Shopify SEO Guide: 7 Tips for Smart Online Retailers to Attract More Store Traffic

You don’t need to be an SEO guru to make a significant impact on your rankings.

However, if you want to appear higher in search results to bring more visitors without spending lots on ads, then you absolutely need to optimize your e-commerce business for search engines. Why? Because when done right, e-commerce SEO:

• makes your website user-friendly
• keep visitors around longer
• helps you increase sales
• beats the competition, putting your store ahead in search rankings
• builds trust with your potential customers

Another perk is that e-commerce SEO lets you target specific keywords, making sure your store appears on the search results page when people – aka your target audience – are looking for the products you offer in your store. And it keeps your online shop up-to-date with changing trends, ensuring it stays competitive.

source: giphy.com

Speaking of staying competitive, it’s important to recognize that online competition has been noticeably increasing, primarily because of evolving consumer expectations. Today’s shoppers don’t just look for brands and stuff online – they also seek a broader selection of products, competitive prices, and exceptional customer service. That’s why businesses are setting up online stores and continuously improving their offerings to meet these demanding expectations.

This means that you too need to continually adapt and optimize your online presence to stand out and succeed in the digital marketplace. Selecting the best SEO-friendly CMS is a fundamental step in achieving this, as it forms the backbone for effective online marketing, improves user experience, and ensures scalability as your business grows.

This is where e-commerce platforms like Shopify come into play.

Just look at this graph below – it shows a remarkable increase in the number of Shopify stores over the past few years!

source: trends.builtwith.com

When you think about it, it’s no surprise. Since its official registration and launch in 2006, Shopify has become one of the world’s most beloved e-commerce platforms.

🤔 Why is that?

One of the reasons is that Shopify enables entrepreneurs and online businesses to create and manage their online stores on their own.

🤔 How is that?

This Canadian multinational e-commerce company provides user-friendly tools for building customized websites, processing payments, and handling inventory. Basically with Shopify, you can easily start, run, and scale your e-commerce business.

Let’s see what really makes Shopify so popular among e-commerce business owners.

💖 Reasons Why E-Commerce Owners Love Shopify 💖

As already mentioned, Shopify is known for its user-friendliness and intuitive interface. This makes it easy for online business owners to implement SEO best practices, even if they are not SEO experts.

Moreover, Shopify offers an extensive app store with various SEO-related apps and plugins. Those dedicated Shopify apps – for example, tools for optimizing meta tags, and generating XML and sitemaps – make it so much easier for you to improve your e-commerce performance in the SERP.

Another fantastic feature of Shopify is its easy mobile optimization. Shopify offers mobile-responsive themes, which is crucial because mobile-friendliness is a key factor for search engine rankings nowadays. Additionally, Shopify generally excels in terms of website speed and uptime, ensuring a smooth user experience.

Additionally, Shopify offers a secure and dependable hosting environment. This is crucial not only for maintaining good SEO but also for earning the trust of your customers.

Another excellent feature is linked to content marketing. Shopify supports the creation and distribution of content, allowing you to engage and attract your target audience through its integrated blogging platform. This feature enables you to focus on content creation to draw organic traffic and engage potential customers more effectively.

Finally, Shopify automatically generates structured data for your products. This is a huge plus because schema makes your web content more visible in search results, attracting the attention of potential visitors. The extra information displayed in the search result – be it price, availability, or rating – promotes a higher click-through rate. Plus, structured data provides search engines with a better understanding of your content, which can lead to higher rankings and more organic traffic

With so many pluses, are there any downsides to Shopify?, you may ask. Well, there are some important considerations to keep in mind when you start doing Shopify SEO.

⚠️ The Key Shopify SEO Challenges You Should Be Aware of ⚠️

When using Shopify, keep in mind that it’s a hosted platform. This means you won’t have full control over certain technical SEO aspects like server settings and website speed optimizations. Naturally, there are a number of things you can work on, yet keep in mind that you may have limited control over technical SEO.

It’s also worth realizing that Shopify does handle some canonicalization automatically, but you might still need to set up canonical tags for certain pages to prevent duplicate content issues.

Also, while Shopify offers some schema markup for product data, there are limitations when it comes to customizing and adding extra structured data.

Finally, Shopify’s default URL structure includes “collections” and “products,” which can result in longer and less tidy URLs. Customizing URLs for SEO purposes might be somewhat limited.

But you know what? This is exactly what we’re going to start the Shopify SEO guide with! Our first stop: optimizing URLs in Shopify.

Going through the official guidance on Shopify SEO seems to be a meticulous task. It’s not necessarily complicated, but it sure can be a time-consuming read. That’s why I want to present you with 7 practical tips to speed up your understanding of Shopify SEO.

source: giphy.com

Let’s see how to make your Shopify e-commerce website search engine-friendly. Think of these 7 practical and straightforward tips as your very own Shopify SEO guide.

TIP #1: Optimize Your Shopify Store URLs

Optimizing your Shopify store URLs in this way helps search engines understand your content better, which can improve your site’s ranking. You do this by

✅shortening too-long URLs,
✅getting rid of unnecessary elements, and
✅adding hyphens, when necessary.

Let me explain why.

Short and descriptive URLs make it easier for users to understand and remember the content of a page, increasing the likelihood of clicks. You want to make your URL descriptive, as it provides a quick snapshot of the page’s content. This clarity helps users decide whether to click on your link in search results.

By trimming unnecessary elements and using hyphens to separate words, you enhance readability for both users and search engines. Basically, clean URLs with only relevant keywords make it simpler for search engines to identify the page’s topic and purpose.

TIP #2: Use the Power of Title Tags and Meta Descriptions

Creating unique title tags for each product and page is like giving them individual identities. It helps search engines understand what each page is about and increases the chances of your content appearing in relevant search results. For your target audience, these tags provide a clear and engaging preview of what’s on the page, making them more likely to click through.

Do your best to create compelling meta descriptions that offer a sneak peek into the content’s value. Such descriptions can significantly improve click-through rates because they give your potential prospects a reason to explore further. For search engines, well-crafted meta descriptions reinforce the relevance of your page, contributing to better rankings.

TIP #3: Make Use of Schema Markup

Truth be told, using schema markup is like speaking the language of search engines while offering your target audience a more informative and engaging experience. There are two main benefits of adding structured data that benefit search engines and your customers.

Firstly, by implementing structured data, you’re essentially providing search engines with clear instructions to understand your web content. This makes it easier for bots to grasp the context and significance of your information, resulting in potentially higher rankings.

Secondly, schema markup allows you to put on display essential product details, user reviews, and ratings – even before your target audience goes to your website! This means that by adding structured data, you provide potential customers with a quick snapshot of what your products offer, thus attracting their attention directly on the search engine results pages. You know that this can lead to higher click-through rates, and ultimately, increased conversions for your business.

TIP #4: Optimize Product Images

Optimizing your product images is another great step that benefits both search engines and users. Here are three things you can do to make the most out of your eye-catching product images.

1. Make sure you add descriptive file names. When you use descriptive file names for your images, it helps search engines understand the content of the graphics. This clarity enhances your chances of appearing in relevant image search results. For users, descriptive file names provide context, making the product more appealing and understandable.
2. Add alt text for accessibility. Adding alternative text to every image is not just an accessibility requirement, it’s also beneficial for SEO. Search engines rely on alt text to comprehend images, and it can improve your rankings. For users, alt text ensures that those with visual impairments can access and understand your product images.
3. Use properly compressed graphics. Compressing images reduces their file size, which means faster loading times for your website. This is crucial for both search engines, as site speed is a ranking factor and users who appreciate fast-loading pages.

TIP #5: Build Strong Internal Linking

Interconnect related products or content within your website. This helps search engines understand the relationships between different pages, improving their understanding of your website’s structure and content relevance. For your potential customers, it offers easy navigation, which increases the likelihood of them staying longer on your website, probably adding more products to the cart.

Just remember that when creating internal links, use anchor text that is descriptive and relevant to the linked page’s content. This not only aids search engines in understanding the context of the link but also provides your customers with clear expectations about where the link will take them, enhancing the overall user experience.

TIP #6: Encourage Your Customers to Leave a Review

There is no better way to boost your brand’s credibility than happy customers who recommend your products to their friends, right? So whenever possible and appropriate, ask your customers to leave a review.

Positive reviews build trust with potential customers, making them more likely to choose your products over your competitors. For search engines, this trust signals that your website offers valuable and trustworthy content.

It’s also worth realizing that customer reviews continuously add fresh, user-generated content to your website. This keeps your website dynamic and up-to-date, which search engines consider a plus.

In this simple way, customer reviews can help you rank better and sell more.

💡 To encourage reviews, consider using Shopify apps.

TIP #7: Regularly Audit Your Shopify Store

Finally, when you handle all of the above, you need to check regularly if your efforts pay off. In essence, regular audits not only maintain your website’s SEO performance but also keep it user-friendly and trustworthy.

That’s why remember to monitor your website health on a regular basis. You can do it by keeping an eye on Google Search Console reports. Those digital documents help you identify and address potential issues that might affect your search engine rankings.

Moreover, routine audits help you identify and fix common SEO issues like broken links and duplicate content. This enhances the overall user experience by ensuring that your website is user-friendly and free from frustrating errors.

It’s also worth realizing that regularly auditing your Shopify store is not just about identifying issues and errors – it’s also about measuring progress and performance. In the e-commerce world, tracking KPIs is a must. These KPIs for e-commerce help you gauge the effectiveness of your strategies, ensuring that your online store is not only running smoothly but also meeting your business objectives.

It can’t be denied that Shopify offers a user-friendly and feature-rich platform for e-commerce businesses. Although managing your online store on this CMS may be pretty effortless and doesn’t require coding skills, you still need to bear in mind that optimizing your Shopify store for search engines is a critical step in driving more traffic and sales.

By following the practical tips outlined in this Shopify SEO Guide, such as optimizing URLs, using schema markup, and encouraging customer reviews, you’re well on your way to boosting your website’s visibility and attracting more potential customers.

Remember though that SEO is an ongoing process, so continue to monitor and refine your strategy to stay ahead of your competitors, whose number is constantly growing. Also, as you regularly audit your Shopify store, remember to keep a close eye on your KPIs to stay on the path to success.

Basic optimization is probably something you can tackle on your own, but if you’re looking for expert guidance or need assistance with more advanced tasks like Shopify SEO migration, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’re here to help you improve your online presence and drive more customers to your amazing store!