The Ultimate Guide to Improving SEO on Shopify

ByJill Selling on Shopify
Shopify SEO

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Having a strong SEO strategy can greatly impact your online store’s visibility and success.

This article is the ultimate guide to improving SEO on Shopify, covering key topics such as keyword research, optimizing product pages, and utilizing backlinks.

We will cover topics like:

Does Shopify Have Built-in SEO

Yes, Shopify has built-in SEO features that help store owners improve their search engine visibility and rankings.

Some of the built-in SEO features of Shopify include:

  1. Customizable title tags and meta descriptions. These are the most important elements as this info is visible on search results page (like Google).
  2. Shopify’s URL structure is clean and search engine-friendly.
  3. Shopify automatically generates a sitemap for your store, which makes it easier for search engines to crawl and index your pages.
  4. Shopify allows you to optimize your images for search engines by including descriptive alt tags and file names.
  5. Shopify includes a built-in blogging platform that you can use to create and publish content for your store. More content usually means more indexed page and better ranking.
  6. Shopify is designed to be mobile-friendly, which is a key factor in search engine rankings.

Remember that SEO attributes in the platform does nothing if you have poor content.

Even if your content is great, but it matches lost of other e-commerce shops – you might have hard time ranking because of competition.

So it is up to your content to outstand the competition, not the platform.

SEO Pyramid created by Moz
SEO Pyramid created by Moz

How To Optimize SEO On Shopify

Here are some tips to help optimize the SEO of your Shopify store:

  1. Your domain name should be memorable, easy to spell, and relevant to your store’s products and services.
  2. You don’t need too include keyword in your domain – this was old technique that worked 10 years ago.
  3. Make sure to customize the title and meta description for each page on your site, using descriptive, keyword-rich text that accurately describes the content of the page.
  4. Use clean, descriptive and usually short URLs.
  5. Use descriptive, keyword-rich file names and alt tags for all of your images. Your image might be displayed in Google Images and bring extra traffic.
  6. Create high-quality, keyword-rich content for your store’s blog, product pages, and category pages.
  7. Building high-quality, relevant links to your store can help improve your store’s visibility and ranking in search results. You can build links by creating great content, reaching out to other websites and bloggers in your niche, and participating in online communities related to your products and services.
  8. Monitor your site’s performance in Google Search Console to see which keywords are bringing the most of the visitors. Or maybe there are keywords you don’t have the content (yet).
  9. Monitor your site’s performance in Google Analytics. Maybe some of your content could be localized? Or maybe there is age of customers that are using your store more than other ages?

By following these tips and implementing a comprehensive SEO strategy, you can help improve your store’s visibility and ranking in search engine results pages, and reach more potential customers.

How To Edit SEO Images In Shopify

To edit the SEO of your images in Shopify, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to your Shopify account and access the product page for the image you want to edit.
  2. Scroll down to the “Images” section and click on the image you want to edit.
  3. Click on the “Alt” text field and enter a descriptive, keyword-rich alt text that accurately describes the image.
  4. Click “Save” to save your changes.

Use descriptive, keyword-rich alt text for all of your images, as this text is used by search engines to understand the content of the images on your site. Alt text is also used by screen readers to provide a textual description of images to users with visual impairments.

How To Add Alt Text For SEO Shopify

To add alt text for SEO in Shopify, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to your Shopify account and access the product page for the image you want to add alt text to.
  2. Scroll down to the “Images” section and click on the image you want to add alt text to.
  3. Click on the “Alt” text field and enter a descriptive, keyword-rich alt text that accurately describes the image.
  4. Click “Save” to save your changes.

Where To Put SEO Keywords In Shopify

There are several places where you can include keywords to optimize your Shopify site for search engines:

  1. Page titles appear in the search engine results and should accurately reflect the content of each page. You can edit the page titles in the “Search engine listing preview” section of the “Online store” > “Preferences” page.
  2. Meta descriptions provide a brief summary of the content of each page and appear below the page title in the search engine results. You can edit the meta descriptions in the “Search engine listing preview” section of the “Online store” > “Preferences” page.
  3. Make sure your product descriptions are clear, concise, and include relevant keywords.
  4. Alt text is used to describe images for search engines and screen readers. Make sure to include descriptive, keyword-rich alt text for all of your images.
  5. Make sure your URLs are clear and include relevant keywords. You can edit the URLs for your products and pages in the “Online store” > “Navigation” section of your Shopify account.

How To Boost SEO On Shopify

Here are some tips to help boost your SEO on Shopify:

  1. Conduct Keyword Research. Identify keywords and phrases related to your products and use them in your page titles, meta descriptions, product descriptions, and alt text.
  2. Use Clear, Descriptive URLs. Make sure your URLs are clear, concise, and include relevant keywords. You can edit the URLs for your products and pages in the “Online store” > “Navigation” section of your Shopify account.
  3. Use Clear, Descriptive Page Titles and Meta Descriptions. Page titles and meta descriptions should accurately reflect the content of each page and include relevant keywords. You can edit the page titles and meta descriptions in the “Search engine listing preview” section of the “Online store” > “Preferences” page.
  4. Use Keyword-rich Product Descriptions: Make sure your product descriptions are clear, concise, and include relevant keywords.
  5. Use Keyword-rich Alt Text for Images. Alt text is used to describe images for search engines and screen readers. Make sure to include descriptive, keyword-rich alt text for all of your images.
  6. Organize Your Products into Relevant Categorie. Organizing your products into relevant categories can help search engines understand the structure of your site and improve your search engine ranking. You can create and edit categories in the “Online store” > “Navigation” section of your Shopify account.
  7. Use Structured Data. Using structured data, such as schema markup, can help search engines better understand the content of your site and improve your search engine ranking. You can add structured data to your Shopify site using an app or by manually adding code to your theme.
  8. Create Quality Content. Create high-quality, keyword-rich blog posts and pages that provide value to your customers and help establish your site as an authoritative source in your industry.
  9. Obtain Backlinks. Obtaining backlinks from other websites can help improve your search engine ranking. Reach out to other websites and ask them to link to your site.

Remember to focus mostly on creating a high-quality user experience and providing value to your customers, as this is what will ultimately drive traffic and sales to your site.

What Are The Technical SEO Issues With Shopify

Here are some common technical SEO issues that can arise with Shopify:

  1. Duplicate Content. Shopify generates multiple versions of your pages, which can result in duplicate content issues. To address this, you can use the rel=”canonical” tag to specify the preferred version of a page.
  2. URL Structure. By default, Shopify uses long, complex URLs that can be difficult for search engines to understand. To improve your URL structure, you can edit your URLs in the “Online store” > “Navigation” section of your Shopify account.
  3. Pagination. If you have a large number of products, your product pages may be paginated, which can result in pagination-related SEO issues. To address this, you can use the “rel=”next” and “rel=”prev” tags to specify the relationship between paginated pages.
  4. Redirects. If you change your URL structure or delete a page, you should implement redirects to prevent broken links and ensure that your visitors are directed to the correct page.
  5. Slow Loading Speed. A slow loading speed can hurt your search engine ranking and negatively impact the user experience. To improve your loading speed, you can optimize your images, minify your code, and use a fast, reliable hosting provider.
  6. Mobile Optimization. With more and more users accessing the web on mobile devices, it’s important to have a mobile-optimized website. Shopify provides a mobile-optimized theme, but you may need to make additional changes to ensure that your site is fully optimized for mobile devices.
  7. Sitemap. Shopify automatically generates a sitemap, but it’s important to ensure that it’s up-to-date and includes all of your pages and products. You can edit your sitemap in the “Online store” > “Sitemap” section of your Shopify account.

By addressing these technical SEO issues, you can help improve your search engine ranking and provide a better user experience for your visitors. It’s important to regularly monitor your site for technical issues and make any necessary updates to ensure that your site is fully optimized for search engines.

Conclusion

This article delves into the technical aspects of SEO for Shopify stores, such as optimizing page titles, meta descriptions, and URLs. It also offers tips on optimizing images, using internal linking, and creating a sitemap. Additionally, the article discusses the benefits of social media marketing and how it can complement your SEO efforts.

But it is important to highlight that your SEO success mostly depends on your content quality and outside promotion. Don’t spend all your time tweaking titles as you won win big doing this.

We wrote several Shopify marketing articles you might find useful.

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Jill is the founder of Selling Online Simplified. She is a 7 figure ecommerce business owner and consultant to product based businesses. She has owned, operated and sold ecommerce sites and blogs online for the past 12 years. She is also a wife, mom of 3 kids & 1 dog.

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