4. SEO relevant considerations for the page structure

Here are a few important SEO practices that are crucial for structuring and naming your pages in Magnolia CMS. A well-thought-out page structure and carefully chosen page names are essential to both increase visibility in search engines and provide an optimal user experience.

How do I link my pages

When you are linking your pages in Magnolia, you should use a logical and intuitive structure that is easy to understand for both users and search engines. Use a clear hierarchy in your URL structure that reflects the content of the page. Example: /products/smartphones/samsung-galaxy. This helps search engines and users to understand the structure of your website and improves the findability of your pages.

How do I name my pages

The title of a page should accurately reflect the content and contain relevant keywords. Avoid generic names such as "Page1" or "Untitled". Instead, you should use descriptive and meaningful titles, such as "The Best Smartphones 2024 - Samsung Galaxy Review". This not only improves SEO, but also increases the click-through rate in the search results.

Make sure that the title is not too long. The optimum length of a page title is usually between 50 and 60 characters. Longer titles can be cut off by search engines, which can impair readability and therefore the click rate.

You should also be careful not to repeat keywords unnecessarily. Keyword stuffing, i.e. the excessive repetition of keywords, can be perceived by search engines as spamming and have a negative impact on your SEO ranking. Instead, it makes more sense to use relevant and varying keywords that naturally describe the content of the page and address the search intent of the user.

Effects of changing business on structures and search engine ranking

Changes in the business area may require a restructuring of your website, including the renaming of entire page trees. Such changes should be carefully planned to minimise any negative impact on search engine rankings. Use permanent 301 redirects to transfer link juice and search history from the old to the new pages and ensure that all internal and external links are updated accordingly.

There are various ways to solve these redirects through programming. Alternatively, the additional module "Vanity URL" for Magnolia CMS is highly recommended, as it allows redirects to be set up easily by Magnolia authors.

https://www.magnolia-cms.com/marketplace/detail/vanity-url.html

Hreflang Tags

Hreflang tags are an important part of SEO for websites that have content in multiple languages or regional variations. These tags help search engines understand the language and geographical targeting of a page, which enables them to serve the correct content to users based on their location and language preferences.

Your site must have a concept, automated or semi-automated, to ensure continuous href lang tag generation. Depending on the implemented language management logic, this implementation can vary greatly.

For example, if you have an English page designed for users in the United States and a Spanish version for users in Spain, you would include the following in the <head> section of each HTML document:

<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-us" href="http://magnolia-central.com/en-us" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="es-es" href="http://magnolia-central.com/es-es" />

Other SEO-relevant considerations regarding the content structure

Other considerations include optimising the meta data of your pages (such as meta descriptions and meta tags), using structured data (schema markup) to improve the display in the SERPs (search engine results pages) and ensuring that all content is mobile-friendly and fast-loading. Also make sure you have meaningful internal linking that connects thematically relevant pages to strengthen the authority of your website and improve the user experience.

Check the SERP of your page with a preview tool:
https://mangools.com/free-seo-tools/serp-simulator
https://technicalseo.com/tools/google-serp-simulator

These explanations serve as a rudimentary introduction for authors who want to start improving their SEO skills when working with Magnolia CMS. The practices presented here can help you develop a basic understanding of how to improve the visibility of your content in search engines and optimise the user experience on your website. However, it is important to understand that the search engine optimisation landscape is constantly evolving and search engine ranking criteria are regularly updated.

For this reason, it may be worth considering the assistance of a professional SEO agency. Such an agency can not only provide up-to-date SEO trends and techniques, but also develop an advanced strategy tailored to your specific needs. If you're serious about improving your website's online presence and performance, professional guidance can be crucial to succeeding in a competitive environment.