Are you one of the nearly one million businesses powered by Shopify? If so, you already know the platform offers a wealth of features designed to make your eCommerce store a success.
But that doesn’t mean the site automatically works to get your store ranked on Google and Bing without any effort. There are still a few steps you need to take to ensure your website is fully optimized. Here are a few of our best Shopify SEO tips to help your store outrank the competition.
Use an SSL for Added Security
To add an extra layer of security, Shopify with an SSL certificate. This means, it uses HTTPS over http, to encrypt your store’s content and publish it securely. Something else, you’ll get a new SSL certificate when you add your custom domain to shopify. And this is an automatic process activated within 48 hours.
Why is this extra layer of protection important?
- It improves search rankings
- Customers feel more secure adding their credit card information and address
- Builds customer’s trust when they see the padlock symbol on your shopify store’s URL
Submit Your Shopify XML Sitemap to Google Search Console
Perhaps the most important item on your Shopify SEO checklist is submitting your sitemap to Google Search Console. While it is possible for search engines to find your site eventually, it can take a mighty long time if you don’t let them know you’re out there.
Think of it like throwing a party and not giving any of your friends your address. They might eventually make it in time for cake, but chances are slim that they would ever even show up. Submitting your sitemap directly to search engines lets them know your Shopify store is open and ready to rank.
Optimize SEO Tags Appropriately
While Shopify offers a whole host of features to make running an eCommerce store simple, you still need to follow the standard best practices. These include:
- Making sure all title tags, meta descriptions, and header tags include pertinent keywords.
- Adding image alt tags to all graphics.
- Researching the best keywords possible to ensure you’re matching these elements to what your customers are looking for on Google.
Not sure where to begin? Shopify gives you specific areas to place these elements. If you’re having trouble or don’t know how to start, get in touch with our team to learn more.
Canonical URLs
In Shopify, products have two different URLs. When nothing is done about this, search engines may not know which URL to index. And that’s where canonicalized URLs come in.
As such, you should create canonical tags to let search engines know that they have indexed the master copy of a page. And shopify adds canonical tags on all pages on your website, not just the products’ page. This is fine and considered as the best practice, so embrace it.
Generate Quality and Engaging Content
In general, most eCommerce sites tend to be thin in terms of content. That means there’s plenty of opportunities to help rank above your competition who fails to add quality and engaging text to their Shopify site continuously.
For example, you should be looking to add keyword-optimized content in the form of custom product descriptions, category and collection page content, and more. Even adding a blog to your site can help your search engine ranking immensely.
Technical SEO and Monthly Re-Scrapes Allow for a Smooth User Experience
On the other hand, there are still a few technical details you need to address for improved Shopify SEO. These should be done monthly to help keep a positive rank stable and prevent any further issues from occurring.
Use a Clean and Simple URL Structure
It is also advised to use a clean and simple URL structure for improved Shopify SEO. The platform tends to add unnecessary prefixes to URLs that can be distracting for shoppers and don’t give the full information needed. Instead, use the “edit website SEO” feature inside of Shopify to help customize your links. And don’t forget to utilize appropriate keywords when doing so.
Improve Your Website Speed
Another Shopify SEO tip is to consistently work to improve your website speed. Google places a high priority on fast-loading sites that offer a better user experience, so a slow load could hurt your ranking for the long haul.
However, when using Shopify, it’s not hard to know whether you’ve the best speed or not. This platform comes with online store Speed Report. Here, you’ll know how your store is performing compared to other Shopify stores and industry standards.
If you realize the speed is slow, you can utilize some approaches to make it better. For example, you have the option of adjusting the image loading time by using compression tools.
Another solution you can employ is AMP content. Google likes it because it is suited for mobile devices.
Build Quality Backlinks
Another practice that far too few Shopify site owners take advantage of is building quality backlinks. This can be done by working with bloggers or influencers in your niche to create posts around the products you’re offering. In turn, they allow you to place a link to your website from their own, which can ultimately increase your ranking. This is also a great way to improve overall exposure and find new customers.
Of course, these are just a few of the many elements needed to run a successful Shopify store. If you don’t know how to move forward or handle some of the more technical aspects, please get in touch with our Zero Gravity Marketing team today.
