Shopify is a powerful ecommerce platform with a long list of incredible features. Virtually everything you need to start selling right away is there for you. However, that may not be enough to compete in a massive marketplace. Other stores are doing more to attract customers and increase sales. Make sure that you don't get left behind in terms of search engine rankings. It may be best to hire a specialized ecommerce SEO agency for Shopify, but if you don’t have the budget for this, you can improve your Shopify SEO through the following strategies:
1. Weed Out Duplicate Content
Search engines frown upon duplicate content. Unfortunately, a lot of product pages look like clones of one another because they simply copy and paste from the marketing materials. You will get lost in the crowd of stores selling the same thing. If you wish to stand out and get noticed, then you need to write unique text for each product. This can take a while, but your efforts will be rewarded.
2. Add Distinct Page Titles and Meta Descriptions
These two tags give search engines a quick summary of what the page is about. They should be highly relevant to the product being sold. They should also contain the keywords that shoppers are using to look for items in its category. The title should be around 60 characters long while the description should be about 160 characters. Don't use articles like "the", "a", "an" and similar words that don't convey useful information. Go directly to the keywords and the brand name.
3. Optimize Images with Alt Tags
Don't just focus on the text. Search engines look into the images as well. Use the alt tag to add keywords that match the product and the specific picture. Make it as distinctive as you can. Add keywords but don't stuff too much or it might seem like spam. Just describe the image in a clear manner for someone with poor vision. Only vital product images need alt tags. Logos and buttons do not require them.
4. Create Navigation Links from the Home Page
When customers go to your home page, they will need an intuitive menu to navigate across the site. If you have hundreds of products, then group them into collections or categories. Make sure that all of those categories are listed on the menu links. Highlight your bestsellers for ease of access. Some buyers would rather cut to the chase and use a search box so add that as well.
5. Submit Your Sitemap to Google
Shopify automatically creates a sitemap. Search engine spiders use this to know which pages they need to crawl and potentially add to the search results. They use the map for their regular crawls across the site. You can go a step further by submitting your sitemap manually to the Google Search Console and other webmaster tools for different search engines.
6. Track Website Traffic with Google Analytics
Shopify has its own tools for viewing site statistics, but you may want to see more details. Google Analytics is considered by many as the best tool for tracking website traffic. It's free to use and easy to configure. Just copy and paste a unique code to your site so that all activities can be reported. You will see a range of charts such as visitor count, visitor location, hourly traffic distribution, keywords used, backlink used, browser version, OS version, and so on. Optimize the site using the data gathered.
7. Redirect Traffic from Old Pages
If you have old products that are no longer being sold, then consider setting up 301 redirects. This informs search engines to stop going to the URL and move on to a new page. There is a tool to do this quickly within the Shopify admin page.
8. Post Regular Blog Content
Create a blog for your store to keep shoppers updated on your latest products and promos. You could also write helpful how-to posts and answer common questions. By posting regular blog content, search engines will reward you with frequent visits and higher rankings.
