12 Shopify SEO Tips For Beginners
Introduction
This post will help you optimize your Shopify store for SEO. We’ll cover how to check the indexability of your store and how to create an XML sitemap, as well as some quick fixes that can help boost your page rankings in search engines, such as making sure all of your product pages include relevant keywords and phrases.
Shopify SEO Tips For Beginners
SEO may seem like a complicated and complex subject, but it’s actually pretty straightforward. You just need to know two things: (1) what you’re trying to accomplish with your SEO, and (2) how to go about getting there.
In other words, you don’t need a degree in computer science or the ability to speak Russian fluently; all that matters is that you understand what your goals are for ranking well in search results, and then use methods based on those goals. If this sounds like something you can do without being overly technical or having extensive knowledge of internet marketing platforms like Shopify then keep reading!
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Check the Indexability of Your Shopify Store
The first thing you should do when optimizing your Shopify store for search engines is to check the indexability of your pages. You can do this by following these steps:
- Go to Settings > Online Store and click Advanced at the bottom of the page.
- Scroll down until you find Page Status and click on it.
There are three different statuses that can appear here: Green indicates that all pages are indexed, yellow means some aren’t, and red means none are. If any pages are marked red, there’s an issue with either how those pages were built or how they’re optimized for search engines (for example, meta description tags).
Create an XML Sitemap for Your Shopify Store
An XML sitemap is a document that contains all of the pages on your website. The purpose of an XML sitemap is to help search engines index your site more efficiently by allowing them to find all the content on your website.
XML Sitemaps are recommended for e-commerce sites as well as blogs and other informational sites. They can be used in conjunction with a robots.txt file or alone—it’s up to you!
To create an XML sitemap, go to the Shopify admin panel and click on Apps in the sidebar menu (the icon). Then click Create App and select “SEO” from the dropdown list:
Add a canonical tag to your Shopify store.
You can use a canonical tag to tell Google which page of your Shopify store should be indexed by the search engine, and which pages should not. If you have any duplicate content, this is a great way to fix it.
The canonical tag is a good practice if you have multiple landing pages that all have the same content but are linked to different URLs (for example, subpages). It will tell Google which of these pages it should index in its search results instead of having both indexed as separate pages.
Optimize your page titles, meta descriptions and URLs.
- You should optimize your page titles, meta descriptions, and URLs.
- Page titles and meta descriptions are important because they help people find your website when they search for products in an online store. It’s also a good idea to make them relevant to the content on the page so that you rank higher in search results.
- The best way to make sure your page titles/meta descriptions are unique is by using software like Google Keyword Planner or Ubersuggest (for Shopify merchants).
- These services allow you to see which words have high search volume in Google. With this information at hand, use it to create interesting headlines that will help customers find what they’re looking for more easily than if those products were not available from other sellers in the marketplace (such as amazon)
Ensure your content is optimized for Google rich snippets.
When you’re creating content for your ecommerce site, it’s important to know that not all products are created equal. Some products have more inherent value than others. A specific example of this would be a pair of Nike shoes versus an umbrella or backpack. While all three items may serve the same function (to keep you dry), only one will probably make you look cool when you step out the door.
In this case, Nike shoes are much more popular than both other products—and as such, they get featured in Google’s rich snippets’ search results. This means that if someone searches for “Nike Shoes” on Google, they’ll see a snippet-like box that displays information about their popularity and price range:
This box is called a rich snippet because it contains elements like callouts and bullet points that help readers understand what they’re getting before clicking through to buy them. And if your Shopify store has been optimized with these types of details too? Well then you’ve got yourself an even better chance at converting visitors into customers!
Use breadcrumb navigation within your Shopify store.
Breadcrumbs are a great way to help visitors find their way around your store. If a customer lands on your site, they can click on the breadcrumb navigation and it will take them back up through the website’s structure.
Breadcrumbs are also very important for search engines when it comes time for them to index your site, as they’ll help search engines understand the structure of your site.
Optimize images on your Shopify store.
Images are the most important part of any online store since they impact user experience and conversions. The first thing you need to do when it comes to image optimization is optimize them for SEO. Add alt text, a descriptive filename, and use words related to your target keyword in the alt text description as well as other places within the file name (e.g., [Fashion_Dresses]) if possible. There are different ways you can do this:
- Use an image editor like Photoshop or GIMP and upload it directly into Shopify (this works best with smaller images).
- Access your website’s CMS through FTP and edit them there (this works best with larger ones).
Also Read: Ecommerce Website Builders: 5 Best Tools For Your Business
Enable 301 redirects in your Shopify theme settings.
A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect. It tells Google and other search engines that the page you’re linking to is the new version of your old page. The old page will lose its ranking value once it’s redirected, but the new one won’t suffer any SEO penalty because of it.
TIP: You can use 301 redirects as an alternative to hreflang tags if you’re not sure whether you should use them or want to avoid using them because they require more effort and technical know-how.
Improve SEO score by decreasing page load times.
Page load time is an important ranking factor. It’s also a factor in bounce rate, conversion rate, and engagement. It’s difficult to say with any certainty how much of an impact it has on rankings but it’s safe to say that it can have a significant impact if you choose the right host.
The reason why page speed is important for SEO is because Google wants to reward sites with fast load times over slower ones (and thus make their users happier). That said, there are ways you can improve your site speed without sacrificing user experience or functionality—and we’re going to cover some of them here!
Get rid of unwanted apps to help reduce page weight.
The Shopify store comes with several pre-installed apps, and you may not need or use all of them. If so, it’s best to remove the unwanted apps from your store. You can do this by going into the admin backend at [https://www.shopify.com]. On the left side of your screen, click “Apps” and then hover over an app name until you see a trash bin icon appear next to its name (see below). Clicking this icon will allow you to remove an app from your store completely.
Setup rich snippets for products in your Shopify store.
Rich snippets are a way to improve your search engine ranking. In other words, they will help you rank higher in search results.
Rich snippets for products are a way to show off your products in a way that is more appealing to the user and search engines. You can do this by using structured data.
Get internal linking right on your Shopify store.
Internal linking is an important part of SEO. Internal links are those that point from one page on your website to another page on the same website.
For example, if you have a category page for “Men’s T-shirts”, then an internal link could connect this category with other related categories like “Women’s T-shirts” or “Kids’ T-shirts”. These kinds of links help visitors find what they want faster by providing them with better navigation options.
Conclusion
The world of Shopify SEO is a big one. The potential for your Shopify store to rank highly in search engines is high, but you need to be proactive and make sure that your store is optimized as much as possible. You don’t want to leave any stone unturned when it comes to getting organic traffic from search engines, so make sure that you follow all of these tips closely!
