You undoubtedly already know that Shopify is one of the most frequently recommended e-commerce systems for setting up an online store if you intend to sell goods online. It speeds up and simplifies things, but if you want your Shopify store to perform at its peak in search results, you still need to put in some Search Engine Optimization (SEO) work.

The SEO guide provided below will direct you to recommendations that are essential for preserving or maybe improving your Shopify e-commerce store’s search exposure. Discover all the requirements for enhancing the SEO of your Shopify store by using these simple tips.

The following are some justifications for selecting Shopify e-commerce for your online store:

• extremely adaptable and capable of meeting your individual needs
• simple backend management
• Shopify includes numerous integrated tools.
• Excellent Search Engine Optimization (SEO) features on a sophisticated e-commerce platform.
• The Shopify e-commerce platform is simple to use and doesn’t require any coding knowledge, so you immediately save time and money.

What does the Shopify e-commerce Platform include?

• To update your website and online store, use a web-based content management system.
• meets all W3C requirements.
• a completely secure payment gateway.
• POS systems are easily integrated.
• Custom website design with total HTML & CSS control.
• Assistance from a technical advisor for customers.

See the whole list of Shopify e-commerce capabilities for additional information; there are more features than just those in the bullet points.

SEO Advice for the Shopify E-commerce Platform

You have Shopify set up for your online store, and you want to use SEO strategies. Shopify is an advanced content management system and a shopping cart for online stores with integrated SEO components.

However, e-commerce SEO can differ slightly from optimizing other websites. When using Shopify, it’s crucial to pay attention to SEO criteria, like site structure and structured data.

The likelihood that search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing will send visitors and customers to your website increases when you use these SEO components.

But some elements demand more focus than others.

E-commerce Platform Shopify SEO Recommendations

Therefore, you want to use SEO strategies after setting up Shopify for your online business. Shopify is an advanced shopping cart and content management system for online stores 

However, e-commerce SEO may be a little different from optimizing other websites. When utilizing Shopify, it’s crucial to understand how SEO components function, from site structure to structured data.

By utilizing these SEO elements, you may boost the likelihood that search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing will direct customers to your website.

However, some elements demand more consideration than others.

The 12 Key Recommendations that Must be Addressed to Enhance the SEO of your Shopify Store are as follows:

1. Clear Your Store of Duplicate Content

In general, the term “duplicate content” refers to text that exactly duplicates copy on another web page. That page can be on your own website or another person.

Duplicate content may be disastrous for any Shopify website if it is found by a search engine like Google, Bing, Yahoo, or another one. Although search engines tolerate internal duplication very well, exterior duplication—where it might look like you’ve duplicated text from another website—could have a negative impact on search engine results and subject your store to a penalty.

The content on many Shopify stores is duplicated. The good news is that if you fix the issue, your search performance may benefit.

2. For each of your Pages, Provide Unique Meta Descriptions and Page Titles.

For a website to rank well in search engines, page titles and meta descriptions are essential components. No matter if the website is a product page for a pair of boots or a blog article about various varieties of leather, the title tag and the meta description tag should both contain keywords relating to the content of the page.

Search engines can better understand the page’s content thanks to its distinctive page metadata. The more thoroughly it comprehends, the higher you may rank in search results.

To make your website as SEO-friendly as possible, you must adhere to recommended practices while crafting each title and description. The optimal length for the title is 60 characters, while the description tag should have a word count of no more than 160 characters.

3. Improve the Images on Your Shopify Store

For your Shopify store, image optimization is essential as a further way to enhance visibility in Google and other search engines. Search engines have been using alt tags for years as a quick way to figure out what the photos on a website are about.

You must use appropriate alt tags for all of your photographs that contain pertinent keywords. BBecause your images of red boots will have a better chance of appearing if someone searches for pictures of red boots, for example, if they have alt tags that give a suitable description.

Another factor to think about is accessibility. A screen reader may be used by customers with vision impairment to navigate your website. These have the option of using alt tags to tell the user what the image is of. The more persuasive your alt tag is, the more likely someone will add something to their shopping basket.

One of the several ranking variables that search engines use when evaluating your site is in compliance with good accessibility standards.

4. Always Provide a Link to your Product Page on the Homepage

Typically, the most important and influential page on your website is the home page. Whatever the layout of your site, providing navigation links on the homepage gives visitors a clear path to follow as they explore your store.

A typical error that many store owners make at some point is failing to link to your collection pages (also referred to as category pages) from a home page. As a result, visitors may have trouble finding your key pages if they are buried deep within the store.

Naturally, if you only have a small number of products, connecting to each one might be more practical than requiring a visitor to first visit a collection page. However, you might think about putting your products into collections if you have more than a few dozen, possibly. A collection creation instruction is available in the Shopify support area.

Pro-tip: Make sure the homepage’s navigation bar includes links to all of your key collection or product pages. By doing this, you give your visitors simple access to some of your most important pages. You may also add a search box.

5. Technical SEO is Required for Shopify

Any Search Engine Optimization operations or components that exclude the content component are referred to as technical SEO.

A webmaster must meet the following requirements for technical SEO in accordance with search engine best practices:

• Add a robots.txt file to enable site crawling by bots.
• Confirming the sitemap.xml file exists and adding it to Google Search Console.
• Enrolling in Google Search Console and confirming your ownership.
• Developing and putting in Google Analytics
• CSS and HTML validation
• Resolving any redirect and crawl errors.
• use header tags correctly (H1, H2, H3, and so on).
• Using canonical tags correctly and domain canonicalization.
• Examining the site’s performance across all devices with tools like GTMetrix and Google’s PageSpeed Insights. Additionally, the SEMrush Site Audit bot will break your speed performance.

6. Canonicalization of Domains and Canonical Tags

When there are different versions of something, canonicalization designates one domain or page as the primary version.

Because it’s possible that all of your product descriptions will be quite similar, you might want to canonical to one primary version if, for instance, a specific type of boot is provided in a variety of colors and you have webpages for each shade. You are effectively telling search engines, “I know there are many pages that are identical”. Ignore them all except for this particular URL.

Search engines won’t believe you’re trying to stuff your site with duplicate material if you do this. If you recall the discussion of duplication, you’ll understand why this would not be a good thing: low search engine ranks.

7. Sitemap.xml Submission to Google Search Console

To notify Google and other search engine crawlers what to often crawl/index on the website, you can upload all the pages of your website to a sitemap file. A sitemap.xml file, which Shopify stores automatically create, contains all the links to every page of your website, including the product pages, and provides a fantastic overview of the organization of your website.

But if you want flawless SEO, that’s just a portion of the task.

If you think Bing would be a good source of traffic for you, you should also upload your sitemap to Bing Webmaster Tools. This will make it simpler for search engines to crawl and index your website. The sitemap for a Shopify store can be found in the root directory, such as example.com/sitemap.xml.

8. Develop Exceptional Backlinks for Your Shopify Store

Would you like to increase the number of people that visit your Shopify store? The three pillars of SEO are content, technical SEO, and high-quality backlinks.

A store profile on Amazon, Yelp, and other similar websites is an easy way to quickly get quality and targeted traffic, but they are difficult to “create” in addition to having a site that everyone likes. Additionally, you will receive quality traffic and backlinks in exchange, which will help your Shopify website grow.

But there are other options. Read through this article on link-building strategies for engagement. We also have a piece that explains many advantageous uses for the SEMrush Link Building tool so you may outperform your competitors with the least amount of time and effort.

9. Do Not Forget to Configure 301 Redirects for Previous Product Pages

300 redirects are the ideal choice in Shopify when a product is out of supply and you must let the search engines know a page is no longer accessible and has been permanently transferred to a different page.

A 301 redirect is what?

A 301 redirect is a technique for automatically directing users and search engines from one website to another. It is a fantastic method for dealing with a URL that is no longer active or that you no longer want users to access. To avoid having a user or search engine land on a page that just says “404 Not Found,” which can put an end to their interaction with you, make sure the page is valuable.

Maybe you removed pages for products whose stock you knew would never come back. Because the old page had a high search engine ranking or was linked to another website, there may be some potential customer loss if a 301 redirect is not set up to guide them to the new page.

Create a URL redirect through your Shopify admin portal if you want to direct the visitor to a new page.

10. Configure Your Shopify Platform’s Blog Feature

A blog function is already included with your Shopify store. Writing blog entries is a terrific method to expand your audience, gain more visibility, and increase both your online business’s organic traffic and sales.

It is strongly advised to add consistent, high-quality content because:

• Users are routinely directed to frequently updated websites by search engines.
• Your website becomes more beneficial to visitors when it has quality content. Search engines strive to direct consumers to websites that can assist them in finding the information they’re looking for.
• It aids search engines in determining which subject—if any—your site is an authority in.
• You could potentially get traffic from your posts because they have a probability of ranking.

Shopify provides detailed instructions on how to add to and edit your blog on its platform. Even the use of iOS and Android apps is covered.

Unsure of the Topic to Write About?

Finding out what individuals are putting into search engines and how frequently such searches are done is called keyword research. It might help you get a decent concept of the queries people could have about the products you sell. Are you knowledgeable enough to respond to them?

If so, the search volumes you discover through your keyword research can aid you in selecting the most important subjects for your articles.

Conclusion

Even while the aforementioned 12 tips may not fully address Shopify SEO, if you implement them, you will be light years ahead of your competitors. We also anticipate a significant amount of search engine traffic. If you require assistance with keeping your Shopify up to date, D’Marketing Agency is always available. Contact us to speak with our SEO agency if you’re interested in our SEO services.