If you created your Shopify site and are feeling frustrated because your products are not ranking (and not making sales), take a few seconds, grab a chamomile tea, and get ready to take notes. Today, I will walk you through Shopify SEO basics that will get you started on the path to ranking your products on page 1 of Google.
Why Shopify SEO?
I am a huge proponent of Google ads and other paid techniques when trying to drive targeted traffic. However, I always tell our clients to start with SEO first.
Why? Once you earn that spot on Google, with a little upkeep, you can own it. So if you can control organic traffic, you don’t have to pay for ads going to that page. Investing in Shopify SEO can drive site traffic for a much longer time than an advertising campaign.
My rule, start with SEO, enhance with SEM.
How to Optimize Your Shopify Site's SEO
1. Bulk Up Your Content
If your product pages just have the name, size, and price, then you have what is considered to be thin content. You’re giving Google nothing to index and your potential clients no reason to stay on the page. Add nice descriptions to increase your chances of ranking for keywords that your customers are searching for.
2. Make Your Content Unique
If you are selling products that others are selling, or if you are selling variations of the same product on your site, take the time to create unique descriptors for them. Why? If you offer up the exact same content that other websites have, you are making it harder for Google to choose your site. Why choose you over them? Why would Google send people to your site when Amazon has tons of reviews and original content.
Along the same lines, if you have very similar products with the same descriptors, you are probably confusing Google as to what they should be serving to people looking for your items. Being original is key when it comes to Shopify SEO.
3. Audit Your Site Structure
As a rule, search engines should be able to reach any page of your Shopify site within 3 links. Check out your site structure and make sure that it is logically set up so that crawlers can easily reach all pages on your site.
4. Implement Product Schema
Product schema is ridiculously powerful. It basically tells Google crawlers all about your products and how you want them shown on search. If you don’t have schema implemented, you need to contact us immediately and let us set it up for you.
5. Set Up A Custom Domain
If you see “myshopify” on your URL, this is an easy one to tackle. Buy your custom domain and set it up in your Shopify Settings area.
6. Update Your Theme
Do a little research and check out the speed performance of various Shopify themes. Speed and performance are key to Google, so you want to make sure your theme loads fast to reduce bounce rate and improve search rankings.
7. Set Up Google Console & Google Analytics
You will most likely not be able to rank your site without these two Google tools. They send you notices when things are wrong, they allow you to track your traffic and much more. Make sure to submit your site map while you’re at it.
What's Next?
These items are your bare basics for Shopify SEO, but they are powerful. If you have not implemented these items yet, then it is imperative that you get to it. If you need help with this, we are an SEO firm that specialises in Shopify SEO and we’d be glad to help you get started with a strong foundation. Schedule a free consultation so we can learn more about your site, your Shopify goals, and tell you about what we can do to help your products rank higher on Google.