Magento 2 is a powerful ecommerce platform – scalable, robust, and built for serious growth.

But out of the box? It’s not SEO-friendly.

We’ve seen even established brands unknowingly sabotage their organic performance with Magento 2’s default settings, unoptimised URLs, and duplicate content traps.

In this article, we’ll highlight 7 of the most common technical SEO issues we fix for our Magento consultancy clients – and how to resolve them.

If your organic traffic has plateaued (or dropped), there’s a good chance one of these is the culprit.

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1. Duplicate Content from Layered Navigation

Magento’s layered navigation (filters like size, colour, material) is useful for shoppers – but a nightmare for SEO.

Each filter can generate a new URL (e.g. /t-shirts?color=blue&size=large) – and Google might index all of them, creating massive duplicate content issues.

Fix it:

• Use canonical tags pointing back to the base category page
• Disallow filtered URLs in robots.txt
• Use parameter handling in Google Search Console

Tip: Tools like Screaming Frog can help you detect duplicate content clusters.

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2. Poor Default URL Structure

Magento’s default category and product URL format can get messy – and dilute keyword relevance.

Example:
/category/subcategory/product-name.html

This can:

• Create overly long URLs
• Duplicate products across multiple paths
• Reduce clarity for both users and search engines

Fix it:

• Enable canonical product URLs in Magento Admin
• Remove .html suffix if possible
• Keep URLs short, keyword-focused, and human-readable

Need help fixing structural SEO on Magento? Talk to our SEO team – we know the platform inside out.

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3. Product Variants Causing Index Bloat

Magento lets you create configurable products with variants (size, colour, etc.). Each can generate its own product URL – even if content is identical.

Result? Google indexes near-identical pages with minimal differentiation.

Fix it:

• Set canonical tags to the parent product
• Avoid separate URLs for variants unless there’s unique content or search demand
• Group reviews and UGC under the main product

This small fix often reduces index size by 20–40%.

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4. Flat Category and Product Pages

Magento doesn’t force you to add detailed content to your category pages – but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.

Many stores just show product tiles – with no supporting text, internal links, or contextual relevance.

Fix it:

• Add SEO content blocks above or below product grids (150–300 words)
• Link to key subcategories or featured products
• Include keyword-rich headers (H2s) and schema markup

Need help writing ecommerce-optimised content? Our SEO for ecommerce service includes full content planning.

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5. Broken or Misconfigured XML Sitemaps

Magento 2’s native XML sitemap can be overly aggressive – or not include all key pages.

Common issues:

• Including filtered or non-canonical URLs
• Excluding CMS pages or blog posts
• Missing updated frequency settings

Fix it:

• Review sitemap config under Marketing > SEO & Search > Sitemap
• Submit sitemap index (not individual files) to Google
• Use third-party extensions like Mageworx SEO Suite for more control

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6. Slow Page Load Speeds

Magento is notoriously resource-intensive – and speed is now a confirmed Google ranking factor.

Fix it:

• Enable full-page caching
• Use Redis or Varnish for cache management
• Optimise image sizes and serve in WebP format
• Use a fast hosting provider with Magento-specific optimisation

Run your site through PageSpeed Insights and focus on mobile scores.

We also work with clients on full Analytics & Reporting dashboards to tie speed to revenue.

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7. Poor Use of HTTPS and Mixed Content

Google expects all ecommerce sites to be secure – but many Magento stores still serve mixed content or have HTTP/HTTPS conflicts.

Fix it:

• Force HTTPS across all pages
• Update all internal links to HTTPS
• Fix mixed content (scripts, images, fonts)
• Set canonical tags to HTTPS versions only

Not only is this better for SEO – it builds trust with shoppers.

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Bonus: Ignoring Structured Data

Magento supports product schema – but not all themes use it correctly.

Make sure your:

• Product pages include valid JSON-LD markup
• Review schema is present (and complies with Google’s guidelines)
• Breadcrumbs, pricing and availability are visible to Google

Use Google’s Rich Results Test to check each template.

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Final Thoughts on Magento 2 SEO

Magento 2 is built for big, complex ecommerce sites – but that comes with SEO risks.

The good news? Most of these technical issues can be fixed once and monitored regularly.

Need help auditing your Magento setup? Explore our Magento consultancy
Or book a free discovery call and we’ll flag the quick wins and the critical fixes