SEO Expert is a very comprehensive module that helps you quickly optimize the natural search engine ranking of your store on the main search engines as well as on social networks.
This module allows you in particular to:
- quickly create and customize your simplified URLs, as well as the meta tags (SEO tags) of your product pages.
- automatically generate suitable titles for the Facebook and Twitter sharing links of your store's products.
SEO Expert automatically fills in all the necessary fields for the proper indexing of your PrestaShop store. The module will automatically generate personalized content for all the important fields of your store:
- Product title
- Product description
- Product keywords
- Short product description
- Rewritten product URL
- Facebook share titles
- Twitter share titles
It is thanks to this content that your site will be better indexed on the main search engines and appear on the first pages (91% of clicks on Google occur on the first page) but also on social networks. Visibility is a key success factor for any e-commerce site. Gain positions on search engines with SEO EXPERT, and increase your traffic as well as your conversions!
Simplified URL Optimization
The simplified URL allows you to have clean and unique addresses (URLs) for each page of your site and helps search engines to better index them. Before configuring the module, you must ensure that you have activated the simplified URL feature on your store, in order to see the effects of your URL rules. To configure the simplified URLs, go to the Preferences tab and then to SEO & URL.
Once this action is completed, return to the configuration of your module. To create the simplified URLs for your product pages, click on "Add a new rule for SEO." A new window appears; follow the numbered steps from 1 to 3:
Step 1 – General
Two fields to fill in appear, “Rule Name” and “Language Selection”:
“Rule Name”: Give a name to the rule you are going to create to make it easier to identify later. This new rule will appear in the summary frame of created URL rules. We advise you to first create a global rule for all categories and specific rules subsequently. Note: We advise you to give a rule name that reflects the category to which it is applied.
"Language selection": choose which language the rule will apply to. The language that appears by default is the default language of the store. You must have previously activated other languages in your store to obtain the list of languages. You can activate new languages for your store by clicking on the "Localization" tab and then on "Import Localization Pack." After naming the rule and selecting your chosen language, click on the "Next" button.
Step 2 – Categories
This step allows you to select the product categories for which you wish to apply the simplified URL rule that you are about to create. Select "All categories" if you wish to apply the same type of URL for all categories in the store.
You may also apply the rule to a single (sub)category or to multiple categories. Only products that have the selected category as their default category will be affected.
Step 3 – Configure your URL
In the URL field, you will be able to determine the URL structure that you wish to apply to your product pages.
To assist you, you have a list of variables next to you that you can use to fill in your templates (The variables take different values depending on the categories / product sheets visited by your customers). You have the following variables:
{product name}, which corresponds to the name of the product.
{product description}, which corresponds to the description of the product and appears in the body of the product page.
{product description short}, which corresponds to the summary of the product, at the top of the product page.
{product reference}, which corresponds to the reference of the product. If the reference contains special characters, they will be removed.
{product manufacturer}, which corresponds to the name of the product manufacturer. {product features}, which corresponds to the name of the product. {product categorie name}, which corresponds to the name of the product category.
{product parent categorie name}, which corresponds to the name of the product's main category.
{product categorie name}, which corresponds to the name of the product's category. {product retail price with tax}, which corresponds to the retail price including tax.
{product specific price with tax}, which corresponds to the specific price including tax.
{product pre-tax retail price}, which corresponds to the pre-tax selling prices.
{product pre-tax specific prices}, which corresponds to the specific pre-tax price.
{product reduction}, which corresponds to the percentage reduction of the specific price.
The values of these fields must be variables in 95% of cases. The only cases in which one can do without variables are those where there is only one product per category. This mode of operation is not recommended.
We advise you to create a general rule for all categories, and then, if necessary, to create specific rules if you require special referencing for certain categories.
After configuring your URL rule, you can click on "Save." A message confirming that your rule has been successfully created will be displayed. A summary of this new rule then appears in the summary table.
To activate the rule, simply click on the "Apply" button. The rule will thus apply to all products belonging to the categories affected by this new rule.
A window will open indicating how many products the rule applies to. You will be able to modify and update the rule at any time by returning to the summary table.
Note: the new products that you add to a category that has a URL rule will automatically take the default URL rule applied to that category. Therefore, there is no need to update the URL rule for new products.
Configuration of meta-tags
Introduction
A meta tag is a tag in the HTML source code of a page that allows, among other things, the insertion of keywords that are not visible to the user and are intended for interpretation by search engines, such as Google. SEO Expert allows you to create these meta-tags to index your product pages on search engines.
The most well-known meta tags are as follows:
- Meta title: this tag is essential for achieving a good ranking on Google. It contains the text that appears in blue on Google's results pages. The words that comprise it, as well as their order, are important.
- Meta description: this tag contains the text that appears in gray on Google search pages. It serves to guide internet users and encourage them to click on your site.
- Meta keywords: keywords are taken into account to provide relevant results in relation to the searches conducted by your clients on search engines.
Meta tags will be displayed in Google search results as follows:
You can also find the meta title tag at the top of your browser as well as in the HTML code of your product page, inserted in the section <head>of the page:</head>
SEO Expert also allows you to create specific meta tags for Facebook sharing posts and Twitter Cards.
Facebook sharing links
You can create the content for the sharing links of your product sheets on Facebook. These sharing links will also utilize meta-tags that enhance your search engine optimization.
Sharing links on Twitter or Twitter Cards.
Twitter Cards are generated by meta tags that you must add to your website. Twitter Cards are associated with a unique URL, and you can have as many as you have URLs.
SEO Expert will allow you to automatically add these tags to your pages so that users who tweet display enriched content (Twitter Cards) on their news feeds visible to all their followers.
Configuration
To begin the configuration of meta-tags, please click on the button "Add a new meta-tag rule." A new window appears; follow the numbered steps from 1 to 5:
Step 1 – General
Two fields to fill in appear, "Rule Name" and "Language Selection."
"Rule Name": give a name to the rule you are going to create in order to identify it more easily later. This new rule will appear in the summary framework of the created meta-tag rules. Note: We advise you to give a rule name that reflects the category to which it is applied.
"Language selection": choose which language the rule will apply to. The language that appears by default is the default language of the store. You must have previously activated other languages in your store to obtain the list of languages. You can activate new languages for your store by clicking on the "Localization" tab and then on "Import Localization Pack."
After naming the rule and selecting your chosen language, click on the "Next" button.
Step 2 – Categories
This step allows you to select which product categories you wish to apply to the meta-tag rule that you are about to create. Choose "All categories" if you wish to apply the same type of meta-tag to all products in the store. You may also apply the rule to a single category or subcategory. Only products that have the selected category as their default category will be affected. After naming the rule and selecting your preferred language, click on the "Next" button.
Step 3 – Configure your meta-tags
This step allows you to determine the structure of the meta-tags you wish to apply to your product pages. The fields you can fill in are as follows:
- Meta title
- Meta description
- Meta keywords
In order to assist you, you have a list of variables available next to you that you can use to fill in your templates. The values of these fields must be variables in 95% of cases. The only cases where one can do without variables are those where there is only one product per category. However, this is not recommended.
After configuring your rule, click on the "Next" button to set up the sharing titles on Facebook and Twitter, or "Save" if you wish to configure only the tags of your product sheets. Then, click on "Apply".
Step 4 – Sharing Titles on Facebook
Facebook has its own meta-tags that help you boost the traffic to your site. The tags and fields proposed by Facebook are as follows:
Admin IDs: Facebook user IDs of individuals considered to be the administrators or moderators of this page. If you own a Facebook page and wish to access more data from Facebook Insights, you may use this tag. In doing so, you inform Facebook that you are the owner of the site, and it establishes the connection between your Facebook fan page and your website. This is not a mandatory field.
Application ID: Application ID of the Facebook platform for the site. This is not a mandatory field.
Title: this is the title of your content. It functions in the same way as a title tag for search engine optimization. It is not necessary for the title to contain all the keywords; it must primarily attract the attention of internet users so that they click on your site. • Description: similar to the description tag, it describes your content. Think of content that generates clicks. You have 297 characters.
Type: it helps you describe what type of content you are sharing.
Image: choose to attach one or more images to your post. After configuring your rule, you may click on the "Save" button and then, "Apply." If you have a Twitter account, you may click on "Next" to set up sharing links on Twitter.
Step 5 – Sharing Titles on Twitter
Twitter provides the opportunity to enrich content in tweets through Twitter Cards, allowing the publication of titles, authors, as well as content types such as images, products... There are several types of cards:
- Summary or Résumé (default type: title, description, thumbnail image, and attribution to a Twitter account)
- Summary with a large image
- Photo or Image (A card with an image only)
- Gallery (A collection of images)
- Product (An optimized card with all the product details) The proposed tags and fields for Twitter are as follows:
- Twitter account: the @username of the site, which will be displayed in the footer of the Twitter Card. The @ symbol must be included.
- Title: as with Facebook, the title should not contain all the keywords but should attract attention and generate clicks. This field is limited to 70 characters.
- Description: this tag is similar to the meta-description for search engines. Your description is limited to 200 characters.
- Image: choose to attach one or several images to your Twitter Card. Several types of sizes are offered.
- Features: This allows you to specify specific characteristics of the products, such as price, size, or general product information.
After configuring your rule, you may click on the "Save" button. A message confirming that your rule has been successfully created will be displayed. A summary of this new rule will then appear in the summary table.
To activate the rule, simply click on the "Apply" button. The rule will thus apply to all products belonging to the categories affected by this new Twitter meta-tags rule. A window will open, indicating how many products the rule applies to. You will be able to modify and update the rule at any time by returning to the summary table.
Note: In order to use Twitter Cards, your URL must be approved by Twitter. To do this, please go to the validation tool: https://dev.twitter.com/docs/cards/validation/validator Once your request is submitted, you will receive a confirmation email indicating that your domain is under validation. The approval process for your domain may take several weeks.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to achieve good search engine ranking?
Achieving a satisfactory result in terms of search engine optimization requires a great deal of work and patience. Indeed, many success factors will depend on the content of your website. In principle, you cannot rank well for a keyword that is rarely or not at all present on the pages of your site.
Then, the level of charge of the targeted search engines as well as the intensity of competition will also have an influence on the time frame for obtaining the desired results. For keywords that are exclusive to your website (brand names or domain names for example), this may be possible in the first few days following the implementation of your natural referencing (SEO). For keywords facing minimal competition, it will take a longer time without being able to indicate in advance when these results will be verifiable or on which specific keywords.
However, there is a strong chance that your site will appear at least in the top 30 positions of the search engines, on a majority of keywords, after 1 to 3 months.
I have applied rules to my products, but the Keywords field in my product sheet in the back office remains empty; what should I do?
This Keywords field is not linked to the SEO Expert module but to another native PrestaShop module called Tags block, so it will not be automatically filled after configuring SEO Expert.
Will the URLs and Meta-tags I have created be deleted upon uninstalling the module?
No, uninstalling the module does not affect the URLs and Meta-tags that have already been created.
I have already set up rules for my product categories, but I do not see any impact on the URL of my product pages.
This is due to the fact that the targeted category in your rule does not have any product with this same category set as the default category.
Find this module on the PrestaShop Marketplace! And let yourself be guided by our article on module installation.