TYPO3 & SEO - Your partner with over 30 years of experience

TYPO3 and SEO - does it even work?

A few years ago, it was often said that WordPress was the better CMS for websites where SEO was an important issue. And indeed it was, and in some cases still is, the case that you have a larger selection of tools here that help you to identify and rectify weaknesses in your own site and to approach SEO strategically.

However, there are now also many extensions for TYPO3 content management, such as the popular Yoast SEO, which help to optimize sites for search engines. In the course of this article, we will present various extensions that we have used ourselves and have had good experiences with.

SEO, SEA, SEM, CTR, KPI, on-page optimization, backlinks...

Before we get into the details, a few words about search engine optimization. Our guide is primarily intended to provide you with basic ideas and a tried-and-tested approach if you want to improve your own online presence. However, the article cannot be more than a solid TYPO3 SEO overview, as this area is incredibly comprehensive and can quickly become in-depth. From a certain level and depending on how strong the competition is in the respective environment, it is definitely helpful to consult professional SEO experts. SINEOS will be happy to support you in this, please contact us if you have any questions.

What types and areas of SEO are there?

Keywording, technical SEO, on-page optimization, off-page optimization, information architecture, content marketing, mobile SEO, SEO KPIs

These fields simply have to fit in order to be successful. It doesn't matter whether you are using TYPO3, Contao or WordPress. Only the available tools may differ.

Step 1: the keyword search

Before we start working in TYPO3, the first step is to find suitable keywords for the selected page or product. You need to ask yourself what terms your target group is searching for and what search terms they might type into Google.

The keywords become relevant in steps 2 and 4.

Keyword research tips and tools

1. Enter the terms you would use to search for information, services or products into Google and see who appears at the top of the list and what terms are used.
2. Use Google Trends or the Keyword Planner. You only need a Google account to access these tools. However, the Keyword Planner can only be used to its full extent if you also place search ads.
3. Other helpful tools are Keywordshitter or answerthepublic.
4. Or you can register for a free trial phase with ahrefs or sistrix, for example, and thus have access to professional tools that offer everything under one interface.
5. Another important point that should not go unmentioned is the keyword value and its value. We use Keyword Finder, which is much better suited for this than ahrefs, to determine this in the best possible way for German-speaking countries. This value provides information on how difficult it is to optimize for this. With a KV of 10, the challenge is manageable, with approx. 35 and more, it gets tricky. Here you have to think carefully about whether you have the necessary budget and resources to tackle this or whether another strategy is not more effective.
6. The search volume of keywords must also be taken into account. Here the device applies that large search volumes per month may appear attractive at first glance, but these are usually also highly competitive, such as Internet agency TYPO3. Long tail queries may be a better alternative, as the queries here are more specific.

Step 2: OnPage analysis and optimization

On-page optimization is essential if you want your TYPO3 website to rank in the top positions. Here you will often find low hanging fruits that are particularly easy to harvest, or measures that can bring a lot of success with little time investment. Here we summarize the most important points and quick wins.

Technical SEO - increasing the performance of the TYPO3 website

Nobody likes surfing on slow pages that take ages to load. The longer the visitor has to wait, the greater the likelihood that they will leave the website again without engaging with the content. Even if the networks are getting faster and faster, not everywhere and especially mobile, you have the best reception and therefore a fast line.

1. Analyze your own website. There are free tools for this, such as Google Page Speed, the Lighthouse app in Chrome among the dev tools or Screaming Frog in a free version as well as Seitwert or ryte. Here you can draw initial conclusions about bottlenecks, such as graphics that are too large, Javascript that blocks rendering, broken links and much more.
2. Google Page Speed gives many hints on what can be done better. Technical problems must therefore be solved directly in TYPO3. For example, by using lazyloading for images, using the WebP extension or by loading Javascript in the footer and asynchronously. Of course, the caching must also be set correctly.
3. Broken links can be fixed with the internal redirect module since TYPO3 9.5. If, for example, Screaming Frog spits out 404 codes, you can set a redirect from the dead link to the new URL.
4. Also make sure that you have created a property in the Google Search Console and have linked the sitemap there. The robots.txt should also be configured correctly and not exclude any pages unnecessarily.

OnPage SEO - use of keywords in the URL, title and headings

An important aspect is the correct use of the previously defined keywords. We recommend Yoast for TYPO3 as an extension. There you can store the focus keywords, as well as get a preview of the title and description of the individual page.

1. Install Yoast and from TYPO3 version 9.5 integrate the SEO plugin, which generates a corresponding sitemap.
2. If you create new pages or optimize existing ones, make sure that the keyword appears in the URL. You may need to define an alternative navigation title so that the menu item remains readable on the website.
3. Enter Focus Keywords under the SEO tab in the page properties. Then enter a meaningful title and a description. The keyword must appear in the meta title and can appear in the description. The primary purpose of this field is to make it easier for the searcher to decide which result to click on.
4. If necessary, use emot icons to generate more attention in the SERPs.
5. Another thing that is often forgotten by editors is filling in the alt attribute for images. This also counts for a small part of the ranking and placing the keyword here can only be an advantage.

Step 3: Competitor analysis

Competitor analysis is a very important point in SEO. Because the pages that are at the top of the first 5 places for the keywords used are the benchmark. Without a corresponding evaluation of these sites, you can only guess what needs to be improved on your own site. The following points should be included in the competitor analysis.

• Assessment of the general ranking of the site. Tools such as Seitwert, ahrefs, semrush and other SEO toolboxes can help with this.
• Backlink profile, which plays an elementary role in off-page optimization. Here you should examine where other companies get their backlinks and what domain rating they have. Backlinks from pages with less than 10 (ahrefs) tend to have a counterproductive effect on your own rating.
• Which keywords do these pages rank for, which are the top 10 pages?
• For the top ranked pages, a content analysis is carried out, what is offered to the visitor, is the user intent correct, have videos been integrated and much more.
• Have the competitors placed Google Ads ads, e.g. for the keywords TYPO3 SEO?

Once you have examined these and other points in detail, you can start to revise your own content strategy, as described in step 4.

Step 4: the SEO content strategy

Now that we are well advanced with the on-page and competitor analysis, it's time to take the necessary measures as part of a content strategy. We have already summarized information on the general procedure for creating a content strategy here.

With the knowledge gained, it is now time to take the decisive step and revise your own content. Here is a summary of important questions from which the implementation points can be derived.

• Have all relevant errors been identified and eliminated in the area of on-page optimization, such as missing or too short titles and descriptions?
• Were clear keywords assigned to individual pages so that all other on-page factors, such as H1, H2 and texts, could be adjusted?
• How extensive was the content of the competition, which elements are used there, which questions are answered there?
• Although the length of text on a page is relevant, it is not the deciding factor in winning or losing the battle for the top positions in the SERP. More important is the coverage of the search intent, has this been taken into account?
• Designing topic clusters (see also video).
• Part of the strategy can of course also be that, in addition to page optimization, it is also relevant to operate SEA, for example, because these channels are also often used by the competition to generate visibility. In other words, it might make sense to start a Google Ads campaign.