Introduction
So, you migrated to Magento 2 recently? But don't know why your site is not ranking?
You might say, "I have thousands of products on your site, but only a few have no customers. Why?
Most likely reason is broken SEO.
However, migration from Magento to Magento PWA can have negative impacts if not handled well.
So, in this blog, we will be discussing an ultimate SEO Magento checklist for businesses looking to migrate from Magento to PWA. We have already prepared a list of mistakes that most people make during the Magento migration process.
So, if you're planning to migrate from Magento to PWA, this blog is a must-read for you.
Magento Search Engine Optimization Checklist
Use this SEO checklist template and tick maximum boxes.
#1. On-page SEO
On-page SEO is an essential aspect of any website, and it becomes even more important when migrating from Magento to PWA. This is because, during the migration process, it is crucial to ensure that the website's search engine visibility is not affected.
On-page SEO includes optimizing the website's content, meta tags, and meta descriptions, which can help improve the website's rankings in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Steps to optimize website content
- Conduct keywords research
One of the first steps in optimizing content is conducting keyword research. This involves identifying the keywords and phrases that people use to search for products or services related to your business.
Once you have a list of keywords, you can use them to optimize your website's content, meta tags, and descriptions. If you want to learn How to choose SEO keywords, you can refer to Moz or Semrush.
- Don't Forget The Tags
It's important to review your tags after determining your indexing strategy to ensure proper implementation. Meta tags and descriptions are HTML tags that provide information about your website to search engines.
Rel canonicals should be present for all products, directing towards themselves and any other CMS pages that are unique.
Additionally, images should be equipped with ALT tags to give search engines a better understanding of their content For multi-store websites that have varying location targets, it's crucial to implement hreflang tags across the store. This notifies Google of the existence of alternative versions of your main store and helps to ensure that the correct version is displayed to the right customers.
So, it's important to keep in mind that all on-site activities should align with your search engine marketing strategy.
- Internal linking is a technique that helps search engines understand the structure of your website and the relationship between its pages. It also helps visitors navigate your website more easily. It is important to use internal linking throughout your website, as it can help improve the website's visibility in SERPs.
Tips To Improve User Experience
A clear navigation structure can help visitors find the information they need more easily. It is important to organize the website's content logically and to use a simple and consistent navigation structure throughout the website.
A clean and simple design can help visitors focus on the website's content and find the information they need more easily. It is also important to ensure that the website's design is responsive, so that it looks good on all devices.
Improving website load times: Website load times can have a big impact on user experience. It is important to optimize the website's images and code to reduce load times.
This can be done by compressing images, minifying code, and using a content delivery network (CDN). By improving website load times, you can help ensure that visitors have a good experience when they visit your website.
#2. Off-page SEO
Off-page SEO refers to the optimization techniques that are used outside the website to improve its ranking in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
It is an important aspect of SEO, as it helps to increase the visibility and credibility of a website. In the context of Magento to PWA migration, off-page SEO is crucial as it helps to establish the new PWA as a reputable and trustworthy source of information.
Steps to improve link building
- Acquiring backlinks from reputable sources - Backlinks are links from other websites that point to your website. They are important for SEO because they signal to search engines that other sites consider your content to be valuable and relevant.
To improve link building, it is essential to acquire backlinks from reputable sources such as industry-specific blogs, news websites, and other high-authority sites.
- Social media is an effective tool for building brand awareness and driving traffic to a website. By creating engaging and shareable content, businesses can attract more followers and increase their reach.
This can lead to more backlinks, which can improve link building and off-page SEO.
- Creating valuable content that is likely to be shared is another important aspect of link building. This can include blog posts, infographics, videos, and other types of content that are relevant and informative.
By providing high-quality content that is likely to be shared, businesses can attract more backlinks and improve their off-page SEO.
#3. Technical SEO
Technical SEO is crucial for ensuring that a website is easily accessible and crawlable by search engines.
During a migration from Magento to a Progressive Web App (PWA), it is important to ensure that all technical SEO considerations are taken into account in order to maintain or improve the website's search engine rankings.
Steps to ensure proper website structure and architecture
- Proper website structure and architecture including the XML sitemap is essential for technical SEO. During a Magento to PWA migration, the following steps should be taken to ensure that the website's structure and architecture is optimized.
- Properly redirecting pages: All pages that are being removed or replaced during the migration should be properly redirected to the appropriate new pages in order to maintain link equity and avoid 404 errors.
- Properly handling canonical tags: Canonical tags should be used to ensure that search engines understand which pages are the preferred versions of the content.
- Utilizing proper header tags: Proper header tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) should be used to structure the content and make it easy for search engines to understand the hierarchy of information on the page.
- Ensuring mobile responsiveness: The website should be optimized for mobile devices to ensure that it is accessible to the increasing number of mobile users.
Tips to improve website speed and performance
- Website speed and performance is an important factor for SEO and user experience. The following tips can be used to improve website speed and performance during a Magento to PWA migration:
- Minimizing code bloat: Remove any unnecessary code and scripts that may slow down the website.
- Optimizing images: Optimize images by compressing them and using appropriate file types.
- Utilizing a Content Delivery Network (CDN): A CDN can help distribute website content to users based on their geographic location, which can help to improve website speed.
Steps to Check JavaScript Rendering and Crawlability
Magento PWA storefronts often use JavaScript to display product information and page content. If search engines cannot render this content correctly, important pages may become harder to index.
Follow these checks during your Magento-to-PWA migration:
- Check rendered content: Use Google Search Console's URL Inspection Tool to verify that product descriptions, category content, and page titles appear correctly in the rendered pages.
- Verify metadata: Ensure each important page has the correct title tag, meta description, canonical URL, and indexability settings.
- Test internal links: Confirm that product, category, and navigation links use crawable HTML links and lead to the correct destinations.
- Review JavaScript errors: Use browser developer tools to identify errors that prevent content or links from loading.
- Check indexing status: Inspect important URLs in Google Search Console and resolve crawling or indexing issues after launch.
Test representative product, category, and content pages before migration goes live. Repeat these checks after launch to identify rendering issues that could affect organic search visibility.
#4. Preserving the URL Structure
Preserving URL structure during Magento to PWA migration helps search engines recognize existing pages and reduces the risk of losing organic traffic. If any URLs change during the migration, map them carefully to their corresponding destinations in the new PWA storefront.
Follow these steps to protect your website's URL structure:
- Maintain existing URLs: Keep product, category, and content page URLs unchanged whenever possible.
- Set up 301 redirects: Redirect changed URLs to their most relevant new pages. Avoid redirect chains and unnecessary redirects to the homepage.
- Check canonical URLs: Ensure product and category pages use the correct canonical URLs to help search engines identify the preferred version of each page.
- Fix broken internal links: Update navigation menus, product links, and category links to point directly to the correct URLs.
- Handle removed pages correctly: Redirect discontinued pages to relevant alternatives when appropriate. If a page has no suitable replacement, return the appropriate status code. If a page has no suitable replacement, return the appropriate HTTP status rather than redirecting every removed URL to the homepage.
- Test URLs after migration: Check important pages for redirect errors, broken links, and unexpected HTTP status codes. Monitor Google Search Console for indexing issues after launch.
Review these checks before making the PWA storefront live. Continue monitoring important URLs after launch so you can identify and resolve problems that may affect search visibility.
#5 Utilizing Structured Data Markup Implementation
Structured data helps search engines interpret product details and other page information. During Magento to PWA migration, verify that your existing structured data remains accurate and accessible on the new storefront. Incorrect or missing markup prevents pages from qualifying for relevant rich results.
Implementing structured data for PWA
Check that the PWA storefront includes the appropriate structured data for each page type. For eCommerce stores, prioritize product pages and use relevant properties such as product name, price, availability, and ratings where applicable.
Ensure that the markup reflects the content visible to users. If the PWA renders content through JavaScript, verify that search engines can access the structured data after rendering.
Testing structured data for errors
After migration, test representative product pages using Google's Rich Results Test. Check for errors, missing required properties, and differences between the structured data and visible page content.
Monitor relevant reports in Google Search Console after launch. Fix validation issues and retest affected pages to help maintain eligibility for supported rich results.
For businesses considering other eCommerce platform options, our guide to Squarespace to Magento 2 migration provides additional information about the migration process.
#6. Monitoring Analytics
Monitoring analytics before and after a Magento-to-PWA migration helps you identify changes in organic traffic, indexing, and conversions. Compare your website's performance before and after launch to spot issues that may affect search visibility or user behavior.
Key metrics to monitor after migration
- Organic traffic: Compare organic sessions and landing-page traffic in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to identify unexpected declines.
- Search performance: Track clicks, impressions, click-through rates, and average positions in Google Search Console.
- Indexing status: Check important product, category, and content pages for crawling or indexing issues.
- Conversion tracking: Verify that product views, add-to-cart actions, purchases, and other relevant eCommerce events are recorded correctly.
- PWA page tracking: Test page-view tracking when users navigate between pages without a full page reload. Confirm that GA4 records each relevant page view correctly.
Compare these metrics with your pre-migration baseline and investigate significant changes. Use Google Search Console to identify search-related issues and GA4 to assess traffic and conversion performance.
Continue monitoring after launch so you can identify tracking errors, indexing problems, or unexpected drops in organic traffic and address them early.
What's The Concept of Magento PWA and Why Does It Make Sense To Migrate Magento to Magento PWA?
PWAs are web applications that provide a native app-like experience to users and are designed to work offline.
They are faster, more responsive, and provide a better user experience than traditional websites. This is why many businesses are now migrating from Magento to PWA Magento migration.
Better Conversions
Moving your frontend to PWA provides increased flexibility and the potential for increased conversion rates. You will no longer be restricted by the design limitations of the CMS your store runs on, giving you the freedom to optimize the frontend for better user experience and conversion.
Alibaba, for instance, experienced a remarkable 77% increase in conversion after transitioning to PWA.
Make Quick Tweaks Effortlessly
By separating the frontend from the backend, you can make quick modifications to the design without disrupting the backend operations.
This provides ample opportunities for testing and finding the most effective design choices, leading to improved performance.
Override app store restrictions
Progressive web applications offer a unique advantage for businesses as they don't have to comply with the limitations and restrictions imposed by the App Store and Play Market.
So, this can be a great opportunity for companies that are not yet prepared to invest in native app development. Furthermore, moving to PWA can be a viable solution for businesses operating in niche markets that fall under the "gray" eCommerce category.
Why does SEO matter during the migration process?
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is an important consideration during the migration process as it can have a significant impact on the website's search engine visibility.
Businesses should take steps to ensure that the migration process does not negatively impact their website's search engine visibility.
- Conducting a Thorough SEO Audit is an important first step in identifying any issues that may be impacting the website's search engine visibility. This can include identifying any technical issues, such as broken links or duplicate content, as well as any issues related to the content of a website and structure.
- Analyzing website traffic data can help businesses understand how users are interacting with their website. This Google Search Console data includes information such as the number of visitors, where they are coming from, and which pages they are visiting. This information can be used to identify areas of the website that may need to be optimized.
- Identifying high-performing pages can help businesses understand which pages are driving the most traffic and engagement. This information can be used to inform the migration process and to ensure that these pages are preserved during the migration.
- Identifying areas for improvement can help businesses understand what changes need to be made to the website in order to improve its search engine visibility. This can include making changes to the website's structure, content, and technical elements.
To ensure your migration is seamless and optimized for success, explore our expert Magento web development services that cover every aspect of your e-commerce needs.
Conclusion
Migrating from Magento to PWA can bring many benefits, including improved user experience, increased website speed, and better search engine rankings. It can also help to increase conversions and revenue. However, it is important to ensure that the migration process is done in a way that does not negatively impact the website's search engine visibility.
SEO should be a major consideration during the migration process. It is important to conduct a thorough SEO audit, preserve the URL structure, optimize for speed, utilize structured data, and monitor analytics.
The process of SEO is ongoing and requires continuous efforts. Even after the migration process is complete, businesses should continue to monitor the website's search engine visibility and make adjustments as necessary.
So. by following the ultimate SEO checklist, businesses can ensure that their online store is successful and that their website continues to perform well in search engine results.
Contact WEDOWEBAPPS LLC if you are looking to migrate your store from Magento 1 to Magento 2. For a detailed guide on the process, check out our data migration explained and discover the top themes for Magento 2 migration to ensure a smooth transition.
