Having clean and user-friendly URLs is essential for SEO and improving the overall user experience of your PrestaShop store. Pretty URLs, also known as PrestaShop friendly URLs, help remove unwanted characters from your web addresses, making them easier for both users and search engines to understand. If you want to improve your site’s SEO and boost engagement, it’s time to implement pretty URLs. Here are five powerful moves to enable pretty URL PrestaShop and take your e-commerce store to the next level.
1. Enable URL Rewriting in PrestaShop Settings
The first and most important step in enabling pretty URLs is to activate URL rewriting in your PrestaShop back office. By default, PrestaShop uses URLs with IDs and special characters, which can be unsightly and less SEO-friendly. To switch to clean, pretty URLs:
Go to your PrestaShop dashboard.
Navigate to Shop Parameters > Traffic & SEO.
Under the Set Up URLs section, turn on the option for “Friendly URL.”
Save your changes.
This will ensure that your URLs no longer contain IDs or random characters, providing a cleaner and more professional look to your store’s URLs.
2. Remove ID Numbers from URLs
One common issue with PrestaShop URLs is the presence of product and category IDs, which can clutter URLs and make them harder to read. Removing these IDs is a crucial part of creating a pretty URL PrestaShop.
To remove the IDs:
Navigate to Traffic & SEO in your PrestaShop settings.
Find the option to remove IDs from URLs and toggle it on.
Save your settings, and PrestaShop will automatically remove the ID numbers from the URLs of your products, categories, and CMS pages.
Removing these unnecessary numbers not only makes the URLs more readable for users but also improves your SEO performance.
3. Optimize URL Structure for Categories and Products
A well-organized URL structure is key to making your PrestaShop site both user-friendly and SEO-efficient. When setting up URLs for your product pages and categories, make sure they are descriptive and concise. For example, a product page for women’s running shoes should use a URL like www.example.com/womens-running-shoes instead of a complex, auto-generated URL with numbers or parameters.
For categories, include the category name in the URL, such as www.example.com/shoes/women, to give both users and search engines a clear understanding of your site’s structure. Optimizing your URLs in this way enhances the readability and ranking of your pages.
4. Use Keyword-Rich URLs for SEO Benefits
SEO is a big reason to implement pretty URLs. Keyword-rich URLs are easier for search engines to crawl and rank higher in search results. Make sure to include relevant keywords in your URLs that reflect the content of the page.
For example, if you’re selling leather jackets, your URL should be something like www.example.com/mens-leather-jackets, which tells both users and search engines exactly what’s on the page. This approach increases the likelihood of your pages appearing in relevant search results, driving more organic traffic to your store.
Remember, though, to avoid keyword stuffing and keep the URL as natural and simple as possible while incorporating relevant terms.
5. Set Up 301 Redirects for Old URLs
When switching from default PrestaShop URLs to pretty URLs, it’s important to set up proper 301 redirects from the old URLs to the new ones. This prevents broken links and ensures that your SEO efforts from the previous URLs aren’t lost.
A 301 redirect informs search engines that the page has moved permanently, and it passes the SEO value from the old URL to the new one. Without these redirects, users might encounter 404 errors, and your SEO rankings could drop.
To implement 301 redirects:
Use PrestaShop’s built-in SEO and URL settings to manage redirects, or install a module that helps automate this process.
Redirect old, complex URLs to the new pretty URLs and ensure that any external links pointing to the old URLs are updated.
Conclusion
Enabling PrestaShop friendly URL and configuring pretty URL PrestaShop settings can significantly improve both the user experience and the SEO performance of your online store. By following these five power moves, you’ll create cleaner, more navigable URLs that rank higher in search results and offer a seamless browsing experience for your customers. Make sure to test your new URLs and regularly monitor your SEO performance to keep your store running at its best.