Are you also comparing Magento and Shopify? Choosing one among two popular eCommerce developer platforms is not easy. But the biggest issue that retailers are worried about is Ecommerce SEO. Because every eCommerce business wants to get more traffic on its site via search engines. But it is hard to say which among the both is the most SEO friendly.
But if we compare all the SEO features that Magento and Shopify provides, then we can get the right answer. So here we are with this post to compare Magento and Shopify SEO features. Let’s begin with understanding the difference between both.
Understand The Basics
First of all, you need to know what makes Shopify and Magento different from each other. We all know that both of them power millions of eCommerce websites. They provide a platform for retail eCommerce companies to build their online store.
Magento
Magento is a completely free and open-source platform. You can download and use this eCommerce website builder to launch your eCommerce store. However web domain, hosting, content, and eCommerce SEO costs are always there. It is difficult to use for beginners because it requires basic coding knowledge.
Shopify
Shopify is also a platform on which retailers can build their online shopping stores. But Shopify is not free to use. You must have to pay for the services they provide. It is easy to manage your store on Shopify because it doesn’t need coding language.
PART 1: Default SEO Features On Magento & Shopify
To understand which platform provides better eCommerce SEO features you just have to know the default features. Shopify and Magento, both have some inbuilt SEO features for the store owners. One can use these features to rank higher on search engine page results (SERPs). Most of these features are the same on Shopify and Magento.
Magento
Following are some basic SEO features you get while using Magento:
- Auto-Generated Metadata
Metadata like meta descriptions, titles, page names, and URLs are very important in SEO services. Magento provides automated Metadata generated for your product pages
- Sitemap
Magento generates Sitemap and makes it ready for search engine indexing.
- Robots Instructions
Website indexing by search engine robots is important. There is a “robots.txt” file used to guide such crawlers. These robot instructions are automatically generated on Magento
- Canonical Tags
To avoid duplicate product pages, Magento uses a feature called canonical tags.
- Snippets
Snippets are important to rank higher on Google. Magento provides a rich snippets service.
- Google Analytics Experiments
You can use Google Analytics tracking code on Magento to track everything and use the experiment code to do experiments on page rankings.
Shopify
Shopify provides the below-mentioned default SEO features:
- Meta Data
Similar to Magento, it also provides metadata to improve Ecommerce SEO.
- Sitemap
A sitemap is also default and automated feature provided by Shopify.
- Robot Instructions
Shopify automatically generates a “robots.txt” file to guide search engine crawlers
- Canonical Tags
Shopify automatically guides search engines not to show any duplicate content pages.
- Redirection
Edit any URL and Shopify will automatically redirect to it.
- Auto H1 Tags
Shopify generates H1 tags for the pages automatically.
- Snippet Previews
Snippets matter a lot in eCommerce SEO. You can easily preview the rich snippets Shopify generates.
PART 2: SEO Problems On Magento & Shopify
Following are some common SEO problems one will have to face on Magento & Shopify.
Magento
- Duplicate Content
Users will see duplicate pages showing up on search engines even after using canonical tags.
- No HTML Sitemap
You cannot create an HTML based sitemap which is important in eCommerce SEO.
- Non Editable Snippets
Snippets are not editable.
- More Technical
It is hard to understand the user interface and SEO tactics on Magento.
Shopify
- Duplicate Content
Duplicate product pages are the most common issue on eCommerce platforms. Shopify sites also face it.
- No Control On Snippets
Snippets cannot be edited by the Shopify site owners.
- No Control On URL Structure
Ecommerce SEO seems hard because you don’t have any control over the URL structure of a Shopify site.
- Locked Crawler Instructions
- No More Customizations
Shopify used automatic features which makes it less customizable.
- Limits On Metadata
Metadata is always limited to a specific number of characters.
PART 3: Magento Vs Shopify: Advanced SEO Features
Advanced SEO features can be accessed with plugins or apps. Both of these platforms have their app stores. One can install an SEO application or plugin from there.
Magento
Magento has 350+ SEO plugins available in the Magento marketplace. Out of these 350+ applications, 100+ are free to use.
Shopify
Shopify app store has around 500+ apps to use for eCommerce SEO. 270+ are free to use and the rest of them are paid.
Let’s Summarize!
We have explained everything about the eCommerce SEO services that both of these platforms provide. Some services are available as the default features. While some of them are available with third-party applications and plugins. Also, we have discussed the problems that you will face while optimizing eCommerce stores on both platforms. We hope that we have solved the Shopify vs Magento doubt in your mind. But the final decision is always up to you. What do you think is good for SEO? Share in comments with us.