Are Magento and Shopify also compared? Choosing between the two most popular platforms for eCommerce developers is not easy. However, the main concern for retailers is search engine optimization in e-commerce. This is because all e-commerce businesses want to attract more visitors to their sites via search engines. However, it is hard to say which of the two platforms is better for SEO.
However, if you compare all the SEO features offered by Magento and Shopify, you can find the right answer. So, in this article, we will compare the SEO features of Magento and Shopify. Let’s start by understanding the differences between the two.
Let’s go back to the basics.
First of all, you need to know how Shopify and Magento differ. It’s no secret that they are both behind millions of e-commerce sites and offer e-merchants a platform for creating their online stores.
Magento
Magento is a completely free and open-source platform. By downloading and using this e-commerce website builder, you can set up an e-commerce store. However, there are still costs for a web domain, hosting, content, and SEO for e-commerce. Basic programming knowledge is required, which makes it more difficult for beginners to use.
Shopify
Shopify is also a platform for retailers to create an online store. And Shopify is not free, however. There is a fee for the services offered and running a store on Shopify is simple, as it does not require any programming language.
Part 1: Standard SEO features of Magento and Shopify
To understand which platform offers the best SEO features for e-commerce, you just need to know the standard features Shopify and Magento have several built-in SEO features for store owners. These features can be used to improve your ranking on search engine pages (SERPs). Most of these features are identical in Shopify and Magento.
Magento
The basic SEO features you get when using Magento are listed below.
– Auto-generated metadata
Meta descriptions, titles, page titles, URLs, and other metadata are very important for SEO services, Magento has the ability to automatically generate metadata for your product pages.
– Sitemap
Magento creates a sitemap so that your site can be. Indexed by search engines.
– Instructions for robots
The indexation of your site by search engine robots is very important. There is a file called “robots.txt” that is used to control such robots. These instructions to robots are generated automatically by Magento.
– Canonical tags
To avoid duplication of product pages, Magento uses a feature called canonical tags.
– Snippets
Snippets are important for high ranking in Google and Magento offers a rich snippets service.
– Experiment with Google Analytics
You can track everything with Magento’s Google Analytics tracking code and experiment with page rankings with the experiment code.
Visit also: How Can a Custom Website Development Service Meet Your Needs?
Shopify
Shopify offers a number of standard SEO features, including
– metadata
As with Magento, we provide metadata to improve your eCommerce SEO.
– Sitemap
A sitemap is another automated feature offered by default by Shopify.
– Instructions for robots
Shopify automatically creates a “robots.txt” file to guide search engine spiders to your site.
– Canonical tags
Shopify automatically tells search engines not to display pages with duplicate content.
– Redirects
When you edit a URL, Shopify automatically redirects you to that URL.
– Automatic H1 tags
Shopify automatically generates the H1 tag for your page.
– Snippets overview
Snippets are important for e-commerce SEO, and you can easily preview the rich snippets Shopify generates for you.
Read: 5 Quick Actions to Improve The SEO of Your Website
Part 2: SEO issues with Magento and Shopify
Below we list some common SEO issues encountered with Magento and Shopify.
Magento
– Duplicate content
Even if you use the canonical tag, users will see duplicate pages in search engines.
– Lack of HTML sitemap
You won’t be able to create an HTML-based sitemap, which is very important for eCommerce SEO.
– Non-editable snippets
You can’t edit snippets.
– More technique
Magento makes it difficult to understand the user interface and SEO tactics.
Shopify
– Duplicate content
Duplicate product pages are the most common problem on e-commerce platforms, and the Shopify site is no exception.
– Lack of control over snippets
Snippets cannot be. Modified by the Shopify site owner.
– No control over URL structure
E-commerce SEO can be difficult because you have no control over the URL structure of your Shopify site.
– Blocked instructions for crawlers
– No additional customization
Shopify uses automatic features, which means less customization.
– Restrictions on metadata
Metadata is still limited to a certain number of characters.
Part 3: Magento vs Shopify: advanced SEO features
Advanced SEO features are available via plugins and apps. Both platforms have their own app stores. From there, it is possible to install SEO apps and plugins.
Magento
Magento offers more than 350 SEO plugins on the Magento marketplace. Out of these 350+ apps, more than 100 can be used. For free.
Shopify
There are over 500 SEO eCommerce apps in the Shopify app store. More than 270 of them can be. Used for free, the rest are paid.
Final words
We have said everything about the SEO eCommerce services offered by these two platforms. Some of these services are available as standard features. On the other hand, some of them are available as third-party apps or plug-ins. We also explain the challenges you face in optimizing your eCommerce store on both platforms – we hope we’ve cleared up your doubts about the differences between Shopify and Magento.
About Author:
The author has completed his education in marketing and started his career as a digital marketer. He is a content writer by profession. And he would love to add multiple things to his knowledge that he can add to his writing style. He writes about services of digital marketing agencies in Lahore like web development, SEO services Lahore, social media marketing, and web hosting.