Mastering Shopify SEO 2024
SEO is one of the most effective ways to drive qualified traffic to your store. For those starting with a modest budget, SEO offers a great opportunity to trade your time for more orders rather than paying for ads.
Mastering Shopify SEO involves focusing on four key areas:
- Keyword Research
- Technical SEO
- On-Page SEO
- Off-Page SEO
Let’s dive into each of these areas and explore strategies to maximize your traffic.
Keyword Research
Keyword research for Shopify stores is all about matching supply and demand. Every day, people are searching Google for terms related to the products you sell. Keyword research is the process of identifying which keywords have the highest search volume and are the easiest to compete for in relation to your store. Once you’ve identified these keywords, you can optimize your content around them. Successful stores start with a clear plan for the keywords they target in each section of their store.
Let’s use GymShark as an example:
GymShark’s homepage targets two of their most important keywords: “Gym Clothes” and “Workout Clothes.” They likely identified these terms using a keyword research tool like Ahrefs, SpyFu, or SEMrush. “Gym Clothes” gets 5,300 searches a month, and “Workout Clothes” gets 15,200. Currently, they rank number 1 for both.
Their collections target moderate-volume keywords that have higher buying intent, are less competitive, and are closely related to their products.
Here are some examples of keywords targeted in their menswear collections:
- Men’s Gymwear
- Mens Gym Shorts - 1,800 searches
- Shorts with Pockets - 270 searches
- 5 Inch Shorts - 20 searches
- Gym T-Shirts & Tops - 500 searches
- Sleeveless T-Shirts - 360 searches
- Gym Stringers - 180 searches
- Oversized Hoodies - 2,700 searches
Each of these collections has related sub-collections, such as:
- Oversized Hoodies:
- Gym Hoodies - 630 searches
- Zip Up Hoodies - 20 searches
- Gym Sweatshirts - 150 searches
You can see how there are many different ways to search for the same products. In total, GymShark has over 370 collections, each targeting keywords related to their products. Expanding your collection pages and logically grouping your products is critical for driving SEO.
At a product level, GymShark targets keywords specific to each product. For example:
This product page targets keywords like “Black Gym T-shirt” and “Gymshark Power T-shirt.” While the search volume may be low, those searching for something so specific are much more likely to convert.
GymShark also intentionally breaks out product variants into their own pages to further improve the targeting of specific product variants. For example, here’s the same product in pink:
Their blog is a powerhouse for collecting links for SEO purposes and delivering valuable content to their audience—gym enthusiasts. For example, their blog ranks highly for keywords their audience cares about, such as:
- Shoulder workouts - 4.5k searches
- Ab workouts - 3.7k searches
- Bicep workouts - 3.2k searches
- Biceps - 1.7k searches
- Bicep exercises - 1.5k searches
Each keyword has decent search volume, and the blog posts reference the ideal gym wear for these types of workouts, passing users and link equity back to the store.
Use one of the popular SEO tools to devise a similar structure for your store and align a target keyword to each page of your website. Leverage ChatGPT to draft much of this content for your store, and then tweak it where necessary. Start by targeting low-difficulty keywords with high search volume that are relevant to your products. As your store’s SEO improves, you can begin competing for more challenging keywords with higher search volume.
After optimizing your homepage, focus on collection pages and blog posts to drive SEO value. Next, optimize product pages and product variants.
Technical SEO
Technical SEO is all about getting the basics right. Google’s mission is to deliver visitors to relevant, high-quality content for their search query. Several elements contribute to a high-quality experience, including page load speed, mobile experience, and how well Google can find and explore your content.
Speed Up Your Shopify Store
You can test your store’s speed using Google PageSpeed Insights.
How to optimize:
The easiest way to apply the recommended speed optimizations is by installing one of the popular site optimization apps. Google views speed as a pass/fail metric: if your store is fast enough to create a good experience, you pass and won’t be penalized for poor performance.
Optimize for Mobile
Today, 58.43% of global web traffic comes from mobile devices, while 39.19% comes from desktops, with the remainder from tablets. This means that your most important shopping experience starts with mobile rather than desktop devices. Your store should look fantastic on mobile and be optimized for mobile-first.
How to optimize:
View your site on mobile, and if the experience is lacking, consider using a mobile-optimized Shopify theme.
Ensure Google Can Find Your Content
Shopify does a good job of handling duplicate content and ensuring there is a clear path for Google to find your content. However, there are still ways to improve content discoverability.
How to optimize:
- Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console: Your sitemap is located at yourstore.com/sitemap.xml. Submit this link in Google Search Console so Google is notified whenever your content changes.
- Add JSON-LD to your Shopify store: JSON-LD provides structured data that helps Google enhance your organic listings. Consider using a JSON-LD app to automate this process.
- Sync your product catalog to Google Shopping: Being listed in Google Shopping not only drives sales but may also help you rank organically. Use the free Google Shopping app or a paid app that optimizes your listings further.
On-Page SEO
On-page SEO refers to how you optimize the content of your store pages for search engines. It’s critical for driving quality traffic to your store. While technical SEO is more of a pass/fail situation, on-page SEO is an ongoing process you can fine-tune to improve your rankings.
Here are the five most important areas to focus on:
- Homepage SEO
- Collection SEO
- Blog SEO
- Product Page SEO
- Product Variant SEO
Google uses your page content to understand what your page is about and which search queries it should show your content for. There are a few elements to pay special attention to when optimizing any area of your store. These elements apply universally, so we’ll cover them first before diving into any specific considerations for each section.
Content Length
Generally, Google prefers pages with more content rather than less, as they cover topics more comprehensively. Aim to have enough content to reach the 1,500 to 2,500-word range. You don’t need to write all this content yourself; user-generated reviews, FAQs, and product specs are great ways to add length and diversify your content.
Meta Title Tag
Your title tags are displayed prominently in Google search results, so they are important for both telling Google what your page is about and driving click-throughs. You need to balance their appeal to search engines and humans (favoring humans when a tradeoff is necessary). Place your target keywords early in the title and your brand at the end.
Example: For a product page targeting a Titleist TSR4 Driver (a golf club):
“Titleist TSR4 Driver - Ultra-Low Spin Golf Driver | Golf Co”
Keep your titles between 50-60 characters long, including spaces; otherwise, Google will cut them off. In this example, the title targets the exact product brand and name early on, adds information that targets additional keywords, and includes the brand at the end to drive long-term loyalty.
Meta Description
A meta description should be between 150-160 characters long. It should include your target keywords and be written in a way that helps sell the product, highlighting key features and including a call to action at the end.
Example:
“Discover the Titleist TSR4 Driver, engineered for unmatched speed, precision, and control. Perfect for golfers seeking to optimize their performance with cutting-edge technology. Shop now and elevate your game!”
The keyword is introduced early, key features are highlighted, and the main selling point is emphasized. The description ends with a relevant call to action. This is also a good place to promote any discounts or specials.
Page URL
It’s best to include your target keyword in your page URL. For the above example, that could be www.golfco.com/products/titleist-tsr4-driver/.
Images
For any images on the page, be sure to add alt tags. For example, if it’s an image of the driver in this example, write a descriptive alt tag like “Golfer Swinging Titleist TSR4 Driver.” Make it feel natural and descriptive, as if you were explaining it to someone who couldn’t see the image.
Content Structure
Every page should have unique content, even if it’s only slightly different. Use H1 tags for the main title, H2 for secondary titles, and H3 for subtitles. It’s best if your keywords are included in some of those titles and secondary keywords in the lesser titles. Make sure not to overstuff your content with keywords; the page needs to be appealing to both users and search engines.
Internal Linking
We’ll cover this more in-depth later in this post, but the way you link to other content internally and externally matters. Google uses your linking structure to understand which pages are topically related and how important each page is. Your most important pages should be one click away from the homepage and should be linked back to by pages relating to them. Shopify has some of this structure built in, but it can be further improved.
Shopify Homepage SEO
Your homepage should target your highest volume keyword that is most relevant to your store. This keyword should be displayed in the title tag, meta description, and throughout your content. As the highest top-level page in your store, the content you choose to link to from here will help Google understand which of your content is the most important.
Display lists of your top-selling products, top categories, new products, top blog content, social proof (such as reviews), and links to your most important collections. Remember, you are building this homepage for people, not just for search engines. What people care about (e.g., best sellers) often aligns with your interlinking strategy.
A typical shop has very little written content on the homepage, often functioning as a window deeper into the site with primarily images. In this case, alt tags become extra important so search engines know what you are showing visually.
I recommend adding a written content section at the bottom of your homepage that gives search engines more text to better understand the page’s targeting. Gymshark does a great job of this, writing text that is useful for search engines and helpful for customers. This gives Google a very clear signal of what the page is about and a better opportunity to rank it. Adding FAQs at the bottom can also be beneficial, focusing on broader topics like “Gym Clothes” rather than specific product information.
Shopify Collection SEO
If there were a silver bullet for Shopify SEO, it would be optimizing your collections.
Your homepage typically targets your highest volume keyword, but users searching for those terms are still exploring their options. In contrast, users searching for very specific products are closer to making a purchase, but the search volume for those terms is lower. Collections sit in between these extremes, balancing users ready to buy and higher search volume. There are also many opportunities at the collection level because products can belong to multiple collections, allowing you to target different keywords with separate collections that serve as different paths to the same products.
When optimizing collections, focus on keyword research for the most popular ways to group your products, on-page SEO elements listed above, and your interlinking strategy.
Similar to the homepage, create a content section for search engines at the bottom of each collection that provides more detailed information on what the collection is about, ensuring the content is unique. Adding FAQs can also be helpful. Each collection should have links to sub-collections within it, and each sub-collection should link back to the parent collection. You can see an example of this at the bottom of a Gymshark collection here.
Shopify Blog SEO
Think of your blog posts as the best way to drive links into your eCommerce store. It’s uncommon to drive links directly to your products or collections, so the best way to get links from external websites into your store is through your blog posts. If you write interesting and compelling blog content, people will link to it. You can then link to specific collections or products from within those blog posts, funneling link equity into your store.
Blog posts follow the same guidelines specified above for on-page SEO. To come up with blog post ideas, use keyword research tools like SpyFu to find keywords related to your products that you can write about.
When brainstorming blog post topics, think about the type of user you are targeting rather than just the products. For example, if you sell golf equipment, you could write blog posts about golf clubs and equipment, which will likely drive traffic to your website. However, if you expand your thinking to focus on targeting golfers in general, you’ll find topics that interest them beyond your specific products. For example, content about perfecting a golf swing, the best courses to play, or predictions for the next PGA tour could create an endless backlog of topics to cover. Promote your blog posts on social media, and make sure the topics you choose have keywords with search volume. Link back to your collections and products when the topic has a relevant connection to your offerings.
Shopify Product Page SEO
Follow the basics: optimize your title tag, meta description, product title, product description, image alt tags, and include the keyword in the URL. Then, focus on ensuring you have reviews (bonus points if the review app you use supports JSON-LD), and add product specs, product-specific FAQs, AI-generated summaries of reviews, and information on returns and shipping. This additional content will not only improve your product page rankings but also be helpful to customers. Focus on unique content for each page; ChatGPT is great for this.
Shopify Product Variant SEO
There’s a secret in Shopify SEO that not many stores know about. If you are using Shopify’s variants feature to add colors or sizes as variants to your products, these variants are not getting ranked in Google, and they aren’t being synced well to Google Shopping. This is a significant SEO opportunity that most are unaware of.
Let’s say you have 20,000 products, each with an average of 3 variants. That’s a potential 40,000 additional products you could be ranking for in search engines that you are not currently optimizing. Big brands like Amazon and Gymshark know this, so they treat each variant as its own product and link them together intelligently.
Shopify’s variants feature uses what’s called a rel canonical tag on its variants, pointing back to the original variant. So, if you have a T-shirt in red, blue, and green, only the red variant will rank in Google.
To fix this, you need to create each of your variants as separate products in Shopify and build a widget on the frontend to link them all together. This can be done manually through metafields, or you can use our app SEO Variants to do this automatically.
SEO Variants also has a handy feature called “Convert,” which will automatically convert your Shopify variants into SEO variants, taking care of creating the products for you and grouping them together with one click. Don’t miss out on all the traffic you could be getting from your variants because visitors searching for a very specific version of your product are the most likely to convert.
Off-Page SEO
Once you’ve optimized your technical and on-page SEO, it makes sense to focus on your off-page SEO. To rank for the most competitive keywords, you not only need a well-optimized store but also high domain and page authority. Authority, in Google’s eyes, is determined by the number of high-quality links pointing to your store overall (domain authority) and to particular pages (page authority). Off-page SEO is one of the hardest aspects of SEO to influence because it involves convincing external websites to link to your content, but there are a few methods that work particularly well for driving links:
Blog Posts as Link Drivers
Build blog posts featuring industry surveys, influencers in your space, infographics, and other types of content that are likely to be embedded on other sites or are highly linkable. People tend to link to content that offers unique information or valuable insights. You can facilitate this by creating embed codes, making it easy for people to copy and paste your content on their site with a link pointing back to your blog post as the original source. Promote this content on social media to get it in front of potential linkers.
Guest Blog Posts
Find industry blogs related to your store and reach out to see if they would be open to a guest blog post where you would write content for their blog related to your store. The quality of this content needs to be very high for them to consider using it, so don’t reuse content across multiple blogs. Create unique and compelling content, and don’t overfill the post with links back to your site—just a couple of relevant links are sufficient. Often, blog owners are happy to receive unique content they can post without doing the work themselves, but this involves relationship building in your space to make it repeatable. Don’t spam people with requests; focus on quality over quantity. A few well-placed links to your store from highly relevant industry sites can give you a significant boost that’s hard for similar stores to replicate.
Partnerships with Other Stores
Find stores that are not competitive with you but offer related products, and propose a partnership where you write blog posts that link to them in return for blog posts that link to you. Use SEO tools to discover sites with good domain authority that you should target. If you share similar customers but are not competitive, this can be a great way to build external links to your blog or even products.
Case Studies with App Providers
Any apps you use on Shopify would likely appreciate the opportunity to have you as a reference customer. This helps them showcase how much their customers love their app, and it helps you by getting a link from these relevant app websites back to your store. It’s a win-win situation and is often more likely to result from a cold outreach than some of the other options.
Resource Pages
Create a section of your store that defines all your products or provides training information. Resource sections are often linked to when people reference terms they need further descriptions for. This can be a great way to build SEO internally and gain external links. Remember, domain authority is a significant factor, so even links to non-product content will eventually improve your rankings across your products.