with Google Webmaster – To ensure access to Google performance data, security issues and website errors.
Get help with technical SEO or your next website by contacting us.