Are you running a Shopify store and looking to improve your visibility on search engines? This article will guide you through a step-by-step Shopify SEO process that’s perfect for beginners. Whether you’re just starting or want to optimise your Shopify store for better search engine rankings, this guide will provide practical tips and an easy-to-follow SEO checklist. By implementing these strategies, you’ll be able to target the right keywords, boost your product pages, and improve your chances of ranking higher on search engines like Google.
Why should you keep reading? Improving your Shopify SEO will not only increase your store’s visibility, but it will also enhance the user experience and lead to higher sales. Whether you run a small eCommerce store or an established Shopify business, mastering these SEO techniques is essential for long-term success.
Shopify SEO refers to optimising your Shopify store to rank higher in search engine results. This process helps search engines like Google better understand your store’s content, making it easier for them to display your store in relevant searches.
SEO for Shopify covers a wide range of tactics, from using target keywords and writing compelling product descriptions to ensuring your site is technically sound. While Shopify offers some built-in SEO features, these are just the basics. To compete effectively, especially as your store grows, you’ll need a comprehensive approach.
Shopify SEO is super important because it helps people actually find your store online. Without good SEO, you’re relying too much on paid ads and missing out on free, organic traffic from search engines like Google. The average eCommerce conversion rate is around 2.5% to 3%, which is a solid goal to aim for. But did you know that the average Shopify store’s conversion rate is actually 1.4%? If yours is below 0.5%, there’s definitely room to grow, but if you’re hitting above 3.3%, you’re doing great and are in the top 20% of all Shopify stores!
Focusing on Shopify SEO helps bring in the right kind of traffic—people who are already searching for what you’re selling. This means they’re more likely to convert into paying customers. So, whether you’re aiming for that 2.5% conversion sweet spot or hoping to surpass it, strong SEO can seriously boost your store’s success.
Improving Shopify SEO involves several strategies that work together to enhance your store’s visibility and search ranking. Here are key steps you can take:
Your Shopify theme is more than just a visual design; it can also impact your store’s SEO. Some themes are built with SEO best practices in mind, while others might slow down your site, hurting your rankings.
When choosing a theme, look for:
Using an SEO-friendly theme sets a strong foundation for the rest of your SEO efforts.
A well-organised site structure is essential for both search engine optimisation and user experience. The simpler and more intuitive your navigation, the easier it is for both search engines and users to find and understand your content.
Here’s how to structure your Shopify store:
A simplified structure makes it easier for search engines to crawl your Shopify store and improves user navigation, boosting your store’s SEO. Here’s an example:
Your URL structure plays an important role in on-page SEO. A clean, descriptive URL helps both search engines and users understand what a page is about.
Here are some tips for optimising your URLs:
Having descriptive URLs is a simple yet effective way to improve SEO on Shopify.
Breadcrumbs are a navigation aid that shows users their current location within the hierarchy of your site. They help with user experience by making it easier to navigate back to previous categories or pages, and they can also help search engines better understand your site’s structure.
To enable breadcrumbs:
By enabling breadcrumbs, you enhance both the user experience and technical SEO for Shopify, leading to better rankings in search engine results.
Duplicate content can be a major SEO issue, especially for ecommerce stores like those on Shopify, where you might have similar products or product variations. Canonical tags tell search engines which version of a page is the “original,” helping to avoid duplicate content penalties.
Here’s how to implement canonical tags on Shopify:
By using canonical tags, you maintain the website’s SEO and prevent search engines from penalising your store for duplicate content.
Images are essential for your online store, but if they take too long to load, they can hurt your site’s SEO. Lazy loading ensures that images load only when users scroll to them, improving your page’s loading time and boosting SEO.
Benefits of lazy loading:
Lazy loading is a smart optimisation strategy to improve your Shopify store’s SEO performance while ensuring a smoother browsing experience for your visitors.
If your store has a large number of products, displaying them all on one page can slow down your site. Pagination divides your product listings across multiple pages, improving load times and making it easier for search engines to crawl your content.
Best practices for pagination:
Implementing pagination enhances the user experience and helps search engines effectively index your product pages, improving your overall Shopify SEO.
If your Shopify store caters to local customers or you have a physical shop, it’s crucial to optimise for local SEO. This will help your store appear in search results when users in your area search for relevant products.
Here’s how to optimise for local SEO:
By focusing on local SEO, you can target customers in your area, driving more foot traffic to your physical store or offering local shipping options.
In ecommerce, it’s common to remove products that are no longer in stock or available. However, if these product pages still exist in search engine results, users will be directed to a 404 error page, which can harm your SEO. Setting up 301 redirects ensures that these outdated pages point to a relevant alternative.
Steps to set up 301 redirects:
Setting up 301 redirects is an essential SEO strategy to prevent broken links, maintain your store’s SEO value, and keep users engaged with your store.
When it comes to Shopify SEO, on-page SEO optimisation is a key factor that directly influences how well your store ranks in search engine results. By focusing on elements like title tags, meta descriptions, and internal linking, you’ll enhance the visibility of your store, improve your user experience, and drive more traffic.
The title tag is one of the most important on-page SEO elements because it tells both search engines and users what the page is about. A well-optimised title tag should include the target keyword and be compelling enough to encourage users to click.
Here’s how to optimise your title tags for better SEO:
Example: If you run an ecommerce store selling eco-friendly water bottles, an ideal title tag could be: “Eco-Friendly Water Bottles | Sustainable & Reusable – Shop Now.”
Remember, title tags are essential for on-page SEO, and optimising them can significantly improve your visibility in search engine results.
While meta descriptions don’t directly affect rankings, they play a crucial role in enticing users to click through to your site. A compelling meta description can improve click-through rates, which indirectly boosts SEO performance.
To write an effective meta description:
Example: “Shop our collection of eco-friendly water bottles. Reusable, BPA-free, and perfect for everyday use. Free shipping on orders over £50!”
Unique meta descriptions for each product page ensure that your store stands out in search results and enhances the overall user experience.
Duplicate content can confuse search engines and negatively impact your rankings. This issue often arises when you sell similar products or use the same description across multiple product pages.
Here’s how to avoid duplicate content:
By addressing duplicate content, you help search engines understand your site better and improve the overall SEO of your Shopify store.
Many Shopify store owners fall into the trap of using the same generic product descriptions provided by manufacturers. However, for better SEO, each product page needs its own unique description.
How to write SEO-friendly product descriptions:
Example: Instead of using a manufacturer’s generic text like “This is a BPA-free water bottle,” try something more descriptive: “Our reusable water bottle is BPA-free, eco-friendly, and designed to keep drinks cold for up to 24 hours. Perfect for workouts, hikes, and everyday use.”
Unique product descriptions enhance your on-page SEO and improve the chances of your product pages ranking higher in search engine results.
Your category pages are just as important as your product pages when it comes to on-page SEO. Optimising category pages allows you to target broader keywords that can drive significant traffic to your online store.
Steps to optimise your category pages:
Optimising your category pages gives search engines more context about the products in that category, improving your store’s rankings.
Internal linking refers to linking from one page on your site to another, helping both users and search engines navigate your site more easily. It also helps distribute page authority across your site, improving the SEO of your Shopify store.
How to use internal linking effectively:
By optimising your internal linking, you improve the overall SEO performance of your store, while also enhancing user experience.
Customer reviews provide valuable content that search engines can index and display in search results. Additionally, reviews act as social proof, increasing customer trust and improving conversions.
How reviews benefit SEO:
Encouraging customers to leave reviews can enhance both your SEO and your store’s credibility.
If your Shopify store is active on Pinterest, using Rich Pins can boost your SEO and drive traffic. Rich Pins automatically pull product details like pricing, availability, and descriptions from your site, ensuring accurate and updated information.
How to implement Rich Pins:
Rich Pins not only improve your visibility on Pinterest but also help with SEO by driving more traffic to your ecommerce site.
Google and other search engines love fresh content. Regularly updating your product descriptions, blog posts, and category pages signals to search engines that your site is active and relevant.
Tips for updating content:
Regular content updates not only improve your Shopify SEO but also keep your customers engaged and informed.
Technical SEO is the backbone of your Shopify store’s search engine visibility. While it might sound complicated, getting the technical elements right is essential for ensuring search engines like Google can crawl, index, and rank your site effectively. By optimising these areas, you’re setting the stage for long-term success.
While Shopify includes some basic SEO features, installing an SEO app can give your store the extra boost it needs to rank higher in search engine results. These apps are designed to simplify and automate SEO tasks that can often be time-consuming.
Here’s why you should use an SEO app:
Tip: Check out the Shopify app store to find an SEO app that fits your needs. Apps like these can also track your SEO performance and provide valuable insights.
A sitemap is essentially a roadmap of your Shopify store that helps search engines like Google find and index all of your pages. Shopify automatically generates a sitemap, but submitting it to search engines manually ensures that your site is indexed faster and more effectively.
Steps to submit your sitemap:
By submitting your sitemap, you’re ensuring that search engines can crawl and index your pages more efficiently, improving your store’s visibility in search engine results.
Broken links are a big no-no when it comes to technical SEO. They not only disrupt the user experience but also make it harder for search engines to crawl your site. A single broken link can negatively affect your entire site’s SEO, so it’s important to stay on top of this issue.
How to fix broken links:
Fixing broken links ensures that both users and search engines can navigate your store smoothly, improving your SEO performance and keeping visitors engaged.
Structured data, also known as schema markup, is a form of coding that helps search engines understand your site content better. It allows search engines to display “rich snippets” in search results, which can include additional information like prices, reviews, or product availability.
Here’s why structured data is important for Shopify SEO:
How to add structured data:
Implementing structured data is a must if you want to take full advantage of technical SEO for Shopify and drive more organic traffic to your store.
Security is a major ranking factor in Google’s algorithm. Sites that use HTTPS are prioritised over those that don’t because HTTPS ensures that all data transmitted between your website and visitors is encrypted. Plus, it shows visitors that your site is trustworthy, which is especially important for ecommerce.
Why HTTPS is crucial for Shopify SEO:
With HTTPS enabled, your Shopify store will rank better and provide a safer shopping experience for customers, which is good for SEO and customer trust.
Tracking your SEO efforts is just as important as implementing them. Google Analytics is a powerful tool that helps you monitor your site’s SEO performance by providing insights into traffic, user behaviour, and conversion rates.
Why you should use Google Analytics on your Shopify store:
Setting up Google Analytics on your Shopify store is easy, and it gives you invaluable data to fine-tune your SEO and user experience strategies.
Google Search Console is another essential tool for monitoring and improving your Shopify SEO. It gives you direct insights into how Google views your site, including any issues that could prevent you from ranking higher in search results.
How Google Search Console helps with Shopify SEO:
Regularly reviewing your Google Search Console reports is a critical part of any SEO checklist. It helps you stay on top of issues and continuously optimise your site for better performance.
When it comes to Shopify SEO, speed and mobile optimisation play a critical role in determining how well your store performs in search engine results. Google and other search engines prioritise fast-loading, mobile-friendly sites, meaning if your store isn’t optimised for speed and mobile users, you risk losing both traffic and rankings.
Images are one of the largest elements on any Shopify store and can significantly slow down your site if not optimised. Large, high-resolution images may look great, but they can drastically affect page load times, especially on mobile devices. To improve your Shopify SEO and ensure your site runs smoothly, reducing image sizes is a must.
Here’s how to optimise your images:
By reducing your image sizes, you not only optimise your store for faster loading but also improve user experience, which is great for ecommerce SEO and conversions.
Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) are lightweight, stripped-down versions of your web pages that load faster on mobile devices. With the growing number of mobile shoppers, enabling AMP can significantly improve your Shopify store’s mobile experience and, as a result, boost its rankings in mobile search results.
Why AMP matters for Shopify SEO:
To enable AMP on your Shopify store, you can use a Shopify app like AMP by Shop Sheriff. This app automatically generates AMP versions of your product pages and blog posts, helping you deliver a faster mobile experience and improving your store’s overall SEO.
More than half of online shoppers browse and make purchases from their mobile devices. If your Shopify store isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re likely losing traffic and sales. Google’s mobile-first indexing means that optimizing your Shopify store for mobile users is essential for SEO.
Here’s how to optimise your Shopify store for mobile:
By focusing on mobile optimisation, you’ll not only improve your store’s SEO but also enhance the user experience, which can increase customer satisfaction and sales.
Fast-loading pages are critical for both technical SEO and user satisfaction. According to Google, 53% of mobile users will abandon a website if it takes more than three seconds to load. Slow page load times hurt your SEO performance, and worse, they can drive potential customers away.
Tips to reduce page load times:
By focusing on reducing page load times, you’re not only improving your Shopify SEO, but you’re also providing a seamless browsing experience that keeps users engaged and more likely to make a purchase.
The overall user experience (UX) is a crucial factor that impacts both SEO and conversions. Google takes user engagement metrics like bounce rate, time on page, and page speed into account when ranking sites. A smooth and enjoyable experience can help your store climb higher in search engine results.
How to improve user experience:
Focusing on UX not only keeps customers happy but also helps improve important metrics like bounce rate and time on site, both of which are good for Shopify SEO.
Effective keyword research is the cornerstone of any successful Shopify SEO strategy. It helps you understand what your potential customers are searching for and how to position your products and content to capture that search traffic.
Whether you’re aiming to optimise your store for traditional search, blog content, or the growing trend of voice search, the right keyword strategy can make all the difference in driving organic traffic to your Shopify store.
The foundation of a successful Shopify SEO strategy is comprehensive keyword research. Understanding the keywords your audience uses to search for products or services helps you create content that meets their needs and drives traffic to your store.
Here’s how to conduct effective keyword research:
Make sure to include a variety of keywords—both broad and specific—that align with your product pages, category pages, and other key areas of your Shopify website.
While broad keywords (like “shoes” or “t-shirts”) can drive traffic, they’re highly competitive. That’s where long-tail keywords come in. Long-tail keywords are more specific search phrases, often containing three or more words, and they are easier to rank for because they face less competition. Targeting these can help you attract a more specific and relevant audience.
Why long-tail keywords are essential:
How to implement long-tail keywords in your blog posts:
By targeting long-tail keywords, especially in your blog posts, you’ll drive targeted traffic to your Shopify store and improve your chances of converting visitors into customers.
With the rise of voice assistants like Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa, voice search is becoming a significant factor in SEO for Shopify websites. Voice search queries tend to be more conversational and longer than traditional typed searches, often beginning with phrases like “how,” “what,” or “where.” Optimising for voice search can give you a competitive edge as this search trend continues to grow.
Why voice search matters:
How to optimise your Shopify store for voice search:
By optimising for voice search, you’re tapping into a growing trend that will continue to shape how customers discover and shop for products. Incorporating natural language and focusing on question-based queries will give you an edge in voice-driven search results.
When it comes to Shopify SEO, on-page optimisation is only half the battle. Off-page SEO, particularly backlink building, is equally important in establishing your store’s authority and improving your rankings in search engine results.
Backlinks are one of the most critical elements of off-page SEO. However, not all backlinks are created equal. Links from high-authority websites carry more weight and can significantly boost your store’s rankings. A backlink from a trusted source in your niche signals to search engines that your Shopify store is also trustworthy and worth ranking higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Here’s how to build backlinks from authoritative websites:
By building backlinks from authoritative websites, you strengthen your store’s domain authority, which can lead to higher rankings and increased traffic.
Keeping an eye on your competitors can provide valuable insights into their backlink building strategies. By understanding where they’re getting their backlinks, you can identify new opportunities for your own store. Competitor analysis is an essential part of SEO for Shopify websites, as it helps you stay competitive and uncover untapped opportunities.
How to monitor your competitors for backlink opportunities:
By monitoring your competitors, you can discover new backlink opportunities and develop a stronger off-page SEO strategy that keeps your Shopify store competitive in the marketplace.
Social sharing may not directly impact your Shopify SEO, but it plays a significant role in increasing your brand visibility and generating traffic. The more people share your content on social platforms, the more likely it is that other websites will link to it, which can lead to valuable backlinks.
How to encourage social sharing:
When users share your content, it increases its visibility and potential to attract backlinks, boosting your off-page SEO and driving more traffic to your store.
Partnering with influencers is another powerful way to build backlinks and improve your Shopify SEO. Influencers, particularly those with large followings, can amplify your store’s reach by sharing your products or content with their audience. In return, you gain backlinks from their blogs, social media profiles, or other platforms, which can help increase your store’s authority in search engine results.
Here’s how to leverage influencers for backlink building:
Influencer partnerships are a win-win: you gain exposure to a larger audience, and the influencer’s content provides valuable backlinks that boost your off-page SEO.
Optimising your Shopify SEO is key to boosting organic traffic and making your store more visible online. But let’s be real—it can be a bit overwhelming. Shopify SEO isn’t just about adding keywords; there are a lot of technical details involved, like technical SEO optimisation and getting your content just right. If you’re only relying on Shopify’s built-in features, it can be tough to compete with stores that are doing full-blown, proper SEO.
Feeling stuck or unsure where to start? Don’t worry, we’re here to help! Our expert Shopify marketing services can give your store the boost it needs to stand out and attract more traffic. Let’s work together to improve your store’s SEO and get your Shopify site the attention it deserves – contact us here!