Have you launched a Shopify store, but are having problems with attracting potential customers and increasing sales? In the e-commerce world, it is not enough to build a store with high-quality products. If you want customers to come, you will need to dedicate time and effort to search engine optimization.
The good news is that SEO for Shopify is not that difficult because the system is packed with SEO-friendly functions. However, there is still the matter of ranking better than your competitors, which is not easy. Check out our guide to learn more about how to optimize your Shopify store for search engines!
Shopify SEO Guide – A Quick Overview
While keywords are integral to SEO, you can’t underestimate other elements of this process. You also want to adjust everything to an e-commerce store.
That is why we designed a Shopify SEO guide that covers all elements, including:
- Improving the shop’s structure
- Enhancing the visitor’s experience
- Finding the right keywords
- Creating links to your store
- Using content marketing and SEO tools
Now that we have our basic overview let’s head to the specific sections of the process.
Optimizing Website Structure
While it is crucial for every website, having an optimal structure is particularly important for Shopify stores. Navigation is critical for a user who wants to search various product categories looking for the item they need to buy. This organization becomes even more vital if you have tens or hundreds of products.
Here is how that should look:
Home 🡪 Category 1, Category 2, Category 3
Category 1 🡪 Product 1, Product 2, Product 3
Category 2 🡪 Product 3, Product 5, Product 6
Category 3 🡪 Product 7, Product 8, Product 9
You can add as many items and categories as you want. However, it should always be possible to access the desired product in only several clicks from the starting page. If you feel like it’s necessary, you can also add subcategories. Adding items to different categories is also an option, but try to keep things relevant.
How to Enhance Visitor Experience
The best SEO optimization Shopify stores can get is to maximize the experience of a visitor browsing the shop. Think about it like this – if you find a website confusing and it seems hard to get the information needed, you will look elsewhere. That is how shoppers think when they head to your store.
Here are some tips that will help you to optimize the shop:
- Use a search box – if you have hundreds of items in the library, how about placing a search box at the top of every page? That way, a user can type the keyword and get directed to the desired product immediately. It speeds up the searching process and eliminates the need to browse the categories.
- Responsive design – the number of users that use their smartphones to browse the internet increases every day. That is why your shop should have an intuitive design on both stationary and portable devices. Whether the user is on iPhone, desktop PC, or tablet, they should have an equally pleasant experience of browsing the site.
- Fast loading times – the internet is fast, and no one will lose time with the pages that took forever to load. Use small SEO tricks to improve loading times.
Find the Right Keywords
The next step to take when ranking the Shopify store for search engines is keyword research. This is where you should consider using the Google Keyword planner or another SEO tool.
Here are the steps to follow:
- Create at least five relevant keyword categories for your store. Visit similar shops if you need inspiration.
- Imagine that you are a buyer. What would you search for to get you to the Shopify shop you are running?
- Use keyword suggestions by professional SEO tools. Come up with main and long-tail keywords.
- Assess the keyword difficulty and other details of ranking it. You can do that with a professional SEO app, too.
Start Optimizing Product Pages
The key to the SEO Shopify rank process is to optimize product pages. At this point, you should already have a list of keywords to use. For example, a “patterned blue shirt” can be the best choice of keywords for that product page. You can also consider other keywords like “slim fit,” “narrow chest,” etc.
Always begin with your top-selling products or the ones you believe will have the most success. The keywords should fit naturally to the page, and you shouldn’t forget about the optimal density, which could be 1-3%.
You also want to optimize your homepage with high-quality content and don’t forget meta titles and descriptions. These are often neglected by shop owners, but search engines pick up significant information from there.
Meta titles should be consistent, so you can use a pattern like Product Name – Shop for Keyword – Store Name.
High-Quality Content Is the Base of any Digital Marketing
The next step in optimizing your Shopify store is to create high-quality content. For example, you can add more text to the product descriptions, or even launch a blog. The trick lies in having original content that readers might find valuable.
Don’t forget the importance of sharing that content on social media. Apart from using social channels, you can use newsletters and other content strategy methods to attract visitors and increase traffic.
Building Backlinks
SEO experts often call this “link juice,” and the trick is to increase the reputation of your page by adding links to other websites. At the same time, you can boost reputation by asking other sites to link to your product pages.
Here are some tricks to use in this area:
- If possible, add a link to the product’s manufacturer. Many also agree to link to the stores of authorized retailers. Get in touch with them and see if you can get a link placed on their site.
- Get influencers related to your niche to promote your brand. That can be on their sites or social networks. You can even do an interview with them to create intriguing content.
- Find mentions to your site. You can visit websites that look for mentions of your store anywhere on the web. If you find a mention without the link, contact the administrator and ask to link to your shop.
- Fix broken links. You can use specialized apps to find broken links, which might affect your website’s reputation. Try to fix all broken links with valid ones.
You will find that Shopify also has SEO tools and apps that can help you rank higher in search engines. Whether you use plugins or third-party services, these can play a significant role in optimizing your store. If you do the things from this guide right, you will soon see an increased number of visitors and buyers in your Shopify store!
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