For many companies that operate e-commerce, the topic of search engine optimization is still a letter with seven seals. SEO is now one of the most important success factors of an online shop - because what is the point of an e-commerce platform without visitors? Nothing! We show what is important in SEO and, using the example of the Magento shop system, what options there are.

SEO as the basis for efficient e-commerce

When it comes to the strategic alignment of an e-commerce platform, many shop operators ask themselves questions such as “Why SEO?” Or “What is influenced by SEO?”. The answer to the first question is very simple: In order to be able to sell products in an online shop, you need customers who visit the shop because they came across it during their research. Because a classic customer journey usually begins with a search query on a search engine. The resulting organic search results now account for more than half of the total traffic in most online shops. That alone should be reason enough to take SEO very seriously.

Nevertheless, this channel is often completely neglected - even though shop operators can achieve a lot here with a low budget. However, it should also be clear that SEO is not a sure-fire success and requires intensive planning and preparation. Why? This is where the answer to the second question asked at the beginning about the influence of SEO comes into play: SEO-optimized shops have a very strong effect on the findability and presence of a brand, as well as on all marketing channels of the shop operator. For example, online marketing campaigns such as paid search, product list advertising, or display marketing work much better for a product if the target (in this case the online shop) is SEO-optimized.

Many factors are important in SEO

The clear, all-encompassing goal of SEO is only one thing in e-commerce: Your own online shop should be listed in search results before the competition. When it comes to achieving this goal, the 1-word long keywords (eg “bicycle lamp”) have long since ceased to matter, because these only make up 2% of all search results. So-called long-tail search queries with 2-5 words (eg “buy rechargeable bicycle lamp”) are much more important. In order to be listed among the first search results for such complex inquiries, the content of the online shop must be prepared holistically, with interesting content and clearly defined subject areas - which is another very important factor in the evaluation by a search engine. Google "rewards" online shops that are particularly user-friendly and that are relevant to the customer.

Therefore, SEO begins today with the conception of a new online shop. The information architecture plays a decisive role here. The shop operator must be clear about the product categories, how the subject areas are structured, and how the content is prepared in intuitive navigation.

In modern search engine optimization, this results in various fields of action:

On-site SEO of the shop system, for example with regard to loading speed, mobile optimization, reliability, and special strategies for navigation, content templates, and product presentation.

On-page optimization of individual pages through e.g. crawler control, internationalization of the content, content structures, prevention of duplicate content, and keyword enrichment.

Offsite Everything that influences SEO performance outside of the shop, such as backlinks, social signals, campaign management, and other accompanying marketing channels.

Web Analytics tracking tools and BI systems such as Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, for measuring the success of optimizations and determining user interactions.

Services & tools: Indispensable external services, for example for tag management, SERP controlling, keyword analytics, and competition monitoring.

Search engine optimization with Magento

The Magento shop system already offers good support for some of these areas out-of-the-box. Of course, these always have to be adapted to the individual needs of the respective shop operator - factors such as market segment, product types, customer groups, and sales models play an important role here.

For example, Magento's built-in CMS Page Builder helps create an appealing structure and navigation of the online shop, with meaningful categories, product information, and intuitive design elements. With this tool alone, the shop operator already has a powerful tool at hand for a good SEO score.

Magento is also fundamentally well positioned in the area of ​​“on-site / on-page optimization”. The system creates good sitemaps, generates structured data for Google in the page code, and controls the Google crawler specifically via the shop pages. However, customer-specific adaptations must also be made here.

For this, as well as for all the other fields of action mentioned, the following always applies: Simply buying suitable extensions for little money in the Magento Marketplace in order to solve all SEO requirements must be treated with caution. On the one hand, outdated extensions can lead to security problems, on the other hand, some extensions intervene deeply in the Magento core and can disrupt the shop functionalities and cause greater development effort when replacing them.

Magento shops with optimal SEO values thanks to rltsquare

Such problems are easy to circumvent when running a Magento e-commerce platform. That is why we have long been relying on self-developed extensions in project development in close cooperation with our customers, which have proven themselves many times and are constantly being further developed.

Our SEO support does not only start before and during the project development, but also in the long term and beyond the go-live. Google is constantly changing the ranking criteria, and it is important to react to them promptly - for example by updating an extension or making changes to the front end, such as shorter product texts, etc.

In addition, we offer monitoring of the SEO channel via web analytics / BI, oversee the structured development of customer-relevant content and work with the customer to develop concepts for acquiring new customers using the SEO sales channel.

Info is very useful, thanks a lot!