9 SEO tips for successful PrestaShop optimization

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⏲ ​​Reading time: 13 minutes
Do you already have an online store or are you about to launch into e-commerce  ? Discover without further delay the best SEO optimizations on PrestaShop , the 100% French CMS dedicated to e-commerce sites . I reveal to you the simple and effective practices allowing you to improve your natural referencing and therefore your visibility on the Internet . You will also find a large number of add-ons to achieve your objectives on search engines . Here are the 9 tips to know for an optimal ranking on the results pages .

1. Configure basic SEO factors
PrestaShop allows you to configure basic SEO factors using directly integrated tools. Without the need for add-ons, you can already optimize your online store by following these few steps. However, even if you can implement structured data directly in your CMS, you'll find a very useful module below to improve your SEO.

Urls
As a reminder, a URL is read by search engines and influences your natural referencing. This is why you should not neglect their structure. To do this, PrestaShop offers all the necessary options for URL optimization.

The first step is to enable URL rewriting , which simplifies writing URLs. You can then remove any unnecessary information, such as category names or EAN codes. Also, consider adding a "/fr/" suffix if your online store is intended to be translated into multiple languages.

Robots.txt
The robots.txt file allows you to direct search engine robots in their crawling of your online store. You can, for example, block access to certain parts of your site to speed up their work and prevent unnecessary pages from being indexed.

PrestaShop comes with a built-in tool to automatically generate this file. You can also use add-ons to enhance it. Be very careful, however, as a configuration error can have a devastating impact on your organic rankings.

Breadcrumbs
Breadcrumbs improve the user experience while boosting your search engine rankings. They provide seamless navigation and add visual impact to SERPs (search results pages).

The structure of an online store is often complex and therefore requires a breadcrumb trail. You'll find all the options you need to develop it on PrestaShop.

Reviews and comments
It's important for your e-commerce business to encourage your customers to leave a review and comment after purchasing a product. This will increase the trust of your future customers and will also impact your reputation with search engines.

The goal is to then display structured data ( rich snippets ) in the search results pages. On PrestaShop, you can add a very comprehensive module recognized by Google: Customer Ratings & Reviews Pro + Google Rich Snippets .

Screenshot of a rich snippet
2. Improve loading speed
Loading speed is very important for user experience, especially on mobile devices. This criterion is increasingly taken into account by search engine algorithms. Fortunately, there are several SEO tips on PrestaShop to optimize your online store in this regard. To start, you can already monitor your site's loading speed on GTmetrix .

GTmetrix screenshot of the SEOQuantum website
Accommodation
Choosing the right web host is essential to ensure a fast and responsive website. Choosing a local provider with a French IP address is an important first step. Additionally, if your online store targets an international audience, adding a DNS server like Cloudflare allows you to stay close to your customers.

Depending on the options provided, managing your hosting can be very time-consuming. It's best to opt for a managed service to free up valuable time. 772424 or digiactif , a French hosting provider, specializes in PrestaShop and offers a comprehensive and efficient service.

Code caching and compression
PrestaShop bahrain phone number data automatically reloads all files and recompiles data for each page displayed. This significantly slows down your website's loading speed. While paid modules are available, PrestaShop's primary features already allow you to configure certain details. To ensure your settings are appropriate, check that you have selected the following settings:

never recompile template files  ;
file system caching;
clear the cache every time there is a change.


Superfluous functions
Once you've finished creating your PrestaShop store, it's time to do some major cleaning! You probably won't be using all the options your theme offers. By disabling them, you'll lighten your website and therefore improve its loading speed.

For example, if you don't use customer data (variations, characteristics, etc.), you can improve your performance by disabling them. On the other hand, you can completely uninstall all unused modules (such as Blocks , PrestaShop Expertise or OnBoarding ) to once again lighten your e-commerce data.

3. Switch your PrestaShop store to https
An http site is marked as "not secure" in the address bar, while an https site is accompanied by a padlock. Its primary effect is to reassure the Internet user and therefore improve the user experience. Even if the direct influence of https on SEO is not yet proven, this is likely to change with the update announced by Google for May 2021 ( Core Web Vitals ). Despite a slightly higher launch and annual cost, it is not recommended to cut corners in this area.