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Elementor has emerged as one of the most popular page builders for WordPress, offering users a flexible and intuitive way to design their websites. While it provides powerful tools for creating visually appealing sites, there are some SEO issues that can arise if not addressed properly. In this article, we’ll explore some of the top SEO issues in Elementor and how you can resolve them to ensure your website ranks well in search engines.
List of SEO Issues in Elementor
1. Duplicate Content
Issue:
One common SEO issue with Elementor is the potential for duplicate content. This can happen when you create multiple versions of the same content or when Elementor generates additional URLs for your pages due to its dynamic content loading.
Resolution:
To resolve this issue, make sure to set canonical tags for your pages. You can do this by using SEO plugins like Yoast SEO or Rank Math (Our Personal Recommendation), which offer options to set canonical URLs. Additionally, avoid creating duplicate content by using the ‘Hide’ or ‘Exclude’ options in Elementor to prevent content from appearing multiple times on your site.
2. Slow Page Speed
Issue:
Elementor can sometimes contribute to slow page loading speeds, especially if you use too many widgets, animations, or large media files.
Resolution:
To improve page speed, optimize your images before uploading them, minimize the use of heavy widgets and animations, and consider using caching plugins like WP Rocket or W3 Total Cache. You can also use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to identify and fix specific speed issues.
3. Missing Meta Descriptions and Title Tags
Issue:
Elementor doesn’t automatically generate meta descriptions and title tags for your pages, which are crucial for SEO. This comes under the top SEO Issues in Elementor which leads in basic SEO part.
Resolution:
Manually add meta descriptions and title tags for each page using an SEO plugin like Yoast SEO or Rank Math. These plugins provide fields where you can enter custom meta descriptions and title tags, ensuring that your pages are optimized for search engines.
4. Incorrect Heading Tags for Post Titles
Issue:
When using Elementor’s Drag & Drop option to add a post section, the default title tag for post titles is H3. This is incorrect from an SEO perspective, as post titles should be tagged as H2 on the homepage, blog page, archive, and other similar pages.
Resolution:
To correct this issue, you can manually change the heading tag for post titles to H2 within Elementor. Simply select the post title widget, go to the advanced settings, and change the HTML tag to H2. This ensures that your post titles are properly tagged with H2, which is more SEO-friendly and helps search engines understand the structure and hierarchy of your content better.
5. Hidden Elements Retaining HTML Source Code
Issue:
When elements are hidden using Elementor’s ‘Hide’ option, the corresponding HTML code remains in the source code of the page. This can lead to speed issues and SEO problems, such as duplicate content or conflicting tags.
Example:
For instance, if you hide certain elements for mobile devices but retain them for desktop, both versions of the elements will still be present in the HTML source code. This can result in search engines indexing both versions, potentially causing confusion and negatively impacting SEO.
Note: Found this after assessing our client’s website. We discovered several SEO issues in Elementor that had contributed to a decline in their website’s ranking.
Resolution:
Avoid using Elementor’s ‘Hide’ option excessively for elements that are not intended to be displayed on certain devices or conditions. Instead, consider using conditional display options or custom CSS to properly hide elements without retaining their HTML code in the source. Regularly review your website’s source code to ensure unnecessary or hidden elements are not negatively impacting SEO performance.
6. Mobile Responsiveness
Issue:
While Elementor offers mobile responsiveness, it’s important to test your site on various devices to ensure it displays correctly and maintains good SEO performance.
Resolution:
Use the mobile preview feature in Elementor to check how your site looks on different devices. Additionally, you can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to identify any issues and make necessary adjustments to improve mobile SEO.
7. JavaScript Rendering
Issue:
Some JavaScript elements in Elementor can be problematic for search engine crawlers, potentially affecting your site’s indexation.
Resolution:
Limit the use of JavaScript where possible and use it wisely. If you need to use JavaScript for interactive elements, make sure to test how search engine crawlers render your pages. You can use tools like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test or Fetch as Google in Google Search Console to check how Googlebot sees your pages.
Conclusion
While Elementor offers incredible flexibility and design options, it’s essential to be aware of these SEO issues and take proactive steps to resolve them. By addressing duplicate content, optimizing page speed, adding meta descriptions and title tags, correcting heading tags for post titles, avoiding hidden elements retaining HTML source code, ensuring mobile responsiveness, and being cautious with JavaScript, you can optimize your Elementor-built website for search engines and improve your chances of ranking well in search results.
Remember to regularly monitor your site’s SEO performance and make adjustments as needed to maintain and improve your rankings. If you need any help with SEO Issues in Elementor, feel free to contact us or email us : info@digtize.com
FAQs for SEO Issues in Elementor
is Elementor bad for SEO?
Yes, it is. Until & unless it is setup properly as per the SEO terms by a Expert Developer.
Does Elementor slow down your site?
Yes, it will if you don’t know how to set it up properly with less number of sections/containers used. Less number of DOMs = Speed.
is Elementor good for SEO?
Yes, it is a well known and great WordPress website builder in the industry. But if I talk about SEO. There is something missing that needs to be taken care for the SEO mainly in Elementor.