So you’ve launched an online store on Shopify, stocking it with fantastic products and creating a sleek design.

But months go by and no sales come through.

You check online and discover that your Shopify store is buried deep in Page Two — otherwise known as Google purgatory.

This scenario highlights the importance of knowing how to enhance Shopify SEO.

According to statistics, online stores receive 35% of total traffic from search engine results pages.

And ranking on Page One of Google can get you up to 30% more daily traffic.

In this blog post, we’ll help you learn how to enhance Shopify SEO to improve your store’s visibility and attract potential customers — which can lead to more conversions and sales.

Table of Contents:

• What is Shopify SEO?
• How to Enhance Shopify SEO: A Step-by-Step Guide
  1. Create Product Variant Pages
  2. Optimize Titles and Product Descriptions
  3. Conduct Keyword Research
  4. Add Content to Product Pages
  5. Blog on Shopify
  6. Optimize Images
  7. Submit Your Sitemap to Google Search Console
  8. Fix 404 and Redirect Errors
  9. Off-Page Shopify SEO Guide
  10. Update Robots.txt File to Kick Out Duplicate URLs
  11. Use a Shopify App Like Fast Simon
• FAQs – How to Enhance Shopify SEO
  • How do I improve my SEO on Spotify?
  • Is Shopify good for SEO?
  • How do I rank higher on Google Shopify?
• Conclusion

What is Shopify SEO?

Shopify SEO refers to the practice of optimizing a Shopify store for better visibility on search engines. This involves several techniques and strategies aimed at making your online store more appealing to search engines, thereby increasing organic traffic and attracting potential customers.

The need for effective Shopify SEO arises from the platform’s growing popularity among ecommerce entrepreneurs. According to BuiltWith usage statistics, as many as 4.24% of the top 10,000 sites are now using Shopify.

How to Enhance Shopify SEO: A Step-by-Step Guide

If you want to learn how to enhance Shopify SEO and start seeing those sales numbers grow, here are eight key steps that can help:

Step 1: Conduct thorough keyword research. Use reliable keyword tools to identify the terms potential customers use when searching for products like yours.

Step 2: Optimize your product pages. Incorporate your keywords into title tags, meta descriptions, product descriptions, and image alt text.

Step 3: Learn how to enhance Shopify SEO with apps! Yoast SEO is one of the popular tools for gathering valuable insights and suggestions to improve SEO.

Step 4: Create engaging content pieces that are relevant to your products. This not only attracts visitors but also signals search engines about the relevance of your site to certain keywords.

Step 5: Improve the internal linking structure of your store. Fortunately, Shopify offers easy options for adjusting links between relevant pages within the store.

Step 6: Add site breadcrumbs on each product page for better navigation. You can do this with ease in most themes offered by Shopify.

Step 7: Eliminate low-usage Shopify apps from your website to increase loading speed, which plays a vital role in ranking higher in search results.

Step 8: Lastly, keep an eye on Google Analytics. It helps monitor organic traffic, locate broken links, track customer behavior, etc.

Now let’s look at different strategies on how to enhance Shopify SEO based on these steps.

1. Create Product Variant Pages

One common issue that many online store owners encounter is duplicate content. These are essentially multiple URLs created for the same product with slight variations such as color or size.

The creation of these separate URLs often results in identical or similar product descriptions and images across different pages, which can be problematic for search engines as it becomes difficult for crawlers to determine which version is more relevant to a user’s query.

Having separate URLs for each product variation doesn’t always have to be an SEO problem. In fact, some Shopify sites could actually benefit from this structure by optimizing each page for specific target keywords related to its unique attributes.

The questions to ask are:

• Do you have the resources necessary to create unique content (including both text and visuals) for all your different variants?
• Can you effectively optimize each page with appropriate meta tags and structured data based on its particular variant?

If your answer is “yes” to both questions above, then maintaining individual URLs might work well in boosting your Shopify store’s visibility on SERPs. However, if your answer is “no” then you may be better off consolidating your product variants into fewer pages.

Examples of product variants from BSS Commerce

2. Optimize Titles and Product Descriptions

Optimizing your Shopify store’s titles and descriptions is not rocket science, but it does require a strategic approach.

• First things first: Use simple words that address customer questions. This practice enhances the user experience by providing clear, succinct information about your items or services.
• Avoid keyword stuffing at all costs. Instead, aim for a natural integration of these terms.
• You can use Google Trends to find broad terms related to your products and match these with the terms reported in Google Search Console. This will give you insights into what people are asking about when they search for products like yours — valuable data that you can then use for your product titles and descriptions.

In addition, consider creating reviews or comparison videos and adding them to your product descriptions. Videos have become increasingly popular among consumers as they provide visual demonstrations of how products work and what benefits they offer — making them highly engaging forms of content.

3. Conduct Keyword Research 

Just like any other e-commerce store, a Shopify store needs to optimize its content for search engines. To do this effectively, you need to conduct thorough keyword research.

Look for keyword opportunities you can win with low competition or low keyword difficulty scores. However, don’t focus too much on search volume. Even if some keywords have lower volume, high conversion rates indicate their transactional nature, making them worth optimizing for.

You can also review the keywords on your site that get the most clicks or impressions from Google Search Console. This tool provides valuable insights into how users find and interact with your website on search results pages.

To come up with new ideas or variations of high-priority keywords, consider using keyword tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, or Moz. 

Beyond analyzing internal data and generating new ideas yourself, it’s beneficial to understand what works well for your competitors too. Run competitor websites through a tool like Ahrefs and find content gaps. This feature helps identify where competitor sites rank higher than yours due to better utilization of certain keywords – presenting an opportunity area!

4. Add Content to Product Pages

A common issue with Shopify stores is that product pages lack unique on-page content or use identical descriptions across multiple items.

To improve SEO and increase visibility in search engines, consider incorporating detailed and distinct descriptions for every item in your online store. While this may seem time-consuming, taking a targeted approach can streamline the process.

We recommend starting with high-priority products based on their sales performance. You can leverage Shopify’s “Sales By Product” report found under Dashboard > Analytics > Reports > Sales to identify these priority items.

This strategic approach allows you to focus your efforts where they are most likely to impact potential customers and enhance search results rankings quickly.

The next step involves working closely with copywriters or using an app like Yoast SEO to create user-focused product descriptions.

Your chosen keywords should be naturally incorporated into these descriptions along with relevant details about the features of the product and the benefits that matter most to users. 

5. Blog on Shopify

Google often prefers informational content over transactional content. This trend highlights the importance of having a blog on your Shopify store.

Many Shopify sites tend to overlook content marketing during their initial build, focusing mainly on products. However, excluding a blog from your online store could mean missing out on significant opportunities.

A well-maintained blog serves as an excellent platform where you can create and share informative content that appeals to both potential customers and search engines. If Google ranks more articles or blog-type content for keywords related to your business, then focusing on content marketing can be a great strategy.

If you’re running a small business with a small team, blogging can be time-consuming especially if you’re writing long-form content. But with an AI tool like Content at Scale, you can publish a 2900-word article within minutes! Check out this amazing AI writer that focuses on generating SEO-driven content.

Here are some numbers on the time and money real Content at Scale users are saving by using our AI tool:

6. Optimize Images

One often overlooked aspect of how to enhance Shopify SEO is image optimization.

The first step in optimizing Shopify images is to choose the right file format for your visuals. The battle between JPG and PNG formats rages on, but each has its strengths and ideal use cases.

• JPGs are generally smaller in size, making them great for product photos and other complex images where file size might be an issue.
• PNGs, on the other hand, support transparency which can come in handy if you’re dealing with logos or graphics that need to blend seamlessly into different backgrounds.

Once you’ve chosen a file format, the next step is to reduce image file sizes without compromising quality. It may sound like magic but it’s entirely possible using tools like TinyPNG. This tool compresses your images while maintaining their visual integrity so they load faster — a crucial factor when it comes to both user experience and search engine rankings.

A picture may speak a thousand words, but search engines still rely heavily on text-based information. So make sure you name your files descriptively before uploading them to Shopify.

7. Submit Your Sitemap to Google Search Console

Another way to enhance your Shopify SEO is by submitting your store’s sitemap to Google Search Console. This is like giving your site a GPS for search engines.

A sitemap guides search engines across your website. It lists all the URLs on your site, along with important details like when they were last updated, how often they change, and how important they are.

Before you submit a sitemap, you’ll need to create one. You can do this manually, but a better option is to use your CMS (content management system, like WordPress) to create one automatically. Here’s a guide from Google with more details.

After that, submitting a sitemap to Google is easy:

1. Login to Google Search Console.
2. Select “Sitemaps” from the menu on the left.
3. Add your sitemap URL to the text box, then hit “Submit.”

In just three steps, you’ve paved the way for Google to discover all the hidden gems on your site.

8. Fix 404 and Redirect Errors

Did you know that unresolved 404 and redirect errors can hurt your site’s ranking? It’s like having a broken compass.

Fixing these problems not only enhances the user experience but also facilitates navigation for search engine bots.

Here’s a guide from Hostinger on 4 ways to fix a 404 error.

9. Off-Page Shopify SEO Guide

Your Shopify store’s reputation management is a crucial off-page strategy that can significantly boost your site’s visibility.

A well-managed online presence builds trust among customers, leading to higher conversion rates over time.

Reputation management involves monitoring and addressing how your business is perceived online. This includes responding promptly to customer reviews, both positive and negative, and engaging with customers on social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter.

An excellent reputation leads to more clicks on your website links from search results pages (SERPs), which tells Google that you’re providing valuable content.

In addition to managing your brand’s image online, offering high-quality products and services also plays a significant role in how to enhance Shopify SEO.

• Prompt response times build trust among potential buyers who may be browsing through multiple stores before making their purchase decision.
• An easy-to-navigate return policy assures shoppers they won’t be stuck with unwanted items.
• Above all else, delivering what you promise ensures satisfied customers who will likely leave positive reviews — another factor Google considers when ranking websites.

Finding the sweet spot between SEO disciplines is the key to ranking your e-commerce store in search engines.

10. Update Robots.txt File to Kick Out Duplicate URLs

Search engines hate redundancy. When they find duplicate content on different URLs, they get confused and don’t know which version to rank higher. This confusion can lead to lower rankings for both versions — not cool.

Duplicate URLs are like party crashers in the world of SEO, causing content duplication that can mess up your rankings. The good news is that we have our very own bouncers called robots.txt files to show these duplicates out the door.

Updating these files helps eliminate irrelevant repetitive details and ensures that Google indexes all the valuable information.

Check out this step-by-step guide from Google developers on how to do this correctly.

11. Use a Shopify App Like Fast Simon

Fast Simon is one of the top Shopify SEO apps designed to help improve the ranking of Shopify sites on SERPs. It optimizes product pages by adjusting the internal linking structure to provide product details. It also optimizes metadata based on target keywords identified through keyword research.

Beyond just improving individual page rankings, experts typically suggest adding site breadcrumbs for better user navigation — something which Fast Simon excels at, unlike WordPress platforms which require additional plugins like Yoast SEO. 

By automatically generating breadcrumbs based on your website hierarchy and incorporating them onto each webpage, users will have an easier time navigating your store while also giving Google more context about how different pages relate together – further boosting overall site rankings!

One of Fast Simon’s features is the ability to display related searches when customers are browsing your products

In addition to all this technical stuff, what really makes things interesting here are some unique features only available with this app: Special offers! If there’s anything we know about consumers today, it’s their love affair with freebies and discount deals — especially during peak shopping seasons or special events.

Fast Simon is an enterprise solution that offers robust personalization features to significantly improve the user experience of your online store.

FAQs – How to Enhance Shopify SEO

How do I improve my SEO on Spotify?

1. Conduct keyword research.
2. Infuse the keywords into your page content.
3. Improve your website’s navigation.
4. Get more backlinks.
5. Optimize your website for speed.
6. Take blogging seriously.
7. Use the right Shopify SEO apps.

Is Shopify good for SEO?

Shopify stores come with built-in SEO features that help improve your website’s performance. The platform takes care of important aspects like page speed optimization and automatically updates your sitemap. Additionally, Shopify allows you to customize various elements of your store to align with SEO best practices. However, it’s important to note that simply using Shopify does not guarantee top rankings in search engine results.

How do I rank higher on Google Shopify?

1. Choose the right keywords.
2. Use engaging and relevant meta description.
3. Alt tags for images.
4. Keyword-focused title tags.
5. Connect your Shopify store’s sitemap with Google Search Console.
6. Include a blog feature.
7. Evaluate the quality of your on-page SEO.

Conclusion

Learning how to enhance Shopify SEO is crucial in today’s e-commerce landscape. By implementing a few key strategies, you can significantly enhance your store’s visibility, drive organic traffic, and ultimately boost your online sales.

First and foremost, focus on conducting thorough keyword research to identify relevant and high-volume search terms. Incorporate your chosen keywords strategically throughout your website, including in your product titles, descriptions, URLs, and meta tags. This will help search engines understand the content of your pages and rank them appropriately.

Next, ensure your website’s structure is optimized for both search engines and users. Create clear and intuitive navigation, use descriptive headings and subheadings, and organize your products into relevant categories. This not only helps search engines crawl and index your site more effectively but also enhances the user experience, encouraging visitors to stay longer and explore further.

Don’t forget about the importance of high-quality and original content. Regularly update your blog or news section with informative articles, product guides, and industry insights. Relevant pages not only attract visitors but also establish your store as a trustworthy and authoritative source, increasing the likelihood of backlinks from other websites.

Additionally, make use of social media platforms to promote your products and engage with your target audience. By sharing visually appealing images, engaging videos, and compelling product descriptions, you can generate interest and drive traffic back to your Shopify store.

Lastly, monitor your website’s performance using analytics tools and make data-driven decisions to optimize your SEO strategy further. Keep a close eye on important metrics such as organic traffic, bounce rate, and conversion rate. By analyzing this data, you can identify areas for improvement and continually refine your SEO efforts.

Remember, enhancing your Shopify store’s SEO is an ongoing process that requires patience and persistence. By implementing these strategies and staying up-to-date with the latest SEO trends, you can ensure your store remains competitive and continues to attract valuable organic traffic in the ever-evolving digital landscape.