Want to boost your Shopify store’s online visibility and drive more traffic to your site? Or do you have these questions in mind: How do I rank my Shopify store? How do I improve my SEO score on Shopify?
Well… We’ve got you covered with our Complete Step-by-Step Guide on SEO for a Shopify Website.
Being seen online is a must for a business to succeed in the digital world. Companies turn to SEO to catch the eye of potential customers.
For Shopify store owners, SEO is all-important. It helps direct buyers straight to your online shop.
With the right SEO campaign, your Shopify website can draw in a lot of visitors and gain new customers. It also lets you stand out from the crowd online and helps boost your profits in the end.
This guide covers everything you need to know about SEO for a Shopify website. We’ll show you how to get your shop on top of search engine results.
Importance of SEO for Shopify Websites
In the digital world, getting traffic from search engines is the key to online success. This is especially true for Shopify stores. SEO helps bring people to your online shop, increasing sales and profits.
Search Engines Drive Majority of Website Traffic
Most sites, including Shopify stores, get their visitors from search engines. With SEO, your store will likely show up at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs). This could mean more customers coming your way.
SEO Offers “Free” Traffic and Sustainable Customer Acquisition
Getting visitors through searches is like getting free advertising. It’s not like ads that cost more over time. After setting up your site well with the right keywords (and continuously refining your SEO strategies), you’ll keep getting visitors without spending more. So, SEO is a smart and affordable way to keep attracting customers.
Higher Search Rankings Lead to Increased Traffic and Sales
Ranking high in search results can really improve your store’s traffic and sales. Imagine this: the first result on Google often gets more than a quarter of all the clicks. But, if you’re on the second page, you might not even get 1%. Being at the top means more people visit your site, which can boost your sales.
Simply put, SEO brings in most of your site’s visitors, keeps your customer-getting costs low, and can grow your sales a lot. Making SEO a priority should be a big part of your Shopify store’s marketing plan.
SEO for a Shopify Website Guide
To make your Shopify store popular and get visitors from search engines, you need to do some SEO work. These basic steps will make your store easier to find online. They also help you see how well your store is doing.
Now, let’s talk SEO for your Shopify Store with a step-by-step guide.
Step 1: Set Up Your Shopify Store for SEO
Before we dive into the nitty-gritty of SEO, make sure your Shopify store is set up for success. Here are a few quick tips:
Choose a relevant domain name
Pick a domain name that accurately reflects your brand and products. It’s always great to opt for a domain name that clearly shows people what is your business about and how they can benefit from it, in this way, you can attract the right customers and establish a strong online foundation.
For example, if you’re selling handmade jewellery, your domain name could be “jewellerybyanna.com” or “handmadejewellery.com.” Selling outdoor gear? “Outdoorgear.com” or “gearup.com” suits your shop.
Set up your store’s meta tags
Each page of a Shopify store has meta tags, including:
- Meta Title (up to 60 characters)
- Meta Description (up to 160 characters/320 characters on Shopify)
In your Shopify admin panel, go to Settings > Meta Tags and fill in your store’s title, description, and keywords. (Learn more about adding keywords to your Shopify store).
By doing so, you’ll provide search engines with a clear understanding of your store’s content, which helps to improve visibility.
For example:
Title: “Handmade Jewellery by Anna”
Description: “Handmade jewellery by a local artisan”
Keywords: “handmade jewellery, artisanal jewellery, unique gifts”
Step 2: Optimise Your Product Pages
While Home page SEO is essential for any website, optimising product pages is equally important when running a Shopify store. Product pages should provide buyers and search engines with valuable information about your products.
Here’s how to optimise your product pages:
Use descriptive and unique product titles
Make sure each product title accurately reflects the product and includes relevant keywords. See the above image example, and you can make a unique name for your products as well.
Write detailed and descriptive product descriptions
Use keywords naturally throughout your product descriptions too. Include product features and uniqueness. This will also improve your product pages’ readability and user experience.
Use high-quality product images
High-quality images can improve user experience and increase conversions. Make sure your product images are high-resolution and accurately represent your products.
Optimise product meta tags
In your Shopify admin panel, go to Products > [Product Name] > Meta Tags and fill in your product’s title, description, and keywords. Tailor your product meta tags to each product, as this helps search engines understand each product’s distinct features and benefits.
Tip – Use schema markup to make your store’s search results look better. This can include things like product ratings. They make your shop more clickable and can bring more interested shoppers.
Step 3: Optimise Your Blog Posts
Do you know you can also have a blog section on your Shopify store? If you don’t have yet, we strongly recommend you make one. Blog posts help so much in getting traffic for your site.
Here’s a Shopify store with a Blog section:
This guide will help you in optimising your Shopify blog for SEO:
Conduct Keyword Research
The right keywords bring you the right customers. You should look for what people are searching for, how many others use those keywords, and choose the best ones for your audience. Tools like Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer can help find keywords that will bring more visitors to your shop.
Optimise Content for Target Keywords
To do well in SEO, use your chosen keywords in different parts of your site, including your blog posts:
- Make catchy titles and descriptions with your keywords to grab people’s attention.
- Pick simple, keyword-included URLs that show what visitors will find on that page.
- Add your keywords naturally to headings and the main text. Always make sure your content reads well and is useful to readers.
- Write detailed blog posts and unique descriptions for your products and categories. This helps people find them easily and know more about what you offer.
If you have a blog on your Shopify store, it’s essential to optimise your blog posts for SEO. To take your blog post optimisation to the next level, consider the following tips:
- Use internal links to guide readers to relevant products or categories.
- Add visual content such as images and videos, and include alt texts to provide context and improve accessibility.
- Organise your blog posts into topic clusters and pillar pages to create a clear hierarchy and improve user navigation.
- Optimise your headers (H1, H2, H3, etc.) to structure your content and highlight key points.
- Use keywords strategically throughout your blog post content, but avoid keyword stuffing to maintain a natural writing style.
Technical SEO for Shopify Stores
Optimising your Shopify store for technical SEO is key. It helps with higher search rankings, more organic traffic, and increased sales. Technical SEO means making your website better for users and search engines. You improve the website to meet search engines’ needs.
Create a Logical Site Structure and Internal Linking Strategy
A well-structured site is vital. It helps users and search engines find things easily. Keep content that goes together near each other. And make sure all pages are not more than four clicks away from the homepage. This clear structure makes it easier for search engines to understand your site.
Use a strategy to link pages together. This helps users easily move around your site. It’s also good for showing search engines which pages are important. Use clear text for your links.
Submit Sitemap to Google Search Console and Fix Site Errors
Sending Google an updated sitemap is smart. It helps them see your site better. The Shopify SEO Playbook shows how to do this. It’s full of tips for improving your Shopify store’s SEO.
Check often for site errors in Google Search Console. If your store is not showing on Google, it could be for a few reasons. These include being new, protected by a password, or not optimised well. Fixing these issues can make a big difference in how visible your store is.
Optimise Images for Fast Loading and Search Engine Visibility
Image optimisation is important. It makes your site fast and shows up better on search engines. Google cares about your site’s speed, how it looks on mobile, and if it’s secure. By optimising images, your site will load faster. This creates a better experience for visitors and may lead to more sales.
- Use recommended image formats like JPG or PNG.
- Compress images for faster loading.
- Minimise code and leverage browser caching.
- Add descriptive alt text to help search engines understand the image content.
Off-Page SEO for a Shopify Website
Off-page SEO means improving your Shopify site off-site. This boosts how much search engines notice and rank you. Unlike tweaking content on your store (on-page SEO), off-page SEO gets its power by showing your shop is trustworthy to the world. A big part of this is creating and getting backlinks to your Shopify site. In fact, 75% of your site’s SEO success comes from off-page SEO.
Link Building Strategies
Being active in your link building means going after solid backlinks from trusted sites. These links show search engines that your Shopify store can be trusted.
Studies say getting these links from other places like through guest blogging, being active on social media, working with influencers, and sharing different types of content do a lot for your site’s off-page SEO.
- Guest Blogging: Work with blogs in your field to write posts that link back to your Shopify site. Doing this gets more visitors checking out your store.
- Linkable Assets: Make cool stuff like infographics or guides that other sites want to link to. Share these and get them noticed.
- Broken Link Building: Find sites that need fixing with their links. Offer yours as a helpful replacement, which helps you too.
- Partner and Supplier Links: Exchange links with businesses you work closely with. It’s a way to help each other out.
Conclusion
For a strong e-commerce SEO strategy, think about everything from the site’s tech stuff to its words and where it stands on other sites. This means looking into keywords, setting up the website right, making content better, earning links, and using what Shopify has to help with SEO. Doing this can boost how high your store shows up in searches, bring more people in naturally, and make you look good to new customers.
If you need expert guidance on how to implement a strategic SEO campaign for your Shopify website, don’t hesitate to contact us today. Our team of #digitalmarketingnerds is ready to point you in the right direction.
FAQs
What is the best SEO tool for Shopify?
There are several SEO tools available for Shopify, including Shopify’s built-in SEO settings, as well as third-party tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Moz. The best tool for you will depend on your specific needs and goals.
Do Shopify tags improve SEO?
Yes, Shopify tags can improve SEO. By using relevant and descriptive tags, you can help search engines understand the content of your pages and boost your store’s visibility in search results.
How do I rank my Shopify store?
To rank your Shopify store, focus on creating high-quality, relevant, and unique content, and optimise your store’s meta tags, titles, and descriptions. Also, make sure your online store is mobile-friendly and has a fast loading speed.
How do I check my SEO on Shopify?
To check your SEO on Shopify, use the built-in SEO settings and tools provided by Shopify. You can also use third-party SEO tools and plugins to analyse and enhance your store’s SEO efforts.
