Do you manage an eCommerce business on Shopify and want to increase your online presence? Look no further – in this post we will dive into the importance of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as a marketing channel and provide five tips that can help improve your organic reach.
The Importance of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO is the practice of improving your online store’s visibility in search engines (e.g. Google and Bing). For small eCommerce businesses, investing in SEO can be valuable because it helps attract customers organically, whereas paid advertising requires ad spend to compete within the search results. By investing in and optimizing your Shopify store you increase the chances of ranking higher in search results, which can lead to more traffic, sales, and a stronger brand presence.
In competitive industries, your competitors are likely investing heavily in both SEO and paid advertising to build their brand presence in organic search results. While paid advertising can deliver quick results, its benefits stop the moment you pause your campaigns. SEO, on the other hand, continues to work for you even after you've made a concentrated effort to improve keyword targeting and build a better user experience, providing lasting visibility within Google's search results. This sustainable approach makes SEO a particularly cost-effective strategy for reaching your target audience, especially if you've found paid advertising yields unsatisfactory returns.
The only caveat is that for new websites it can take time to build presence and authority within the search results. This is one scenario where a new business owner can utilize paid advertising to act as an invaluable jumpstart to gaining online visibility. While your SEO strategy develops over time, platforms like Google Ads can immediately place your products in front of potential customers who are actively searching for what you sell. This instant visibility helps build brand awareness, drive initial leads/sales.
Let’s dive into the key SEO strategies at a high level to highlight the areas that should be prioritized in a long-term SEO plan:
Source: https://www.wordstream.com/seo
If you would like to continue learning about the different SEO strategies, CodeMasters Agency have already dived into the following topics:
Understanding Shopify
One of the biggest reasons businesses of all sizes choose Shopify over other platforms is its scalability and seamless integration with third-party tools. Whether you're a small business just starting out or a larger enterprise looking to expand, Shopify grows with you. It also offers extensive support for mobile commerce and social media integration, enabling businesses to sell across multiple channels with ease. Combined with its built-in SEO features and the ability to handle high-volume transactions, Shopify provides a robust, comprehensive platform for eCommerce.
Key benefits of Shopify:
All-in-One Solution
A comprehensive platform that combines storefront, inventory, payments, and shipping in one dashboard. Unlike competitors who often require multiple integrations or separate systems, Shopify provides everything needed to run an online store out of the box.
User-Friendly Interface
Built specifically for non-technical users, allowing business owners to make changes, add products, and manage orders without coding knowledge. The intuitive design means less time learning complex systems and more time growing your business.
Scalability Without Complexity
As your business grows, Shopify grows with you without requiring platform migration or major technical overhauls. From your first sale to your millionth, the platform handles increased traffic and transactions seamlessly.
Robust App Ecosystem
Access to thousands of vetted apps and integrations that extend your store's functionality. Whether you need advanced marketing tools, customer service features, or inventory management, there's likely an app that solves your specific need.
Built-in Security and Reliability
Enterprise-level security and hosting infrastructure at small business prices. Shopify handles PCI compliance, SSL certificates, and regular platform updates, letting you focus on business growth rather than technical maintenance.
SEO Tip 1: Create a Google Search Console Property
Google Search Console is one of the most important tools that a website owner can set up. Search Console can help you submit sitemaps, view organic traffic, and identify if there are any major issues relating to crawling, page speed, and schema implementation. In addition, once Google Search Console has been set up you can sync the organic performance data with Google Analytics 4 (GA4).
You can read more about the steps involved, here:
When you are selecting a theme for your site prioritize a mobile-friendly theme and confirm that it is responsive. This means that it will show the best format depending on the device used to access the website.
This is because “Google uses the mobile version of a site's content, crawled with the smartphone agent, for indexing and ranking. This is called mobile-first indexing.” (Source)
SEO Tip 2: Create a Logical Site Structure & Internal Linking
A well-organized website structure is crucial for both search engines and your customers.
Here is a little insight into a simple site structure and how it relates to Shopify:
Homepage > /
Category & Subcategory pages > /collections/
Product pages > /products/
About Us & Contact pages > /pages/
Blog > /blogs/
Internal links help search engine crawlers crawl and navigate a website. Therefore, it's important to link to every page. If there are any issues with search engine crawlers finding and indexing pages on your website these can be discovered by using Google Search Console.
Be mindful of how users interact with your site. For example, does it provide simple routes for users to find what they are looking for? Here are some additional areas to consider when you are building your site structure:
Provide easy navigation to provide an intuitive experience
Websites should be intuitive, and one way to achieve this is to make sure you have a clear and simple navigation bar along with breadcrumbs that match the URL structure. This combination will make sure that no matter which page a user lands on from the search results they will instantly know where they are and can navigate easily.
Create clear pathways for users to find products
This can be achieved by creating a clear nav bar, collection pages, and linking to similar products on product pages.
Reduces the number of clicks to purchase
When a user lands on a product page from the search results, are there any barrier to adding to basket and making a purchase. For example, do you provide a Guest Checkout for those users that simply want to make a quick purchase.
Builds trust through informational content
Consider what users would ask themselves when making a purchase. For example, a lot of websites provide a FAQ section on their collection pages and product pages. If the page lacks detailed information, then users may bounce to find another site that provides what they are looking for. This can also include; technical specifications, reviews, high resolution photos, delivery times, and more.
SEO Tip 3: Identify Your Audience & Priority Keywords
Understanding your audience and selecting the right keywords to target is vital to improving your organic reach.
There are many different tools that allow you to complete keyword research, as highlighted in this post; Essential SEO Tools for Small Businesses.
Whilst you conduct keyword research it’s also important to reflect on your competitors – to understand how they have optimized their pages, and when selecting keywords don’t forget to enter these keywords into Google and determine if this is the correct space for you to compete.
These keywords can then be used to influence how you optimize each of your pages. Making sure to consider the marketing funnel and incorporating each of these stages into the keyword selection.
Depending on the tools you end up using to complete your keyword research, here are a few terms to look out for:
Search Volume: This is the average number of times a specific keyword is searched each month, and can be found when using any keyword research tool.
Avg Monthly Searches: This is the same as above, and can be found when using Google Keyword Planner.
Keyword Difficulty: Keyword difficulty (or SEO difficulty) is a metric that estimates how hard it is to earn a prominent position in the search results for a given keyword. (Source)
Competition: Lets you filter keywords by how difficult it will be to receive a top position with them. You can filter by high, medium, and low difficulty. (Source: https://ads.google.com/intl/en_ca/home/resources/articles/using-google-ads-keyword-planner/)
Search Intent: Search intent (also known as user intent) is the reason why a user types a particular query into a search engine. It represents what the user is trying to achieve with their search, whether that's finding an answer to a question, looking for a specific website, purchasing a product, or exploring a topic. (Source)
SEO Tip 4: Optimize Category & Product Pages
Category & Product Listing Pages
If you have a lot of product varieties that you are aiming to sell online – maximizing category pages is an important step. These pages are known as Collection pages on the Shopify platform.
With certain Shopify plans it is possible to group your products into collections to make it easier for customers to find them by category. Here are a few examples of collections provided by Shopify (Source):
Clothes for men, women, or children
Items of a certain type, such as lamps, cushions, or rugs
Items on sale
Items in a certain size or color
Seasonal products, such as holiday cards and decorations
Collection pages can be both automated and manual. An automated collection uses a selection of conditions to automatically include matching products, whereas manual collection uses selected products.
You can view more details and examples of automated collections, here:
Collection Page Recommendations:
Implement SEO-Friendly URLs: Shopify automatically creates SEO-friendly URLs for collection pages, but these are customizable. Ensure URLs are short, descriptive, and include keywords relevant to the collection without unnecessary words or characters.
Use Product Tag Filters: Shopify lets you create filters for collections using product tags. Adding these filter options improves user experience and helps search engines understand the organization of your collections. (e.g. bestselling products, price ranges)
Customize the Page Template: Modify your collection page template to include targeted content (e.g. unique headings, above the fold content, FAQs, or product highlights).
Optimize for Mobile: Shopify themes are typically mobile-responsive but ensure your collection pages load quickly and display well on mobile. Google prioritizes mobile-friendly pages, so test them regularly with Shopify's built-in tools or Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.
Enable Shopify’s Image Lazy Loading: Lazy loading delays image loading until users scroll to that part of the page, improving page speed and user experience. You can enable lazy loading for collection images directly through Shopify, helping to reduce bounce rates on mobile and slow connections.
Product Page Recommendations
Optimize Product Titles for Search and Clicks: Write concise, descriptive product titles that include primary keywords. On Shopify, product titles appear as the page title by default, so ensure each one is unique, relevant, and crafted to encourage clicks in search results
Write Unique Product Descriptions: Avoid using manufacturer-provided descriptions. Instead, craft unique, detailed descriptions that emphasize product benefits, include target keywords, and answer common customer questions.
Add Reviews and Ratings: Enable customer reviews and ratings on your product pages. Not only do these enhance trust and conversion rates, but they also provide valuable user-generated content, which search engines favor.
Use "Related Products" Sections: Add sections for related products to encourage internal linking and keep users engaged on your site. Shopify apps and built-in functionality can help showcase similar products, improving SEO and conversion potential.
Implement Schema Markup for Products: Use Shopify apps to add structured data to provide further context for search engines. (e.g. product price, availability, and ratings) Implementing schema markup can help your product pages stand out in search results, potentially improving click-through rates.
SEO Tip 5: Discover the Shopify App Store:
The Shopify app store can boost your ability to simplify the process of finding and resolving SEO issues. As with all app stores, read through all of the reviews thoroughly and make sure to only install apps that will add value.
Shopify > SEO Apps: https://apps.shopify.com/categories/store-design-site-optimization-seo
One of the most common apps for Shopify is the Yoast SEO plugin. This is typically where most users will begin. This should cover the essential requirements for most users looking to improve SEO on their site.
Conclusion
Incorporating SEO into your Shopify store doesn’t have to be overwhelming. By following the tips outlined above, you can gradually enhance your store’s visibility, attract more customers, and build a stronger online presence.
Start with foundational steps like creating a clear site structure, optimizing product pages, and understanding the value of tools like Google Search Console. Over time, these efforts can pay off by bringing more organic traffic to your store and supporting long-term growth without relying solely on paid ads.
At CodeMasters Agency, we specialize in building and optimizing websites to achieve peak performance. Let us help you elevate your digital presence and achieve sustainable growth, contact us to find out more!
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