Magento 2 is a popular ecommerce platform that powers thousands of online stores around the world. One of the features that sets Magento 2 apart from other ecommerce platforms is its layered navigation. Layered navigation helps customers filter products by various attributes such as price, size, color, and brand. However, a poorly optimized layered navigation can negatively impact a website’s SEO. This article will explain how Magento 2’s layered navigation affects SEO and provide tips on how to optimize it to improve website rankings.
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The Problem with Default Layered Navigation
By default, Magento 2’s layered navigation creates multiple URLs for a single category page. For example, if a user filters products by brand, the URL will change to include a "/brand/" parameter. This results in multiple versions of the same category page with different URLs but the same content. This is known as duplicate content, and it can harm a website’s SEO.
Google may penalize websites with duplicate content by lowering their search rankings. It can also confuse Google’s crawler, which may not know which version of the content to index. As a result, the website may not appear in search results for relevant queries.
How Layered Navigation Affects Website Performance
In addition to SEO, layered navigation can also affect website performance. When a customer applies a filter, the website generates a new URL and reloads the page with the filtered results. If a website has many products and attributes, this can result in slow page load times and a poor user experience.
Slow page load times can also harm SEO. Google takes website speed into account when ranking pages. Websites that load slowly may rank lower in search results than faster websites. Poor user experience can also result in higher bounce rates, which can signal to Google that the website is not relevant to the user’s query.
Improving Layered Navigation for SEO
There are several ways to improve layered navigation for SEO and website performance:
1. Use Canonical Tags
Canonical tags tell search engines which version of a page to index. By adding a canonical tag to the category page, Magento 2 can inform search engines that all filtered URLs point to the same content. This can prevent duplicate content issues and improve SEO.
2. Use AJAX Filters
AJAX filters allow customers to filter products without reloading the entire page. This can improve website performance and reduce bounce rates. By using AJAX filters, Magento can also avoid creating multiple URLs for the same content, which can improve SEO.
3. Use Attribute Indexing
Attribute indexing is a feature in Magento 2 that allows website owners to define the importance of each attribute. This can help Google’s crawler understand which attributes are important and which ones are not. By using attribute indexing, website owners can improve SEO by guiding Google’s crawler to the most important pages and attributes.
4. Use SEO-Friendly URLs
URLs that are easy to read and understand can improve SEO. By customizing the URL structure of layered navigation, website owners can create URLs that include relevant keywords and are easy for customers to understand. This can improve click-through rates and website traffic.
5. Use Robots Meta Tags
Robots meta tags tell search engines which pages to index and which ones to ignore. By adding robots meta tags to filtered pages, website owners can prevent search engines from indexing them and creating duplicate content issues. This can improve SEO by ensuring that only the most relevant pages are indexed.
Conclusion
Magento 2’s layered navigation is a powerful feature that can improve the user experience and drive sales. However, a poorly optimized layered navigation can negatively impact SEO and website performance. By implementing the tips in this article, website owners can improve their Magento 2 website’s SEO and overall performance. By taking the time to optimize layered navigation, website owners can increase their chances of ranking higher in search results and attracting more customers.