A Beginners’ Guide to Shopify SEO

Do you know how many online purchases start with a simple Google search? According to recent research, over 43% of eCommerce traffic has come straight from organic searches. But still, so many stores fail to attract even a trickle of visitors from Google. That’s because they fail to implement eCommerce SEO effectively.

If you have a Shopify store, there are more than a few effective strategies that could give you the desirable results.

Through this blog, I’ll tell you how our Shopify experts implement actionable strategies to boost your store’s visibility and drive sustainable growth. Let’s get straight into it.

Top Shopify SEO Strategies

Before you start implementing the SEO strategies, there is some ground work to be covered. First, make sure your Shopify theme is mobile-friendly and responsive to different device sizes. Since Google follows a mobile-first indexing, having a well-made, well-working mobile version of your eStore is very important.

Next up, you need to have Google Analytics for your Shopify store. It is one of the top eCommerce analytics tools and can help make better, data-driven decisions.

After having these covered, start implementing these Shopify SEO strategies.

Optimize the Site Structure

Optimizing your Shopify site structure is about creating a clear and logical hierarchy for your website’s content. This makes it easy for both users and search engines to navigate and understand your site. A well-optimized site structure is crucial for SEO because it improves crawlability, distributes link equity, and helps you effectively enhance the customer experiences.

Here are the best practices to follow:

• Logical hierarchy: Plan a logical hierarchy for your website content. This usually follows a structure like:

Homepage → Shoes → Running Shoes → Men’s Running Shoes → Adidas Ultraboost.

• Shallow Click Depth: Aim for users to be able to reach any page on your site within 3-4 clicks from the homepage. This improves user experience and ensures search engine crawlers can easily access all your content.
• Clear Navigation Menu: Implement a clear and intuitive main navigation menu. Use concise and descriptive labels for menu items. Avoid overly complex dropdown menus if possible.
• URL Structure: Use short, descriptive, and keyword-rich URLs. Avoid using long, complex URLs with unnecessary parameters. For example, yourstore.com/mens-shoes/running-shoes/product-name is better than yourstore.com/product?id=12345&category=6789.
• Breadcrumb Navigation: Implement breadcrumbs to show users their current location on the site. This improves navigation and helps search engines understand the site’s structure.
• XML Sitemap: Create and submit an XML sitemap to Google Search Console. This helps search engines discover and index all the important pages on your site.
• Robots.txt: Use a robots.txt file to control which pages search engines should and shouldn’t crawl. This can help prevent search engines from crawling duplicate content or other unimportant pages.

A well-structured Shopify store will be easy for both users and search engines to navigate. That may help improve your search visibility and user experience.

Customize the Store URL

Customizing your store’s URLs is all about creating web addresses that are not only easy for users to understand. And the URL structure should provide valuable context to search engines about the content on each page.

Here’s what you need to do:

• Use Short and Descriptive URLs: Keep your URLs concise and to the point. Include relevant keywords that accurately reflect the content of the page. Avoid using long, complex URLs with unnecessary characters or parameters.
• Include Relevant Keywords: Naturally incorporate relevant keywords into your URLs. This helps search engines understand the context of the page and can improve your search rankings.
• Use Hyphens to Separate Words: Use hyphens (-) to separate words in your URLs. This improves readability for both users and search engines. Avoid using underscores (_) or spaces.
• Use Lowercase Letters: Use lowercase letters in your URLs. This is a best practice for consistency and can prevent potential issues with case sensitivity.
• Avoid Special Characters: Avoid using special characters such as %, $, #, or &. These characters can make URLs difficult to read and can sometimes cause technical issues.
• Customize Product and Collection URLs: Pay close attention to customizing the URLs for your product and collection pages. These are often the most important pages on your site from an SEO perspective.
• Customize Page Handles: In Shopify, the part of the URL after your domain is called the “handle.” You can customize the handle for products, collections, pages, and blog posts.
• Avoid Default Shopify URLs: Shopify often generates default URLs that are not optimized for SEO. Make sure to customize these URLs to follow the best practices mentioned above.
• Use Canonical URLs: If you have multiple versions of the same page (e.g., with different URL parameters), use canonical URLs to tell search engines which version is the preferred one. This helps prevent duplicate content issues.
• 301 Redirects for URL Changes: If you change a URL, always implement a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one. This ensures that users and search engines are redirected to the correct page and that you don’t lose any SEO value.

Let me give you examples of good and bad URLs.

Bad URL: yourstore.com/products/product?id=12345

Good URL: yourstore.com/mens-shoes/running-shoes/nike-air-zoom

A good URL is more memorable and thus easier to share on social media and other platforms. It can also make your search listings more appealing, leading to higher click-through rates from search results.

Boost the Store Performance

Improving the store performance is primarily focused on page speed, both for the user experience and search visibility. No one wants to shop at a slow-loading website; they’d rather move to a different eStore. That means higher bounce rates and lower conversion rates, negatively impacting the search visibility of a Shopify store.

Here are the key practices for improving the eStore performance.

• Optimize Images: Large image files are a major culprit for slow loading times. Use image compression tools (like TinyPNG, ImageOptim, or ShortPixel) to reduce file sizes without significantly sacrificing image quality.
• Choose the Right Image Format: Use JPEG for photographs and PNG for graphics with transparency. WebP is a modern image format that offers excellent compression and quality; consider using it if your theme and apps support it.
• Use a CDN (Content Delivery Network): Shopify uses a CDN, which helps deliver images and other static content from servers closer to your visitors, reducing loading times.
• Minify CSS and JavaScript: Minification removes unnecessary characters (like whitespace and comments) from your CSS and JavaScript files, reducing their size and improving loading times. There are Shopify apps that can help with this.
• Defer Loading of Non-Critical Resources: Defer the loading of resources that are not essential for the initial page load (like some JavaScript files or images below the fold). This allows the main content to load faster.
• Remove Unused Apps: Uninstall any Shopify apps that you are not actively using. Apps can add code and resources to your site, which can slow it down.
• Reduce HTTP Requests: Minimize the number of HTTP requests your site makes by combining CSS and JavaScript files, using CSS sprites for small images, and avoiding unnecessary redirects.
• Browser Caching: Leverage browser caching to store static assets (like images and CSS files) in users’ browsers, so they don’t have to be downloaded every time they visit your site.
• Lazy Loading: Implement lazy loading for images below the fold. This means that images are only loaded when they are visible in the user’s viewport.

Regularly monitor the store’s performance with eCommerce SEO audits through tools like PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, Pingdom, etc. They can help you improve the user experience as well as the search rankings.

Optimize the Category & Product Pages

Category and product pages are where the conversions happen. So it’s time to implement the strategy SEO is known for. That is, integrating the relevant keywords for page optimization.

Here’s what you need to do:

• Craft Compelling Category Descriptions (Collections): Don’t just list products. Write engaging descriptions that explain the purpose of the collection, highlight key features, and use relevant keywords naturally. Think of it as a mini-landing page.

For example: Instead of “T-shirts,” write “Discover our collection of premium cotton t-shirts. Feature unique designs and comfortable fits for everyday wear.

• Optimize Product Titles for Search and Click-throughs: Use a consistent naming convention that includes essential information like brand, product type, and key features.

For example: Something like, “Nike Men’s Running Shoes – Air Zoom Pegasus 39 – Blue/White” rather than “Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 39”.

• Use High-quality Product Images with Descriptive Alt Text: Use multiple high-resolution images showing different angles and details. Crucially, write descriptive alt text for each image that includes relevant keywords.
• Leverage Product Tags and Filtering: Use Shopify’s tagging system to categorize products within collections. This enables customers to easily filter products by size, color, price, etc., improving the user experience and helping them find what they need quickly.
• Write Unique and Benefit-driven Product Descriptions: Avoid generic manufacturer descriptions. Focus on the benefits of the product and how it solves a customer’s problem. Use natural language and incorporate relevant keywords where appropriate.
• Implement Schema Markup for Rich Snippets: Use a Shopify app or manually add schema markup to provide search engines with more context about your products (price, availability, reviews). That makes your listings more eye-catching.

Make sure the category and product page descriptions are easy to follow and responsive enough for mobile use. Otherwise, the customer experience will be affected.

Optimize the Title (& Meta Title) & Header Tags

Now we come to one of the most important parts of the On-page SEO, i.e. title, meta description, and header tags. These elements provide crucial context to both search engines and users about the content of your pages.

Title Tags

Title tags are HTML elements that specify the title of a web page. They are displayed in search engine results pages (SERPs) as the clickable headline for a given result and are crucial for SEO.

• Keep them concise: Aim for under 60 characters to avoid truncation in SERPs.
• Include your primary keyword: Place the most important keyword towards the beginning of the title tag.
• Make them compelling: Write titles that accurately reflect the page content and entice users to click.
• Use unique titles: Each page should have a unique title tag to avoid confusion for search engines.

Example: “Men’s Running Shoes | Shop Top Brands | Your Store Name”

Meta Descriptions

Meta descriptions are HTML attributes that provide a brief summary of a web page. They are displayed below the title tag in SERPs. While not a direct ranking factor, they significantly influence click-through rates (CTR).

• Write compelling and informative descriptions: Summarize the page content and highlight key benefits to encourage clicks.
• Include relevant keywords: Naturally incorporate relevant keywords where appropriate.
• Keep them concise: Aim for around 150-160 characters to avoid truncation.
• Include a call to action (optional): Consider adding a brief call to action, such as “Shop Now” or “Learn More.”

Header Tags

Header tags (H1-H6) are HTML elements used to structure content and create a hierarchy of headings on a page. H1 is the most important heading, followed by H2, H3, and so on.

• Use only one H1 tag per page: The H1 tag should be the main heading of the page and accurately describe its content.
• Use H2-H6 tags to structure content: Use these tags to create subheadings and organize your content into logical sections.
• Include relevant keywords: Naturally incorporate relevant keywords into your header tags where appropriate.
• Maintain a logical hierarchy: Use header tags in a logical order (H1, H2, H3, etc.) to create a clear structure for your content.

In Shopify’s admin, the field labeled “Meta Title” actually controls the <title> tag. And some themes offer more control over header tags than others. You may need to edit the theme code or use a Shopify app for more advanced customization.

Set Up a Secure HTTPS Certification

When it comes to shopping online, trust is paramount. When a customer visits your Shopify store, they are trusting you with their personal and financial info. If your store has that little green padlock in the browser’s address bar, that means your site has HTTPS. That says the customers’ data is safe.

Beyond security, Google prioritizes secure websites, giving them a ranking boost in search results. In simpler terms, if your competitor has HTTPS and you don’t, they’re likely to outrank you, even if your products are identical.

Now, good news for you. Shopify offers SSL certificates for all stores. So you don’t have to worry about complex technical setups. However, it’s crucial to ensure that all aspects of your store, including custom domains and third-party apps, are also serving content over HTTPS.

Include Structured Data

Structured data is used to add schema, that is, a code that you add to your website to offer additional context about the content on your pages. So the search engines can display it in search results in a more informative and engaging manner.

For this, you can either use a dedicated app from the Shopify App store or manually add the schema markup to your theme’s code. For that, you may need to hire a professional Shopify development company.

At this point the Shopify store itself is ready to invite the customers. But what about the marketing side of it?

Create Blog Posts & Other Marketing Copies

This part of the guide is all about providing valuable content that attracts potential customers, establishes your brand as an authority, and drives organic traffic to your store.

Some of the key contents to take care of are blog posts, landing pages, email marketing, social media posts, and even video content.

Here are a few best practices for the same:

• Keyword Research: Conduct thorough keyword research to identify relevant keywords that your target audience is searching for.
• Target Audience: Create content that is relevant and valuable to your target audience.
• High-Quality Content: Focus on creating high-quality, original, and informative content that provides value to users.
• Optimize for SEO: Optimize your content for relevant keywords, including in titles, headings, and throughout the body text.
• Use Visuals: Use images, videos, and other visuals to break up text and make your content more engaging.
• Promote Your Content: Share your content on social media, email newsletters, and other platforms.
• Update Existing Content: Regularly review and update your existing content to keep it fresh and relevant.

Whatever copy you are creating and promoting, make sure to highlight benefits and use high-quality images for the products. In most cases, images sell products.

Do Link Building

After you have your content ready, it’s time to start link building. It’s the process of acquiring hyperlinks from other websites to your own. These links, also known as backlinks, act as “votes of confidence” from other sites, signaling to search engines that your website is a credible and valuable resource. It’s a crucial aspect of off-page SEO.

Here are a few strategies to follow:

• Guest Blogging: Find relevant blogs or websites in your niche that accept guest posts. Pitch high-quality articles that provide value to their audience and naturally include a link back to your Shopify store.
• Broken Link Building: Find broken links on relevant websites in your niche. Reach out to the website owner and suggest your content as a replacement for the broken link.
• Resource Link Building: Create valuable resources, such as guides, infographics, or tools, that other websites would want to link to.
• Competitor Backlink Analysis: Analyze the backlink profiles of your competitors to identify potential link building opportunities.

Understand that quality is always preferred over quantity. A few high-quality backlinks are more valuable than many low-quality ones.

If you need help with implementing any of these strategies on your Shopify eStore, get our dedicated eCommerce development services. But will there be a benefit to implementing these strategies?

Benefits of Shopify SEO Tactics

These tactics bring a multitude of benefits to your online store, impacting everything from visibility to customer experience, and ultimately, your bottom line. Let’s look at a few key benefits:

• Targeted Reach: SEO helps you attract customers actively searching for products like yours. This means higher-quality traffic with a greater purchase intent.
• Sustainable Growth: Unlike paid advertising, SEO provides long-term, sustainable traffic. Once your pages rank well, they can continue to attract visitors over time.
• Higher Search Rankings: Ranking higher in search results increases your brand’s visibility and makes it easier for potential customers to find you.
• Enhanced Credibility: Appearing at the top of search results builds trust and credibility with your target audience.
• Reduced Reliance on Paid Ads: SEO can significantly reduce your reliance on paid advertising, which can be expensive and unsustainable in the long run.
• Long-Term ROI: While SEO requires an initial investment of time and effort, it offers a high return on investment (ROI) over the long term.
• Improved Site Navigation: SEO best practices, such as optimizing site structure and internal linking, improve site navigation and make it easier for users to find what they are looking for.
• Faster Loading Times: Optimizing page speed, a key aspect of SEO, provides a better user experience and reduces bounce rates.
• Mobile-Friendly Design: Ensuring your site is mobile-friendly, another SEO best practice, caters to the growing number of mobile shoppers.
• Targeted Traffic Leads to Higher Conversions: By attracting users actively searching for your products, you increase the likelihood of them making a purchase.
• Improved User Experience Drives Sales: A positive user experience, facilitated by SEO, encourages visitors to stay on your site and complete a purchase.
• Sustainable Growth: SEO provides a foundation for long-term, sustainable business growth by attracting a consistent flow of organic traffic.
• Competitive Advantage: Effective SEO can give you a significant competitive advantage in your market.

To get the best of these benefits, it’s important to get professional assistance.

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FAQs on Shopify SEO

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Let’s Summarize

From laying a solid technical foundation with optimized site structure, URLs, and page speed, to crafting compelling content rich with relevant keywords, you need a robust, comprehensive SEO strategy.

And remember, securing your site with HTTPS isn’t just a best practice; it’s a non-negotiable for trust and rankings. While Shopify provides built-in tools and a wealth of helpful apps, understanding the core principles of SEO is paramount.

What you get is sustainable organic traffic and a boosted brand visibility. If you need help with that, let’s connect today!