XCart reBOOT (reDUX) Template Skin Theme X-Cart Classic
r e D U X

Tips

Speedup

Front End Performance 2021

reBOOT will work on any PHP version (from v5.6.x - v7.x), but use the highest PHP v7.4.x you can. X-Cart compatibility with PHP v8.x should be available sometime in 2022...

Ensure you have added the recommended .htaccess code, to enable Gzip, cache control etc.

Once your store is live, ensure the JS and CSS speedup tools are enabled in Admin > General Settings (combine,minify). You can enable 'Do not check if templates are changed (Smarty compile_check)' in General Settings, but if you make further template changes, you'll need to clear the template cache.

Try to keep your store as 'lean' as possible. Don't go overboard on the homepage. The template has a lot of features, but that doesn't mean you have to use them all.

Ensure your images are well optimized (JPEGs are smaller file sizes than PNGs). Especially if you use the homepage slider and promos. You can often get away with 60% compression on large JPEGs.

Disable any unnecessary X-Cart modules.

Avoid using social network sharing buttons and third party trackers/analytic tools, unless you have to.

Lazyload all images and videos. Make use of the aspect-ratio wrappers if needed.

System font stacks can be used instead of Google fonts. You may save +/- 100KB or so per page and they will prevent any 'flash of unstyled text' occurring.

Google fonts are loaded from their CDN, but you could always self-host them.

Learn to use your browser console. Check the 'Network' tab to get an idea of page size/speed, check for bottlenecks, third-party assets, broken images, JS errors etc.

Aim to get every page under 1MB (gzipped) in total size, including all assets. Ideally your store should load in under 1-2 seconds at the most.

https://www.keycdn.com/support/x-cart-cdn-integration
https://cdnsun.com/knowledgebase/integrations/x-cart-cdn-integration

SEO

21 Smart Google SEO Tips for 2021 Resolving Duplicate Content 2021 Images And Core Web Vitals 2021

Core Web Vitals Largest Contentful Paint First Input Delay Cumulative Layout Shift

If you compose your title tags, meta descriptions, product descriptions etc. carefully, you should see your organic search traffic increase steadily.

In Google, check your organic listings using this URL - https://www.google.com/search?q=site:www.yourstore.com - See if you can make improvements to your title tags and meta descriptions ie. include more relevant/targeted keywords/phrases.

You can use the 'Advanced Page Meta' addon to update your titles and meta descriptions in bulk.

Generally, title tags should be up to 80 characters and meta descriptions up to 160 characters.

Ensure Canonical URLs are enabled in /admin/configuration.php?option=SEO

Lazyload all images and ensure each has a unique ALT tag. Set dimensions (width, height) on your images. Use important keywords in your image filenames. Lazyload embedded videos also.

Make sure every page has a unique, optimised page title and meta description. For the most part, try and use all the available characters. You may want to test SEO on some products with minimal keywords in the page title/meta description.

Having the current year (2024) and city/country/continent in the page URL and page title is a worthy SEO tactic.

Make sure your page clean URLs are well constructed, with relevant keywords/phrases.

Make liberal use of headings (H1/H2/H3/H4), especially when sectioning your content. You should have a H1 tag on every page. It's no longer crucial to have only one H1 tag on your pages. Try to keep your headings in ascending numerical order.

Concentrate on having clean, well constructed, keyword-rich product descriptions. Avoid HTML tables if you can, try and stick to using basic headings (H1/H2/H3/H4), paragraphs and unordered/ordered lists only. Highlight important keywords and phrases with bold, emphasis or italic HTML tags.

Add product videos, FAQs etc. If you promote your store via YouTube, make sure you link back to your store in your YouTube video descriptions.

Use HTML title tags on hyperlinks and images to assist users - it often helps.

Link to your most important categories from your homepage. If you run a blog, also link from your blog posts to your most important categories.

Get as many inbound links as you possibly can! Get onto link directories and consider link exchanges with other sites.

Enable the JSON-LD snippets and test thoroughly with the Google Rich Results Tester.

Using the reBOOT developer tools modal popup can help speed up your SEO tasks (Template Settings > Misc), as well as the Advanced Page Meta addon.

reBOOT has largely valid HTML throughout, but it's wise to occasionally check your store pages in the validator for possible issues.

Ensure you have added the correct links to your sitemaps in your robots.txt file.

Generate your XML sitemap and images sitemap (optional) regularly, especially after a large product update.

Check that Google, Bing etc. are crawling your site on a regular basis. You can ping them from the XML sitemap generator page.

Images

Try to keep the sizes of your thumbnail, product and detailed images consistent throughout your store. Here's a good article on the topic.

Always optimise your images, in terms of file size and dimensions, before uploading to your store.

Unless you have detailed images that you want customers to zoom/enlarge in high detail, detailed image dimensions should not be over 2000px.

Unless you need image transparency, use JPEG's instead of PNG's, as they are smaller in file size.

It's good practise to ensure your image filenames and extensions are lowercase and without spaces, eg. my_image.jpeg ... NOT ... My Image.JPEG

Add targeted keywords to your image filenames, which will contribute to your SEO, eg. product_widget_xyz_keyword1_keyword2_uk_2022.jpg

You may need to regenerate the image cache after large product updates. If you have a very large/busy store, perform the regeneration at quiet times.

As of June 2021, we've incorporated a new WEBP image generator/converter, which enables you to easily use WEBP images throughout your store, while at the same time keeping your original images intact.

General

Avoid using too many third-party services, such as analytics, ad campaigns, visitor trackers etc., unless you really have to. You will earn more trust from visitors (although admittedly, most users won't even know or care less) and your site will probably run faster. More and more people use browser ad/content blockers these days anyway, and smart users will block such things outright in their hosts file.

Standardise the dimensions of your category/manufacturer icons, product thumbnails/images, detailed images etc. so they appear 'uniformly'.

Add promotional special offers, coupons etc. (coupons can be publicly displayed in reBOOT).

Put out press releases with industry related websites/directories, when you have important news to give, eg. a relaunch or new product range.

Go easy on promotional popups, exit offers etc. as they can easily annoy or put customers off.

Create and maintain a decent FAQ page.

If you have dedicated support staff, consider a lightweight live chat system, so customers can engage with a real person and get answers quicker.

Make your store more credible by having easily findable static pages that clearly state your terms, payments, privacy, security, delivery, return policies/information etc.

If you get emails from your store that are obvious/blatant spam, block the IP addresses.

Take backups of your store files and database(s) on a regular basis.

Security

Extra security measures were introduced in June 2021, click here for details.

Secure/password protect your /admin and /provider folders. Use only highly secure admin and database passwords.

Keep a close eye on your server logs. You will most likely get unwanted, possibly malicious traffic or hack attempts, which you should mitigate against immediately.

Be fully aware that ecommerce stores are a target for credit and debit card fraud, fake return and refund fraud, phishing attacks, spammers, DDOS attacks, SQL injection and malware.

Use firewalls, install antivirus and anti-malware software. Update your OS hosts file - Link 1, Link 2

We recommend using Firefox over other browsers. Only use trusted browser addons. Use a reputable browser content blocker. Block non-HTTPS sites. Consider using a reputable VPN service.

Hosting

Avoid shared hosting. While cheap to run, you'll be competing with other sites for server resources, which only will hurt your business in the long run.

You should be using a fairly high-specification VPS that supports HTTP/2 as a minimum, which can be quite affordable these days.

A good indicator of a fast server is the TTFB (time to first byte)... If it's over 0.5 seconds, then you may need to consider moving or upgrading you server.

Having a solid-state drive (SSD) is essential, as is plenty of RAM and CPU cores. However, SSD's have a limited lifespan/write capacity (TBW), so always have a backup plan in place.

Make sure your server is located in, or as near to your business location, ie. don't get a US-based server, if the bulk of your business is done in the UK.

Your store should use HTTPS at all times. You can usually set that in your hosting control panel, or by your .htaccess file.

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