Search engine optimization is an ongoing battle where the opposition is constantly changing their tactics, so you’re forced to do the same to stay in the game.

However, we shouldn’t observe Google and other search engines as the “enemy” that always changes the rules.

Google is just a tool after all and we need the right tools to adjust our digital presence so users can have the best possible experience with our stores, websites, products and services.

Your SEO toolset also needs to be up to date so you can tackle everything search engines throw at you on the spot.

That’s why we’ve been working on a lot of improvements and new features in our search engine optimization solution for OpenCart…

SEO Backpack (OpenCart 3.x, 2.x)

The most easy-to-use and intuitive SEO tool for OpenCart just got updated again and this time we wanted to tell you a bit more about what your store will get with the new version.

There are tons of new features and improvements we did, but there are a few that deserve a bit more attention.

New Feature: Multi-Language Folder Prefixes for SEO URLs

(OpenCart 2.x)

If your OpenCart store is using multiple languages, you need a feature like that. It helps improve your URL structure and have it more organized. Instead of the language prefix being at the end of the URL, it’s now placed after your domain.

For example: yoursite.сom/de/iphone5.

To use this feature in the new version of SEO Backpack, go to URLs & Linking > Advanced Settings.

If multiple languages are present, you will have distinguishing URLs for all pages when they are translated to the given language.

Better structure for better ranking when there are search queries on multiple languages.

New Feature: Automatic SEO URL Generation

(OpenCart 2.x)

SEO Backpack will be able to automatically generate the SEO URL of any product, category, manufacturer or information page when you edit then without setting a slug.

This is very useful if you regularly add new products to your store and you do not have time to set the URLs manually.

Can be managed from URLs & Linking > Advanced Settings.

The SEO URL is automatically created when you create your new product if you have entered the necessary parameters for the module to generate the URL.

SEO URLs are automatically created also for new categories, manufacturers and information pages.

New Feature: UI Improvements in the 404 Manager

(OpenCart 2.x)

The Missing Pages tab now has a filter where you can easily sort through the entries that SEO Backpack has logged.

You can filter by:

• Route

• Visits

• Date Start & End

As for the 404 Redirects, you now have improved and more effective detection that doesn’t miss any of the possible 404 requests.

For example, in case of a missing product, instead of seeing a notification that the product is not found, SEO Backpack now detects that request and shows enables the 404 redirect functionality to the working product page.

You can also redirect customers not just to the working product, but to any other page you want.

New Feature: Category Breadcrumbs

(OpenCart 2.x, 3.x)

Breadcrumb trails are indicators of the site’s page hierarchy and lets users navigate when they browse through different pages in your OpenCart store.

SEO Backpack now lets you enable structured data breadcrumbs for category pages.

This means that the breadcrumbs you see in your site will be able to get displayed in the Google search results for users to see.

The breadcrumb categorizes the content by matching the context of what the users search in Google.

This helps with your ranking because it lets search engines index your site and all its categories much faster. Which means more bonus points for your SEO score.

Improvement: Multi-lingual H1 and H2 Tags

(OpenCart 2.x, 3.x)

H1 and H2 tags still have their influence on Google ranking in 2018. The H1 title represents the main topic and focus of a given page, and the H2 tags represent the rest of the subjects within the page.

In the new version of SEO Backpack, you can edit them and use any of the languages you have in your OpenCart site.

You can do that from Advanced Editor > Products. Simply double click the field you want to edit and enter the tags.

Multi-lingual H1 and H2 tags can actually give you some significant local search advantage especially if your competition is not so keen on going in details with their SEO.

This means that if you approach these tags right, Google might start giving your pages higher priority when users make queries using languages you have in your store.

Improvement: URL Transliteration Support

(OpenCart 2.x, 3.x)

SEO Backpack now recognizes characters from almost any kind of language and converts them more accurately.

For example, the transliteration of the Greek ξ is now changed from “k” to “ks”.

This is very important for your SEO since Google wants to see URLs without any irregularities or non-matching words and characters.

Let SEO Backpack Handle It

Your OpenCart SEO score will just keep increasing the more power we pack into it with each new version. Make sure you update your module and let us know what you think about the new features! We’ll be happy to know if you think there’s something else that should be present in the control panel that’s currently missing.
 

I Want Higher Ranks Now!