Adobe Commerce development
Storefront design
Performance & SEO
AI & agentic commerce
Release tracker
Most Magento SEO problems start in a handful of admin settings: URL structure, canonical tags, redirects on URL key changes, the XML sitemap, robots instructions and default meta data. Set those correctly at the right scope, then fix the issues configuration cannot solve, such as layered navigation URLs, thin categories and slow templates. The checklist below gives the exact Adobe Commerce admin path for each setting, checked against Adobe's configuration reference for 2.4.x.
Many settings can be set per website or store view. Check the scope switcher at the top of the configuration page, and confirm a lower scope is not overriding your default value.
Admin settings checklist
Paths assume the Admin sidebar. "Recommended" is a sensible default for most stores, not a rule; the "Why" column tells you when to choose differently.
Web and URL settings
| Setting | Path | Recommended | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Use Web Server Rewrites | Stores > Settings > Configuration > General > Web > Search Engine Optimization | Yes | Removes index.php from URLs |
| Use Secure URLs on Storefront | Stores > Settings > Configuration > General > Web > Base URLs (Secure) | Yes | One HTTPS version of every page |
| Enable HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) | Stores > Settings > Configuration > General > Web > Base URLs (Secure) | Yes, once HTTPS is stable everywhere | Browsers stop requesting HTTP versions |
| Auto-redirect to Base URL | Stores > Settings > Configuration > General > Web > URL Options | Yes (301 Moved Permanently) | Consolidates host variations to the base URL |
| Add Store Code to URLs | Stores > Settings > Configuration > General > Web > URL Options | No, unless you deliberately use store-code paths for languages or regions | Changing it later alters every URL |
| CMS No Route Page | Stores > Settings > Configuration > General > Web > Default Pages | A helpful 404 page with search and top categories | Keeps lost visitors on site; must still return 404 |
Catalog URL, canonical and redirect settings
All of these are at Stores > Settings > Configuration > Catalog > Catalog > Search Engine Optimization.
| Setting | Recommended | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Product URL Suffix / Category URL Suffix | Choose once (for example .html or none) and keep it | Changing suffixes changes every URL and needs redirects |
| Use Categories Path for Product URLs | No | Gives each product one short URL instead of one per category path |
| Use Canonical Link Meta Tag for Products | Yes | Points variant and path duplicates to one product URL |
| Use Canonical Link Meta Tag for Categories | Yes | Points sorted and filtered listing URLs to the category |
| Create Permanent Redirect for URLs if URL Key Changed | Yes | Creates a 301 when someone edits a URL key |
| Generate "category/product" URL Rewrites | Review on large catalogs | Adobe notes that saving this data for categories with many products can degrade performance. If you do not use category paths, turning it off can help, but test the effect on existing URLs on staging first |
| Page Title Separator | A short character such as - or | | Used when titles are built from parts |
| Popular Search Terms | No, unless you curate it | Avoids an extra thin page of search terms |
Catalog display settings
| Setting | Path | Recommended | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Allow All Products per Page | Stores > Settings > Configuration > Catalog > Catalog > Storefront | No | "Show all" pages are slow and duplicate paginated lists |
| Products per Page on Grid Allowed Values | Stores > Settings > Configuration > Catalog > Catalog > Storefront | A small set of values | Each value is another URL variant of the list |
| Mask for Meta Title / Meta Description | Stores > Settings > Configuration > Catalog > Catalog > Product Fields Auto-Generation | A pattern using product name and a key attribute | Fallback meta for new products; write key pages by hand |
XML sitemap
Configure at Stores > Settings > Configuration > Catalog > XML Sitemap, then create or regenerate the file at Marketing > SEO & Search > Site Map.
| Setting | Section | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| Enabled, Start Time, Frequency | Generation Settings | Enabled, daily, off-peak (needs working cron) |
| Add Images into Sitemap | Products Options | Base only or All, depending on catalog size |
| Maximum No of URLs Per File, Maximum File Size | Sitemap File Limits | Keep within search engine limits; Magento creates an index file when split |
| Enable Submission to Robots.txt | Search Engine Submission Settings | Yes |
| Frequency and Priority | Categories, Products, CMS Pages Options | Leave defaults; Google largely ignores these hints |
Also submit the sitemap URL in Google Search Console and check that it lists only canonical URLs returning 200.
Design configuration: robots and HTML head
Go to Content > Design > Configuration, edit the Global row (or a specific website or store view), then:
| Setting | Section | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| Default Robots | Search Engine Robots | INDEX, FOLLOW on production; NOINDEX, NOFOLLOW on staging and development |
| Edit custom instruction of robots.txt File | Search Engine Robots | Block cart, checkout, customer account, internal search results and toolbar parameters |
| Default Page Title, Title Prefix, Title Suffix | HTML Head | Short defaults; a suffix with the brand name is fine |
| Default Meta Description | HTML Head | Leave blank or generic; write specific descriptions per page |
Check robots changes carefully after every deployment. Copying a staging database to production is a common way to ship NOINDEX, NOFOLLOW to a live store.
Per-page settings to review
- Products: each product has a Search Engine Optimization section with URL Key, Meta Title, Meta Keywords and Meta Description. Write titles and descriptions for best sellers by hand.
- Categories: the same section on each category under Catalog > Categories. Also use the category description field for intro content and check Display Mode and Anchor settings.
- CMS pages: each page has its own URL key and meta fields under Content > Pages.
- URL rewrites: manage custom redirects at Marketing > SEO & Search > URL Rewrites, and check for chains (A to B to C) after migrations.
Fixes configuration cannot make
Some important issues need code, an extension or content work:
- Layered navigation URLs. Core canonicals help, but you still need a plan for which filter combinations are indexed and which are blocked. See our guide to faceted navigation SEO.
- Hreflang for multi-language stores. Core Magento does not output hreflang tags. Use an extension or a small custom module, and keep alternates consistent across store views.
- Structured data. Check what your theme outputs and extend it to cover merchant listing properties.
- Category content and internal links. Unique intros and links between related categories.
- Page speed. Theme, JavaScript and caching work has a direct effect on Core Web Vitals.
- Out-of-stock and discontinued products. Decide whether to show them (Stores > Settings > Configuration > Catalog > Inventory > Stock Options > Display Out of Stock Products) and how to redirect permanently removed items.
How to run this checklist
- Export current configuration values for every scope before changing anything (
bin/magento config:showhelps). - Change settings on staging first, then crawl staging (with access protection) to see the effect.
- Deploy, flush caches and reindex where needed.
- Crawl production and spot-check canonicals, robots meta and redirects on product, category and filter URLs.
- Monitor the page indexing report in Search Console for the next few weeks.
For the strategy behind these settings, including which page types to prioritize, read the ecommerce SEO guide.
FAQ
Should product URLs include the category path?
Usually not. One short product URL is easier to keep canonical and survives category changes. If you already use category paths and they rank well, changing them is a migration and needs redirects.
Are Meta Keywords still useful?
Google does not use the meta keywords tag for ranking. Filling it in does no harm, but it is not worth the effort.
Why are configuration changes not showing on the storefront?
Check the scope (a store view value may override the default), then flush the cache. URL changes may also need a reindex.
If you want a second pair of eyes on these settings, Mistri reviews Adobe Commerce configuration, templates and crawl data as part of our Magento SEO services.
Sources
Adobe Experience League: Catalog configuration reference; Adobe Experience League: Web configuration reference; Adobe Experience League: XML Sitemap configuration reference; Adobe Experience League: SEO overview.
