PrestaShop is a powerful eCommerce platform that enables businesses to create and manage online stores efficiently. One crucial aspect of running a successful online store is ensuring your website is optimized for search engines. A significant part of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is creating clean, descriptive, and user-friendly URLs. In this guide, we’ll explore the steps to set up SEO-friendly URLs for your PrestaShop store.
Why Are SEO-Friendly URLs Important?
SEO-friendly URLs are crucial for improving visibility on search engines and enhancing user experience:
- Improved Rankings: Search engines rely on URLs to interpret a page’s content. You can boost your search rankings by adding more descriptive URLs with relevant keywords
- User Experience: Clean and readable URLs help users understand what to expect on a page.
- Increased Click-Through Rates: Well-structured URLs encourage users to click on your links in search results.
Steps to Create SEO-Friendly URLs in PrestaShop
1. Enable Friendly URLs in PrestaShop
PrestaShop includes a built-in feature to generate friendly URLs. Follow these steps to enable it:
Log in to your PrestaShop Admin Panel.
Navigate to Shop Parameters > Traffic & SEO.
Scroll down to the Set Up URLs section.
Toggle the Friendly URL option to “Yes.”
Click Save.
2. Configure URL Settings
1. In the same Traffic & SEO page, you can configure:
- Accented URL: Decide if your URLs should include special characters.
- Redirect to the Canonical URL: Enable this to avoid duplicate content issues.
2. Customize the Base URLs for your store’s language preferences if you run a multilingual store.
3. Optimize Individual Product URLs
PrestaShop allows you to manually edit URLs for products, categories, CMS pages, and more. Below are the steps showing how to make the Product URLs SEO-Friendly:
1. In the Admin panel, Open Catalog > Products:
2. Select the product you want to edit.
3. Navigate to the SEO tab.
4. Optimize the Friendly URL field by using a concise, keyword-rich URL.
For example:
Instead of the product?id=123, use handmade-ceramic-mug.
5. Save your changes.
4. Use Keywords Strategically
When crafting your URLs:
- Include primary keywords related to the page’s content.
- Avoid stuffing URLs with unnecessary words or repetitive terms.
- It is recommended to use hyphens (-) for separating the words instead of underscores (_).
5. Avoid URL Parameters
Dynamic URLs with parameters like ?id=123&ref=456 are harder for search engines and users to understand. Use PrestaShop’s friendly URL feature to replace these with clean, descriptive URLs.
6. Redirect Old URLs to New Ones
Implementing a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one is an essential step that one should ensure while updating the SEO URLs. This helps maintain SEO rankings and prevents users from encountering 404 errors. Redirects can be managed through your server’s .htaccess file or an SEO module.
7. Test Your URLs
After configuring your URLs:
- Verify they are working correctly.
- Use online tools like Google’s URL Inspection Tool to check how search engines view your URLs.
- Test for broken links and resolve them promptly.
Additional Tips for SEO-Friendly URLs
- Use Lowercase Letters: URLs are case-sensitive. Stick to lowercase letters for consistency.
- Avoid Stop Words: Words like “and,” “or,” “the” can be omitted unless necessary for clarity.
- Limit URL Length: Keep URLs concise while still descriptive.
- Update Sitemap: After making changes, update your sitemap and submit it to Google Search Console.
Recommended Modules for SEO in PrestaShop
To enhance your SEO efforts, consider using these modules:
- PrestaShop Free SEO Wizard: A free tool to get started with optimizing meta tags and URLs.
- PrestaShop SEO Wizard: A comprehensive module for automating SEO tasks, including friendly URLs.
- PrestaShop SEO Optimizer: A powerful module to enhance your store’s SEO with advanced customization options.
Conclusion
SEO-friendly URLs are a cornerstone of an effective eCommerce SEO strategy. By following this guide, you can ensure your PrestaShop store’s URLs are optimized for search engines and user-friendly. Regularly review and update your URLs to maintain their effectiveness as your store grows.
Adopting these practices can significantly improve your website’s visibility on search engines, drive higher volumes of targeted traffic, and ultimately lead to an increase in conversions and overall engagement.
Happy optimizing!
Appendix: Common Issues and Troubleshooting
Friendly URLs Not Working
- Ensure that your server supports URL rewriting (mod_rewrite for Apache).
- Verify that the .htaccess file is correctly configured and writable.
- Check permissions for the /var/www/html/ folder if hosted on a Linux server.
Broken Links after URL Changes
- Whenever you modify URLs on your website, promptly update your sitemap to reflect these changes and resubmit it to Google Search Console. This ensures that search engines quickly discover, crawl, and index the updated URLs, preserving your site’s visibility and SEO performance.
- Use a redirect manager module or .htaccess to map old URLs to new ones seamlessly.
3. Multilingual Store Challenges
- Incorporate language-specific keywords in your URLs to enhance localization.
- Make sure each language version of your store has a unique URL structure.
4. Duplicate Content Due to Canonical Issues
- Enable “Redirect to Canonical URL” in Traffic & SEO settings.
- Review all indexed pages using tools like Screaming Frog to detect duplicates.