SEO Settings

URL structure, meta tags and sitemap settings that Magento provides in the backend by default.

The basic SEO settings are under Stores > Configuration > Catalog > Catalog > Search Engine Optimization:

• Use Web Server Rewrites: should be set to "Yes" so readable URLs like /category/product.html are used instead of technical parameter-based URLs (catalog/product/view/id/123) – essential for SEO and usability alike.
• Product/Category URL Suffix: the file extension of the URLs (usually ".html").
• Generate "category/product" URL Rewrite Key based on: whether URL keys are generated manually or automatically from the name.
• Redirect to CMS Page for URL with slash in the end: behavior for URLs ending with a trailing slash.

Meta tags per product/category/CMS page

You maintain meta title, meta description and meta keywords directly in the respective product, category, or CMS page form under the "Search Engine Optimization" or "Content" tab – Magento Open Source has no central place to edit all meta tags at once (SEO extensions with meta templates, which automatically apply patterns like "{{name}} – Buy Now | My Store" across many products at once instead of maintaining each individually, fill that gap).

301 redirects

If a URL key changes (e.g. because a product name was revised), Magento automatically creates a 301 redirect from the old to the new URL (controllable via the Create Permanent Redirect for old URL checkbox in the respective form) – important so already linked or indexed URLs don't turn into a 404.

Robots meta tag

Under Stores > Configuration > Design > Search Engine Robots you control the global robots.txt as well as the default value for the robots meta tag (index/noindex, follow/nofollow) – individually overridable at the product, category and CMS page level.

XML sitemap

Under Marketing > SEO & Search > Site Map you create an XML sitemap that tells search engines about your full page tree – important so new products and categories get crawled reliably. Use Add Sitemap to set the filename and storage path; under the Generation Settings tab you can set up a recurring cron job for automatic generation, instead of having to regenerate the sitemap manually. What actually ends up in it is its own, more detailed topic – see the next chapter.

Enabling canonical tags

The same configuration section (Stores > Configuration > Catalog > Catalog > Search Engine Optimization) contains two often-overlooked toggles: Use Canonical Link Meta Tag For Categories and Use Canonical Link Meta Tag For Products. Both should be set to "Yes" – they make Magento report a single, unambiguous "main URL" as canonical to search engines for filtered category views (layered navigation) and for products linked in multiple categories, avoiding duplicate-content issues.

Maintaining manual URL redirects

Under Marketing > SEO & Search > URL Rewrites > Add URL Rewrite you can also create redirects that Magento doesn't generate automatically – for example for old URLs from a previous shop system, or for marketing landing pages. Key fields: Request Path (the old URL being requested), Target Path (the destination), and Redirect Type ("No" = internal rewrite with no visible redirect, "Temporary (302)", or "Permanent (301)").

Analyzing customer search terms

Under Marketing > SEO & Search > Search Terms, Magento shows what customers actually searched for in your store's own search, including the Num Results column (number of hits). Search terms with zero results are a direct signal of missing products, incorrect synonyms, or a good target for an additional category or CMS page.